rtray his actions? During Hamlet's fencing match
with Laertes in the last scene the Queen says, "He's fat, and scant of
breath." Was she describing his size, or meaning that he was out of
fencing trim?

Shakespeare puts into the mouth of Julius Caesar a detailed
description of the appearance and manner of acting of one of the chief
characters of the tragedy.

Let me have men about me that are fat;
Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o' nights:
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.
* * * * *
Would he were fatter! But I fear him not:
Yet if my name were liable to fear,
I do not know the man I should avoid
So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much;
He is a great observer, and he looks
Quite through the deeds of men; he loves no plays,
As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music;
Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort
As if he mock'd himself and scorn'd his spirit
That could be mov'd to smile at any thing.

In _As You Like It_ when the two girls are planning to flee to the
forest of Arden, Rosalind tells how she will disguise herself and act
as a man. This indicates to the actress both costume and behavior for
the remainder of the comedy.

Were it not better,
Because that I am more than common tall,
That I did suit me all points like a man?
A gallant curtle-axe upon my thigh,
A boar-spear in my hand; and--in my heart
Lie there what hidden woman's fear there will--
We'll have a swashing and a martial outside,
As many other mannish cowards have
That do outface it with their semblances.

In many cases Shakespeare clearly shows the performer exactly how to
carry out his ideas of the nature of a man during part of the action.
One of the plainest instances of this kind of instruction is in
_Macbeth_. The ambitious thane's wife is urging him on to murder his
king. Her advice gives the directions for the following scenes.

O never
Shall sun that morrow see!
Your face, my thane, is as a book where men
May read strange matters. To beguile the time,
Look like the time; bear welcome in your eye,
Your hand, your tongue: look like the innocent flower,
But be the serpent under't. He that's coming
Must be provided for: and you shall put
This night's great business into my