CHAPTER 1

WHEN WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE was about four years old he had a chance to see his first play.

There had once been a yearly pageant in Stratford on St. George’s Day, with a dragon that snorted fire made of real gunpower. But the dragon had been put away six years before Shakespeare was born, and there had been very little make believe in Stratford until the day the actors arrived.

The acting company came on horseback, bringing a wagon for their costumes and their swords, their feathers and their drums. They went first to the mayor, to ask his permission to put on plays in Stratford, and the mayor for that year happened to be Mr. John Shakespeare, William’s father. The mayor not only gave his permission but also arranged for a payment of nine shillings out of the town funds so that the first show could be seen by everyone without charge.

The actors put on their first show in the town hall, which was easy to change into a theater. The main room was long and narrow, and scaffold could set up at one end of it with rows of benches below. At right angles to it was a smaller room, which the actors could use for changing their costumes. They had a great many costumes, because there were usually only six men in a company and the plays called for as many as twenty characters. An actor could change himself from a tinker to a Roman senator in as much time as it took him to slip out of a leather jerkin and into a colored robe, and he had a whole collection of beards to help hos disguises. The beard was tied on with strings hidden under his ha like those Chinese opera actors do, and if the actor was appearing in a bedroom scene and had no excuse for wearing a hat, the strings of his beard could be hidden under his night-cap.

CHAPTER 1

WHEN WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE was about four years old he had a chance to see his first play.

There had once been a yearly pageant in Stratford on St. George’s Day, with a dragon that snorted fire made of real gunpower. But the dragon had been put away six years before Shakespeare was born, and there had been very little make believe in Stratford until the day the actors arrived.

The acting company came on horseback, bringing a wagon for their costumes and their swords, their feathers a...

FOREWORD

This book containing lectures and review on Shakespeare’s work has met a need long felt by the Chinese college students, especially those in the department of foreign languages and literature.

The life of Shakespeare are well selected and the lectures beautifully written. Thus it will serve not only as an introduction to Shakespeare, but also as a good text-book for those beginners who study Shakespeare both in the Chinese colleges and universities. Professor Lee is to be credited painstaking work in shooting the two birds with one stone. It is really an excellent brief work and a fresh approach to the Shakespearean study.

I therefore take great pleasure to introduce this book to the reading public.

September 5, 1983

FOREWORD

This book containing lectures and review on Shakespeare’s work has met a need long felt by the Chinese college students, especially those in the department of foreign languages and literature.

The life of Shakespeare are well selected and the lectures beautifully written. Thus it will serve not only as an introduction to Shakespeare, but also as a good text-book for those beginners who study Shakespeare both in the Chinese colleges and universities. Professor Lee is to be credited pa...

FOREWORD
Chapter 1 WHEN WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Chapter 2 ALL OVER ENGLAND
Chapter 3 SHAKESPEARE WAS TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS OLD
Chapter 4 IN 1592
Chapter 5 SHAKESPEARE HAD SETTLED DOWN
Chapter 6 ALL THESE PLAYS
Chapter 7 THE FIRST FOUR YEARS
Chapter 8 WHEN SHAKESPEARE STOPPED PUBLISHING POETRY
Chapter 9 HAMLET WAS PUBLISHED IN 1603
Chapter 10 A CHANGE WAS COMING OVER
Chapter 11 HEMINGES
Chapter 12 THERE ARE TWO ROUTES
Chapter 13 MEANWHILE
Chapter 14 THE OLD ACTOR

FOREWORD
Chapter 1 WHEN WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Chapter 2 ALL OVER ENGLAND
Chapter 3 SHAKESPEARE WAS TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS OLD
Chapter 4 IN 1592
Chapter 5 SHAKESPEARE HAD SETTLED DOWN
Chapter 6 ALL THESE PLAYS
Chapter 7 THE FIRST FOUR YEARS
Chapter 8 WHEN SHAKESPEARE STOPPED PUBLISHING POETRY
Chapter 9 HAMLET WAS PUBLISHED IN 1603
Chapter 10 A CHANGE WAS COMING OVER
Chapter 11 HEMINGES
Chapter 12 THERE ARE TWO ROUTES
Chapter 13 MEANWHILE
Chapter 14 THE OLD ACTOR