Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1859-09-28
4ailg Sir9iaia,l. .
Shakespeare and Woman

Shakespeare IN literature. No genius that deals
with human life is complete without including
holh the masculine aud the feminine elements -
One away from the other, issues into no living
product, but is doomed to die. Nor merely this
ono nwuy from the other does not unfold its own
fullest nature; each, by ITSELF is not only barren.
but stuned. The genius which includes them
both, and developes BOTH is like those plants that
have the two sexes in the same flower, in which
the blossom that gives delight by its beauty gives,
at the same time, the promise of coming fruit and
Of deathlcss seed. 1t mny be said. that this will
hold Ms well for genius in woman in man and
that il genius in man must include the feminine
element genus IN woman must include tho mas
culinc element. We grant tho position; but we
grant it with certain notifications: il IL this
tl'at, as the masculine element should prcdomi-
nate in the genius of man, tho feminine element
should predominant in the genius of woman. n con.
trnry order is not excellent. but unnatural is not
delightful. but disngrccable. Mere emotion and
sympathy IN woman, separate from sound think
ing leaves her II simpleton or sentmentalist;
mere intellect III man, separate from sensblity
and intuition, leaves him surly Cynic or n reas.
oning machine; but can hardly tell which is
the more intolernlne lnchrymose man, or lngi.
cal woman. The feminine element il not only
mpurtnnt in literature for the completeness Of ge
MUS; it is nlso important. because it is by that
element that genius obtains the sympathy Of wo-
| man and aiihaut the syn pathy of woman no lit
tfnluIt tlat tAla WIN hulllHh'y can NE HnliI 10
live. hcicrature that can last, must have com
mon interest for man and woman; for the life of
woman is always nearer to nature than that of
man her instincts and sentiments more prim.
tive; her sense Of sex is moro vgilnnt aud tcna-
c,ous her thoughts are more spontaneous. rapid,
and dlrcct;--nud the whole constitutes m inward
character that maintains wonderful unity amidst
the numhc less varieties of her sex, and contin-
urd identity, which is neither lost nor obscured,
throughout The manifold changes Of history or the
world. The literature, therefore. which not only
has no feminine element, but, still worse, which
has no feminine interest wants the most vital ele
mcnt of humanity. II so it be with simple cxclu-
sion, what must it ho with tho literature which
derreeintcs woman, scorns her; mocks her ridicu-
les her and satirizes hcrY The she will neg
lcct, the other she will detest What woman
reals Rabelais? Whit woman reads Montagne
or Bayle? What woman reals Alexander Pope
or Jonathan SwnY And with all the genius of
these " rters they can hn,dly he said to hnyc any
Hrng interest in the world. What woman reads
thcmy But also it may be inquired. What man.
| To this question. we reply. that il women rcnd
| thom, men Md and il women had rad them,
they would not 50 soon have become Obsolete.
| Tie subtility and the thoroug ghncss with which
| Shakespeare has comprchcnded the nature of wo-
mrn is one OF tho proipuudcst secrets OF his Ecni-
us. All the elemental germs of her nature seem
TO have been hidden in hisnwn; and when his
genius began to work. these germs uhfuldeI them
selves into all the types III womankind. Tho types
SO uniodei are mental mirrors. in which every
representative woman may see the reflection oi her
class 1t is not that Shakespeare dives into the
d'rth- Of womans passions; tlut he goes through
dark mazes of her guilt, her cunning and her
crime; that hr lctrc,s her concealed moiives md
her sinful schemes it is that he is equally faml-
iar with her innocence, with her gueless love- her
eirlish JOYS her vantirs. her sports her tricks.
her waywardue>s and wcs the slightest motion
la. 6 a. IL
pathetic and prophetic story of virgin fears and
of womnnly hopes which she only whispers in her
sleep.
Thus j. ShakcSpcalc's genius intcrv vencd through
all the inward lite If womanhood with prnetra.
ting power, n dsccrnmrnt of spirit Mt truthful
ness Of feeling. and fullness Of sympathy which
are almost more than natural. For this reason,
Shakespeare has both enchantment aud awe for
the genuine wpman's mind such mind Loves
him while it fears him; and that this is the high
est love that woman knows. The woman--who
is of any worth--docs not love the trfcr, or the
flatterer. the weakling: sho loves the man
whose strength she can admire whose insight
makes her ircmble while she feels that it reads
her secret thoughts, and who is Of the serious in
tegrity that will not degrade hcr or him by the
base bribery Of living words who is, at the same
time Of the heroic and afiectionate nature That
moves her enthusiasm and cart.ates her heart
If such combination would be rcsistlcss to
man III Ol u Hi..1, III WY IL
must be as much so in the character Of his genius
On these grounds, the genius of Shakespeare must
be to women Of soul glory and might, such
no genius has ever been before to woman, such MS
haps genius will ever be ngain. Some po-
cts of modern times have wonderfully ingrntinted
themselves III the admiration of women: Byron.
by sentiment and passion; Schiller by delicacyo of
feeling and enthusiasm; Goethe by a. sort ofde
monic magic; Scott, by a natural and massive
manliness; Tennyson, by n certain witchcry half
earthly, half unearthly, that brings together the
sensuous and the spiritual in music and beauty
which have always enhancement for womanly
susceptibility. But though those, at first, pro-
duce more excitement, Shakespeare has moro las
ting inspiration; he is, in TRUTH the kingly master
Of them all; he irancsends them all as Prospero
the savish sprtes Of his island. or rather Solo
mon in Eastern legends, trnnscends the spirits
and genii of air and sea.-Ch Christian Examiner for
September.
Rev. MR. SpuRGEoS's PREAcHING.-A New YORK
merchant writes his opinion in rcferencct to it as