Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1907-08-09
AFTER SHAKESPEARE AGAIN.
Shakespeare is at Least No Worse Than the
Old Testament for Indecency.

The Ministers Alliance of Nash
vile, Tenn, is reported as having
declared the plays of Shapespeare to
be immoral. OF course this is an
old attack that has long been going
on sporadically, the ShakeSpearian
drama continuing in popularity all
the while.
The man who can read the plays
of Shakespeare with scholarly care.
and then conceive that in their broad
reach and trend they are immoral.
must have an erratic type of mind
or a supersensitive moral nature.
To be sure there are things in Shake
spcarc'S writings that do not sound
well in our age of more advanced
culture. for it was the custom of the
Elizabethan age to state things more
boldly than we do now But in
reading the plays, with all the array
of brilliant persOnageS, who feels that
immortality is presented for its own
sake or in 4 light that. makes it in
any way attractive? Furthermore.
many additions of Shakespeare. es-
pecially those used in schools, are ex-
purgated, the rougher lines being
smOothed away, and on the stage
when Shakespeare is played the ac-
tors who can present the plays sue
ceSSfully have no time and too much
talent to seek to introduce immoral
suggestions If these preachers would
get right down to brass tacks, in
consideration of this matter, they
will admit that the Bible contains
immoral passages, as bad. if not
| worse. thnn is to be found in the
works of Shakespeare.
Take for example, the songs of
Solomon. When it comes to IA mat
ter of suggestive language. where in
all the works of the dramatist in
question will be found anything of
more immoral suggestion. Gee. At
ter reading the vocal selection of
Solomon. then reading all of Shake
speare's plays and verse, and com
pairing the immoral language of the
two works, is the difference between
a bottle of It's the water" and a
, bottle of soda-pop, in favor of Shake
spcare.
This thing of condemning the whole
works of man because of few inn
projections has become attenuated
with long use in Shakespeare case
and is gradually being laid away.
Why don't these Nashville, Tenn,
moral cOnservatorS condemn the
whole Bible because the canticles of
Solomon are suggestive. Hey! They
or anyone else, who cling to anti
quated ideas about Shakespeare in
this twentieth century will find it
hard to kick against the pricks
is read more than ever, he is apprec-
lated more than ever, those who
present him on the stage play to
crowded houses. the high tension of
Juliet'S infatuation, the supreme
strength, without maSculinity, and
noble womanhood, of POrtia, the
virtue of Imogen. all continue to
educate and please in healthful way
scholarly men puzzle more than ever
over Hamlet's character, the terrible
Nemesis that hauntS the footsteps OF
crime are warning to all who fol-
low Macbeth'S s downward course, and
have YOU ever witnessed Louis James
in his conception of Falstaff? If you
have, you surely will frankly admit
that FalStatf still remains the fun
niest character in all literaturp.
1t will be hard matter for the
bigots of Nashville, Tenn, to con
vince the public in this age of schol
arly criticism that the plays of Shake
Speare are immoral.
See Prov. VII, 6 to %.
LuE +. VERNON.