The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1905-02-11
SHAk SP EARE.
(Contributed.)


AS some great artist sketches his
:, | characters on the canvas. feature BY
e feature. so Shakespeare illustrates the
pages of history by his historical dra
mas. With ever-growfng wonder we
see under the masters hand men aHe
women. dim with the dust of ages
phaHtoI1s of dead years. vivihed by the
touch of his pen moving in glowing
, colors, great procession before our
! eyes Here standing out in bold relief
we see the figure of some king. majestic
in the garb of noble deeds; there may
hap queen, beauteous i'll the robe Of
spotless womanhood, while in the
shadow turks the villain moving,
breathing, acting, and all portrayed
with a truth revealing the consumnate
genius and art OF the great artifieer.
In all the wondrous pageantry we
read the lessons Of life-row the frailty
of human ambition:
'Life's but a walking shadow. A
poor player that struts and frets his
hour upon the stage, and then is heard
no more" now the beauty of a life well
lived, again the hidden power of the
TESTERS role. the empty pomp of kings.
In the drama of King John Shakes
peare has painted a critical period of
English history and has so caught the
| troublous atmosphere of the epoch that
| lived While the drama itself would
not appeal to me in an uplifting way,
and is indeed disappointing after read
| ing some of his finer works. still We
must admire the fine discrimination
| with which Shakespeare brings out the
strength of some characters. the weak
ness of others, contrasting them strik-
| ingly.
| So subtle is the kings controversy
II j
| woven with the political revolt in Eng
! land that only scholars profoundly
! versed in medieval history civil and
| ecclesiastic, dare hope to treat this all
| important phrase of the drama.
| We would like very much to see the
| gentle Arthur take the leading role on
| the stage. but We must confess that the
! heroic virtues of the ,bOy-prince are
somewhat overshadowed by the strong
er. though detestable personality of
John, who in his capacity of villain
holds our most absorbed attention. AS
for Philip of France, called Augustus,
designing and polite, he does not hesi-
tate to break all his solemn promises
to Constance. which lack of fidelity
certainly justifies her invocation. Arm,
arm you heavens, against these per-
jured kings"
Shakespeare has done but scant JUS
tice to Louis the Lion, who with all his
youthful ardor and gallantry seems to
stand in the shadow of the stronger
men of the period.
Constance possesses undoubtedly the
most striking personality and IS
brought before our minds vividly in all
her phases.
She certainly is a strange composite:
now we see her, a woman naturally
born to fears, now a very whirlwind
of passion. exclaiming, War! war, no
peace; peace is to me war; Pleading
and tempestuous in the same breath.
we see her rising from the most pro.
found gloom of dispair to the sub
liInest of sorrow; now in the utter
abandonment of grief crying out: "Oh.
that my tongue were in the thunder's
mouth" again with lofty dignity in
her words:
Here ] and sorrow sit
Here is my throne: bid kings come
bow to it,"
Elinor. in her younger days, fiery
and imprudent, is in the evening of her
life. cautious and slow to open hostil-
ity. Thus at the rupture between
France and England she speaks:
This might have been prevented and
made whole.
With very easy arguments of love,
Which now the manage of two king
doms must
With fearful bloody issue, arbitrate"
In the study of her character we must
put aside the youthful Eleanor OF
France, and consider only Elinor. the
mother of John, usurping king of Eng
land. UndoUhf :stiy ambitious for her
son, she yet -ssllzes the unrighteous- |
ness Of his claim and acknowledges the |
same in her words To him:
Your strong position much more
than your right:
'Or else ii must go wrong with you |
and me.
$50 much my conscience whispers in |
my ear, (addmg Enthusiastically
which none but heaven, and you.
and 1 shall lear!
One Of orr great actors has said that |
Shakespeare has no heroes, but that !
nearly all his i"sding women are hero
ines. In King John we have an in
stance of two heroines. very different |
in type. for that reason almost evenly
balancing.
Between Constance and Elinor is /
drawn a strong contrast, merging at
times into a parallel. for though es-
pecially at first reading Constance en-
lists our warmest sympathy. while we
have no feeling for Elinor. still it would
be rather difficult in either case to
know exactly where mother love ends
and ambition begins.
So while we think Constance the most
of women it would hardly be
true to accuse EIinor of being intensely
masculine. ThF distinguishing traits of
Leopold of Austria. introduced into the
drama probably to Offset King Johns
protege, Falconbridge the bastard.
may be summed up in the words of
Thou little valiant. great in villainy.
Thou ever strong upon the stronger
side, .
Thou wear lions hide, doff it for
shame
And hang calf's skin on those rec
'eant limbs!"
AS we read farther and farther into
he pages of King John. the cold. dull
light of the foot notes fades from our
the glamor of the foot
lights comes upon us. and gradually
wen in the raTlting villain we find the
ting, in the passionate women. the
queens in the gentle boy the claimant
or throne. while in the chatter of the
ester we hear the underlying philoso
,hy of the sage-WilIiam Shakespeare.
DAISY MAGINNIS.
'0o, Sacred Heart Academy, Ogden.