Part 20 (1/2)
But this is only an involuntary _apercu_ of Valentine, as indeed Benedick is only an intellectual mood of Shakespeare And here Valentine is contrasted with Proteus, who gives somewhat different advice to Thurio, and yet advice which is still more characteristic of Shakespeare than Valentine-Benedick's counsel Proteus says:
”You le her desires By wailful sonnets, whose coht with serviceable vows”
In this way the young poet sought to give expression to different views of life, and so realize the complexity of his own nature
The other traits of Valentine's character that do not necessarily belong to him as a lover are all characteristic traits of Shakespeare When he is playing the banished robber-chief far from his love, this is how Valentine consoles himself:
”This shadowy desert, unfrequented woods, I better brook than flourishi+ng peopled towns: Here can I sit alone unseen of any, And to the nightingale's co notes Tune my distresses and record my woes”
This idyllic love of nature, this marked preference for the country over the city, however peculiar in a highway robber, are characteristics of Shakespeare froe Not only do his comedies lead us continually from the haunts of edies He turns to nature, indeed, in all ti unconsciousness, its gentle changes that can be foreseen and reckoned upon, and that yet bring fresh interests and char surprises; and in times of health and happiness he pictures the pleasant earth and its diviner beauties with a passionate intensity
Again and again we shall have to notice his poet's love for ”unfrequented woods,” his thinker's longing for ”the life reentle forgivingness of disposition which we have already had reason to regard as one of Shakespeare'sProteus” confesses his sin Valentine pardons hih Shakespeare's later draain I do receive thee honest
Who by repentance is not satisfied Is nor of heaven nor earth; for these are pleased; By patience the Eternal's wrath's appeased”
He even goes further than this, and confounds our knowledge of hu:
”And that my love ive thee”
And that themay be made more distinct than words canthe proposal One cannot help recalling the passage in ”The Merchant of Venice” when Bassanio and Gratiano both declare they would sacrifice their wives to free Antonio, and a well-known sonnet which seeht more of a man's friendshi+p for a man than of a man's love for a woth when I handle the Sonnets, I have, perhaps, said enough for the moment Nor need I consider the fact here that the whole of this last scene of the last act was manifestly revised or rewritten by Shakespeare _circa_ 1598--years after the rest of the play
I think every one will admit now that Shakespeare revealed himself in ”The Two Gentlemen of Verona,” and especially in Valentine, much more fully than in Biron and in ”Love's Labour's Lost” The three earliest co of his career Shakespeare's chief aim was to reveal and realize himself
CHAPTER II SHAKESPEARE AS ANTONIO, THE MERCHANT
No one, so far as I know, has yet tried to identify Antonio, the Merchant of Venice, with Shakespeare, and yet Antonio is Shakespeare himself, and Shakespeare in what to us, children of an industrial civilization, is theattitude possible Here in Antonio for the first time we discover Shakespeare in direct relations with real life, as real life is understood in the twentieth century Froht of businessOf course we eneral conclusions from this solitary example, unless we find from other plays that Antonio's attitude towards practical affairs was indeed Shakespeare's But if this is the case, if Shakespeare has depicted hi it will be to hear his opinion of ourcivilization It will be as if he rose fros He has been represented by this critic and by that as a master of affairs, a prudent thrifty soul; noe shall see if this monstrous hybrid of tradesman-poet ever had any foundation in fact
The first point to be settled is: Did Shakespeare reveal hienuously and completely in Antonio, or was the ”royal merchant” a mere pose of his, a mood or a convention? Let us take Antonio's first words, the words, too, which begin the play:
”In sooth, I know not why I am so sad: It wearies ht it, found it, or came by it, What stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born, I am to learn; And such a it sadness makes of me, That I have much ado to know myself”
It is this very sadness that uises himself as a Venetian merchant A little later and Jaques will describe and define the disease as ”humorous melancholy”; but here it is already a settled habit of mind
Antonio then explains that his sadness has no cause, and incidentally attributes his wealth to fortune and not to his own brains or endeavour
The modern idea of the Captain of Industry who enriches others as well as himself, had evidently never entered into Shakespeare's head
Salarino says Antonio is ”sad to think upon his merchandise”; but Antonio answers:
”Believe me, no: I thank my fortune for it
My ventures are not in one bottom trusted, Nor to one place: nor is my whole estate Upon the fortune of this present year: Therefore entle sincerity is Shakespeare's habitual tone from about his thirtieth year to the end of his life: it has the accent of unaffected nature In bidding farewell to Salarino Antonio shows us the exquisite courtesy which Shakespeare used in life Salarino, seeing Bassanio approaching, says: