CHAPTER TWO. THE DRAMATURGY

[1] The recognition of this deficiency forced Thomas W. Baldwin to develop his theory of Shakespeare’s five-act structure in reference to the Renaissance critics of France, Italy, and Germany (_Shakespeare’s Five-Act Structure_, Urbana, 1947). Henry Popkin, _Dramatic Theory of the Elizabethan and Jacobean Playwrights_ (unpublished dissertation, Harvard, 1950) endeavors to show that the Elizabethan and Jacobean playwrights were aware of prevailing theories of drama, but he does not go on to show that they introduced what they knew into what they wrote.

[2] Baldwin, _Shakespeare’s Five-Act Structure_, pp. 305, 315, 321, 326.

[3] Muriel C. Bradbrook, _Themes and Conventions of Elizabethan Tragedy_ (Cambridge, 1935), p. 5.

[4] Madeleine Doran, _Endeavors of Art_ (University of Wisconsin, 1954), p. 5.

[5] Heinrich Wölfflin, _Principles of Art History_ (New York, 1932), pp. 14-16, 159; Doran, p. 6.

[6] George Puttenham, _The Arte of English Poesie_ (1589), as reprinted in Gregory Smith, _Elizabethan Critical Essays_ (Oxford, 1904), II, pp. 19-20.

[7] Francis Fergusson, _The Idea of a Theater_ (Princeton, 1949), pp. 229-230.

[8] Hardin Craig, “Shakespeare’s Development as a Dramatist in the Light of His Experience,” _S.P._, XXXIX (1942), 226; also S. L. Bethell, _Shakespeare and the Dramatic Tradition_ (London, 1944), p. 70.

[9] Doran, pp. 103, 263.

[10] _Ibid._, p. 296.

[11] _Ibid._, p. 264.

[12] Bradbrook, pp. 30, 75.

[13] Doran, p. 295.

[14] See especially _Twelfth Night_, I, i-iii; _Hamlet_, I, i-iii; _Lear_, I, i; _Measure for Measure_, I, i; _The Devil’s Charter_, dumb show.

[15] The other ranking figures are Antonio in _The Revenger’s Tragedy_, Malevole, revealed as Duke Altofronto in _The Malcontent_, young Flowerdale in _The London Prodigal_, and the husband in _A Yorkshire Tragedy_. The prodigal son plays, _Miseries of Enforced Marriage_, _The London Prodigal_, and _A Yorkshire Tragedy_, have a double figure, the husband who judges himself and the wife who grants forgiveness.

[16] Discovery: _As You Like It_, _Twelfth Night_, _Merry Wives of Windsor_, _All’s Well_, _Pericles_; discovery-single combat: _Hamlet_, _Lear_; discovery-suicide: _Othello_; discovery-trial: _Measure for Measure_; single combat: _Macbeth_; suicide: _Julius Caesar_, _Antony and Cleopatra_; trial: _Coriolanus_; siege: _Timon of Athens_.

[17] Curtis B. Watson, “Shakespeare’s Dukes,” _S.A.B._, XVI (1941), 33. Watson insists that the Duke employed in this fashion is unique to Shakespeare’s plays. However, as the non-Shakespearean plays reveal, the same functions are carried out by father, king, or lord.

[18] G. Wilson Knight, _Principles of Shakespearean Production_ (Harmondsworth Middlesex, 1949), p. 21.

[19] _Ibid._, p. 21; W. J. Lawrence, “Some Reflections on Shakespeare’s Dramaturgy,” _Speeding Up Shakespeare_ (London, 1937), p. 43; Richard G. Moulton, _Shakespeare as a Dramatic Artist_ (Oxford, 1893), p. 217.

[20] Moulton, p. 217. He persists in finding a “point” for the climax although he more clearly than any one of the other writers perceives the extended nature of the climax. On page 209 he treats the scenes of Lear’s madness as a “Centerpiece,” apparently realizing their climactic interconnection. Yet he fails to take the next step by abandoning the conception of a climactic moment.

[21] Harley Granville-Barker, _Prefaces to Shakespeare_ (Princeton, 1947), I, p. 274.

[22] The appearance of the “climactic plateau” late in _Troilus and Cressida_ is further support for the theory of a two-part play suggested by T. W. Baldwin in _A New Variorum Edition of Troilus and Cressida_, ed. Harold N. Hillebrand, supplemental ed. T. W. Baldwin (Philadelphia, 1953), p. 452.

[23] The climax is also associated with the subsequent disappearance of the central figure, a characteristic pointed out by W. J. Lawrence. Both comedy, for example, _Twelfth Night_ and _Measure for Measure_ (Angelo is absent for the third and almost all of the fourth act) and tragedy display the same pattern.

[24] Levin L. Schücking, _Character Problems in Shakespeare’s Plays_ (New York, 1922), p. 114.

[25] Elmer E. Stoll, _Shakespeare Studies_ (New York, 1942), p. 37, corrected edition; G. Wilson Knight, _Wheel of Fire_ (New York, 1949), pp. 13-14.

[26] G. Wilson Knight, _Wheel of Fire_ and _Principles_, pp. 140-155, for his proposed _Macbeth_ production.