Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 September 1888 — Shakspeare Study. [ARTICLE]

Shakspeare Study.

the many solemn humbugs bf which the world is fooled, there is not one more shallow than the pretense of some tragic kt* ve to be conside>:e4 what are called “students of Shak•peare.” If *,hif a'aim means anything, ft presumes that the works of this poet are of .nth mystic and misty profundity that deep research and kindred inspr ration are re paired to discover his hidden meaning, and these actors are ordained to expound this bible of th* Stage. Humbug! 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 Hows from the mouths of the speakers; its action 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 nos to tell lies about what is to be; so ha has no reason to be obscure. There are no two ways about him; he has no re* •on for misleading or for mystifying the people. The so-called student of Shakspeare is a narrow-minded fellow who seeks to torture the palpable meaning of trivial passages into what are termed “new readings” for the purpose of rendering himself conspicuous at the expense ol the poet, to whom he imputes obscurity, the very worst fault a dramatist can exhibit. If such fellows could arouse 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 the managers. They wil' hr to contain errors and blemishes. Let them be so, and do not encourage infatuated Worshipers to turn defects into beauties. Mature is full of imperfections •nd if it pleased the great author to leave this work so to eternity, why seek perfection in every miserable little heap of dust? These tri rial details you bring to my notict do not affect the purpose and shape of my play; and if they concern neither the action nor the passion nor the characters, why make •o much ado about nothing? lam Beither honored nor flattered Ly th« blind vroxship bestowed upon my works by some writers. If my existence had depended upon those text grubbers, 1 th ‘did have been shelved two centuries a: o betw- en Ben Johnson gjd Massinfor, o: b ried with Beaumont and 'hitcher. I owe my euistence to tha •itgi', to the actor. No dramatic poet has any existence in the closet. Out oj my thii ty-six plays, about a dozed survive. The rest are preserved for the admiration of those who never read Hum. Each of the dozen will be found to allord a conspicuous and all-absorb* bg character for the great actor or actress. Whenever a well-written play rfords such an opportunity, it trill hold Ka life on the stage. "The * Tvo Genflexaee of Verona* ■ml ‘Love’s Labor Loaf are read as a matter of duty co the author of * Hamlet* •nd Otheilo.’ I owe my existence to ■uch aotors as Edmund Kean and Gaprick, who joined spirits with me, embraced my passion, and embodied my •haracters. They changed my language •nd reshaped. my work to fit their qualftivs, and they did it well. This is the wot to study Shakspeare.” The actor’s power to represent a pas•ion is a gift, not a deliberate artistiq effort obtained by study. It is a faculty, to be developed am. improved by practice. The poet only affords the actor an opportunity to display hie powers; one is the complement of the other in the grand result. ' The actor who is built ou a poet—such is th© socalled student—is merely a mouthpiece, not an artist, for he should obtain his inspiration as the poet gets his, out. of his inner gifts. 1, who say tbjff, am both an actor and a poet, and I spouk of what I know. Then—may I be forgiven for saying bo— there are some young women whose education has stopped short somewhere between writing and spelling, who are thrust up into conspicuous positions on the stage, and taking refuge behind lheir good looks, profess to be student* »f Shakspeare. 0, the humbug' of it all! and how the tear world is fooled by it!— Diun B(M& ticaull.