The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-09-16
NEWS OF THE BOOK WORLD
Was Brutus crazy?-Theory Advanced
that shakspere's Portrayal OF the Roman
Was Meant to Be That Of one
Whose Mind Showed Signs Of "com-
nenclng Alienation" - Brdseye View
OF the Making OF the Nation.

It is really going to become necessary
to have literary probate court to pass;
upon the sanity of characters in litera 3
ture. There is that long standing case
of Hamlet's and now there comes an in
slstence upon the theory that Shakes
pere's Brutus was crazy.
Dr. Edward Farquhar in The Open;
Court for September argues in support
OF the theory, not that Brutus was a
maniac, but that there was just a tainr
of lunacy in his mental make up. Even
that would be too strong for the DOCTOR
perhaps, for he shrinks even from calling
Brutus' state 'oneS Of aacertain alien.
alton, or incipient arrangement Still
his idea is that Brutus was Soft" how
ever slight the offness.5 He bases this
upon 1.-THE Contradiction In Julius Ce-
sar, third scene of Act w, where
Brutus directly denies all tidings from
his wife, having a moment before dis
closed the news Of her death to Cas-
sius..' DR.. Farquhar holds that the i'm
pulse at the bottom of this denial was
Brutus'' mental Perturbation. His argu-
ment runs in part thus:
Brutus had walked the course of prosperous
greatness and had borne himself in the simple
magnanimity of the oden time The former
man OF all the world had fallen before him; but
instead Of ending, the task had scarce begun,
ana there was greater than the greatest for him
to overcome. The spirit laid has rcappeared-
as Is to be seen more wildly little further on;
ana dissolution is about his yitals. He and
Cassius are the two very hands of the state-and
they fly apart, and clash and tear each other.
stu nearer is his lot invaded Portia is dead,
and Of grief at his adversely. Yet he is not
to sink under the trials sent. His powers draw
together, and abide prepared to set the hostile
universe at defiance. 1t is the thrilling moment
when the hero is strengthened instead Of weak
ened by disaster; it is that commencing aliena.
ton of the powerful, not the paltry spirit where
for the time he seems the more self-contained
anu efective not the less; all his fiber drawn
SO tense and hard that he rings when you strike
him. This is one shining instant when his per-
sonal strength Is at its highest; but he is rush
Ing to inevitable ruin because he is out of har
mOny with the movement of events Insanity is
! Of course, a sort of inequality or unmatch with
the environment, but at this dividing hour he
seems. superior rather than inferior to it, with
such force are his faculties thrown back upon
themselves; which is in itself sign Of the
breach.
| e.. - / y 4
Watch him now in the consultation Chat OF
tages which the more experienced eye Of Cassiu.
sees, tho appearing all sublimely considerable him
self, he rushes toward the catastrophe. The
ever, but hallucination folds him round. Their,
can be no silence no repose. for that haunted
soul. He must hear music, he must read Al
under fate, he grows automatic and mechani
cal; tongue and hand have lost their helm
The book he searched for, he had already place.
in his gown. And now the last seal is opened
Gesar,s ghost appears. 49,. .trsTr
| One point In the conclusion. specially tallie
with this view of the mental phase--the suicid
of Brutus. %..s =, ="
Here is a problem surely to puzzle over
but we could have wished that it had bee
postponed until we had Hamlet safel
locked In a nadhouse or else for
ever safe from getting into one. If w
could only have some such court or com
mission as that suggested; the averag
reader of Shakspere would, not have t
waste his gray matter; the gray matte
of the commission. could be made a vi
/ CariOuS offering, . ~+...- II