The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-05-24

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li-tino mall countries Nu d"nlist him
golf In respect of biz beliefs ne to th"
iutufr poa-ihiliics ~ tho human ricc,
hc Is M avow"d sccpt,c and u defiant
cynic ~ regards his estimation u exist
ing men. and also ~ existing institu-
'ions, political and soolnI When. how
ever, the storm NJ ohloQuy and rcproach
had subsidized and the cloud ~ mlsCnn-
ccption had been dlsprllcd, u cam" 10
be generally recognized. even IN Eng
land and the United States. that u gr"nt
heart seaTchcr. mind yIrC"r and truth
revcalcr had arisen. II was perceived
that lBsEs's mission was To arouse men
10 q comprehension Of themselves. IL
also came 10 be Acknowledged that
while sq,icamishncss might be rcvolted
by his plainncss Of speech, he was at
bottom n stern and uncompromising
reformcr. His austerity, his grimness,
his severity, recall the attitude of a
Hebrew prophet.
From the technical point Of view
IBsEN's method was revolutionary, for
his pieces begin whore most plays are
on the point Of ending, and the interest
of his dramas is almost exclusively
psychological, or rather, pathological.
The plays by which he will longest DO
remembered set forth the conclusion
that we feel TO be unavoidable from the
premises of a given problem in character
or social circumstance, 1t must not be
inferred, however, because IBsEN carries
analysis to extraordinary lengths, that
he talks about his drdmdtts persona in
stead of letting them reveal their natures
by utterance or act. Nolong and ex plan
atory monologues are needed by him to
place the spectator en- rapport with the
figures OIL the stage. His characters are
real personalities; each presents a con-
sistent individuality in thought, language
and behavior.
Above all, it may be said of IBsEN, as
II has been said Of SUDERMANN, that
although his subjects are drawn from
everyday life they are invested with a
charm of atmosphere and n potency of
suggestiveness that eliminate the COM
monplace. He is not a Christian; APP
parently he is not even a deist. We
should rather call him an agnostic.
Nevertheless, through all of his best
work run the deep, underlying thought
of the Greek drama that in the moral
world law rules. He often depicts vice,
but for him it has no fascination; pun
ishment dogs it as relentlesslya as Nemesis
pursued Orestes, or as remorse overlook
Macbeth. The divine lawgiver we may
abjure, as we may evade penal statutes;
but IBsEN teaches that, SO long as human
beings dwell together in organized So
cieties they are subject to a moral law
that is fenced about and enforced by
penalties from which there is no appeal,
law which men must obey or incur
the retribution which, by the very ma
ture Of things, attends its violation, a
law by whose mysterious and resistless
workings goodness on this earth har-
vests blessings, while the evildoer reaps
curse.
No sane and sober minded person
would exaggerate IBsEN's peculiar mer-
its by comparing him to SoPHoCLEs or
SHAKESPEARE. Yet it was given to him
to exhibit, to an extent unparalleled in
recent times, the specific and sovereign
quality which was so conspicuous and
so memorable in the Greek and Eliza
dramatists. BY him, as by them,
merely surface phenomena, evanes-
cent manners and ephemeral ideals, but
the primal truths and basic realities were
bodied forth upon the stage in shapes Of
or Of terror. Like them, he
no particular moral, but by
poignant or appalling examples drove
home to the ~quivering conscience the
moral lesson of human life. Like them
he was a philosopher, teaching and
preaching through consummate works
Of art; an artist in whom a thinker was
a%rticulate.