The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-02-12

point Sen8t0t AUe0. 4u0y SppScVsesos
therefore, the utter uselessness Of pro-
longing the struggle and are anxious to
break away from the influences that have
20 long controlled them. Will they have
the courage to do it,
THE FINEST LOVE PLAY OF sHAK-
ePEARI.
This week the Warde-James combination
will tread the boards at the opera house
and will include in their list OF plays
Romeo and Juliet" the most powerful
legitimate love play OF Shakespeare. Among
Shakspears's so-called Glove plays" are
unfairly included several that deal only
with love in the superficial sense OF senti-
mental galIantry; you rise from their
reading in doubt whether the parties are
seriously in love. Love does not argue
nor phi.osophize; nor content itself with
iesting after the manner Of Beatrice
and Benedick, whose courtship Is
light and sparkling comedy to the last;
full Of coquetry. raillery and flirting be-
tween the sexes, but there Is small trace OF
passionate love in distinction from gall
lantry in It. Nor does "Antony and Gle
opatra," also named among love plays,
picture love. but rather the unprlncipled
lust of two dissolute creatures for each
other. Yon might - well call Lear .
''love play" for there We have Edmund
playing Antony 70 two creatures of the
Cleopatra sort, for Goneril becomes FIRST
Regan's murderess and then suicides be-
cause of that savage Glove" which makes
two women lust for the same man. An
tony, like Edmund in clear" IL clearly
incapable of love. He has pride, vanity,
valor: Is an imperious. intellectual man,
but carnal, sensual, animal: . Samson In
capable Of love. but easily captured and
kept BY the arts Of Delilah. There is no
CLEAN of spiritual love - separated from
lust in Antony. Cleopatra is equally in-
capable Of love. She has no more spirit
ual capacity for love than Cressida. The
only reason why she did not play Cressi-
da is that she wore . crown and did
not have to market her charms: but she il
Of the same capricious, inconstant, sem
sual, corrupt type of womanhood. She
loves nobody. She selects Antony just a.
Catherine II. chose Prince Potemkin and
Orlof. because he was . magnificent
figure of . man. Her vanity il
dattered by the capture of %
stately . Roman and 90 splendid
. soldier. just - gross women are always
fascinated by men Of powerful, handsome
physique and imperious, brutal temper.
Prisefghters. professional oarsmen and
athletes are generally heroes 70 harlots.
Separated from her vanity, her pride, policy
and lust. Cleopatra was incapable Of love.
She does not decide to destroy herself be-
cause Antony is dead, but because Dola-
bella tells her that Octavius means to lead
her to Rome to grace his triumph. Then
her queenly pride. not her grief for An.
tony. nerves her hand to apply the asp.
If Samson and Delilah il . legitimate
love story, then is "Antony and Cleopa-
ira" legitimate love play; not otherwise.
On the other hand, the passion Of Ro-
meo and Juliet belongs to the realm OF
true love. It is objected that the poet vio-
lates art in making Juliet but II years Of
age. The objection is not sound. Juliet
was girl of exceptional maturity both
in body and mind. Her physical matur.
ity il rare in our Northern climate, but
even on this coast We sometimes SEQ ex-
ceptional cases Of girls who are finely do.
veloped women at II In Southern Spain
peasant girls not seldom marry, and bear
children by the time they are IA. and
a ~ Sv 1<nI~ h.
physical maturity of Juliet is In no wise
incredible; the wonderful thing is
the maturity Of her womanly ma
turs on the mental and spiritual side.
But it must not be forgotten that Juliet
was not peasant girl. but the daughter
of rich noble and was trained, a. were
such daughters in the. Middle Ages, with
reference to their high destiny. Her lam
guage and thoughts were lifted by the
aristocratic education she had received
and the courtly atmosphere in which she
moved. Remembering then that she is
precocious person in bodily and mental
development and is naturally . gifted
creature, there is nothing incredible nor
inartistic in Shakespeare delineating her
as q girl of IL Nor can it be said
of Romeo, as some unreaecting critics
say, that he was "a poor creature
He was clearly the best Of his circle
Of proud young mobility. He Is sober and
self-sustained under gross provocation,
when all his comrades are full Of wine and
quarrelsome, and yet when Tybalt MUIR
ders Mercutio it is the pensive and melan-
choly Romeo that RACES to revenge his
friends death. Romeo il . poetic soul,
and yet NO effeminate fighter. He IL cap.
able of romantic, refined love. and while
inferior to juliet in exceptional mental
gifts, he Is not q weak nor inferior man
save in those acts in which Juliet shares
his weakness, the final acts of self.de.
struction. A stout soldier. Romeo slew
Tybalt for his friend: slew Paris in self.
defense, aud in his romantic grief for
Juliet dead kills himself, and Juliet
as weakly consents to death to conquer
the agony Of her love. Romeo was "a
poor creature" neither more nor less than
any man is "a poor creature" whose brain
reels under the shock Of a great bereave-
ment The news Of Madame Roland's
death made her husband . suicide: was