Woman's Club Work and Programs Part 26

VIII--THE RETURNS

Forestry does not aim to produce immediate commercial returns; indeed, from that standpoint the returns are slow; yet in the end these are greater than when the science is disregarded. Trees must be regarded as a crop to be cut only in small sections rather than as a whole. But the system once thoroughly established, the returns are steady and sure.

Timber is cut exactly at the right time instead of at haphazard, and so is of the right size and age. Fuel is gathered from trees meant for that purpose, and timber for building purposes from trees meant for that alone.

In addition to the commercial results there are also others. Parks are set aside for recreation and beauty, and game is preserved rather than destroyed. Hillsides are renewed; winds are kept off; our watersheds are protected, and rivers and streams kept full, and the land fertile.

IX--FAMOUS TREES

Add to this study program two more meetings. Have one on Famous Trees and Forests, naming among others: The Cedars of Lebanon, the historic King's Oak which sheltered Charles I., the Charter Oak, and others; note also the famous redwoods of California; the Burnham Beeches; the historic Sherwood Forest; the New Forest and Dean Forest of England; the Black Forest of Baden and the forests of the Vosges Mountains of France.

X--TREES AND FORESTS IN LITERATURE

The last program of the year may be on the general subject of trees and forests in literature. Read or recite from such poems as: A Forest Hymn and the Planting of the Apple Tree, by William Cullen Bryant; Christmas in the Woods, by Harrison Weir; Forest Pictures, by Paul Hamilton Hayne; the Summer Woods, by William Henry Burleigh; The Primeval Forest, from Evangeline, by Longfellow; The Holly Tree, by Robert Southey, and The Trees and the Master, by Sidney Lanier. Read from The Quest of John Chapman, by Newell Dwight Hillis, and also from The Forest, by Stewart Edward White.

CHAPTER XVIII

SHAKESPEARE

I--SHAKESPEARE'S LIFE STORY

1. _Parentage, childhood, youth, and education_. Description of Stratford (with photographs).

2. _Shakespeare as an actor, manager, and playwright_. His friends; his theater; his company.

3. _His marriage_.

4. _His later years_. Evidence from legal doc.u.ments, etc.

5. _Appreciation_ of Shakespeare by his contemporaries and successors.

Discuss Browning's House as an estimate of Shakespeare's relation to his own plays.

BOOKS TO CONSULT--William Winter: Shakespeare's England. Hamilton Mabie: Shakespeare. Sidney Lee: Life of Shakespeare.

Read of the school at Stratford which Shakespeare attended, and show a photograph. Have a selection from Irving's Sketch Book from Stratford on Avon. Tell of Shakespeare's marriage, and have for a reading or recitation, Anne Hathaway. Show pictures of the town, the museum, the Shakespeare Theater, etc.

II--THE ENGLISH HISTORICAL PLAYS

1. _Richard II. and King John_--a.n.a.lysis of plots, leading characters and their traits. Readings from Richard II.: Act v., Scene 1. King John: Act iv., Scene 1 (beginning with Hubert's speech, "Heat me these irons hot").

2. _Henry IV., Henry V., and Richard III._--a.n.a.lysis of plots, characters, and traits, as above. Readings from Henry IV.: Part II., Act. iv., Scene 5 (in part). Henry V.: Act v., Scene 2 (dialogue between Henry and Katharine). Richard III.: first speech of Gloucester.

3. _Henry VI., and Henry VIII._--a.n.a.lysis of plots, characters and traits, as above. Readings from Henry VI.: Part I., Act iii., Scene 2 (conversation of Joan of Arc); also, Part III., Act ii., Scene 2. Henry VIII.: Act iii., Scene 2 (last part, Cromwell and Wolsey); also, Act v., Scene 5.

4. _How Shakespeare Made His Historical Plays_--Describe the use he made of Holinshed and older writers; the changes in plot and character due to Shakespeare; the imaginary persons he introduced. Readings from Holinshed.

BOOKS TO CONSULT--Hamilton Mabie: William Shakespeare, Poet, Dramatist, and Man. W. Aldis Wright: The Cambridge Shakespeare (introductions and notes). Gollancz: The Temple Shakespeare (introductions and notes).

It will be interesting to take up the question how far these plays are historically true; also their value to the common people as a means of teaching them in a vivid way the history of their own country. How far were they calculated to stimulate patriotism by the glorification of England? Describe modern productions of these plays by Booth, Irving, Mansfield, Sothern, etc. Tell the story of the first production of Henry VIII., which caused the burning of the Globe Theater. (See Mabie's Shakespeare, page 383.)

III--TYPICAL TRAGEDIES

1. _Hamlet_--The tragedy of the unbalanced mind. Source: Saxo-Grammaticus. Synopsis of the plot and a.n.a.lysis of the chief characters. Discussion of Hamlet's madness. Read Act i., Scenes 4 and 5; Act iii., Scene 1, in part; Act v., Scene 2, latter part.

2. _King Lear_--The tragedy of filial ingrat.i.tude. Source: Holinshed.

Synopsis of the plot and a.n.a.lysis of the chief characters. The three daughters as types. Read Act ii., Scene 4, enter Cornwall, Regan, Gloster, etc.; Act iii., first four scenes; Act iv., Scene 7.

3. _Macbeth_--The tragedy of guilt. Source: Holinshed's Chronicles of Scotland. Synopsis of the plot and a.n.a.lysis of the chief characters.

Reading of the story of Macbeth from Holinshed. Shakespeare's use of the weird, ill.u.s.trated by the witches. Feminine strength and masculine weakness shown in Lady Macbeth and her husband. Read Act i., Scene 3; Act v., Scene 1.

4. _Oth.e.l.lo_--The tragedy of jealousy. Source: Cinthio's Hecatomithi.

Synopsis of the plot and a.n.a.lysis of the chief characters. Shakespeare and Italy; local color. Novelty of the Moor as hero. Read Act iii., Scene 3, in part; Act v., Scene 2.

5. _Julius Caesar_--The tragedy of ambition. Source: North's Translation of Plutarch. Reading from this. Synopsis of the plot and a.n.a.lysis of the chief characters. Admiration of Shakespeare for Caesar, and frequent reference to him. Read whole of Act iii., also Act iv., Scene 1.

BOOKS TO CONSULT--Wood: Hamlet from a Psychological Point of View.

Brereton: Some Famous Hamlets. Hall Caine: Richard III. and Macbeth.

W. W. Skeat: Shakespeare's Plutarch.

Although every great tragedian has attempted the famous parts in Shakespeare's tragedies, some have stood out conspicuously for their interpretations. Study Kemble, Kean, Macready, Booth, Barrett, Irving, and Mansfield; also, Mrs. Siddons, Helen Faucit, Charlotte Cushman and Ellen Terry. Ill.u.s.trate, if possible, with portraits in character, such as Booth as Hamlet, Mansfield as Caesar, and Terry as Ophelia.

IV--TYPICAL COMEDIES

1. _The Taming of the Shrew_--An Italian play. Source in an older English play. Synopsis of the plot and a.n.a.lysis of the chief characters.

Contrast between Katharine and Bianca. Read Act ii., Scene 1 (the dialogue between Katharine and Petruchio) and Act v., Scene 2.

2. _Twelfth Night_--Source: Bandello. Synopsis of the plot and a.n.a.lysis of the chief characters. Imaginative setting of the play in Illyria.

Shakespeare's sense of fun. Rude humor of the time. Read Act ii., Scene 3, latter part.

3. _The Merry Wives of Windsor_--No definite source. Materials in Stratford life. Synopsis of the plot and a.n.a.lysis of the chief characters. A purely English play. The Falstaff of history compared with Shakespeare's representation of him. Falstaff here and elsewhere in Shakespeare. Note the possibility of the origin of this play in a request of Queen Elizabeth. Read Act iii., Scene 3.

4. _The Comedy of Errors_--Source: the Menaechmi of Plautus. Synopsis of the plot and a.n.a.lysis of the chief characters. Read Act v., Scene 1 (from "enter a servant" on).

BOOKS TO CONSULT--Hudson: The Harvard Shakespeare (introductions and notes). Lang: Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors. List of Songs by Shakespeare set to Music: the New Shakespeare Society.

V--PLAYS OF SENTIMENT

1. _Romeo and Juliet_--Source: William Painter's Palace of Pleasure.