We commit no crime To use one language in each several clime Where our scenes seem to live. IV, 4, 7.
While our scene must play His daughter’s woe. IV, 4, 48.
Enter Pericles talking with Cleon. _Chorus_ II, _line_ 16.
Enter Pericles and Simonides. _Chorus_ III, _line_ 15.
What pageantry, what feats, what shows, What minstreling, and pretty din, The regent made in Mitylene To greet the King. V, 2, 6.
In your imagination hold This stage the ship, upon whose deck The sea-tost Pericles appears to speak.
And all this dumb-play had his acts made plain With tears, which chorus-like her eyes did rain. _Venus and Adonis, line_ 359.
Many critics have inferred that this poem was composed whilst Shakespeare still resided in Stratford. By the above lines it would be nearer the mark to assert that the first heir of his invention was composed after he had been acquainted with the theatrical literature of the London theatres.
As an imperfect actor on the stage Who with his fear is put beside his part. _Sonnet_ 23, _line_ 1.
Co-supremes and stars of love As chorus to their tragic scene. _Phœnix and Turtle, line_ 52.
This huge stage presenteth nought but shows. _Sonnet 15, line_ 3.
My part is youth and beat these from the stage. _Lucrece, line_ 278.
Black stage for tragedies and murders fell. _Lucrece, line_ 766.
“My part is youth” may refer to some particular play, but “Lusty Juventus,” suggested by Stevens, contains no such scene.
In the interlude of “Youth,” youth drives charity from the stage, but with threats not blows. Malone supposes that Shakespeare was thinking of the conflicts between the Devil and the Vice in the old Morality plays, where the Vice was always victorious and drove the Devil roaring off the stage.
Black stage for tragedies refers to the custom of draping the stage in black when tragedies were performed. Another allusion to this custom is found in the first part of Henry VI.
Or to turn white and swoon at tragic shows. _Lover’s Complaint, line_ 308.
As in a theatre the eyes of men, After a well grac’d actor leaves the stage, Are idly bent on him that enters next, Thinking his prattle to be tedious. V, 2, 24.
This passage is an excellent example of the use Shakespeare made of theatrical metaphors in giving life and reality to his dialogue. The well graced actor can only refer to Richard Burbage, the creator of Shakespeare’s most important characters. He was a fellow member of the same company of actors as Shakespeare, both belonging to the Lord Chamberlain’s company.