William Shakespeare; poet, dramatist, and man . , Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleo-patra, and Coriolanus, and, in part, for Timonof Athens. Not only did he find his material inPlutarch, but he found passages so nobly phrased,whole dialogues sustained at such a height of dig- 294 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE nity, force, or eloquence, that he incorporated theminto his work with essentially minor furnished only the bare outlines of movement forRichard RichardIII., but Plu-tarch suppliedtraits, hints, sug-gestions, ph rases,and actions socomplete inthemselves thatthe poet neededto d
William Shakespeare; poet, dramatist, and man . , Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleo-patra, and Coriolanus, and, in part, for Timonof Athens. Not only did he find his material inPlutarch, but he found passages so nobly phrased,whole dialogues sustained at such a height of dig- 294 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE nity, force, or eloquence, that he incorporated theminto his work with essentially minor furnished only the bare outlines of movement forRichard RichardIII., but Plu-tarch suppliedtraits, hints, sug-gestions, ph rases,and actions socomplete inthemselves thatthe poet neededto do little butturn upon the bi-ographers prosehis vitalizing andorganizing imag-ination. The dif-ference betweenthe prose biog-rapher and thedramatist re-mains, however, a difference of quality so radical asto constitute a difference of kind. The nature andextent of Shakespeares indebtedness to the worksupon which he drew for material may be most clearlyshown by placing in juxtaposition Mark Antonysfamous oration over Caesars body as Shakespeare. MIDDLE TEMPLE LANE. THE EARLIER TRAGEDIES 295 found It and as he left it: When Caesars body,writes Plutarch, was brought into the market-place, Antonlus making his funeral-oration inpraise of the dead, according to the ancient customof Rome, and perceiving that his words moved thecommon people to compassion, he framed his elo-quence to make their hearts yearn the more, andtaking Caesars gown all bloudy in his hand, helayed it open to the sight of them all, shewing whata number of cuts and holes it had in it. There-with all the people fell presently into such a rageand mutinie that there was no more order keptamong the common people. A magical change has been wrought in this nar-rative when it reappears in Shakespeares verse inone of his noblest passages: You all do know this mantle : I remember The first time ever Caesar put it on; Twas on a summers evening, in his tent, That day he overcame the Nervii: Look, in this place ran Cassius da
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectshakesp, bookyear1901
