The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-01-04

mind. we shall find it easy to identify
the more important feats and strokes
IN the present play. Shakespeare, be
cause of the nature Of his material, was
obliged to resort to art at the very
outset. The hero and title character
is Of a supposed inferior and degraded
race-a Moor. 1t would have been fu-
tile to assume the interest of the audi
ence in such a parsonage, for the thing
has been tried unSuccessfully in litera-
ture and oratoTy often enough by 9TH
ers. LongfellOw experimental with
Hiawatha as a hero, presenting him
precisely as If he were Of AnglO-SaXOn
blood and name; but though the pro-
duct is IN reality a character perhaps
as noble at OthellO, we find il almost
impossible TO take il seriously. Mrs
Aphra Behn wrote a novel, "OronOkoo,
with a West India negro for the hero,
with like methods and results; and
Wendell Phillips did not much better
in his Grafton on "TOussaint rOuveT-
ture" There is a race prejudice in such
cases that no author may ignore.
Shakespeare by his tact fOresaw just
how his audience or reader would nat
urally regard OthelIO and found a way
to present the character so as to seem
really fascinating. There are but Two
steps in the process: First, miSlead
imagination, then diSabuse it; degrade
the given personality, then correct it
by revealing its worth and nobleness.
SO here Shakespeare. before he lets US
see his hero, makes Iago and Roderigo
I belle him viciOusly. When we discover
at the opening Of scene the injustice
of their enmity we ind aroused in US
the partiality for OthellO that the piece
requires If you wish to engender sym
pathy for a man in your community
who perhaps is not much thought Of,
/ get somebody to traduce him publicly.
To launch his chief character Shakes
peare uses thus an evident principle Of
human nature constantly illustrated in
outside life.
The next important problem taxed
the authors art more seriously. In an
elopement such as here our sympathies
of course are with the parent as against
the daughter. Shakespeare must make
US unequivocally decide against the
father. and in the face of the traditions
and conventions of good order and good
society. We at the first assume, so far
as we are conscious Of preDossessions
at all, that Desdemona is no wiser or
better than she should be to leave a
patrician home likes hers and run off
lsgith a biackamooT. she ought TO have
realized her privileges and kept the
respect Of her friends. But the mo-
ment that we have seen OthellO and
caught the significance Of his noble and
fearless bearing we unconsciOusly in
dOrss Desdemona's choice. And when
presently her father is made known to
US. in his grand faith in his daughter
integrity and devotion, we do not feel
the least interest in him. but on the
contrary think him rightly served. If
we lived in the same street or city
with him we should feel quite different
~. Perhaps not one in a thousand
among the readers Of this play even
stops to realize the plight of BrabantiO,
as he goes back to his empty palace to
die of a broken heart, with no whit of
sympathy from his brother senators or
from us. He is a good man-perhaps
the worthiest male parsonage in the
play-but Shakespeare has made Us ig-
more that. He is high bred and Of the
selectest culture, Kut we do not care.
He is doubtless a collector OF Greek
manuscripts and antique gems, like
Romola's father. yet it does not signify
one i0t. But It would signify very
much indeed if Shakespeare did not
stand between us and the man.
How has the author succeeded in
making US so ungenercus and unjust?
As has just been said, he could not do
this with a real BrabantiO. living in our
circle or our sight. He must have stir
red our prejudice against the man and
have kept from US the truer more char
acteristic things That, in a book is
not so hard to do The problem. we
shall ind. is after all a simple one.
shakespeare has but to introduce him
to US without his dSsssing gown and
get him rebuked by the BLACKBOARD
Iago. who has come merely 70 do Othel-
10 mischief. The rebuke is, Of course,
unmerited The folks OF this time wore
no clothing in bed, and Braban1i0,
aroused by the cry Of thieves" could
hardly be expected to stop for clothing
till ne knew whether the simmons was
warranted. Iago but pretends. since
Brabantio is protected By the darkness
from exposure. to be scandalized He