The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-03-26
oTHE TRAGIC IDEAL"
Theme of Opening Lecture Given
by Professor S. Il. Clark
Of Chicago,

The opening lecture of the course 20
be given by Professor S. H. clark ot
the University of Chicago was deAEeIeu
Yesterday afternoon at Barratt hall pc
fore an appreciative audience, Wnlch
filled the hall. The topic chosen, i ne
Tragic Ideal, was one Introductory 20
the course. the subjects being all class
ical Mr. Clark said in part:
I'm AN tragic art there is first OF an
the spiritual theme, which reeurs
throughout the story The aim of the
tragic writer's has not been 20 depict
the dark side of human nature alone
but to illuminate this Theme IN such d
manner as TO make real lie more Lul
TO has been the portrayal Of Ideal not
unread personalities In the great crises
of their lives. There is In human ma
ture a desire TO escape the tragic IN art
as in life. and a desire for the appar-
emily optimistic drama as found on the
modern stage.
Man Is inclined to delude himself
with the hope that he may turn his
back on the tragedy of life. and so ne
takes up lighter fiction and lighter
drama, that ne may sec only the ap-
parent success. The great tragic writ
ers have shown us how to meet the
real tragedy in our own lives, and al
though our own powers of appreeia-
tiOn for the best in all classic litera-
ture may be atrOphied. We should en-
deavor TO lift our children upon our
shoulders that they may have the ad-
vantage Of a wider horizon. We are
too prone to regard the so-called prac-
teal things as Of too much Importance
and TO leave the power Of feeling un-
developed.
tss-o motto. por,, oOr,u,arofaI O na0DIa
may be. the standard by which they
are judged is their literary standard.
Literature is the dominant note in the
life Of a community, and the quality
of the literature is the measure in a
sociological as well as Il literary sense.
7 would rather have my child unable 20
spell, and not knowing North America
from New South Wales than to have
him unable 10 thrill at the stories OF
heroic deeds. This ability TO feel is the
practical test. after all.
such men as Shakespeare, Dante,
Milton, Homer. Euripides. Aeschylus
SOphOCles and Goethe were all Of them
practical business men, and thelI
work is all tragedy. Tragedy is the
struggle of a soul against eternal law
and the purpose of tragedy is TO teach
us how TO face the great problems OF
I
not the worst, that there is an ulti-
mate triumph, that material success is
not the only success. and, above all ID
shows us the knowledge of our own
strength and our own weakness. Such
/ characters as COrdelia, ImOgen and
DesdemOna did not fail ultimately, and
although death was the result. 10 was
/ a glorious death. and not such as came
/ 20 lagO, 20 Macbeth or 10 Cassius
I Above all tragedy teaches us that In
/ the realm of will man is omnipotent
as God himself"
During the afternoon Mr.. Clark told
/ the story of Armgart and in closing
/ dwelt on The beauties in the tragedy
/ of Faust" i'm which the character OF
/ Marguerite presents the strongest eX-
/ ample Of moral courage shown in fic-
/ ton.
/ The dramatic recital last evening was
! a revelation to the audience. The YER
sion OF Paola and Francesca chosen
/ was that written by Stephen Phillips
and the intense tragedy of the play
| the beauty of the thought and the depth
I of feeling were all admirably shown by
the reader. Perhaps the most intense
part was that Of old Lucretia, which
/ was portrayed with great power The
/ audience, Of course compared the play
with the stage version, and the com
| parison was On favor Of the tragedy as
I presented by MT Clark
The topic for this afternoon is "Mac-
/ BETH" a tragedy Of the will and the
! hour is o'clock sharp. on account OF
/ the short time between the Afternoon
I and the evening, the time for the even
/ ing lectures has been changed TO $50
| TOnights subject is an interpretativt
| recital Of King Lear" a tragedy OF
/ sacrifice.