Is the presentation of the Nine Worthies too absurd in itself to mix well with the courtliness, learning, and elaborate wit of the rest of the Play?  Note Berowne’s defence of it (V, ii, 569-571) and his rebuke to the King for despising it?  The Princess’s defence of it and its correspondence with that of Theseus for the show of the “base mechanicals” in the “Midsommer Nights Dreame.”  How does Berowne’s humility in accepting the parallel with their own wit-overthrown mask agree with his boisterous jeering at the mask of the Nine Worthies later?  How does the attitude of the ladies toward it compare with that of the men and what comment upon it does it constitute in your opinion?  How does it all prepare the way for the sudden sad message, and also for the decision of the Ladies to rebuff love that is not serious?  What special point is there in the kind of trial Rosaline and her mistress each specially propose for Berowne and the King?  Has it any relation to what has just been shown of each of them in their attitude towards others with respect to the humble performers of the Mask of the Nine Worthies?  What makes wit an unalloyed pleasure?

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Is the serious ending of this Comedy a disappointment?  Is seriousness an ending artistically called for by this plot, or only morally called for?  Compare with the serious strain in the “Comedie of Errors.”  What does the contradictory little final dialogue between Winter and Spring add to the significance of the Play?

VI

THE WIT OF THE PLAY

This has been called by Armitage Brown, “A Comedy of Conversation”; and the quibbles in which the Play abounds have been supposed by Dr. Johnson to give the Author “such delight, that he was content to sacrifice reason propriety and truth” for their sake.  How far do these observations justly apply to the Play?

In what degree is the extravagant banter of the Play itself an imitation of current fashions of speech and itself an object of ridicule?

Its relations to Lyly and Euphuism. (See Extracts from Ward and from Landmann in “Selected Criticism,” in First Folio Edition of the Play).

Make a study of the lesser and larger wit of the play, showing how the former is merely incidental to the latter.

In what respects is the whimsical talk of the Play suited to certain groups and to special characters, so that there is more variety in it than appears at first.

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Does the master wit of the Play consist in any one class of fun, as verbal conceits in the punning line; practical jokes; Euphuism, so-called; banter in speech and retort, versemaking and sonneteering, learned quips, or in the use of all these combined in a way to bring out the point of the Play—­the clash of natural with artificial methods.