argued by John Lawlor). ¹ As both these versions of what he
calls 'the conscience theory' have been very cogently refuted
by A. C. Bradley, ² I need not here repeat what seem to me the
overwhelming arguments against them.

Of the four dramas that have been repeatedly classed to-
gether as problem plays it is only Measure for Measure which
seems to fit our definition. ³ And it is joined by two other plays
to which the term has not up to now been applied: Julius
Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra. It is to a consideration of each
of these three plays, grouped in their chronological order, that
we must now turn.

We shall be concerned not only with what makes them
problem plays but also with such questions as: what are their
dominant themes and preoccupations? What gives unity and
coherence to their diverse elements? How far are Julius Caesar
and Antony and Cleopatra typical Shakespearian tragedies? In an
attempt to answer these and other questions, discussions of a
variety of matters, such as a play's character-problems, its
structural pattern, its imagery, its relation to its sources and
analogues as well as to other plays in the canon, will be intro-
duced as the occasion demands.

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