linked to the ducal group still more superficially, merely by the
rehearsal of a piece to be played at the wedding. It may be contrasted
with the preparation in 'Hamlet' for a piece similarly played before
the Court, but which had a vital connection with the action and
characters which is lacking here. Can there be said to be an artistic
design, however, though of a more external sort, in the contrast
between the Court scene and the rehearsal scene, and the realistic
offset the latter scene supplies to the fairy fantasies that are to
follow in the next acts? For instance, it may be shown that the
merriment the clownish scene provides balances the dignity of the
ducal scene. His audience, having put a yoke upon the dramatists by
requiring a clown, his genius is betokened here by his making it an
artistic advantage.

POINTS 1. 'The ancient privilege of Athens,' I. i. 49. What was the
position of the father toward the family in Attica? 2. 'On Dian's
altar to protest,' i. 98. Did the service of Diana offer women a
respite from masculine dictation? Compare the myth of Iphigenia's
salvation by Diana. 3. 'To that place the sharp Athenian law cannot
pursue,' i. 172. What Grecian states had laws more lenient to women?
4. What traces can be found in history or legend of the victory of
Theseus over the Amazons, and the rise of a new civic order on the
ruins of a matriarchate? 5. The story of Pyramus and Thisbe (see
Chaucer's 'Legend of Good Women' for an early English use of the
story). 6. Explanation of allusions to Phoebe, Cupid, Ercles, etc.


ACT I

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION