Omaha daily bee., 1903-01-18

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sonation Of Hamlet; he may have missed
tctual greatness himself, but he has done
lomething infinitely more serviceable to the
people OF New York. even II the relief be
1nly temporary. He has set the critics to
:alking about something besides tho dirt"
lrama, and the columns Of the metropolitan
press are for the time at least free from
he competition which had for its sole APP
parent end only to determine in how many
ways and under what diaphanous verbal
srapery the critic might allude to and yet
conceal certain unspeakable habits of peo-
lie. II is reasonably certain that the quid
iuncs will later return to the interminable
argument which has been carried on since
he beginning with the end as far on now
Is IL was then. But Just now Hamlet" has
ne center of the stage, and is target for de-
,ates. learned, lucid. pedantie or turbid.
tut none agreeing. In his very instructive
sunday column MIR. John Corbin of the New
FORK Times sums up as follows;
Nowhere~in his (Shakcspeare's) works is
he poetryfof the lines 80 even and stately.
10 trimming with images of fervid beauty,
Nowhere does the wit flash more keenly,
nowhere are the characters drawn with so
irm a hand and with such rich and varied
iumor. nowhere is the ideal OF the ~princely
Tentleman go forcibly and delicately por-
rayed. nowhere does the mind reach out
MO EuGh NAEAaE VI EonA-NuNAlNAAANk nj
This Is what hitherto has wrought confu-
don in the mind OF the critical, this ming
ing OF the action OF a crude melodrama
", revenge with the highest flights OF the
human imagination. In bringing out the
lramatic elements OF the play, insofar as
hey do not detract from what is peculiarly
lhakespearan, Mr.. Sothern is splendidly
ight. He with be suI more right when he
combines with this a fuller measure OF the
,ecuiiarly shakespearean. The researches
4 the past decade have done the world this
~erviCe, that they have brushed away most
lerhaps all, OF the old cobwebs OF mystery
nd uncertainty spun In the minds of the
nbjectivei critics of the nineteenth century.
The Hamlet OF the twentieth century need
Ie indehnable only as amy work OF the
Imagination Is undesirable. There will be
cant room for the new readings that
ave plagued us all so In the past. Now
nat we are aware Of the facts in the evolu-
Ton of this drama. Hamlet has become as
istinct and Ineligible a character as Mac
ieth. othello or Lear.
But MT. James Hunneker OF the Sun.
Vho has apparently been INDUCING IN
m form OF pabulum that affects the
rental much as a badly done Welsh
abbit does the physical nature Of man,
esolutely declines to take this cheerful
lew OF the situation. On the contrary,
10 holds out every hope and encourage
aent to the peculiarly minded people who
ellght in searching out hidden meanings
nd who from time to time astound the
Forld with productions which no one car
Understand. and which the authors them
elves decline TO explain land which the
'sordid' people who battle regularly insls
pon looking at as only evi'
enee CT some stage OF paresii
T other form Of cerebral decay
Ir. Hunneker turns his back on the Ham
et Of he dead and gone nineteenth cen
ury and hopefully looks forward TO TN
gro Of the twentieth. or some other, cen.
ury. Just exactly what he means is no
ouchsafed 10 the sitter without th'
soterie circle Of literature, the light o
ghich barely serves 20 dimly Hume tn
Ry Of these privileged TO enter and leaves
OF even . struggling ray for the darkness