The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-04-16
The Contemporaneousness
Of the Bard
By FELIX ScHELLlNo, IL D.,
Jobn welsh Centennial Professor 81 HI.
tory and Enslish Literature, Uni.
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NIHYY, DO we buy .t snan.'O'ss. IN m.
w the old and inseniously devtsing
the newt why do NJ read
shakespeare. quote Shakespeare md study
him, teach our children by means Of him,
srt him and 90 to see him represented And
,n.srepresented. whether he bring wealth
and fame or ruin to the actorf Why are NJ
Interested In all the petty things hat he u
alleged to have done or left undone, even
IN scandal about him a f~abrication1
about his works and their authorship
There are at least a. many anSweru -
these questions as there are questions like
tfese and more. And he 10 . presumptuous
man who thinks that he can wrest from
this sphinx Of the ages the secret Of his
charm, the reason for the permAnencs Of
As rule over the hearts and the under.
standings Of all English speaking men and
women and some more. In the scores OF
reasons that ~ be assigned for Shake
peare's hold upon us I want to mention
one, and that II his contemporaneousno0,
wha, Ii to US his modernity.
Modern!ty. as We recognize Il In . great
writer. is not the incessant invention of
something new and undreamed in the hal
lucinations Of our ancestors. Modernity
consists in the continuance Of . tried Ira
dItion in things which are really worth
whilo and In The application to existing
conditions Of universal truths. Shake
spearo. with all his minor difficulties. b
really the most Ineligible Of all the poets.
and that 10 because he II speaking to " In
a language. with Q spirit. an attitude to-
wrd all the sreat essentials which b -
eolutely fresh and contemporary.
There are $500 palpabls prtnterS sSTesO
In the folio editions Of his ~playSAnd ~
W can follow the general trend o. 4
peare's thought even without the correc-
tons, wise and unwise. which scholarship
IA, lsv!shed upon w. There are hundreds
mon hundreds Of illusions to matters OF
custom, manners. dress. decorum, arts.
games and methods Of speech which We
can grasp only by means OF notes II We
are fully to understand them. And yet
We are IN no doubt as to the conduct OF
any one OF these plays or as 10 the treho
Of any OF their dialogue.
There are a thousand personages IN
these dramas. from intricate and difficult
eneakir- parts 70 those that appear no
NOR, than by nanie-and get each per-
eonallty Is readily grasped In its larger
essentials 10y him who reads II not py
him who runs. There are sentiments that
arise out of hundreds of situations In these
plavs. from those that move the Eghtest
and most trivial laughter to moments OF
pause before tho mysteries OF me- CRIME
death aud eternity. 10 each or when We
weld an instructive assent, because y
a'Nrlns a truth that finds echo IN the
heart OF each Of US. And there are scores
of passages in which-if one Of us is In his
nature n true and not a seeming man or
vomdn-hc will hunhly confess that here
Is i philosophy, a guidance, a Justice. n
large liberation infinitely above his own.
These are some Of the things N which
We recognize Shakespeare our contempo-
rary. things that keep him in some respects
as yet well in advance OF TINS cruel me-
d.aNal. tagging world OF ours.
People Of fashion in all ages are con-
cerned with eXtcrnals and tririalitics, the
mode of dress. manners at table, or IN
s4utttion, the prevalence of a given game
or diversion, the slang of the passing mo-
lnent which you must know AS to the
manner born OF you are a creature OF outer
darkness. These matters as they touch
lis age We have e. study when we READ
Shakespeare or We are shocked tina Hom-
lt should throw himself down on the
PUSHES at the feet Of Ophcfid In the court
Of Denmark and handy a small kind OF
talk with her that would count him to-day
a boor.
But when we turn TO essentials, the Vaior
o. men, the purity of woman. the deadN-
ness 81 injustice, not only 10 those who are
rs victims but to those that themselves
.nh.ct, the need Of "A larger charity III
It's world II we are to look to charity for
our own frailty, the obligations OF oaths,
the essential nobility Of mar all said and
done-in these things is Shakespeare as
true to-day and as uplifting AS he was In
hts own time and assuredly will be when