The Washington times., 1903-11-01
Mrs. FiSke as Hedda GabIeT
Ibsen's Unlovely Heroine Presented in
Repulsive Naturalness.

Mrs. F1ske deprecates the influence of
Ibsen on the stage. but she does not
oepreeiate his genius. To the occasional
personation of his heroines-yielding
thus TO the fascination Of his themes
and scorning the sordid claims of the
box ofice-she brings an understanding
all the finer for it's reluctance to evil
in the drama and its resistance to ma
tsrial consideration. Her Hedda Gabler,
seen at the Manhattan Theater by an
exceptionally intelligent audience that
confessed its haIf-wiIling admiration, is
s. certain to be remembered as one OF
the compellant achievements OF her ca
reer.
There have been let loose upon Ibsen
deluges Of laudation and abuse as idi-
otic. for the most part. as the drivel
of the Bacon-Shakespeare controversy;
and there have been smeared upon his
dramas acres OF oleaginous comment
about as Illuminating as the delibers-
tions Of a Browning society in eclipse
How the vain old man OF Norway must
smile at II all-smile as he sits IN a
public cafe studying his admiring fel-
low citizens. whom he viii presently
make pictures of-pictures that are so
tfous comment misspent upon them be-
comes merely an amazing confession Of
the public's inherent unwnlingness 10 ac-
cept a plain. unpanoplieG reality-truth.
Ibsen's Clinical Methods.
Ibsen's method is clinical, but you
need not go into the clinic to find Hedda
Gablers. You can see them around you
every day-not common. perhaps. but
not rare It is conceivable that some OF
the serene-cyed women in the audience
squirmed in their chairs. or at least felt
a self-consciousness as If a photographer
had trained his lens upon them The
woman Mrs. Fiske showed us has been
described by others besides Ibsen.
Thackeray mentioned some phases of
her character; Kipling called her "a rag
and a bone and a hank Of hair"
IT VIII not do to say that Hedda Ca
bier was abnormal. except in this: That
too many unworthy qualities were dom
inantly blended in her. She was cruel
81 her childhood. for her school COM
panions were afraid OF her. She grew
up a willful. elflsh. discontented. beauti-
ful girl. If she was ever taught the
usefulness Of life she speedily forgot
the lesson. She danced till she was
tired. and then, as somebody must real
II take care Of her, she Married George
Tcsman. whom she despised. Her we'd
ding journey wearied and disgusted her.
Having laid up no store of sympathies
gainst the sterile years. she saw life
stretching bleak and hard and dry ahead
OF her. In her cold and selfish heart
there was no love. no pity-not even
self-love or self-pity. She said there
was nothing for her to do but sit and
bore herself 70 death. So she did.
Unequal to Her Chance.
One thing she wanted-power owe
men; 10 hold A human destiny in he
grasp. But when her chance came foI
that she was not equal to it. Frail
pale little Mrs. Elvsted was strongel
than that. and in leaving her husband
for her lover had done the thing Hedds
had not the courage for And that lover
being the man Hedda more nearly LOVED
shan any other creature, she set dispas
sionately about making them both a.
unhappy as herself To this end sh,
burned Eilert Lovberg's precious manu-
script, tempted Lovberg TO drink, anC
gave him a pistol with which to shoe
himself. Even all these rnachinationi
did not relieve her ennui. and when As
SCISSOR Brack came TO her and told he
that. because there would be a scanda
Il the police found out II was her pisto
Lovberg had killed himself with, sh.
was now In his power. she smiled wear
lly at her defeat.
With as little passion or bitterness OF
anger or any positive feeling as she hac
shown in her running OF other lives, she
played a few gay strains on the piano
end killed herself with the dupIicaf4
or the pistol Lovberg had used. In hel
death II is impossible not 10 feel thai
nothing IN her life became her Ilk,
the leaving II"
Unable to Love.
The criticism has been made that ir
Mrs Fiske's persOnation OF Hedda ths
mote OF ultimate tragic despair" wa,
lacking Therein, indeed, lay the very
nicety~ OF the performance. Despair
was not In Hedda's repertoire. Despair
presupposes desires, feeling. passion
love. Hedda could not even hate; sh,
only despised- She could not love: sh,
old fancied. The nearest she came Z
the display Of passion was when sh,
burned the manuscript: but how trivia
and evanescent that passion seemed
compared. say. with Bessie's. when. II
The Light that Failed. she destroyed
she picture Of ''Melancholia!" How
weak and poor a thing, with ali hel
brilliancy and beauty. was Hedda. AND
get, dare we say, how real a character
Mrs Fiske was ice-a lovely icicl,
giistening in the winter sun, with Z
sharp. hard point that in its own faI
dealt death. In her algid brilliancy sh,
was AT times almost appalling One fell
that those who kissed her must hav,
felt their lips freeze at the contact
~ If they had touched tongue to q
frosty door plate on "a January morn.
ing Her words burned like drops ol
liquid hydrogen. Her soul was a geliC
vacancy. lighted by the northern light,
Of a brief expiring day-New York Mai