The San Francisco call., 1899-11-20

the sins OF a first parent: but whatever
explanation may be attempted, the awful
fact remains tf1at men everywhere suffer
for what they are not individually 10
blame. Religion has its home In this mys-
terry. This mystery becomes a touchstone
by which men are separated into two
great classes. One man. with sublime
faith, submits himself 10 the divine order
Let come on me what will
Though He slay me; yet will l trust in
Him; while another stands in open re-
bellion or sullen silence. In this differ
ence. mystery in itself. lies the whole
secret of the religious attitude OF men.
We somehow think OF the attitude OF Job
as the nobler OF the two. Compassion for
the sorrows OF men and submission 20 the
divine will are the highest reaches OF the
human spirit: and IL is precisely these ef-
fects that Aristotle saw in the master
pieces Of Greek tragedy. In Sophocles
and Aeschylus we find the noblest concep-
tions OF the Greek religion.
Fail not in susht that is right.
Seeing great and terrible deaths
Many and strange forms OF woe
And nothing where Zeus is not.
But Shakespeare needed no Greek to re-
veal 10 him these primal laws Of our be-
ing. More than once the stricken deer had
crossed his path. Full oft in the jostling
life OF the capital had he seen
Captive good attending captain H.
He had himself borne the full share OF
1.-The whips and scorns OF time" but ne
had not lost a sense OF the beauty Of in
nocence and courage and personal devo-
tion. And so out of his own full heart
he shows US all these with a realism at
times overwhelming; and We weep over
the sorrows OF men and stand awestricken
In the presence OF the cslamiues that
strain. Our hearts are bowed our pride
repressed. AS We see Hamlet approach
ing with fainting heart his last encounter
with iniQuity and treachery and wrong.
We hear him cry. III IL be now. tbs not
to come; II II be not TO come IL will be
now. IL IL be not now. yet II will come.
the readiness is all" And I'm this cry we
seem TO hear the very voice OF the mighty
poet himself-"the readiness is all"
Owing TO the absence OF authentic de-
tails as TO Shakespeares life and charac-
ter the question has been much mooted
as TO how far his plays furnish materials
for history OF his moods and of his con-
victions. on this point there can never
he entire agreement. And vet admitting
as we do the danger and the folly OF dog
matiZing on these matters. a careful 80
animation OF the plays in the order OF
their production (an order now we'll es-
tablished for the most part) makes IL diff
ficult TO resist the conclusion that between
the ages OF 30 and A. Shakespeare passed
through period Of deep spiritual an
tragedies. from Julius Caesar" 10 Corr
olanus. and the biting satirical comedies.
comparison OF these with the latest
group. written probably after his return
TO Stratford reveals TO US a man VINO
fought his way through the valley OF De-
spond 10 the serene atmosphere OF the
heights beyond.
All pains the immortal spirit must endure
All weakness which impairs. all griefs which
bow,
Find their sole speech in that victorious brow
The central characteristic of every real
drama Is conflict. On the one hand there
must be a person Tor persons) 10 DE en-
tangled. and over against these stands .he
entangling agency. In the first group Is
found the hero. or heroine. or both The
center OF our interest and sympathy: on
the other side We find the hostile agency
or agencies. natural or supernatural seek
ing TO thwart or destroy. In tragedy This
conflict must be OF such "a kind that the
hero can find no escape from the tolls
Step by step We see him crowded TO the
brink where he Is to be finally enCulfed
AS before indicated the conflict must
be unequal from the start I'm order thai
the proper ends of tragedy may be real
ized-compassion and religious awe. The
character and condition OF the hero must
be such that We can feel kinship with him
In his sorrows and defeat, can see in the
fatal struggle the ruin OF a typical hu-
man life, ruin to which We ourselves
might be subject II thus mysterfouslv he
set. The hero, too. must be a person 10
excite general interest always one Of
some repute In the social or political