The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-07-11
WOMEN AS pRAMArisrs.
[Loadou SpeesasOr,l

1 NN@ AkN HA& 4AA&AaA A0 0s
 ILoadon Speesatorl
 Of all the puxsles presented by the in. tellecsual differences between the spikeA perhaps the most perplexing is the EAil- There seems to be absolutely no reason for it We can undeTseand, at least, partly, why there should have been no female Raphasl, or Newton. or Darwin no painter, or student or naturalist of the absolutely 6rss-ciass-and Can svea comprehend shy, tAougA women ssudy music as much as men, and develop as higk . capacity fov Instrumentation and tor song, there should be no female com poser of even second.vase mark The sS- gument that women's minds lack crea- tive power, though otken pushed to an absurdity, is SO far tn accordance with all recorded facts that 1t serves at least as . provisional Hypothesis to explain what else would be inexplicaele bat 1t does not meet the case of the drama, os give us the smallest reason for believing that there can never he female Shakes peare. Judging by the evidence alone, women should be admirable playwrights If there Is one thing certain in literature, 1t is that women do possess and display dramatic faculty of the highest kind that they can create Character as we'll as men; and that they possess, In at least as high degree as men, the aSt or faculty of arranging situation" Engiishwo- men in particular have rivalled English men as writers of fiction. apd this in de- partments of the ar, which cali more es. 1 pecially for drama power.
 We can conceive of no reason why George Eliot should not have placed her personages on the stage and have made them as instinct with life, as recoH- nixaole by all men as Shakespeare him self did. What Is there in Miss Austen's novels to prove that her comedy, had she devoted herself to the theatre, must have been inferior to SheridanSs Currer Bell, and still more her sister, the author of 'Wuthertng Heights,' could surely have given us . powerful tragedy; while George Eliot was to the very centre of her being . true dramattst. Her powers were never as their highest-we had al- most said were never very great-except when she allowed her dramatic instincts full play, and viv6ed by her thoughts, her humor, and her perception of the | 0&ktNt bOutO tOhui WutNu W8e uOt uCt OWu, She could not write for herself as she could make any one of hundred char acters talk. She could make the fTe- queuters of an ale-parlor--a scene which, as she told the late MT. John Blackwood. she had never witnesscd-as real in bear ing and speech and action az Shakespeare could have done while her personages, and more especially her comic persen. ages, are as true as any the dramatiss has ever produced-so true that the reader could predict their action or their speech in situations not described. Place old Tulliver-a minor sketch-undef any cir cumstances, and 10 GOO people will guess rightly what he would do or say. There Is another novelist coming forward who, if we do not misread "Coionel Enderby's Wife," will speedily be recognised as be- longing to the front rank in literature ye. "Lsc.. Mslet," whatever her power. will not attempt "Hamlet" What, then, Is it that fsils2 It certainly Is not histrionie capacity, for women make as good actors on the stage as men, and in domestic life much better, from their much greater practice nor Is it the facul- ty of devising situations. Currer Bells situations are as strong as those of any dramatist and we can point to scenes in Mrs. Oliphant's admirable though un- equal novels which would make the for tuue of any play. To take bst two, the entrance of the gipsy mother into the magistrates court, in Young Musgrave" ssrpasses anything in Scott in scenic power; while Cany's revelation to her mother, in the {" The Ladies Lndose.," Is essentially grand scene in a lofty tragedy, and could be placed as It stands upon the stage. Something must Dc wanting, for at least Ia our day women attempt all things, and are thirsty for fame and money the pecuniAsy rewards of the successful dramatist are far higher than those of the novelist, and the place to be acquired in literature is ct least en- during Not to speak of Shakespeare, scarcely any novelist will live as Ben Jon- son has lived, and Sheridan will survive dozen humorsts as attractive as him. self. There is no etiquette or custom which debars women from writing for the stage and managers would be ss willing to make fortunes by their aid ss to make them by the aid of men, or indeed more willing, for they would hope, as first as all events, to obtain their assistance at . cheaper rate.