Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 January 1888 — Shakspeare Study. [ARTICLE]

Shakspeare Study.

Among the many solemn humbugs by which the world is fooled, there is not one more shallow th r oi the pretense of some tragic g&< v. r to be considered what are caliad ‘'students of Sliakspearo.” If thi* o\»im means anything, it presumes that the works oi this poet Ave of such mystic and misty profundity iimt deep reseav.. and. kindred inspiration are reqair.-: to discover Iris hidden meaning, . r*.: i-des** actors are ordained to expfou *i this bible of the stage. Humbug' 1 A tragedy is a great literary effort designed, not to be read or meditated upon, but to be represented before a mixed audience. Its language, therefore, should be clear and unmistakable as it Rows from the mouths of the speakers; its aotion should be clear and perspicuous. If it is not so, then the poet is all at fault. He is not a prophet ; his business is not to tell lies about what is to be; so he has no reason to be obscure. There are no two ways about him; he has no reason for misleading or for mystifying the people. The so-called student ©f Shakspeare is a narrow-minded fellow who s-'eks to torture the palpable meaning of trivial passages into wliat are termed “new readings” for the purpose of rendering himself consp'euous at the oxp.-nse of the poet, to whom he imputes obscurity, the very worst fault a drama ist, ran exhibit. If such fellows could arm so the sleeping spirit of the grand old man, recall him like the ghost in “Hamlet" to revisit the glimpses of the moon, and then submit to him their new readings, I can imagine his reply. “What on earth does it matter? Either interpretation will serve. I cannot remember which I intended. My dramas were written under the spur of necessity to meet the crying needs of the theater of which I was one of tha managers. They will be found to contain errors aud blemishes. Let them be so, and do not encourage infatuated worshipers to turn defects into beauties. Nature is full of imperfections, and if it pleased the great author to leave this work so to eternity, why seek perfection in every miserable little heap of dust? These trivial details you bring to my notic* do not affect the purpose and shape of my play; aud if they concern neither the action nor tha passion nor the characters, why make so much ado about nothing? lam neither honored nor flattered by the blind worship bestowed upon my workp by some writers. If my existence had depended upon these te t grabbers, I should have been shelved two centuries ago between Ben Johnson and Massinger, or b .ried with Beaumont and Fletcher. I owe my existence to the stage, to ih.-.a t r. No dramatic poet h»s any eTriem-ein the closet. Out of mythii ty-s. plays, about a dozed sur- | vive. The rest are ' preserved for the admiration of those who never read them. Each of the dozen will be found to afford a conspicuous and all-absorb« ing character for Khe great actor or aotress. Whenever a well-written play affords suchi an opportunity, it will hold Its life on the stage.

“The ‘Two Gentlemen of Verona’ md ‘ Love’s Labor Lost ’ are read as a matter of duty to the author of ‘ Hamlet’ and ‘ Othello.’ I owe my existence to such actors as Edmund Kean and Garrick, who joined spirits with me, embraced my passion, and embodied my characters. They changed my language and reshaped my work to fit their qualities, and they did it well. This is the way to study Shakspeare.” The actor’s power to represent a passion is a gift, not a deliberate artistio effort obtained by study. It is a faeul* ty, to be developed and improved by practice. The poet only affords the actor an opportunity to display hi* powers; one is the complement of the other in the grand result. The actor who is built on a poet—such is tiu) so called student —is merely a mouthpiece, not an artist, for he should obtain his inspiration as the poet gets his, out of his inner gifts. I, who say this, am both an actor and a poet, and I speak ot what I know. Then—may I be forgiven for saving ae—there are some young women whose eduo&tion has stopped short somewhere between writing and spelling, who are thrust up into conspicuous positions on the stage, and taking refuge behind their good looks, profess to be student* ftf Shakspeare. O, the humbug' of it all! and how the dear world is fooled by it! —Dion Bow OtM/uIU