Los Angeles herald., 1908-06-29
PLAYWRIGHT's CHARACTERS
SUBJECT OF SERMON -.
He FURNISHED FOUR DISTINCT
TYPES OF DRAMA
"The Play of 'RosmershoIm'" Taken
as Text OF Discourse by Rev. 3.
Fay Mills at Fellowship
Service


Broadway. He said:
Henrik Ibsen, the most popular
playwright of the last century In NOT
way, has furnished the public four dis
tinct types of drama which apparently
mark his own moral and psychological
development" said Mr.. Mills.
First, he wrote number OF his
torical dramas; second, he produced
some lyrical plays exploiting the fol-
bles of peculiar social types; third, he
produced the sociological tragedies, at
tacking the constitution of modern So
ciety, domestic, economic and political.
that have especially made his name
famous. And then, as II he despaired
OF producing wholesome effects, he
gave himself to writing psychological
analyses of individual types.
:" Ghosts THE Pillars of Society An
Enemy Of Society The Dolls House
and 'Rosmersholm' are In the third
class. In The Pillars of Society and
sThe Dolls House he is direct
preacher, but In Ghosts and 'Rosmers-
holm one would think he had passed
into an entirely pessimistic attitude,
as regards the present world, and he
presents this morbid outlook in mar
yelous poetry as though a great painter
should give himself to painting excres-
cences and deformities. From this
point of view he is the Omar Khayyam
of the nineteenth century. This would
what has been dominated as the Ib-
sen craze.
Demand Productions
even a woman OF as high ideals as
Mrs. Fiske said the people demanded
this sort of production. and that she
either had to play Ibsen or an imita-
tion of Ibsen.
Edmund Gosse describes this strik-
ing phenomenon by reference to the
cave of Adullam where all the discon-
tented and disheartened and violently
revolutionary gathered themselves to-
gether to the standard of David.
"In 'Rosmersholm' there seems no
moral aim or atmosphere; no light.
no purpose, no God, no JOY, no help,
no hope, no contamination.
''If the play may be said to hold
the mirror up to nature 1t is an abb
normal, half made nature"
Mr.. Mills analyzed the characters
and said:
First this Is not true picture Of
life. These are all types, but they are
abnormal types. This play is chai-
, lenge to the church, the state, society.
modern civilization and the whole
human race. Thus do I answer it.
II do not deny that there are Krolls
and Rosmers and Brendells and Nor
tensgards-even Rebeccas in the world.
But do deny that they are typical
(, World Not an Asylum
"There are iunatics and degenerates
ana criminals, but the world is neither
an asylum for iunatics or a hell. If
this play is means to exhibit the effect
of taking extreme types and putting
them together 1t is an interesting
study. But IL 1t is intended as a pic
ture OF life 1t is as much caricature
as q so-called museum of anatomy Is
OF ordinary human beings.
'As Mrs. Fiske said OF all the char
acters, They need good dose Of
Christian Science
Second, 1t Is not true representa-
tion of idealism. There are idealists
In the world. but none in 'Rosmers-
holm. An idealist is a man who
believes that at the heart of
humanity there is a plan and pur-
pose seeking for expression. And the
indi,idual believes that as the power
full play goes on, he may contribute a
verse. Are there no stalwart, well
rounded mcn who have thought them
selves into the larger faith, the grander
hope and the greater love without be-
ing hypnotized by designing, half
made women? Are there not clear
eyed incorruptible leaders of the march
of social progress who are neither
Rosmcrs nor Brendells nor Mortens-
CARDS? Third, such a tragedy is never
q necessity. Rosmer and Rebecca
march off the stage in mock-heroic, as
one said, Just as though they were
going to DO something great
Life never leads to a cul de sac.
The very stones of the wall that con-
fronts us are In motion and the par
ticles of the stones are in motion and
can not restrain the progress of a de-
termined soul.
Must Free Spirits
"Rosmer knew the secret when he
said that men could be emancipated
only by freeing theiN spirits and puri-
flying their Wills. If either Rebecca or
Rosmer had told the whole truth at
the laet and proposed to live heroically
henceforward no matter what hap
pened to them, they would have found
a way TO solve all their problems. It
is only n narrow and conventional
morality that can kill happiness On
the other hand, this does not mean we
are to disregard the moral acquisi-
tions of the race in the name of indi-
vidua.s or of social freedom. 1 am no
apologist for the tyranny of the dead.
But IL every new SON of man must
go back to palpitate with the jellyfish.
trifie with the monkey, fight with the
tiger, wallow with the swine and learn
experience with primeval man, then
indeed are we lost souls. We will
move on, but we will keep all we have
gained, as we reach forward toward
the things before. If our ancestors
learned the multiplication table, we
will start with fractions; If they mas
tered percentage we will commence
with algebra; II they understood the
and Of algebra we will begin with
geometry; and IL they conquered geo.
metry, then we. will open the book Of
Nastronomy and hold our heads among
the stars.
rRosmer says that nothing but inno-
cence, peaceful happy innocence, can
bring content. He does not know. 1t
Is not innocence, but virtue that
brings content. All have sinne5, but
few have permanently failed, and 1
say again there Is way out OF the
hardest human condition by committal
TO the spirit OF the trust and love.
know multitudes Of people who are
now making serene and holy atone-
ment for past transgressions and are
thereby born into the Kingdom of God.
Every soul contains its own savior.
but he comes not forth in response to
such fantastic. puerile conjuring as
this. Every human problem contains
lts own solution, but men see 1t not
rrIry 4. -. - ~