Omaha daily bee., 1908-06-07

Wv n ARA v
where on the stygian shore w.
Shakespeare and II. Ibsen oc-
- casionally look at each other
~ over their glasses and ex-
- change portentious winks, as
they hear OF the efforts OF mortals who
now infest the earth trying to fathom the
secrets OF the dramas left behind by these
great poets? Shakespeare, who was as
innocent of psychological guile as a cherub
is OF corns, has been made the subject of
many a profound and learned disquisition
intended to establish the fact that the bard
had sounded the depths OF metaphysical
inquiry. and that mans nature was to
him as an open book. Not only this,
Shakespeare has also been convicted OF not
being Shakespeare, or not writing his
plays, and OF concealing within them
secrets deep and dark as any used by his
witches or elves. The Donnelly expose Of
5hakespeare's dupliclty In this regard was
not the first nor the last of it's kind. All
sorts Of cryptograms have been evolved
from the plays that are looked upon by
the casual reader as merely beautiful
speciments of the master dramatist's art
One former Omaha man has even proven
that the plays we know are not the plays
at all, but are merely patchworks, built
up OF the fragments of the real plays, and
that they contain the secrets good Queen
Bess and some Of her loving and loyal sub
jects would have hidden. Just why, II
they didn't want these things known, they
should take so much trouble to write them
down, isn't explained, any more than is
the fact they are set down in such cryptic
gloom that 400 years Of study and a spe-
cially devised intellect is needed to evoke \
the kernel from the husk Of words that
contains 1t.
And now Ibsen is coming in for his; It
was so thoughtless OF the doctor not to
leave a key to the mysteries he EMBODIED
in his dramatic works. 1t would have
saved an Internal deal Of trouble. Just to
think, how many, many years we will
now have to devote to the debate as to
what Ibsen really meant. When Nora left
Torvald. for example, did she or did she
not7 And was she a new woman or just
an old woman suddenly grown wise to the
feet Of clay on which her idol stood? And
Hedda Gabler-does her case rest entirely
on climacteric insanity or has it, aside
8 from its pathological possibilities. a subtle
message from which expectant mothers
and disappointed wives may learn some
thing they do not need to know? In the
general depression OF Ghosts is con-
cealed. no doubt, a merry Jest that only
Hctub lAt tOuCn Ok Tie nldSlC hty W % SET
forth In all its radiant beauty. while "Peer
Gynt' is surely the apostle Of What's
the user" And so It runs, through all the
great Norwegian did. Even Mrs. Fiske
has Joined the ranks and says she read
"RosmeTsholm" twenty-one times before
she saw the great secret meaning that lies
within its lines. One dislikes to disagree
with the eminent actress, whose capacity
;or analysis and expression is so thought
fully directed to the exposition Of the
character Of Rebecca West. and who has
provided such excellent intellectual enter
tainment as Is afforded by herself and
her company. Mere politeness suggests
that she be taken at her word. And with
It comes the hope that her twenty-secon
reading OF the drama may disclose yet
further valuable Information now en-
shrined within It's apparently simple pas
sages. But Mrs. Fiske neglects to say II
the number twenty-one is to be the key;
what IL some less astute person should read
the work over the prescribed number of
times and still founder in Ignorance OF
Its true design? Is such a one to start In
and read 1t twenty-one times again and to
keep this up? And is the secret worth the
e.-ort after 1t has been brought to light?
Mrs. Fiske does not spare in any way
the details Of the terrible presentment
made by the gloomy minded poet, whose
inveterate conclusion seemed TO be thai
whatever is is wrong, and who persisted
that no light nor happiness could be found
outside what he conceived to be the proper
course OF action. For him such things az
atonement, as expiation, for sin was i'm
possible, and death itself was merely cred
tied as a partial payment and not as I
closing of the account. And Isben loved
to send his people to limbo by way o
running water. The dark, swift, silent cur
rent had a fascination for him, and wher
the time came TO close the drama, he sen
one or more OF his principals to the rive
or the mill race. In "Rosmershlom" h,
has In mind the struggle between the con
ventlonal and the modernism he saw grow
Ing up around him. Isben was a copserv
alive OF the ultra type. and had little o
mo patience with anything that savored o
F"new thought in politics, religion, bust
ness, social or domestic relations or an,
other phase of human existence. His Wis
ion was clear, II bis judgment was some
what swayed by apparent prejudice. An
he bases his conclusions on facts so mex
orable as to be unavoidable. Mere soph
istry does not do for HIM; solid, ~irrefIag
able logic supports his contention, and h
argues with the directness of the mathC
matleian whose laws are immutabl,
With the precision OF the surgeon, h
places his finger on the diseased spot. an
in his treatment he relentlessly exposes a
the surface that has been oontaminate'
He does not prescribe a remedy, othC
than the world-old one OF abstentatiol
Mrs. Fiske has achieved a wonderf
triumph in her exposition Of the charact,
Of Rebecca West. It Is the fidelity TO dets
that is the real charm OF the part as CT
Ated by H. ; great actress. She not on
knows the value OF the broad. sweeper
lines OF the idealist, but fully realizes Il
Importance OF the minutae Of the reals
and by a perfect combination Of the tw
she has evolved a study that is laekir
In nothing. II is a great achievement, OF
that she may rest her fame on, II nothiI
else she has ever done remains. SUI
breadth OF treatment accomp Nnied by SUI
painstaking attention to even the most til
ial details is seldom seen. 1t is real
the little things that make up a great pc
Torrance on the stage, just as they ma
up a great painting or poem or newspap'
An example OF how much a little thil