The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-03-15
OF UNSUITABLE HOMICIDE
AND THE ISSUES RAISED BY
SOTHERvS NEW PLAY.

IN = NOV hhht - SCtiVeS NOtVi'
Once upon a timera recruit In a regiment
stationed at PeshSstr, 80 We are told,
applied for leave oiNbsence in order 10
attend to family matters OF importance
Knowing that he would desert II the leave
were not granted the Colonel let him 60,
Presently he returned. Subdued but cheer
fd. The Colonel vautured TO inquire
n no had arranged meters In his family
20 his satisfaction. And he replied; i
got him from behind a rock.'
There Is something DELIGHTFULLY."- appealing
about this primitive method Of dealing
out justice. II hardly accords with open
plumbing, taxicabs, churches, plano players,
police departments. Andrew Carnegie
and other appurtenanoes Of modern
civilization But there come times TO all
Of Va. though We stand IN the topmost
rang Of the ladder Of evolution and look
down in scorn on the Cave Man, when
like the walrus, we deeply s%ympathize >
William Vaughn Moody's little man In
trousers, slightly Jagged advised quite
pcrtlnently that
Ifnsiure made you graceful, don get gay,
BGek-Io before the hlppopotsmus:
II meek and Eodly. md some place 70 play
Besides right where three msd hyenGs fuss:
You may hear language that we Won't discuss.
Often rerhaps it's a relative; Kenneth
Graham preferred unclss; our own choice
would be aunts. But often too II isn't q
relative at all. There are various kinds Of
bores, and men who employ little children
IN factories, and assorted occupants Of
Ciroe's sty who bring dead cigars into street
cars or pursue wome or wear offensive
dress waistooats with brass buttons.
They'd ZONE Of them be missed
But alas convention doth make towards
Of us all; and, like Zerlfnd In Don Clio
vanni,' we would. and yet we would not,
We have not the courage Of our convio-
tons, The weight Of the social order 10
heavy p o us, and we let our marked
down victims live. But Art is not reality,
however hard II strives to be In the Belasco
drama. In the theatre We can indulge .
sneaking satisfaction in the performance
Of deeds OF slaughter that We should never
dare do ourselves. We can be mad hyenas
10 our hearts content and not feel a bit
the worse for II. In short, vi can rejoice
that Rodion. In The Fool Hath Said,
There ls No Cod chopped old Gromof
UP with an axe. knowing that It served the
old swine jolly we'll right; and we can not
only fail to be convinced that RodioH ever
repented Of his deed but actually hope that
he didn't repent, without feeling that our
sentiments fail to do us credit.
Now those Of us who are doomed by birth
and training to Stagger through life under
a Pilgrims pack Of Puritan conscience may
experience, along with these sentiments,
= vague presentiment that We ought 10 b
ashamed Of them. much Ike the small girl
in the advertisement who 10 sure that 4
certain breakfast food lie bad for her because
it's 90 good! There must, we are confident.
DO something profoundly immoral about
a play that makes OF murder not 4 fine
art, indeed, az De Quincy did. but a thing
Of moral beauty, OF ethical satisfaction.
Por, mark you, this Fool who sad in his
heart there iS no God, also said, Moses gave
the Ten Commandments; he didn't keep
them He was no fool. not he! In spite
Of the authors feeble efforts 10 convince Ne
to The contrary In the last act. he was never
converted. Poor little Sonid'S trivial super
stitons and pack Of stale conventions that
abe called her religion could not Impress
such a mind az Rodion's except With pity.
Re gave himself up to the police that abe
might keep her faith, not because he had
lost his. Or. II you object that he had no
faith, bic doubts. then-for doubts some
times represent a far deeper and more
passionate capacity for religion, for the
higher life, than ahy conformity TO creed
can do. And II he had acted from any
other motive he would have seemed weak
kneed, a gutter. He was never sorry that
he killed the old man, and neither are We.
What, then, are we to think Of such . play,
a successful plea for the morality Of muir.
der2 Should not the police be called ini
This 10 worse than Mrs. Wauen's Pro.
ieEdon'i
Well, some Of us won't think anything At
all about it, because the play a. a story is,
after the opening act or two, dull and monot-
onou6. Nothing dun ever harmed any
body's morality. II virtue would only
wear scarlet the world would be a better
place at oncel And some Of the rest Of ne
will think, 10, how dinlcult It IL to writea
good play
For the real trouble with Laurence
Irvihg's drama 10 that he lodges the issue,
both the technical issue and the ethical,
or the working out Of his idea. II 10 the
amt old trouble. How countless many
dramas have gone to ruin o n the same
reef The loadstone mountain in The
Arabian N'ghts' never wrecked more ships.
Perhaps tie dramatiSts have too long
bowed dowIr before false gods, invoking
Melpomens when It iS the patron shade Of
Jevons or . Hegel they should seek, authors
Of dreary works on logic. Dreary, yes; but,
oh, how indispensable! We talk Of the
great, irregular art Of Shakespeare Tor
Pater does). AZ IL there were ever any
thing NOSE remorselessly logical than
'othello'i But We maintain with our pat.
ronAge In the theatre Iris and Mrs.
Danes Defence and The Thief plays
that march their plot along with logical
progression, each new step following out
Of the last, each step a part Of the whole,
but the whole not seen or realized till the
parts have all been Cited. II iS not the
curse Of the we'll made play" that It follows
this logical course, but that IL does nothing
more. that its whole 10 not worth the
trouble.
Now. the technical problem in The
Fool Hath Said. There Is No God" was
clearly stated in the first act. Rodion de.
olAred that the moral convietiqp OF a man