Is wit or purpose dominant in the Play?

Which is the wittiest scene?  Is it also the most morally significant?

VII

THE CHARACTERS

Three groups of characters appear in the play—­the main group belonging to the Court; the learned group, Armado, the, schoolmaster, and the Curate; and the native group, Costard, Jaquenetta, Dull, and Moth.  The two latter subordinate groups add much to the Play.  Show in what respects:  as to Plot interest what do they add?  As to merriment and significance?  Is the morality and wit of the Play contributed to by them?  Are they of interest in themselves, apart from their relation to the other characters?  Are Costard and Jaquenetta the only happy lovers in the Play?  Why?

Is the King, kingly?  In what respects, do you think, does he evince youth and inexperience?  When does he begin seriously to be in love?  Is the Princess justified in disciplining him?  How much of her discipline is due to the event that cuts short the Play?  Judging from his character, do you think he will stand the “twelvemonth” test?

Is Berowne the oldest as well as the deepest and wisest of the men?  How does he show all this?

Why does Rosaline discipline him?  Is she in insight superior to him as the Princess is to the King?  Are the other court ladies equally wise in the probation period they allot?

Are all the men—­Costard included—­so much a prey to a sort of foppery of expression and love of animal spirits as to be properly subject to the satire the play provides for them?  Are the women more sane in this respect, despite their wit, or not?

Is Shakespeare apparently on the women’s side?

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Is Costard the bumpkin the best actor in the Mask of the Worthies?  Why?  Why is Jaquenetta the least and Moth the most discomfitted of the third group of characters?

Dowden says the women of the Play “have not the entire advantage on their side.”  What do they lack?  He also says, to bear this out, that “Berowne is yet a larger nature than the Princess or Rosaline.”  What has this to do with their relative advantage in the Play itself, as Shakespeare shows it?

Who are the critics of the falseness of artifice in the Play?  Is Berowne on the women’s side in the criticism which gives them their advantage?

VIII

THE MORAL OF THE PLAY