For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings,
Carry them here and there, jumping o'er times,
Turning the accomplishment of many years
Into an hour glass.
There is, in my opinion, no strict relevance in these lines to the
enquiry whether Shakespeare's work should be treated on the stage as
drama or spectacle. Nay, I go further, and assert that, as far as the
speech touches the question at issue at all, it tells against the
pretensions of spectacle.
Shortly stated, Shakespeare's splendid prelude to his play of _Henry
V._, is a spirited appeal to his audience not to waste regrets on
defects of stage machinery, but to bring to the observation of his
piece their highest powers of imagination, whereby alone can full
justice be done to a majestic theme. The central topic of the choric
speech is the essential limitations of all scenic appliances. The
dramatist reminds us that the literal presentation of life itself, in
all its movement and action, lies outside the range of the stage,
especially the movement and action of life in its most glorious
manifestations. Obvious conditions of space do not allow "two mighty
monarchies" literally to be confined within the walls of a theatre.
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