The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-11-12
SHAKESPEARE IN HIS WORKS.

The Man Shakespeare. and His Tragic
Life Story. BY Frank Morris Pub
lshed by Mitchell kennerley. New
York.
This is a work. the aim of which is
to construct the life-story of Shake
spcare from his writings. it is peril
GUS method of procedure. 1t will be
remembered that Mrs. Harriet Beecher
! stowe proved all sorts of crimes upon
| Lord Byron by taking this same method
with his works. 1t is easy to prove
EVIL IN this way upon man who writes
about evil, and it is easy by this method
| TO prove almost any sort of dark as
well as good deeds upon man who
writes about the larger humanity in
all It's phases. Shakespeare wrote Of
human beings in all walks of life, of
| their emotions. their tendencies. thoir
cxcesses and criminalitics. as we'll as of
their finer qualities, their bravery, their
splendid deeds. and put il all into such
expressions as were never rIvaled by
any one in literary cpdcavor, Taking
that method, Shakespeare could be
found TO be sort of composite of hu-
manity in general and could be proved
derelict; anything from carc.free
merry lester TO murderer.
Mr. Harris unquestionably yields to
none IN his deep appreciation Of Shake.
spearo. The following from his in
PRODUCTION shows the lofty pinnacle upon
which he is disposed to place the peer
less dramatist:
There is another reason why Shakes
peare is more interesting to us than the
even, or Homer; for Dante and Homer
worked only at their best in the flower
OF manhood. Shakespeare, on the other
hand. has painted himself for us in his
green youth with hardly any knowledge
or life or art. and then in his eYentful
fnaturitE with growing experience and
terpicce; and at length in his decline with
weakened grasp and fading coors so
that in him We can study the growth
and fruitinc and decay of the finest spirit
that has Yet been born among men. This
tragedy or tragedies. in which Lear"
Is only one sccne-this rise 10 intenscst
t Iise. and widest vision and fall through
abysms OF despair and madness 10 en-
haustion and death-can be followed cX-
pcricncc by experience, from Stratford 10
London and tts thirty years OF passionate
Stratford again, and the eternal shroud-
ing silence.
Naturally Mr.. Harris, conceiving such
a high ideal as to Shakespeare, and
thinking that Shakespeare wrote him
self into his works. huds il easy TO
imagine that Shakespeare reveals him.
self most in the character of Hamlet,
ana he attempts to prove that Mac
beth and Hamlet are, IN fact. one
and the same person, and that person
Shakespeare. So doubling up and con.
sidering other characters introduced the
pictures drawn of the characters with
their lIttle vanities idealized, the por
trait is supposed to be complete,
" Shakespeare as he was
Mr.. Harris finds the tragedy of
Shakespeare life in his sonnets, and
IN them and from that data he makes
Sha kespeare very tough character in
deed. II is impossible 10 follow Mr..
Harris in this endeavor TO build up
the man Shakespeare from his writings
and his characterization of the person
ages carried in his plays. 1t is a dan
gerous proposition altogether to yield
to this sort of temptation. While Mr.,
Harris has made keen and ingenious
series of hypothesis in this book. and
while there is certain plausibiIity in
it all, his work must be dismissed lust
as we dismissed the Donuelly "Grea
Cipher and other works about the
Shakespeare that was and the Shake.
speare that was not