Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-08-10

IT is seldom that purely literary study is
published that is as consistent and as sug-
gestive as this work of Mr.. Baker. Start
ing with the principle that the history of
Shakes2eare's dramatic genius was the
record of the adjustment of two often op-
posing iufluenc"s-the desire to please his
aude noes and the impulse to embody his
own artistic ideals, the author shows how
these influences determined the successive
stages of his production. In an admirable
chapter on THE Public of 1899 and Shake
spares Inheritance in Dramatic Tech
nique." he shows how Impossible II is to
judge the work of a playwright without
reference to the public on Whose favor he
is-more than any other form Of literary
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Hence 1t is nacas-
sary. in order intalligently to analyz, the
plays of Shakespeare. or any other Eliza
bethan, 10 understand in what character
istics the public of the late sixteenth
century differed from that of today. Mr.
Baker asserts that. in common with the
modern audience. the auditors of Shake
spcGre's plays CAM 20 the theater to be
amused But owing to the fact that read
ing was not general, the stage could then
maintain to Il great extent the position of
magazine, novel, biography. history and
even of yellow journal. The audience was
not only eager to be amused, but willing to
be instructed.
having discussed the question or the
EliZabethan stage, and having shown how
Its simpler requirements and practically
continuous action affected the m mechanism
of plays. and how. consequently, many of
the emotional effects of Shakespeare's plays
are ruined by the long waits between
the acts, Mr.. Baker passes to the cOnsid
Grafton of the development of the masters
constructive skill. He traces the rapid
growth from the faulty structure of
Loves Lahors Lost and Two Gentlemen
of Verona through the chronicle or his
tor!Cal plays to the perfection of technical
skill in Romeo and Juliet and IN The
Merchant of Venice In the historical
plays Notwithstanding growing excellence
in pOrtraitGre and the development of in
tmitabe hunor, the author has been ham
pered by his loyalty to historical truth.
Mr. Baker is illuminating when he dis
Cusses the perfection of art whereby Shake
speare has been able to make the tragedy
the outgrowth of the personality of the
actors. and has also been able to get the
full dramatic possibility out of every situa-
ton. The play which, to the usual spec
tator, is supposed to depend for its effect
upon the creation of glamour, of atmos-
phere, Is in reality a masterpiece of stage
mechanism. in which the various threads
of incident have been so interviewer as to
produce a fabric of enchantment 1t has
also a substratum Of memorable logic. All
this the playwright has been able 10 do
while he pleaSSs his audience with story.
This same skill in the use of manifold
threads of plot TO produce a unified effect
is eXemplifed to an equal degree in The
Merchant of Venice"
While in his Incompatible group of
comedies during 1J9I-16Oo, Shakespeare has
known how to delight the ''Sroundlings'' with
farc!CGl incident. these incidents are DOM
mated, to the discerning by the spirit of
pure joyousness. which is the high achieve
ment of comedy. In the equally great
group Of comedies which followed the au-
thor has gone to every source of human
suffering for the themes of his plays. Mr.
Baker does not think that Shakespeare had
evolved any detailed theory of tragedy, but
that he found 1t, now in the struggle be-
tween conflicting personalities as in
"OthellO.' now in the warning within a
man OF ideal!sm and brut!shness. as with
Hamlet. now with the baeful influence OF
one personality over another as with An
tony and Cleopatra"
1t is in the final stage of Shakaspeare's
production, that marked by The Tempest"
winters Tale, 'Cymbeline," that the
most interesting application of the effect
OF the public taste upon him is made. Mr..
Baker brings to bear various proofs of the
fact that England underwent a reaction in
favor OF the merely romantic upon the
stage during those years. Shakespeare
consequently, was experimenting in dra-
matte forms which would retain his hold
upon tickle public. Consequently while
these last plays show him in his contem-
piatlVe and ripened genius, he was led to
depart from the perfected dramatic form
which he had previously achieved. AS
result while. from a literary standpoint
they are probably as great as anything
that Shakespeare wrote. they are not as
popular as plays. And this is with reason
for the thing that lasts is the one that is
written with the strctest adherence to
artistic perfection, not for his own time.
but for all time.
JOHN KENDRY's IDEA. BY Chester
bailey Fernald, author of The Cat
and the Cherub" With Front:spiece
by G. ID. Williams New York The
Outing Publishing Company.
The title of this recent contribution to
hammock and waste-basket literature
would seem to indicate that John kendry
had only one idea. and that there was con-
siderable Of a TODD when this was discov-
cred on his person. But this is unjust to
John. careful perusal of the novel is
sufficient 10 convince even the most obtuse
reader that he had several and that none
was marked by any extraordinary symp-
toms Of intelligence.
The book is ali cluttered W with char
acters. including an unpleasant nerson
named Pauiter who is a willing but mac
cufate ammunition expender and Chan
now a large Chinese individual who is
right nice TO John, but who puts il all over
everybody else. Chan Rows favCrite di-
versions are DISCUSSES and gore. He also
smokes opium and talks French
Ethel Mari. the heroine. is Set down as
being a mighty nice looking girl which fur
n!shes some slight compensation for the
fact that She has no sense. In this respect
She and John are well matched and per
haps IL isn't violation Of confidence to saw
that after many trials and tribulations. in
which automobiles. laudanum. counterfeit
money, stab wounds and scrambled brains
are prominent, they bid fair to finish up in
the happily ever after" class.
THE YOUNG IN HEART. BY Arthur
Stanwood Pier. New York. Houghton,
Miifiin x Co.
book which no one of delicate taste
c1n afford to miss is this charming vol
ume. IL takes its title from the first essay.
which is possibly the most characteristic,
but subsequent sketches, Lawn Tennis"
'WOrk ana Play" The Smoking Room"
"CyniDisn.." The quiet Man" I'm SWIM
ming" Drawn and Character" are per-
yaded b. tEe same spirit and are upon
themes relevant 81 mat which makes the
titulary article noteworthy.
Mr.. Pier seems TO have solved, as well as
one man can sOlye II for others, the secret
Of remaining young. TO say II is because
In himself he must POSSESS the delightful
qualities OF eternal youth OF which he
writes is only part OF the truth He has
made an analysis. the shrewdless OF
which is only partially hidden by a playful
style OF the elements which make youth
the golden age. No one can read II with
out giving a mental assent to the points