The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-02-24
A FRENCH OTHELLO.
Nineteenth Century


Ducts "Othello" was acted for the
FIRST time in 1899. The great Tai ma
played the Moor: Mile. Desgarslns.
Hedelmone (DesdemOnn.) In this YER
sion Ducts drew nearer to Shakespeare,
and left Voltaire and his system further
behind than he had ever done before:
But there are things for which he could
not bring his courage to the SUCKING
place. He was convinced that the gen,
tle-hearted audiences Of 1892 would
never bear the presence of such Q
wretch as 1ndo. (Pesard in the French
playa Consequently, to the audience,
1ago wears the guise Of the truesstt
possible friend TO OtheNo and an
humanity in general. When his
villainy is made apparent. 1t is
in his absence. and he is never allowed
to appear again, as the feelings OF the
audience would certainly be too much
for him and themselves. Again, the
handkerchief" This was not to be
thought Of. How could such a sugges-
tive word as "mouchoir,' ever pc Ut
tered in q French tragedy Impossi-
bic The substitute is costly and awk-
ward-a wreath OF diamonds. linen
the denouementl Ducts went so lar as
to make Othello stab Desdemond at the
side of her bed the smotherlng her
under her own pillow seemed too vul-
carly horrible to be thought OF for
moment. Duois was not aware that
shakespeare expedient was q refining
of the original method which he found
in the old novel, where the Moore beats
his lady's brains out with a couple OF
sand-bags. The classical dagger might
have been borne with, but to plunge 1t
into lady by the side Of her own bed
looked too much like a common place
murder. The audience rose. against 1t.
The gentlemen put their hands over
their hearts and protested against the
barbarity "C'est IN, Mdlue qui q fdlt
ca. ce ~ est pas I'm Frdncnis,' was cried
silent swoons or laughing Mysteries
Ducts attempted in vain to maintain his
tragic catastrophe. He had to give way,
and his tragedy with comedy denoue-
ment) continued popular for one gener
alton at least. The plot Is far away
from the Shakespeare version, but Du-
cis follows his reader more closely than
in any other Of his plays built up on the
British model. Now ary then passages
are almost literally translated, and q
weak echo Of the master music occa-
sionally catches the ear. Here Ia q
sample:
ga pitie pour mes maux seule produit sGolamme.
L'aspect de pite seul a touche mon ame
wherein we miss the sympathetic ten
derness of
She loved me for the dangers had passed:
And loved Per that she did pity them.
In later adaptations of "Othello" at
tempts were made to introduce the
Mooi's demand for the handkerchief. !"
It is amusing to see how it was brought
about. The "circlet of diamonds, 3 the
substitute invented by Ducts, was aban-
doned, and it was that tissue work"
which raised Othello's jealousy. BESIDE.
mona held a handkerchief In her hand.
but her husband referred to it only az
that tissue. /" that gift" At last AL
fred de Vigny translated the play word
for word, and this, or an equally literal
translation, was acted at the Theatre
Francois in the first quarter Of the pres
ent century. This caused immense op-
position. A compact phalanx Of Vol
taireans occupied one side of the
house; similar body of Shakes
pereans the other. When the lat
ter franticallv applauded. the for
mer as energetically Kissed. But
between the two factions (says the Duke
de Broglie, Rerue Franchise, January,
1890, quoted in Guizot's Shakespeare and
His Tines the body of the audience in
the pit appears to have preserved rea-
sonable neutrality. They were EVIL
IDENTIFY on their guard, fearing lest their
consecrated maxims should be violated.
and they be led into some hasty demon
stration of feeling; and yet they were
sensible, profoundly sensible. of the
great beauties Of thS piece. Accord
ingly. during the whole course Of the
representation they appeared constantly
astonished, moved. indulgent. submit
ting with good grace to the boldest de-
parture from received rules. They
willingly, though without Warmth or
violence, joined in the attempt to
silence the detractors; and they good
naturally allowed free scope to the
enthusiasts. while taking great care
not to enlist themselves on their side or
to mingle in their transports. On this
occasion the word ''mouohoir,o, was
bravely uttered without the French
Melpomene going into fits; and
Shakespeare got secure footing on
the French stage.
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