The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-11-16

on the side of mercy and Justice, and
his treatment of Edgar has more excuse
than Lear'S treatment of Cordelia- Like
Lear, his repentance when he is unde-
ceived is sincere, and, like him, his err
ror is eXpiated with his life. Edmund's
entanglements with Goneril and Regain
furnish the link which binds the two
stories together. Thoroughly commit
ted to both of them, their cause be
comes his, and it is mainly TO his en-
ergy that the victory Of the British
forces is due. 1t is owing to the dis
covery of Gonerils letter to him that
his villainies are finally unmasked, not
the least of which was his order for
the execution of Cordelia-an order
which a deathbed repentance revOkes
when it is too late. The part played
by Edgar also has its relation to the
main plot: his assumed madness, sec
onded by the witticisras of the Fool,
renders the real madness Of Lear less
terrible, and 1t is through his inStru-
mentality that the final catastrophe is
brought about.-Herbert a. Evans.
Lear is the greatest sufferer in
Shakespeare's plays; Though so old,
he has strength which makes hims
subject for prolonged ard vast agony,
and patience is unknown to him. The
elements seem to have conspired
against him with his unnatural daugh-
terS; the upheaval of the moral world
and the rage of tempest in the air seem
to be parts of the same gigantic con-
vulsion. In the midst of this tempest
wanders, unhoused, the white-haired
Lear, while his fool-moss pathetic of
all the minor characters of Shakespeare
-jes'ts half wildly, half coherently, half
bitterly. half tenderly, and always with
a sad remembrance of the happier past.
The poor boys heart has been sore ever
since his young mistress went to
France. Edward Dowden.
In "Othello" the tragedy turns upon
the rending of the bonds between nus
band and wife. In King Lear the
tragedy is that of violated filial ties,
and of a father saved-and scarcely
saved-from the despair following upon
unnatural cruelty by the redeeming
passion of love in one daughters heart.
The scale on which everything is pre-
sented in this drama borders on the
Titanic. The double plot heightens and
intensifies the effect. Gloucester's
wrong and Gloucester's suffering are
great, but they fat we'll within the
limits Of humanity. The passions Of
Lear almost break the bounds; there
is in them something vast and ele-
mental, and nature herself, with her
deluging streams and fierce tfrusts of
seems 10 partake in and to reflect the
chaos of the moral world. Where
hatred, deceit and egoism are outrage
Gus, love is deep and still, a pure and
quiet fount of blessing; Cordelia ut
tiers no passionate cutlery, but all that
is of virtuous power in the play organ
ICES itself about her, or unconsciously
takes part with her. She dies as the
martyr of love. but when her father
falls upon her body and his strong.
worn heart at last breaks through ex-
cess OF strain, ne is looking for that I'M
uttered word of love upon her lips. the
very expectation OF which has saved
him from despair and moral death.
Cordelia dies, but love is not defeated
Edward Dowden.
king Lear" is the greatest task
Shakespeare ever set himself. the most
extensive and the most imposing-all
the suffering and horror that can arise
from the relation between father and
his children, expressed in five acts of
moderate length.
No modern mind has dared to face
such a subject; nor could any one have
grappled with it. Shakespeare did so
without even trace of effort, by virtue
of the overpowering mastery which he
now. in the meridian OF his genius, had
attained over the whole of human life.
He handles his theme with the easy
vigor that belongs TO spiritual health,
though we have here scene upon scene
of such intense Dathos that we seem
to hear the sobs of suffering humanity
accompanying the action. much as one
hears by the sea shore the steady plash
and sob of the waves.
Under what conditions did Shakes
peare take hold of this subject? The
drama tells plainly enough. He stood
at the turning point of human life; he
had lived about foIty-two years; ten
years of life still lay before him. but
of these certainly not more than seven
were intellectually productive. He now
brought that which makes life worse
than death face to face with that which
makes life worth living-the very