The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-01-10
Bah interviews eeerbohm

life, whether they are done by artists in
oil or water or anything else, or even
by nature, are TO me intensely tireSome.
imagine that / am writing myself down
great fool. But / never could get up
any wild enthusiasm about scenery. /
enjoy, in an even quiet sort Of way, a
beautiful outlook, but like better an eff
fective inlOok, when it means a glowing
fire, properly furnished room, with plen-
ty of books, and, best Of ALL plenty Of in
feresting people. Interesting people
make life worth living. or course, the
people who interest me may seem stupid
To Won. but then we can fall back on the
blackest of falsehoods-the Declaration
of Independence-decla that we are all
tborn free and equal" and that each
has a right to decide as TO the interesting
man. 1t goes almost without saying that
each has that right, but then, We are not
born free and equal. Just now two people
are interesting me. SO imagine yourself
in front of the open fire upon whinch
insist wherever do abide-imagine your
self in q comfortable chair-imagine hav-
ing had a good dinner, which is the right
OF every human being-and imagine that
feeling as comfortably as q man should
telling you of two interesting people
met to-day. Being a man, YOU look at me
in a patronizing way and permit your
self. as has man from the beginning, and
as he will even unto the end of the world,
to be entertained by woman.
First thing then say, Il had the pleas
ure Of meeting that well-bred gentleman
and artistic actor, Herbert Beerbohm
Tree. His personality? He is TALL well
built. and fair. He has that peculiar
shyness which belongs to well-bred Eng
l.shmen. and which. ! confess to you, is
rather fascinating. ! said to him: Mr..
Tree what did you think Of DoltaireT
Sad he: 'D0ltairc is no better and no
worse than the men of his time. He
was only a little cleyerer than the aver
nee tourt;er; he realized all that his wit
meant to him; he knew that he was
laughed at because he was the son of
peasant mother and approved OF because
he was the son Of a King. At that court
nlecitimacy was made a subject for bon
mot. bur it was not counted a disgrace
provided there was royal blood on one
side. Like all bad men, he was not en-
sireh bad There were times when he alb
solntely longed to do right; there were
times when he did kind acts, was asham-
cd and furious. If they were discovered.
lie belonged to an artificial era; men
minced In their steps rs they did in their
morals. They took short steps for fear
OF shaking off the powder from their hair,
and they laughed at goodness and vrtue
TO excuse their own shortcomings
You see, / am taking it for granted
that you have read The Seats of the
Mighty but if you haven't don't do it.
Instead, 90 TO sec the play; for the play
introduces you to some fascinating peo-
ple Nine. POmpad0ur among the rest.
And then it makes you understand, as we
are all trying to realize these days, the
cause of revolution, socialism, or what
ever you choose to call the fiery outburSt
OF the people" You wave your hand at
me--you say don't get excited; but that's
where we women find more pleasure IN
life than men do, we are enthusiastic.
Then asked j, talking his time to
Mr. Tree, tell me about Hamlet
There was little polite smile about the
doctors lips, as if / had asked him 10
tell me about everything that had hap
pened since the world began. Women
invariably rush in where anything human
or divine fears even to use an intclroga-
ton point Then he said: Il think hat
which most distinguishes Hamlet is his
simplicity. If you take up the play and
look at the character as a child would
read IL story YOU will get the poets
meaning, but. when YOU approach it with
supersnbtle thoughts it becomes nothing
but riddle. 1t vexes you and spoils your
temper. Hamlet. himself, is human, and
it is because he is eternally human that
this play has its lasting hold on the SYM
pathies of the world Look at it this
way Here is a young Prince of lofty
ideals. whose natural refinement of mind
has been cultivated at the University OF
Wittenberg; his sensitive nature shrinks
from the contemplation of the boorish
court of Denmark He returns because
he must and finds a riotous rabble, merry
making over the nuptialS of his own
mother with his fathers brother. He
sees this hic-cOughing monarch sitting on
his fathers throne, and the husband Of
his mother. What wonder that he sick
ems at the sight Then he hears Of the
apparition of his fathers spirit He has
but one desire, and that is revenge. Then,
as his is essentially the literary mind AZ
ter he meets the ghost, the fire becomes
so fierce that it burns itself out. and sub
tlety takes the place of ACTON.
Following the story, one is forced 10
acknowledge that Hamlet delights in
playing upon the people around him; he
analyzes everybody. including himself,
and is always an artist the
literary man who makes copy out of his
own emotions for his own edificatiOA. Ii
is true he seems Il { times to forget his love
for Ophelia, but can You blame him? To
him all womankind seems smirched by the
act of his mother. His madness have al
ways thought was feigned. A great many
people who read the words of Shake
speare forget that before everything else
he was an actor-manager, and that his
plays were primarily designed for the
stage; that he was an eperienced actor,
and that the prompt topics of his own
plays must have been originally filled
I, 4,