Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1902-03-06
19EuFA~N~sFCExp--aI
PARk ER'S
LECTURE AT THE NEW CENTURY CLUB.

The last of the series Of lectures on
Shakespeare by Prof. Stockton Arson
was delivered Monday afternoon week.
These lectures havl been we'll attended
and the philosophical discussion of the
characters stllIit,3 was full of interest
and threw new light upon Them The
Tragedies previously considered shuw
the law of human responsibility. ;hat
those wEo cave offended against q
great moral law most pay the penalty
Of thelrUwn insleGtis, hut the triErijgs
Of Othello ana King Lear indieatn /.
5arkcr problem, IDr they show We
sutfeliug Of tie Innocent thai rais
fortune is tist the lot of the righteous.
The consequences of an acG are Vast
and far reaching and man is nord
| slave to the results of his own doug;
he is his deeds creature. George Eliot
said deeds are like children born 10
u.s. they live and act apart from our
own Wills children may be strangled,
deeds never. Shakespeare illustrates
| this indeStrnetihlc power OF human
deeds. Antony resolved to cast aside
temptation and return to Rome at the
call of duty and he seemed to have
turned over white page, but rarely
can man conquer the habits tnat
have taken him in their tolls and soon
/ he declared ~ the east my pleasure
lies He felt shame in yielding, but
made no real effort to resist the shame;
| he was mo longer Il man but tenl-
| permanent. Macbeth chose evil, but
hoped after one murder to be at ease,
but he was the victim Of his deed and
plunged into u fury of murder. lie had
once been Il free agent but had become
the prey of Nemesis, and in the dialogue
In tx,hf fNf
the increasing power ii evil over him
One of them says on his approach. :" BY
the pricking of my thumb, something
evil this way comes Hamlet paltared
with his conscience and grew weaker
with each failure until at last his
hesitating will let loose wide de-
structicn. In Julius Caesar we have
an impressive illustration Brutus tried
to kill an idea with his dagger; he had
no quarrel with Caesar, only hated
Ciesarism but found that Caesar dead
was more powerful than Caesar living.
Fate is only the law OF responsibility
carried II Stei, farther il is even
handed justice demanding payment for
error and we do not domur even If the
final payment seems cut of proportion
to the debt but protest when those
must pay who are not guilty, when
nhSGlnS taxes ! WIDER sweep ana draws
into its net the innocent. But one life
touches so many other lives and Othello
and King Lear are passive victims OF
the ulalign will of Others and do not
deserve the appalling doom that falls
: on them. Othello, with the blunt
honesty Of soldier, was untitled for
+ tho suptistication of Venetian life and
was an easy victim of the wiles OF Iago.
OF King Lear Thackeray says lit is
the most relentless picture of human
: suffering in all literature; too terrible
J for tears. . Shakespeare did not, like
Q Browning. seek clue to the mysteries
that follow life; he did not venture
t beyond the portals of that sum tota
$ of all lnisfortunes. death. y The dirt
$ woe he deals TO those who deserved
y happiness seems to bring him near the
t modern pessimists, Hardy and lola
7 but unlike them he shows that though
/, individuals fail and perish the progress
q of the world is not stopped, their suffer
= ings have not been in vain, for thu
q hearts OF mon are made tenderer by it
2 that the dominion of earthly evil is bu
g temporary; seeds of i'll were sown bu
S the good was stronger; the cry fo
vengeance was in the end tho voice D
u justice and righteousness works thougl
I. through human means. He took tn
IS long view Of human life and out o
: failure forged the weapons of success
q A. S.