ymbolism have much in common with that of modern
symbolistic plays, such as Maeterlinck's 'Joyzelle,' for example? In
what respects may it be said, do you think, as Maeterlinck himself has
informed us, that 'Joyzelle' grew from 'The Tempest?'

THE WINTER'S TALE

CONSIDERED IN CONNECTION WITH GREENE'S 'PANDOSTO' AND THE 'ALKESTIS'
OF EURIPIDES

I

SHAKESPEARE'S INDEBTEDNESS TO GREENE

The story of 'Pandosto' falls into two distinct divisions; first, the
story of Pandosto and Bellaria; second, the story of Dorastus and
Fawnia. Compare each of these two stories with the two stories
interwoven in the play, noting all the analogous passages and the use
Shakespeare has made of them. (For Greene's 'Pandosto' or 'History of
Dorastus and Fawnia' see 'Shakespeare's Library,' or pp. 118-125 and
Notes in First Folio Edition.)

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Do Shakespeare's borrowed and additional archaisms and his confusion
of names and places show carelessness? Is his continuation of the
story merely a playwright's device to join the two parts of the plot
and make a good stage piece end happily? (As to Coast of Bohemia see
_Poet Lore_, April, 1894), also in "First Folio Edition," pp. 176-177.

II

THE RESEMBLANCES TO THE 'ALKESTIS' OF EURIPIDES

In Greene and in Shakespeare the King wishes the Queen's death because
he is uncomfortable so long as she lives, and he prefers his comfort
to aught else, taking it as his conjugal right and royal prerogative.
(See ii. 3, 1 and 204.) The Queen, understanding this, says, "My life
stands in the level of your dreams, which I'll lay down." To her she
says, "can life be no commodity" when love, "the crown and comfort of
her life," is gone. So Alkestis (see any translation of Euripides, in
Bohn edition, literal prose translation, vol. i. p. 223) says she "was
not willing to live bereft" of Admetos, therefore she did not spare
herself to die for him, "though possessing the gifts of bloomy youth
wherein" she "delighted." This point of correspondence may have
occurred to Shakespeare and suggested his continuation of Greene's
novel. Admetos' image of his wife, that he would have made by the
cunning hands of artists, is possibly a prototype of the statue of the
Queen in 'The Winter's Tale,' the piece "newly performed by that rare
Italian master, Julio Romano." Compare also, Herakles' trial of
Admetos with Paulina's trial of Leontes (v. i); and Herakles'
restoration of the unknown Al