New-York tribune., 1907-10-31

SEo. Inc Macmillan Company.
SHAKESPEARE AS A DRAMATIC THINKER
BY Richard G. Moulton. svo pp S7a The
Macmillan Company.
The modern historical treatment of literary
heroes seems at first glance akin 10 polite
;conoclasm. in that IL aims toward a disclosure
Of petty details. borrowings revislons. and all
The other minute incidents in the work Of writ
Ing which may indicate the extent to which an
author is the child Of his age and a very human
child at that. In Professor Bakers interesting
volume this iconoclastic tendency is so gracious
ly yeiled that, after following the record Of the
bard's progress from the Sonnets TO the TEN
pest" one might well doubt whether an old idol
had been cast down or new one set up The
suthor, representing the evolutionary school of
literary criticism, endeavors to establish the oft
neglected fact that Shakespeare like all other
normal men, grew in wisdom and ability as he
WaXed old. The effort is made to discredit the
popular notion Of the dramatist as a genius who
sprang full hedged from the brow of an un-
known god and wrote plays with artless ease.
On the other hand. Professor Baker combats
the radically critical hypothesis that Shake
speare was an ordinary man, blessed with the
knack Of driving a pen at high speed. so long
as his contemporaries and predecessors fur
nished him with ideas and the public was will
ing to pay him well for his work.
IN taking a middle gre und between these ex-
tfeme views, author has availed himself of
rule which makes his later analysis incline
slightly toward the unkind Interpretation of
Shakespeare; this rule is the one so well phraseG
by Edeistand Du Meril in his dictunl that "if
oramatist doesn't wish TO employ his gifts in an
effort condemned to failure in advance. he must
consider his public, respect their sentiments and
slulfully conform himself 10 their ideas and
customs" In quoting the passage Professor
Baker hastens to add that this desirable pla-
b-lity is not at all synonymous with trucking
to ones audience: ii IS simply the art Of self
efacement. AS read the account Of the
poets struggles in developing type OF story
telling Crama and its own special techn' re Of
strategy ard tactics, it is hard to resist the iu-
precision that. though perhaps unintentioEaIly.
Professor Baker has nevertheless taken down
the old idol Of Avonian bard uttering divine
philosophy through the masks Of comedians ana
tragic heroes. He has set up new idol one of
a man consummately endowed and trained in
the trick of suppressing his own personality for
the sake OF telling most effectively dramatic
stories to an audience which came 10 be amused
and Informed
Beginning with a study OF EIizabethan play
goers, Professor Baker shows that these people
''caEe 10 the theatre day after day asking little
more, if anything more, than to hear a story,
new or renewed. interestingly told" Then fol-
lows long investigation of the arrangement
and equipments of the Elizabethan theatre ana
stage, and the limitations these placed upon tle
6ramatist. Shakespeare's early experiments in
plotting plays next come in for interesting dis
cussion. The influence of Lyly is seen chiefly
in the character of the dialogues and their wit;
in Loves Labour's Lost" though, Shakespeare
breaks away from the mythical romantic fig
ures OF Lyly and substitutes for them high
born men and women. whom he weaves into
love story as Lyly never did. In the
chronicle plays. Richard III' and Henry W
Shakespeare is found to have mastered the art
of pleasing his audience by giving true dra-
matte unity TO loose strings OF national anec-
dote; in all the others grouped under this ge-
neric head though, Professor Baker finds pain
fully evident the writer's imma turity in COM
pressing and pointing tales. This immaturity
however, had, we are told. two special causes:
first, the chronicle play was regarded by Shake
Epeare and his contemporaries as a distinct type
Of drama coordinate with comedy and tragedy,
and hence not amenable to the rules of these;
and secondly, Elizabethan dramatists were too
familiar with the historical facts in these plays
TO mould them with perfect freedom. Not until
he wrote Midsummer Nights Dream" Romeo
and Juliet" and Merchant of Venice" did
Shakespeare master the art of plotting. in the
writer's opinion
The analysis Professor Baker gives Of these
tive, being particularly good in pointing out
the poets growing power Of comic relief
whereby light and serious moods are made to
Offset each other and thereby heighten their ef-
feet. Here. too. the critic finds excellent occa-
sion to confirm his earlier statement that Shake
speare was catering to a public that delighted
81 intricate plots: Shakespeares rising skill in
Intervening many strands of interest is taken
as evidence Of this supposition. In Much Ado
About Nothing" Twelfth Night" and "As You
Like It." there is "a clear and easily compre-
hended composition Of complex moods in a COM
plicated story, the whole transfused with beauty
Of thought and phrase" In these high come
dies the poets power of popularizng the intel
lectual is said TO have been the result Of
trained interest in character trained poetic
power, perfect technique gained from training
and from an almost uncanny knowledge of
human nature, again the result of patient
training Of originally keen sympathy guided
by maturing sense Of humOr." Here we have
the keynote Of the critics study and his
olusions (or were they presuppositions0. Genius
IS the capacity for taking infinite pains, whether
't be Shakespeare or Edison but. like all def
nitions of genius, there is smuggled in, perhaps
unwiitingly, the very trait that all men believe
the genius 10 possess alone among his fellows,
astounding receptivity of mind and "an almost
uncanny' power OF manipulating what he knows
and feels. After all, then, whether not Pro-
lessor Baker meant to cast down the popular
Zeus Of the literary Pantheon by showing how
Shakespeare was forced to learn, use old mate
rial and please his contemporaries, like all other
writer's, the writer has really done nothing more
than to add 10 the bards long conceded virtues
that most admfrab oDe Of strenuous attention