Printed by permission of

S.

T. Kajivv.ua

KMMA GOLDMAN

THE
I

SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE
OF THE MODERN

DRAMA
EMMA GOLDMAN

BOSTON: RICHARD

G.

TORONTO: THE COPP CLARK

BADGER
CO;,

LIMITED

Copyright, igu, by Richard G.

Badger
All Rights Reserved

PA/

THE GORHAM

PRESS, BOSTON, U.

S.

A.

FOREWORD
IN order

to understand the social

significance of modern dramatic art

I believe,

necessary,

between the
sake and art as the mir

to ascertain the difference

functions of art for art

ror of

and dynamic

it is

life.

Art for

an attitude of
aloofness on the part of the artist toward the com
plex struggle of life he must rise above the ebb
and tide of life. He is to be merely an artistic
art s sake presupposes

conjurer of beautiful forms, a creator of pure

fancy.

That

is

not the attitude of modern

art,

which

is

preeminently the reflex, the mirror of life. The

artist being a part of life cannot detach himself

from the events and occurrences that pass pan

orama-like before his eyes, impressing themselves
upon his emotional and intellectual vision.

The modern

artist

is,

in the

words of August

"

a lay preacher popularizing the press

Not necessarily be
ing questions of his time."
cause his aim is to proselyte, but because he can
best express himself by being true to life.

Strindberg,

Millet, Meunier,

erson,

Turgenev, Dostoyevsky,

Walt Whitman, Tolstoy,

3

Em

Ibsen, Strindberg,

Foreword

Hauptmann and a host of others mirror in their

work as much of the spiritual and social revolt as is
expressed by the most fiery speech of the propa

And more important still, they compel

gandist.
Their creative genius, im
far greater attention.
bued with the spirit of sincerity and truth, strikes
root where the ordinary word often falls on barren
soil.

The reason

that

many

radicals as well as conser

vatives fail to grasp the powerful message of art

perhaps not far to seek. The average radical

hidebound by mere terms as the

all ideas.
Bloated plutocrats,"
as

"

man

is

is

devoid of

"

economic de
class consciousness," and similar ex
terminism,"
sum
pressions
up for him the symbols of revolt.
But since art speaks a language of its own, a lan
"

guage embracing the entire gamut of human emo

tions, it often sounds meaningless to those whose
hearing has been dulled by the din of stereotyped
phrases.
On the other hand, the conservative sees danger
He has too
only in the advocacy of the Red Flag.

long been fed on the historic legend that

the

"

rabble

"

it is

only

which makes revolutions, and not

who wield

the brush or pen.

It is therefore
legitimate to applaud the artist and hound the rab
ble.
Both radical and conservative have to learn

those

that any

mode of

creative work, which with true

perception portrays social wrongs earnestly and

Foreword

boldly, may be a greater menace to our social

fabric and a more powerful inspiration than the

wildest harangue of the soapbox orator.

Unfortunately, we in America have so far

looked upon the theater as a place of amusement
only, exclusive of ideas

and

inspiration.

Because

modern drama of Europe has till recently been

inaccessible in printed form to the average theater
goer in this country, he had to content himself with
the

the interpretation, or rather misinterpretation, of

our dramatic critics. As a result the social signif
icance of the

Modern Drama

has well nigh been

lost to the general public.

As to the native drama, America has so far pro

duced very little worthy to be considered in a social
light.
Lacking the cultural and evolutionary tra
dition of the
first

to

Old World, America has

prepare the

soil

necessarily

out of which sprouts

creative genius.

The hundred and one

springs of local and sec

must have time to furrow their common
channel into the seething sea of life at large, and
social questions and problems make themselves

tional life

not crystallized, before the throbbing pulse

of the big national heart can find its reflex in a
felt, if

great literature

and

of a social character.

specifically in the

drama

This evolution has been go

ing on in this country for a considerable time,

shaping the wide-spread unrest that is now begin-

Foreword

less definite social form

and expression.
Therefore, America could not so far produce its
own social drama. But in proportion as the crys
tallization progresses, and sectional and national
questions become clarified as fundamentally social
Indeed, very com
problems, the drama develops.
mendable beginnings in this direction have been
made within recent years, among them
The

ning to assume more or

"

Easiest

Keeping Up
by Eugene Walter,
and other plays by Butler Daven
and two others volumes of
Nowadays
"

Way,"

Appearances,"
"

port,
one-act plays,

"

by George Middleton,

attempts

that hold out an encouraging promise for the fu

ture.

The Modern Drama,

as all

modern

literature,

mirrors the complex struggle of

the strug
life,
individual or topical expres
roots in the depth of human na

gle which, whatever

sion,

ever has

its

its

ture and social environment, and hence is, to that

Such literature, such drama, is
extent, universal.
at once the reflex and the inspiration of mankind in
eternal seeking for things higher and better.
Perhaps those who learn the great truths of the so
cial travail in the school of life, do not need the
message of the drama. But there is another class

its

whose number

is

legion, for

whom

that message

is

Foreword

In countries where political oppres

sion affects all classes, the best intellectual element

indispensable.

common

have made

cause with the people, have

become their teachers, comrades, and spokesmen.

in America political pressure has so far affected

But

only the

"

common

"

people.

It

is

they

who

are

thrown into prison; they who are persecuted and

mobbed, tarred and deported. Therefore another
medium is needed to arouse the intellectuals of this
country, to make them realize their relation to the
people, to the social unrest permeating the atmos
phere.

The medium which has the power to do that is

Modern Drama, because it mirrors every phase

the

and embraces every strata of society,

the
each and all caught in
the throes of the tremendous changes going on, and
forced either to become part of the process or be
of

life

Modern Drama, showing

left behind.

Ibsen, Strindberg, Hauptmann, Tolstoy, Shaw,

Galsworthy and the other dramatists contained in
this

volume represent the

social iconoclasts of

our

They know that society has gone beyond

the stage of patching up, and that man must throw
off the dead weight of the past, with all its ghosts

time.

and spooks,

if

he

is

to go foot free to meet the

future.

This

is

the social significance which differentiates

Foreword

modern dramatic

art

from

art for art

sake.

It

the dynamite which undermines superstition,

shakes the social pillars, and prepares men and

is

women

for the reconstruction.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE

Foreword

THE

DRAMA

SCANDINAVIAN

Henrik Ibsen

The

II

Pillars

Doll
Ghosts

An Enemy

of

Society

House

13
18

25
of Society

August Strindberg

34
43
45

The Father
Countess Julie

51

Comrades

61

THE GERMAN DRAMA

Hermann Sudermann
Magda
The Fires of St. John
Gerhart Hauptmann
Lonely Lives

The Weavers
The Sunken Bell
Frank

Wedekind

The Awakening

of Spring

69
71

80
87
87

98
108
Il8
118

THE FRENCH DRAMA

Maurice Maeterlinck

Monna Vanna
Edmond Rostand
Chantecler

129
129
138
138

Table of Contents
PAGE

Brieux

Damaged Goods

147
147

161

Maternity

THE

ENGLISH DRAMA
George Bernard Shaw
Mrs. Warren s Profession
Major Barbara
John Galsworthy

175
176
186

196
197
208
215
226

Strife

Justice

The Pigeon
Stanley

Houghton

Hindle Wakes
Githa Sowerby
Rutherford and Son

THE

IRISH

Where There

Is

Nothing

Lenox Robinson
Harvest
T. G. Murray

Maurice Harte

%
"T

235

.235

DRAMA

William Butler Yeats

THE

226

.....

250
252
261
261

267
267

RUSSIAN DRAMA

Leo Tolstoy
The Power of Darkness
Anton Tchekhof

The Seagull
The Cherry Orchard
Maxim Gorki

Night s Lodging
Leonid Andreyev

King-Hunger

275
276
283
284
290

294
294
302
302

THE SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE

OF THE MODERN DRAMA
THE SCANDINAVIAN DRAMA
HENRIK IBSEN
George Brandes, shortly after
the Paris Commune, Henrik Ibsen wrote
concerning the State and political liberty:
a letter to

IN
ual.

"

|The State is the curse of the individ

has the national strength of Prussia

How

been purchased? By the sinking of the individual

The
in a political and geographical formula.
State must go
That will be a revolution which
Undermine the idea of
will find me on its side.
.

the State, set up in its place spontaneous action,

and the idea that spiritual relationship is the only

thing that makes for unity, and you will start the
elements of a liberty which will be something

worth

The

possessing."

was not the only bete noire of Henrik

Every other institution which, like the
State, rests upon a lie, was an iniquity to him.
Uncompromising demolisher of all false idols and
dynamiter of all social shams and hypocrisy, Ibsen
Ibsen.

State

Henrik Ibsen

12

consistently strove to uproot every stone of our

Above all did he thunder his
social structure.
fiery

indictment against the four cardinal sins of

society: the Lie inherent in our social

modern

arrangements; Sacrifice and Duty, the twin curses

that fetter the spirit of man; the narrow-minded
ness and pettiness of Provincialism, that stifles all

growth and the Lack of Joy and Purpose in Work

which turns life into a vale of misery and tears.
So strongly did Ibsen feel on these matters, that
in none of his works did he lose sight of them.
Indeed, they recur again and again, like a Leit
These
motif in music, in everything he wrote.
;

form the keynote to the revolutionary sig

nificance of his dramatic works, as well as to the
issues

psychology of Henrik Ibsen himself.

It is, therefore, not a little surprising that most
of the interpreters and admirers of Ibsen so en
thusiastically accept his art, and yet remain utterly
indifferent to, not to say ignorant of, the message

That is mainly because they are,

words of Mrs. Alving,
so pitifully afraid
Hence they go about seeking mys
light."

contained
in the

of the

in

it.

"

and hunting symbols, and completely losing

of
the meaning that is as clear as daylight
sight
in all of the works of Ibsen, and mainly in the

teries

group of
"

ciety,"

Enemy

his social plays,

Doll

of the

"

The

Pillars of

"

House,"

People."

Ghosts,"

and

"

So

An

The

Pillars of Society

13

THE PILLARS OF SOCIETY

THE

disintegrating effect of the Social Lie, of

Duty, as an imposition and outrage, and of the
are
spirit of Provincialism, as a stifling factor,
"

brought out with dynamic force

of

in

The

Pillars

Society."

Consul Bernick, driven by the conception of his

duty toward the House of Bernick, begins his
He sells his love for
career with a terrible lie.
Lona Hessel in return for the large dowry of her
To for
step-sister Betty, whom he does not love.
get his treachery, he enters into a clandestine re
When sur
lationship with an actress of the town.

prised in her room by the drunken husband, young

Bernick jumps out of the window, and then gra
ciously accepts the offer of his bosom friend,

Johan, to

let

him take the blame.

Johan, together with his faithful sister Lona,

In return for his devotion,

leaves for America.

young Bernick helps to rob his friend of his good

name, by acquiescing in the rumors circulating in
the town that Johan had broken into the safe of
the Bernicks and stolen a large sum of money.

The Pillars of So
In the opening scene of
find
at the height of his
Consul
Bernick
we
ciety,"
"

career.

The

most powerful and respected

community, he is held up as the

richest,

citizen of the

Henrlk Ibsen

14

model of an

ideal

husband and devoted father.

In short, a worthy pillar of society.

The best ladies of the town come together in
the home of the Bernicks.
They represent the

Lapsed and Lost," and they

gather to do a little charitable sewing and a lot
It is through them we learn
of charitable gossip.
that Dlna Dorf, the ward of Bernick, is the issue
society

for the

"

of the supposed escapade of Johan and the actress.

With them, giving unctuous spiritual advice and
representing the purity and morality of the com

Rector Rorlund, hidebound, self-right

eous, and narrow-minded.
Into this deadening atmosphere of mental and
social provincialism comes Lona Hessel, refreshing
and invigorating as the wind of the plains. She
has returned to her native town together with
Johan.
The moment she enters the house of Bernick,
the whole structure begins to totter.
For in
Lona s own words,
this moral linen
Fie, fie
munity,

is

"

here smells so tainted

just like a shroud.

accustomed to the air of the prairies now,

tell

you.

Wait

little,

wait a

little

I
I

am
can

we

ll

soon rise from the sepulcher. We must have

broad daylight here when my boy comes."

Broad daylight

is indeed needed in the com

of
Consul
munity
Bernick, and above all in the
life of the Consul himself.

The

Pillars of Society

15

It seems to be the psychology of a lie that it

can never stand alone.
Consul Bernick is com

pelled to weave a network of lies to sustain his

In the disguise of a good husband,
foundation.

he upbraids, nags, and tortures

slightest provocation.

In the

his wife

mask of

on the

a devoted

father, he tyrannizes and bullies his only child as

only a despot used to being obeyed can do.

Un

der the cloak of a benevolent citizen he buys up

public land for his own profit.
Posing as a true
Christian, he even goes so far as to jeopardize
human life. Because of business considerations

he sends The Indian Girl, an unseaworthy, rotten

vessel, on a voyage, although he is assured
by one of his most capable and faithful workers
that the ship cannot make the journey, that it is
sure to go down.
But Consul Bernick is a pillar
of society; he needs the respect and good will of
his fellow citizens.
He must go from precipice
to precipice, to keep up appearances.
Lona alone sees the abyss facing him, and tells

him

"

ciety

is

What

does

it

matter whether such a so

supported or not?

current here?

Here are

What

is it

that passes

Lies and shams

you, the

first

man

in

nothing else.
the town, living in

power and honor, you, who

have set the brand of crime upon an innocent
man."
She might have added, many innocent
wealth and pride,

in

Henrik Ibsen

men, for Johan was not the only one at whose

expense Karsten Bernick built up his career.
The end is inevitable. In the words of Lona:
All this eminence, and you yourself along with
it, stand on a trembling quicksand; a moment may
come, a word may be spoken, and, if you do not
save yourself in time, you and your whole
"

grandeur go to the bottom."

But for Lona, or, rather, what she symbolizes,
Bernick
even as The Indian Girl
would go
to the bottom.

town is preparing to
give the great philanthropist and benefactor, the
eminent pillar of society, an ovation.
There are
and
in
honor of
fireworks, music, gifts
speeches
In the last

act,

the whole

Consul Bernick. At that very moment, the only

child of the Consul is hiding in The Indian Girl to
escape the tyranny of his home.
Johan, too, is
to
sail
on
the
same
supposed
ship, and with him,
Dina,

who

has learned the whole truth and

is

eager

from her prison, to go to a free atmos

become independent, and then to unite
with Johan in love and freedom.
As Dina says:
But first I will work,
Yes, I will be your wife.
and become something for myself, just as you are.
to escape
phere, to

I will give myself, I will

Consul Bernick, too,

himself.

that he

The

not be

taken."

beginning to realize
strain of events and the final shock

had exposed

his

is

own

child to such peril,

The

Pillars of Society

17

It
act like a stroke of lightning on the Consul.
makes him see that a house built on lies, shams,
and crime must eventually sink by its own weight.
Surrounded by those who truly love and therefore
understand him, Consul Bernick, no longer the
pillar of society, but the man becomes conscious

of his better

self.

have

"Where

will be horrified

as if I

had

I been?"

he exclaims.

when you know.

just recovered

Now,

"You

feel

my senses after being

I feel that I can be

But I feel
poisoned.
young and strong again. Oh, come nearer
closer around me.
Come, Betty! Come, Olaf
Martha
Come,
Oh, Martha, it seems as though
And we
I had never seen you in all these years.
we have a long, earnest day of work before
But let it come; gather close
us; I most of all.
around me, you true and faithful women. I have
I

learned

this, in

these days:

are the Pillars of

Lona:

it

is

you

women who

Society."

Then you have

"

brother-in-law.

dom,
and of Freedom

learned a poor wis

No, no; the spirit of Truth
these are the Pillars of Soci

ety."

The

spirit

of truth and freedom

revolutionary significance of
ety."

"

Girl,

is

the socio-

Pillars of Soci

Consul Bernick, fail to

go on patching up
which is Ibsen s symbol for our

Those, who,

like

realize this all-important fact,

The Indian

The

Henrik Ibsen

must learn that society is

rotten to the core that patching up or reforming
one sore spot merely drives the social poison
deeper into the system, and that all must go to the
bottom unless the spirit of Truth and Freedom

But

society.

they, too,
;

revolutionize the world.

A DOLL S HOUSE
IN

"

Doll

House

"

Ibsen returns to the

the Social Lie and Duty,

subject so vital to him,
this time as manifesting themselves in the sacred
institution

woman

of the

home and

in

the position of

in her gilded cage.

Nora

is

the beloved, adored wife of Torvald

He

an admirable man, rigidly hon

est, of high moral ideals, and passionately devoted
In short, a good man
to his wife and children.
and an enviable husband. Almost every mother
would be proud of such a match for her daughter,

Helmer.

is

and the latter would consider herself fortunate

become the wife of such a man.

to

Nora,

too,

considers

herself

fortunate.

In

deed, she worships her husband, believes in him

implicitly, and is sure that if ever her safety should

be menaced, Torvald, her

perform the miracle.

When a woman loves as

idol,

her god, would

Nora

does, nothing

A
else matters; least

Doll
of

all,

House

19

social, legal

or moral

considerations.
Therefore, when her husband s
life is threatened, it is no effort, it is joy for Nora
to forge her father s name to a note and borrow

800 cronen on

it,

in

order to take her sick husband

to Italy.
In her eagerness to serve her husband, and in
perfect innocence of the legal aspect of her act,

she does not give the matter much thought, except

for her anxiety to shield him from any emergency

upon him to perform the miracle in

She works hard, and saves every
her
of
penny
pin-money to pay back the amount
she borrowed on the forged check.
Nora is light-hearted and gay, apparently with
out depth. Who, indeed, would expect depth of
that

may

call

her behalf.

a doll, a
in life

is

"squirrel,"

to be

Her

a song-bird?

happy for her husband

purpose

sake, for

the sake of the children; to sing, dance, and play

Besides, is she not shielded, pro

with them.

and cared for? Who, then, would suspect

Nora of depth? But already in the opening
scene, when Torvald inquires what his precious
wants for a Christmas present, Nora
squirrel
him for money. Is it to buy maca
asks
quickly
roons or finery?
In her talk with Mrs. Linden,
Nora reveals her inner self, and forecasts the in
tected,

"

"

evitable debacle of her doll

After

telling her friend

house.

how

she

had saved her

Henrik Ibsen

2O

When Torvald gave me

says
for clothes and so on, I never used more

husband,

money

Nora

than half of
things.

But

always bought the simplest

never noticed anything.

it;

Torvald

was often very hard, Christina

it

nice to

it s

"

dear.

For

Now,

isn t

be beautifully dressed.

Well, and besides that, I made money in

Last winter I was so lucky
I got
other ways.
I
shut myself up every
a heap of copying to do.

it?

Oh, some
evening and wrote far into the night.
And yet it was
times I was so tired, so tired.
splendid to

almost

work

in that

felt as if I

was a

way and earn money.

man."

Down

deep in the consciousness of Nora there

evidently slumbers personality and character,

which could come into

full

bloom only through

Nora hopes

not the kind

great miracle
a miracle just the same.

for,

but

Nora had borrowed the money from Nils

Krogstad, a man with a shady past in the eyes of
the community and of the righteous moralist,

vald Helmer.
the

little

So long as Krogstad

breathing

space

is

Christian

Tor

allowed
people

him who has once broken its laws, he is

He does not molest Nora.
reasonably human.
But when Helmer becomes director of the bank in
which Krogstad is employed, and threatens the
grants to

man with
For

dismissal,

as he says to

Krogstad naturally
If need
Nora:

fights back.

"

be,

shall

Doll

House

21

keep my little place

not only for the money:
It s something else.
that matters least to me.
Of
clean
breast of it.
Well, I d better make a
fight as

though for

the bank.

in

my

life to

It s

course you know, like every one

got into trouble.

else, that

years ago
never came into court; but from that

paths were barred to me.

Then

some

The matter
moment all
took up the

know

about.
I was obliged to grasp
I
don
t
I ve been one of
and
think
something;
the worst.
But now I must clear out of it all.
My sons are growing up; for their sake I must
try to win back as much respectability as I can.
This place in the bank was the first step, and now
your husband wants to kick me off the ladder,
back into the mire.
Mrs. Helmer, you evidently
have no clear idea what you have really done.
But I can assure you that it was nothing more
and nothing worse that made me an outcast from
But this I may tell you, that if I m
society.
business you
at

flung into the gutter a second time, you shall keep

me

company."

Even when Nora

threat, she

is

confronted with this awful

does not fear for herself, only for

so true, who has such an

so good,

Torvald,
aversion to debts, but who loves her so devotedly
that for her sake he would take the blame upon
himself.

But

gins a fight for

this
life,

must never be. Nora, too, be

for her husband s life and that

Henrik Ibsen

22
of her children.

Did not Helmer

her that

tell

the very presence of a criminal like Krogstad

And is she not a criminal?
poisons the children?
Torvald Helmer assures her, in his male con
early corruption generally comes from
the mother s side, but of course the father s in
ceit,

"

that

fluence

may

act in the

same way.

stad has been poisoning his

And

this

Krog

own

children for years

a
life
of
and
lies
that s why
past by
hypocrisy

him morally ruined."

Poor Nora, who cannot understand why

I call

daughter has no right to spare her dying father

anxiety, or why a wife has no right to save her
s life, is surely not aware of the true
But gradually the veil is
character of her idol.

husband

At

when

reply to her desperate

pleading for Krogstad, her husband discloses the
The
true reason for wanting to get rid of him

lifted.

first,

in

"

there
fact is, he was a college chum of mine
was one of those rash friendships between us that
one so often repents later. I don t mind con

he

fessing

it

and he

insists

present.

He

calls

me by my

on doing

it

delights in

Christian

name;

even when others are

putting on airs of fa

Torvald here, Torvald there! I as

most painful to me. He would make
my position at the bank perfectly unendurable."
And then again when the final blow comes.
For forty-eight hours Nora battles for her ideal,

miliarity

sure you

it s

Doll

House

23

never doubting Torvald for a moment.

Indeed,
so absolutely sure is she of her strong oak, her
lord, her god, that she would rather kill herself
than have him take the blame for her act. The

end comes, and with it the doll s house tumbles

she
down, and Nora discards her doll s dress
sheds her skin, as it were.
Torvald Helmer
proves himself a petty Philistine, a bully and a
coward, as so many good husbands when they
throw off their respectable cloak.
Helmer s rage over Nora s crime subsides the
moment the danger of publicity is averted
prov

many a moralist, is not so

Nora s offense as by the fear
of being found out.
Not so Nora. Finding out
is her salvation.
It is then that she realizes how
much she has been wronged, that she is only a
ing that Helmer, like

much incensed

at

plaything, a doll to

ment she

"

says,

only thought

it

Helmer.

In her disillusion

You have never

amusing to be

loved me.

in love

with

Helmer. Why, Nora, what a thing to say!

Nora. Yes, it is so, Torvald. While I was
with father he used to
held the same opinions.

me

tell

If I

it.

at

his opinions

had others

because he would not have liked

his

all

He

You
me."

home
and

concealed them,

used to call

me

and play with me as I played with my

Then I came to live in your house
... I

doll child,

dolls.

mean

passed

from father

settled everything according to

hands into yours. You

taste; and I got the

your

Henrik Ibsen

24

I don t know
you ; or I pretended to
both ways perhaps. When I look back on it
now, I seem to have been living here like a beggar, from

same

tastes as

which

hand to mouth.

lived

But you would have

have done

me

life

a great wrong.

has been wasted.

Helmer.

It s

It s

for you,

You and

so.

it

father

fault that

your

my

exasperating!

holiest duties in this

tricks

by performing

Torvald.

Can you

forsake

your

way?

Nora. What do you call my holiest duties?

Helmer. Do you ask me that? Your duties to your
husband and your children.
Nora. I have other duties equally sacred.
Helmer. Impossible! What duties do you mean?
Nora. My duties toward myself.

Helmer.
Nora.
all

Before

That

am

else I

all else

no longer

human

you are a wife and a mother.

believe.

I think that before

being, just as

or, at least, I will try to

become

much

one.

as

you are

know

that

most people agree with you, Torvald, and that they say
But henceforth I can t be satisfied with

so in books.

what most people

say,

and what

is

in

books.

must

think things out for myself and try to get clear about
... I had been living here these eight years with

them.

a strange man, and had borne

I

can

...

bear to think of

can

him three children

Oh

could tear myself to pieces!

spend the night in a strange man s house.
it

Is there anything more degrading to woman

than to live with a stranger, and bear him chil

dren ?

Yet, the

lie

of the marriage institution de-

Ghosts
crees that she shall continue to

2$

do

so,

and the

social conception of duty insists that for the sake

of that

lie

she need be nothing else than a play

thing, a doll, a nonentity.

When Nora

closes

behind her the door of her

house, she opens wide the gate of life for

woman, and proclaims the revolutionary message
doll

that only perfect freedom and communion make a

true bond between man and woman, meeting in

the open, without lies, without shame, free from

the bondage of duty.

GHOSTS

THE

and revolutionary significance of

brought out with even greater
Ghosts than in his preceding works.

social

Henrik Ibsen
force in

Not
art

"

is

"

only does this pioneer of modern dramatic

in
Ghosts
the Social Lie and

undermine

"

"

the paralyzing effect of Duty, but the uselessness

and evil of Sacrifice, the dreary Lack of Joy and

of Purpose

in

Work

are brought to light as most

pernicious and destructive elements in

life.

Mrs. Alving, having made what her family

most admirable match, discovers shortly
after her marriage that her husband is a drunkard
and a roue. In her despair she flees to her young
But he,
friend, the divinity student Manders.
to
save
souls, even though they be enpreparing
called a

Henrik Ibsen

26

cased in rotten bodies, sends Mrs. AWmg back to

her husband and her duties toward her home.
Helen Alving is young and immature. Besides,
she loves young Manders; his command is law to
She returns home, and for twenty-five years

her.

misery and torture of the damned.

That she survives is due mainly to her passionate
love for the child born of that horrible relation
suffers all the

her boy Oswald, her

ship

He

all in life.

must

be saved at any cost.

To do that, she had sacri
ficed her great yearning for him and sent him
away from the poisonous atmosphere of her home.

And now

he has returned,

fine

and

free,

much

to the disgust of Pastor Manders, whose limited

vision cannot conceive that out in the large world

men and women

free

can live a decent and cre

ative life.

But how

Manders.

man

or young

endure to

world

live

What

a poor girl.

it

possible that

a young

with any decent principles can

in

way?

the eyes of all the

are they to do?

It costs a lot of

poor young artist

money to get married.

are they to do?

Manders.

Mr.

that

in

is

Oswald.

What

woman

What

are they to do?

Alving, what they ought

exercise

self-restraint

ought to do.

from the

to

do.

first;

Let

me

tell

you,

They ought
that

to

what they

Ghosts

27

Oswald. Such talk as that won t go far with

blooded young people, over head and ears in love.

warm

Mrs. diving. No, it wouldn t go far.

Manders. How can the authorities tolerate such
(To
things? Allow it to go on in the light of day?
Mrs. Alving.} Had I not cause to be deeply concerned
about your son? In circles where open immorality pre
vails,

and has even a sort of prestige

Let me tell you, sir, that

Oswald.
stant

Sunday-guest

in

one

or

two

have been a con

such

irregular

homes
Manders. On Sunday of all days!
Oswald. Isn t that the day to enjoy one s self? Well,
never have I heard an offensive word, and still less have
I

ever witnessed anything that could be called immoral.

No; do you know when and where

have found

don

immo

rality in artistic circles?

Manders.
Oswald.

No!

Thank

heaven,

t!

Well, then, allow me to inform you. I have

when one or other of our pattern husbands

met with it
and fathers has come to Paris to have a look around on
his own account, and has done the artists the honor of
They knew what was
visiting their humble haunts.
what. These gentlemen could tell us all about places
and things we had never dreamt of.
Manders. What? Do you mean to say that respect
?
able men from home here would
Oswald.

when

they

Have you never heard these respectable men,

got home again, talking about the way in

which immorality was running rampant abroad?

Henrik Ibsen

28

Manders. Yes, of course.

Mrs. Alving. I have, too.
Oswald.

Well,

They know what

great,

may

you

take

their

they are talking about!

word

Oh!

for

it.

that that

glorious life out there should be defiled in

free,

such a way!

Pastor Manders

is

outraged, and

when Oswald
Mrs.

leaves, he delivers himself of a tirade against

Alving for her

her

"

irresponsible proclivities to shirk

duty."

Manders.

It

is

only the

for happiness in this

beings

to

happiness?

spirit of rebellion that craves

What right have we human

No, we have to do our duty!

life.

And

your duty was to hold firmly to the man you had

once chosen and to whom you were bound by a holy tie.
... It was your duty to bear with humility the cross

which a Higher Power had, for your own good, laid

upon you. But instead of that you rebelliously cast away
the cross. ... I was but a poor instrument in a Higher
Hand. And what a blessing has it not been to you all
the days of your life, that I got you to resume the yoke
of duty and obedience!

The price Mrs. Alving had to pay for her yoke,

her duty and obedience, staggers even Dr. Man
ders, when she reveals to him the martyrdom she
had endured those long

years.

Mrs. Alving. You have now spoken out, Pastor Man

ders and to-morrow you are to speak publicly in memory
;

Ghosts
of
I

my

husband.

29
to-morrow.

shall not speak

me.

...

want you

my

of marriage
sires

to

know

to

that after nineteen years

husband remained

as dissolute in his de

was when you married

as he

But now

you have spoken

will speak out a little to you, as

After Oswald

us.

thought Alving seemed to be a little better. But

And then I had to struggle twice
did not last long.

birth, I
it

as hard, fighting for life or death, so that

know what

my

little

sort of a

man my

child

But when
it for.
when my own servant-maid

son to bear

was added

nobody should
I had

father was.

the last insult

Then

swore to myself: This shall come to an end. And so I

the whole control
took the upper hand in the house

For now I had a

over him and over everything else.
weapon against him, you see; he dared not oppose me.
He was
It was then that Oswald was sent from home.
in his seventh year, and was beginning to observe and
ask questions, as children do.

That

could not bear.

thought the child must get poisoned by merely breath

That was why I
ing the air in this polluted home.

placed

him

And now

out.

you can

never allowed to set foot inside his

father lived.

No

one knows what

see, too,

home
it

why

he was

so long as his

has cost me.

day after to-morrow it shall be for me as

though he who is dead had never lived in this house.
No one shall be here but my boy and his mother. (From

From

the

within the dining-room comes the noise of a chair over

turned, and at the same

moment

is

Regina (sharply, but whispering}.

are you

mad?

let

Mrs. Alving

me

heard:)

Oswald! take

care!

go!

(starts

in

terror}.

Ah!

(She stares

Henrik Ibsen

3O

Oswald

wildly toward the half-opened door.

coughing and humming

Manders

What

(excited}.

What

ter?

is

it,

is

heard

inside.

the world

in

is

mat

the

Mrs. Alving?

Mrs. Alving (hoarsely}.

The

Ghosts!

couple from

the conservatory has risen again!

Mrs. Alving sees this but too*

Ghosts, indeed!
clearly when she discovers that though she did not
penny from the
had
paid for her,
purchase money Captain Alving
not
save Oswald from the
all her sacrifice did

want Oswald

to inherit a single

She learns soon

poisoned heritage of his father.
inherited
a terri
her
beloved
had
that
enough
boy
ble disease from his father, as a result of which he
She also finds
never again be able to work.
out that, for all her freedom, she has remained in
the clutches of Ghosts, and that she has fostered

will

Oswald

in

mind an

ideal of his father, the

terrible because of her

Too

late she realizes

Mrs. Alving.

her fatal mistake

a coward,

When

ought never to have concealed the

s life.

Oh! what

more

loathing for the man.

But ...
Alving
and
Duty
Decency I lied to

facts of

for

own

my

in

my

superstitious

awe

boy, year after year.

what a coward

have been!

heard Regina and Oswald in there,

it was as though I saw the Ghosts before me.
But I
almost think we are all of us Ghosts, Pastor Manders.

Ghosts!

It

is

not only what

and mother that

"

we

walks

have inherited from our father

"

in us.

It

is

all sorts

of dead

Ghosts
and

ideas,

lifeless

31

old beliefs, and so forth.

They have

but they cling to us all the same, and we

There must be Ghosts all
can t get rid of them.
And
the country over, as thick as the sand of the sea.

no

vitality,

then

we

are,

When

one and

all,

so pitifully afraid of the light.

me under
when you

the yoke you called

as right and
and
praised
Obligation;
Duty
rebelled
whole
soul
what
proper
my
against, as some
.

you forced

It was then that I began to look into

thing loathsome.
I only wished to pick at a
the seams of your doctrine.
I
had
that undone, the whole
when
but
knot;
got
single

thing ravelled out. And then I understood that it was

all machine-sewn. ... It was a crime against us both.

is

Indeed, a crime on which the sacred institution

built, and for which thousands of innocent chil

dren must pay with their happiness and life, while

their mothers continue to the very end without
ever learning

how

hideously criminal their

Not
price,

so Mrs. Alving who, though

works herself out to the truth;

life is.

at a terrible

aye, even to

the height of understanding the dissolute life of

the father of her child, who had lived in cramped

provincial surroundings, and could find no purpose

in life, no outlet for his exuberance.
It is through

her child, through Oswald, that

all this

becomes

illumed to her.
Oswald.

you don
never

Ah, the joy of

know much

felt it here.

life,

about

And

in

mother; that
these

parts.

a thing
I

have

then, too, the joy of work.

Henrik Ibsen

32
At bottom,

it s

nothing about.

work

lieve that

that life

But

the same thing.

.

Here people

to be

up

a curse and a punishment for

is

know

that too you

are brought

sin,

and

we want

to
something miserable, something
.
Have you
done with, the sooner the better.
noticed that everything I have painted has turned upon
is

be

upon the joy of life?

and sunshine and glorious air, and faces radiant

the joy of life? always, always

light

with happiness? That

at home with you.

why

is

am

afraid of remaining

Mrs. Alving. Oswald, you spoke of the joy of life;

at that word a new light burst for me over my life

and
and

all it

has contained.

You

ought to have known

when he was a young

your father

work

He was

lieutenant.

brimming over w ith the joy of life! . .

object in life, but only an official position.

He
He

had no

had no

which he could throw himself heart and soul;

He had not a single comrade that
he had only business.
knew what the joy of life meant
only loafers and boon
into

... So

companions
to

happen.

Oswald,

that happened which

my

you very much?

Oswald. Of course

it

prise, but, after all,

can

Mrs. Alving.

it

Can

dear boy; has

came upon me
t

was
it

sure

shaken

as a great sur

much to me.
That your father was

matter

matter!

so infinitely miserable!

Oswald.

body

else;

Of

would any

but

Mrs. Alving.
Oswald.

course I can pity him as

Nothing more?

Your own

Oh,

there!

father!

"

"

Father,"

father

"!

never

Ghosts
knew anything

of father.

about him except

33

don

that he once

remember anything

made me

sick.

Alving. That s a terrible way to speak!

Should not a son love his father, all the same?
Oswald. When a son has nothing to thank his father

Mrs.

for? has never

known him?

old superstition?

ways ?
Mrs. Alving.

Do

you who are

you

really cling to the

so enlightened in other

Is that only a superstition?

one that is kept like

In truth, a superstition
sword of Damocles over the child who does

the

not ask to be given

life,

and

is

yet tied with a

thousand chains to those who bring him into a

cheerless, joyless, and wretched world.

The

voice of Henrik Ibsen in

"

Ghosts

"

sounds

the trumpets before the walls of Jericho.

Into the remotest nooks and corners reaches his

like

its thundering indictment of our moral

our
social poisons, our hideous crimes
cancers,
unborn
and born victims. Verily a more
against
revolutionary condemnation has never been ut

voice, with

tered in dramatic form before or since the great

Henrik

Ibsen.

We

need, therefore, not be surprised at the vile

abuse and denunciation heaped upon Ibsen s head

by the Church, the State, and other moral eunuchs.

But the spirit of Henrik Ibsen could not be

Henrik Ibsen

34
daunted.

It asserted itself
"

fiance in

An Enemy

of

with even greater de

a

Society,"

powerful

arraignment of the political and economic Lie,

Ibsen s own confession of faith.

DR. THOMAS STOCKMANN

sition

the

"

is

called to the

po

of medical adviser to the management of

Baths," the main resource of his native town.

man

sincere

home

returns

of high ideals, Dr. Stockmann

after an absence of many years, full

of the spirit of enterprise and progressive inno

vation.
For as he says to his brother Peter, the

am

so glad and content.

I feel so unspeakably happy in the midst of all
After all, what a
this growing, germinating life.

town Burgomaster,

glorious time

"

we do

It is

live in.

world were springing up around

as if a

us."

Burgomaster. Do you really think so?

Dr. Stockmann. Well, of course, you can
as

clearly

all

those

as

do.

You

ve spent

new

see

this

in

this
your
and
But
so
have
been
dulled.
I,
place,
your perceptions
who had to live up there in that small hole in the north
I

years,

stimulating

word

all

life

hardly ever seeing a soul to speak a

to

me

carried to the midst of a

all this affects

crowded

city

me

as if I

were

know

well

that the conditions of life are small

enough
with many other towns.

But here

is

life,

compared

growth, an

An Enemy
infinity of things to

the

is

main

work

of Society

for

and

35

to strive for;

and that

point.

In this spirit Dr. Stockmann sets to his task.

After two years of careful investigation, he finds
that the Baths are built on a swamp, full of poi

sonous germs, and that people who come there for

their health will be infected with fever.

Thomas Stockmann

He

loves

native

his

is

a conscientious physician.

town,

but

he

loves

his

He considers it his duty to

fellow-men more.
communicate his discovery to the highest authority
of the town, the Burgomaster, his brother Peter

Stockmann.
Dr. Stockmann

is indeed an idealist; else he

would know that the man is often lost in the of
ficial.
Besides, Peter Stockmann is also the
president of the board of directors and one of the

heaviest stockholders of the Baths.

Sufficient rea

son to upbraid his reckless medical brother as a

dangerous

man

Anyhow, you ve an ingrained propen

Burgomaster.
sity

own way.

for going your

And

that in a well-or

dered community is almost as dangerous.

The individual
must submit himself to the whole community, or, to speak

more

bow

correctly,

the welfare of

But the Doctor

an

official;

to the authority that

watches over

all.

he

is

is

not disconcerted: Peter

not concerned with ideals.

is

But

Henrik Ibsen

36
there

the press,

is

that

is

the

medium

for his

The staff of the People s Messenger

Hovstad, Billings, and Aslaksen, are deeply
impressed by the Doctor s discovery. With one
eye to good copy and the other to the political
chances, they immediately put the People s Mes
senger at the disposal of Thomas Stockmann.
purpose!

Hovstad
radical

sees great possibilities for a

reform of the whole

life

of the

thorough

commun

ity.

To

Hovstad.
this

business

man

you, as a doctor and a

the water-works

of

in

of science,

an isolated

affair.

fancy it hasn t occurred to you that a good many other

things are connected with it. ... The swamp our whole
I

municipal life stands and rots in. ...

ist assumes an immense responsibility

think a journal

when he

neglects

an opportunity of aiding the masses, the poor, the op

pressed.

know

call this stirring

do

well enough that the upper classes will

up the people, and so forth, but they can

as they please, if only

my

conscience

is

clear.

Aslaksen, printer of the People s Messenger,

chairman of the Householders Association, and

agent for the Moderation Society, has, like

stad,

a keen eye to business.

Doctor of

his

He

Hov

assures

the

whole-hearted cooperation, espe

It might do you no harm

emphasizing that,
to have us middle-class men at your back.
We
town
now form a compact majority in the
when we really make up our minds to. And it s
"

cially

An Enemy

37

of Society

always as well, Doctor, to have the majority with

And so I think it wouldn t be amiss if
you.
.

we made some

sort of a demonstration.

Of

I am al
course with great moderation, Doctor.
ways in favor of moderation; for moderation is a

citizen

s first

virtue

at least those are

my

senti

ments."

Truly, Dr. Stockmann

would not place so much

People

an

is

idealist;

else

he

faith in the staff of the

Messenger, who love the people so well

that they constantly feed them with high-sounding

phrases of democratic principles and of the noble
function of the press, while they pilfer their pock
ets.

That is expressed in Hovstad s own words,

when Petra, the daughter of Dr. Stockmann, re
turns a sentimental novel she was to translate for
the People s Messenger:
This can t possibly
into
the
she
tells
Hovstad; it is
go
Messenger,"
in direct contradiction to your own opinion."
"

"

Hovstad.
Petra.

Well, but for the sake of the cause

t understand me yet.
It is all about

You don

a supernatural power that looks after the so-called good

people here on earth, and turns
at last,

vantage
Hovstad.

and

Yes,

all

all

things to their ad

the bad people are punished.

but that

very

fine.

It s

the very

thing the public like.

And would you supply the public with such

Why, you don t believe one word of it yourself.

Petra.
stuff?

Henri k Ibsen

38
You know

well enough that things don

really

happen

like that.

You

Hovstad.

always do as he

re

He

want

the people to follow

me

pation and progress, I mustn

moral story down

more willing
feel

an

editor

politics

all,

is

at any rate for a newspaper;

life

find such a

but

to stand

can

often has to yield to public

After

opinion in small matters.

thing in

there;

right

likes.

what

the chief

and

if

along the path of emanci

them away.

scare

If they

in the cellar, they re

is

printed above

much

it

they

themselves safer.

Editors of the stamp of Hovstad seldom dare

to express their real opinions.
They cannot af
scare away
their readers.
ford to
They gen
"

"

most ignorant and vulgar public

opinion; they do not set themselves up against
Therefore the People s
constituted authority.
in town
the
Messenger drops
greatest man
when it learns that the Burgomaster and the influ
erally yield to the

"

"

ential citizens are determined that the truth shall

be silenced. The Burgomaster soundly de
nounces his brother s
rebellion."
"

The

Burgomaster.

The

public

doesn

new

need

ideas.

best served

by the good old recognized

ideas that they have already. ... As an official, you ve
no right to have any individual conviction.
public

is

Dr. Stockmann.

We

The

source

is

live by trafficking
you mad?
The whole of our developing social

poisoned,
in filth
life is

man!

Are

and garbage.

rooted in a

lie

An Enemy
Idle

Burgomaster.

of Society
or

fancies

3<)

something

worse.

The man who makes such offensive insinuations against

his own native place must be an enemy of society.
Dr. Stockmann. And I must bear such treatment!
In my own house.
Katrine! What do you think of it?
Mrs. Stockmann.

Thomas

Indeed,

it is

But, after

all,

a shame and an insult,

your brother has the

power
Dr. Stockmann. Yes, but I have tne right!
Mrs. Stockmann. Ah, yes, right, right! What

is

the

good of being right when you haven t any might?

Dr. Stockmann. What! No good in a free society to
have right on your side? You are absurd, Katrine.
besides, haven t I the free and independent press with

The compact
I

majority behind
should think!

me?

That

And
me ?

might enough,

Katrine Stockmann is wiser than her husband.

For he who has no might need hope for no right.
The good Doctor has to drink the bitter cup to the
last

drop before he realizes the wisdom of

his

wife.

Threatened by the authorities and repudiated

by the People s Messenger, Dr. Stockmann at
tempts to secure a hall wherein to hold a public
A free-born citizen, he believes in the
meeting.
Constitution and its guarantees; he is determined
to maintain his right of free expression.
But like
so many others, even most advanced liberals
blinded by the spook of constitutional rights and

Henrik Ibsen

40

free speech, Dr. Stockmann inevitably has to pay

He finds every hall
the penalty of his credulity.
in town closed against him.
Only one solitary
citizen has the courage to

his doors to the

open

his
old friend Horsier.
persecuted Doctor,
But the mob follows him even there and howls

him down as an enemy of society. Thomas

Stockmann makes the discovery in his battle with
the
ignorance, stupidity, and vested interests that
most dangerous enemies of truth and freedom in
"

our midst are the compact majority, the damned

compact liberal majority." His experiences lead
him to the conclusion that the majority is never
That is one of those conventional lies
right.
a free, thoughtful man must rebel.
which
against
"

The

right

has

it

Hovstad.

majority has might unhappily

The man who would

ruin a whole

munity must be an enemy of society!

Dr. Stockmann. It doesn t matter
munity

is

in time;

ruined!

you will bring

You
it

ll

say,

country!

from the bottom

Perish

all its

if

a lying

com

com

poison the whole country

whole
come to

to such a pass that the

country will deserve to perish.

this,

but

not."

And
of my

should

it

heart: Perish

the

people!

Driven out of the place, hooted and jeered by

the mob, Dr. Stockmann barely escapes with his
life, and seeks safety in his home, only to find

An Enemy

of Society

everything demolished there.

41

In due time he

is

repudiated by the grocer, the baker, and the can

dlestick

maker.
him.

for

sorry

The landlord, of course,

The Stockmanns have

is

very

always

paid their rent regularly, but it would injure his

reputation to have such an avowed rebel for a

The

grocer is sorry, and the butcher,

too; but they can not jeopardize their business.
Finally the board of education sends expressions
tenant.

of regret:
Petra is an excellent teacher and the
of
Stockmann
boys
splendid pupils, but it would

contaminate the other children were the Stock

to remain at school.
And again
But he will
learns a vital lesson.
not submit he will be strong.

manns allowed
Dr. Stockmann
;

Dr. Stockmann.
field

Should I let myself be beaten off the

by public opinion, and the compact majority, and

such deviltry?
simple,

so

clear

No, thanks. Besides, what I want is

and straightforward. I only want

so

to

drive into the heads of these curs that the Liberals are

the worst foes of free

the necks of all
of

that party-programmes

wring

turn

until life

is

man

he

strongest

living truths; that considerations

morality and righteousness upside

simply hideous. ... I don t see any
free and brave enough to dare the Truth.
The

expediency

down,

man

men

young

is

who

stands most alone.

confession of faith, indeed, because Henrik

Ibsen, although recognized as a great dramatic

Henrik Ibsen

42
artist,

remained alone

in his

stand as a revolution

ist.

His dramatic

art,

without his glorious rebellion

authoritative

institution, against
against every
every social and moral lie, against every vestige
of bondage, were inconceivable.
Just as his art

would lose human significance, were his love of

and freedom lacking. Already in Brand,"
Henrik Ibsen demanded all or nothing, no weakkneed moderation,
no compromise of any sort in
the struggle for the ideal.
His proud defiance,
"

truth

his

enthusiastic daring,

his utter

indifference to

consequences, are Henrik Ibsen s bugle call, her

alding a new dawn and the birth of a new race.

STRINDBERG

^HE reproach was levelled against my

tragedy, The Father, that it was

so sad, as though one wanted merry
People clamour for the
tragedies.

1
joy of

life,

farces, as

and the

theatrical

managers order

though the joy of life consisted in being

and in describing people as if they were

each and all afflicted with St. Vitus s dance or
foolish,

idiocy.

find the joy of life in the powerful,

life, and
enjoyment in dis

cruel struggle of

covering something,

my

in

learning something."
The passionate desire to discover something,
to learn something, has made of August Strind-

berg a keen dissector of

own

souls.

Above

all,

of his

soul.

Surely there is no figure in contemporary litera

of Tolstoy, that laid bare the most

ture, outside

secret

nooks and corners of

his

own

soul with the

One so relent
sincerity of August Strindberg.
lessly honest with himself, could be no less with
others.

That
of his

explains the bitter opposition and hatred

They did not object so much to

critics.

Strindberg

self-torture; but that he should

43

have

Strindberg

44

dared to torture them, to hold up his searching

mirror to their sore spots, that they could not
forgive.

Especially

is

this

true of

woman.

For cen

been lulled into a trance by the songs

of the troubadours who paid homage to her good
ness, her sweetness, her selflessness and, above all,
her noble motherhood. And though she is begin
turies she has

ning to appreciate that all this incense has be

fogged her mind and paralyzed her soul, she hates
to give up the tribute laid at her feet by senti
mental moonshiners of the past.
To be sure, it is rude to turn on the full search
But how is one to
light upon a painted face.
know what is back of the paint and artifice? Au
gust Strindberg hated artifice with all the passion

of his being; hence his severe criticism of woman.

Perhaps it was his tragedy to see her as she really
is,

and not

To

as she appears in her trance.

love
eyes is, indeed, a tragedy, and Strind

with open
berg loved woman. All his life long he yearned
for her love, as mother, as wife, as companion.
But his longing for, and his need of her, were the

have been the cruci

man, even of the mightiest spirit.
so is best expressed in the words of

crucible of Strindberg, as they

ble of every

Why
the
"

old

it is

Margret, in "The Father":

you men, great and small, are wom

nurse,

Because all
an s children, every

man

of

you."

The Father
The

child in

and the greater the man

man

more dominant

the

45

the child in

succumbed to the Earth

Spirit,

him

has ever

Woman, and

as

long as that is her only drawing power, Man,

with all his strength and genius, will ever be at her
feet.

The Earth Spirit is motherhood carrying

race in its womb; the flame of life luring
moth, often against its
In all of Strindberg
of

life at

man

the

the

will, to destruction.
s

work, ravishing

we

plays

man

see the flame

brain,

consuming

rousing man s passion.

Always, al
with
the
flame
of
life
is
victims
its
ways
drawing
s

faith,

irresistible

force.

August Strindberg s arraign

ment of that force is at the same time a confes
sion of faith.
He, too, was the child of woman,
and utterly helpless before her.

THE FATHER
"

THE

and a
child.

portrays the tragedy of a man

struggling for the possession of their

Father

woman
The

"

father,

lectual, a freethinker, a
is

narrow,

selfish,

cavalry captain, is intel

man of ideas. His wife

and unscrupulous

in

her methods

when her antagonism is wakened.

Other members of the family are

the wife

Spiritualist, and the Captain s old nurse,

Margret, ignorant and superstitious. The father

mother, a

Strindberg

46

feels that the child

atmosphere
The

would be poisoned

in

such an

Captain.

This house

is

full of

want to have their say about my

law wants to make a Spiritualist

women who

My

child.

all

mother-in-

Laura wants

of her.

her to be an artist; the governess wants her to be a

Methodist, old Margret a Baptist, and the servant-girls

want her to join the Salvation Army!

try to make a soul in patches like that.
chief right to try to

form her character,

opposed in my efforts. And that

to send her away from home.

But

it is

wants

why

have decided

not only because the Captain does not

"

believe in

won t do to
who have the
am constantly

It
I,

making

a soul in

to rescue the child

patches,"

that he

from the hot-house en

vironment, nor because he plans to make her an

image of himself. It is rather because he wants
her to grow up with a healthy outlook on

life.

The Captain. I don t want to be a procurer for my

daughter and educate her exclusively for matrimony, for
then if she were left unmarried she might have bitter
days.

On

the other hand, I don

want

to influence her

toward a career that requires a long course of training

which would be entirely thrown away if she should
I want her to be a teacher.
If she remains un
marry.
married she will be able to support herself, and at any
rate she wouldn t be any worse off than the poor school
masters who have to share their salaries with a family.

The Father
If she marries she can use her

47

knowledge

in the

educa

tion of her children.

While the father

love

concerned with the

is

development of the child, that of the mother is

interested mainly in the possession of the child.

Therefore she
at her

fights the

command, even

man

with every means

to the point of instilling the

poison of doubt into his mind, by hints that he is

not the father of the child.
Not only does she
seek to drive her husband mad, but through skillful
intrigue she leads every one, including the Doc
tor, to believe that he is actually insane.
Finally

even the old nurse

is

induced to betray him: she

the straitjacket over him, adding the last

touch to the treachery.
Robbed of his faith,
slips

broken
victim

and subdued, the Captain dies a

of the Earth Spirit
of motherhood,
in spirit

which slays the man for the sake of the child.

Laura herself will have it so when she tells her
u

You have fulfilled your function as

husband,
an unfortunately necessary father and breadwin
ner.
You are not needed any longer, and you
must

go."

Critics

have pronounced

"The

Father"

an

aberration of Strindberg s mind, utterly false and

distorted.
But that is because they hate to face
the truth.
his

In Strindberg, however, the truth

most revolutionary

significance.

is

Strindberg

48

The Father
Motherhood, much
"

"

as a

contains

two

basic

truths.

praised, poetized, and hailed

wonderful thing,

is in

reality very often the

greatest deterrent influence in the life of the child.

Because it is not primarily concerned with the po
tentialities

of character and growth of the child;

on the contrary,
that

giver,

mother

it is

is,

interested chiefly in the birth-

the

mother.

Therefore,

the

the most subjective, self-centered and

She binds the child to her
conservative obstacle.
self

is

with a thousand threads which never grant

freedom for mental and spiritual ex

sufficient

not necessary to be as bitter as

Strindberg to realize this. There are of course
exceptional mothers who continue to grow with

pansion.

It is

But the average mother is like the hen

with her brood, forever fretting about her chicks
if they venture a step away from the coop.
The
the child.

mother

enslaves with kindness,

a bondage
harder to bear and more difficult to escape than
the brutal

fist

of the father.

Strindberg himself experienced it, and nearly

every one who has ever attempted to outgrow the
soul strings of the mother.
In portraying motherhood, as it really is, Au
gust Strindberg is conveying a vital and revolu
tionary message, namely, that true motherhood,
even as fatherhood, does not consist in molding
the child according to one s image, or in imposing

The Father
upon

it

one

own

ideas and notions, but in allow

freedom and opportunity to grow

ing the child

harmoniously according to its

unhampered and unmarred.

The

child

the

own

potentialities,

was August Strindberg

perhaps because of his

and youth.

49

He

Obscure,"

was

s religion,
tragic childhood

own very

like

Time

Father

"

in

Jude
and as he has Laura
The Father," he had

a giant child,
"

"

say of the Captain in

either come too early into the world, or perhaps
was not wanted at all."

Yes, that s how it was," the Captain replies,

my father s and my mother s will was against
"

"

my coming into the world, and consequently

was born without a will."

[The horror of having been brought into the

world undesired and unloved, stamped its indeli
ble

mark on August

never

It

Strindberg.
did fear and hunger
rible phantoms of his childhood.

him.

Nor

left

the two ter

Indeed, the child was Strindberg s religion, his

Is it then surprising that he

faith, his passion.

should have resented

woman

attitude

towards

man as a mere means to the child; or, in the

words of Laura, as
the function of father and
the

"

breadwinner"?

woman,

is

less true.

unthinking

That

this

of course denied.

is

the

But

it

attitude
is

of

neverthe

It holds good not only of the average,

woman, but even of many feminists of

Strindberg

50

to-day; and, no doubt, they were even more an

tagonistic to the male in Strindberg s time.
It

is

only too true that

woman

paying back

is

what she has endured for centuries

humiliation,
But making oneself
subjection, and bondage.
free through the enslavement of another, is by
no means a step toward advancement. Woman
must grow to understand that the father is as vital

a factor in the life of the child as

is

the mother.

Such a realization would help very much to mini

mize the conflict between the sexes.

Of

course, that

not the only cause of the

is

There is another, as expressed by Laura:

you remember when I first came into your
I loved you
life, I was like a second mother?
when the nature of your
as my child.
But
feelings changed and you appeared as my lover,
I blushed, and your embraces were joy that was
followed by remorseful conscience as if my blood
were ashamed."
conflict.
"

Do

The vile thought instilled into woman by the

Church and Puritanism that sex expression without
the purpose of procreation

most degrading
life
"

influence.

of thousands of

and hatred of the man;

Must

it

immoral, has been a

has poisoned the

It

women who

remorseful conscience

not think

is

similarly suffer

therefore their disgust

therefore also the conflict.
";

always be thus? Even Strindberg does

Else he would not plead in behalf

so.

Countess Julie
of

"

divorce between

may be

He

born."

cease to have

"

man and

51

wife, so that lovers

felt that until

man and woman

remorseful consciences

"

because

of the most elemental expression of the joy of

life, they cannot realize the purity and beauty of

nor appreciate its ecstasy, as the source of

understanding and creative harmony between
male and female. Till then man and woman must
sex,
full

remain

and the child pay the penalty.

in conflict,

August Strindberg, as one of the numberless

innocent victims of this terrible conflict, cries out
against it, with the artistic genius and
strength that compel attention to the significance

bitterly

of his message.

COUNTESS JULIE
IN

his masterly preface to this play,

Strindberg writes

makes

"

The

a sad impression

fact that

on many

is

my

August
tragedy

the fault of

When we become strong, as were the

French revolutionaries, it will make an ex
clusively pleasant and cheerful impression to see
the royal parks cleared of rotting, superannuated
trees which have too long stood in the way of
the many.
first

others with equal right to vegetate their full life

time; it will make a good impression in the same
sense as does the sight of the death of an incura
ble."

Strindberg

What
were we

a wealth of

revolutionary thought,

to realize that those

who

will clear soci

ety of the rotting, superannuated trees that have

so long been standing in the way of others entitled
to an equal share in life, must be as strong as the
great revolutionists of the past!

Indeed, Strindberg is no trimmer, no cheap re

former, no patchworker; therefore his inability
to remain fixed, or to content himself with ac

cepted truths.

Therefore

also, his great versatil

deep grasp of the subtlest phases of life.

he not forever the seeker, the restless spirit
roaming the earth, ever in the death-throes of the
his

ity,

Was

Old, to give birth to the New?

How, then, could
he be other than relentless and grim and brutally
frank.
"

Countess Julie," a one-act tragedy, is no doubt

a brutally frank portrayal of the most intimate
thoughts of man and of the age-long antagonism

between

classes.

Brutally frank, because August

Strindberg strips both of their

and pretense, that we may

there

glitter, their

sham

"

bottom
not so much difference between people and
see that

at

people."

Who

in

modern dramatic

art

is

there to teach

us that lesson with the insight of an August Strind

berg? He who had been tossed about all his life

between the decadent traditions of

his aristocratic

father and the grim, sordid reality of the class

Countess Julie

53

of his mother.
He who had been begotten
through the physical mastery of his father and
the physical subserviency of his mother.
Verily,
for he
Strindberg knew whereof he spoke
spoke with his soul, a language whose significance
is

illuminating, compelling.
Countess Julie inherited

the primitive, in
tense passion of her mother and the neurotic aris
tocratic tendencies of her father.
Added to this
intense sum
heritage is the call of the wild, the
mer heat when the blood turns to fire, and when
"

are in a holiday spirit, full of gladness, and

rank is flung aside."
Countess Julie feels, when
all

too

late,

that the barrier of rank reared through

the ages, by wealth and power, is not flung aside

with impunity. Therein the vicious brutality, the

boundless injustice of rank.

The

people on the estate of Julie s father are

celebrating St. John s Eve with dance, song and

The Count

and Julie gra

But once hav
ciously mingles with the servants.
the
tasted
the
abandon
of
simple
ing
people, once
the
thrown
off
artifice
and
having
superficiality of

revelry.

is

absent,

her aristocratic decorum, her suppressed passions

leap into full flame, and Julie throws herself into
not be
the arms of her father s valet, Jean
cause of love for the man, nor yet openly and
freely, but as persons of her station may do when
carried

away by

the

moment.

Strindberg

54

The woman

in Julie pursues the male, follows

him as with a pet

then
and
feigns indignation when Jean,
dog,
How dare he, the
aroused, makes advances.
servant, the lackey, even insinuate that she would
I honor
have him!
I, the lady of the house!

him

into the kitchen, plays with

"

the people with

my

coachman?

who

How

I,

presence.
step

well Strindberg

the upper classes

in love

with

my

down."

knows the psychology of

How

I,

well he understands that

their graciousness, their charity, their interest in

"

the

common

"

people

is,

after

all,

nothing but

arrogance, blind conceit of their own importance

and ignorance of the character of the people.
Even though Jean is a servant, he has his pride,
lie

has his dreams.

plaything,"

"

was not hired

he says to Julie;

of myself for

"

to be your

think too

much

that."

Strange, is it not, that those who serve and

drudge for others, should think so much of them
selves as to refuse to be played with?
Stranger
that they should indulge in dreams.

still

Jean

says:

Do you know how people in high life look from the

under-world?
They look like hawks and eagles
.

whose backs one seldom

sees,

lived in a hovel provided

by the State, with seven brothers

and

sisters

for they soar up above.

and a pig out on a barren stretch where noth

tree, but from the window I could
;

ing grew, not even a

see the

Count

park walls with apple trees rising above

Countess Julie
That was

them.

many angry

the garden of paradise

and there stood

angels with flaming swords protecting

for all that I

and other boys found the way

now you

life

55

despise me.

...

thought

if

that the thief on the cross could enter heaven

the angels

among

God

know.

was strange

but

it

is

true

and dwell

that a pauper child

on

earth could not go into the castle park and play

with the Countess

don

it

it

to the tree of

vision of

you

daughter.

You were
I

was made

rich

What

wanted

unattainable, but through the

how

to realize

to rise above the conditions of

What

my

hopeless

it

was

birth.

food for thought

in

the above for

all
us, and for the Jeans, the people who do
not know what they want, yet feel the cruelty of

of

world that keeps the pauper s child out of the

of his dreams, away from joy and play
and beauty! The injustice and the bitterness of
it all, that places the stigma of birth as an im
passable obstacle, a fatal imperative excluding one
from the table of life, with the result of producing
such terrible effects on the Julies and the Jeans.
The one unnerved, made helpless and useless by
affluence, ease and idleness; the other enslaved and
bound by service and dependence. Even when
Jean wants to, he cannot rise above his condi
tion.
When Julie asks him to embrace her, to
a

castle

love her, he replies:

I
is

can

as long as

we

are in this house.

the Count, your father.

...

There

need only to see

his

Strindberg

56

gloves lying in a chair to feel

have only to hear

.

And now

and proper,
account for

my

back

told

me

bowing and

a nervous horse.

scraping.

...

but
believe

if

the

in

it is that damned servant in

Count came here now, and
would do it on the spot.

throat, I

Superstition and prejudice taught in childhood can

uprooted

stiff

can

but ah,

it

my

insignificance.

that I see his boots standing there so

I feel like

to cut

my own

his bell, to start like

be

a moment.

superstition and prejudice cannot be up

rooted in a moment; nor in years. The awe of

No,

authority, servility before station and wealth

these are the curse of the Jean class that makes
such cringing slaves of them.
Cringing before

who are above them, tyrannical and over

For
bearing toward those who are below them.
Jean has the potentiality of the master in him as
those

much

Yet degrading as
the damned servant
reacts upon Jean, it is
much more terrible in its effect upon Kristin, the
as that of the slave.

"

"

cook, the dull, dumb animal who has so little left

of the spirit of independence that she has lost

even the ambition to

rise

above her condition.

Thus when

Kristin, the betrothed of Jean, dis

covers that her mistress Julie had given herself
to him, she is indignant that her lady should have

so

much

father

forgotten her station as to stoop to her

s valet.

Countess Julie
Kristin.

don

want

57

to be here in this

house any

longer where one cannot respect one s betters.

Jean.
should one respect them?

Why

Kristin.

But

don

flects

on

Yes, you can say that, you are so smart.

want to serve people who behave so. It re

oneself, I think.

Yes, but

Jean.

it s

a comfort that they re not a bit

better than we.

Kristin.
ter there s

No, I don t think so, for if they are not bet

no use in our trying to better ourselves in this

And

world.

has had so

to think of the

much sorrow

Count

all his days.

Think
No,

of

him who
t want

don

any longer! And to think of it being

with such as you! If it had been the Lieutenant
... I have never lowered my position. Let any one
to stay in this house

say, if they can, that the

Count s cook has had anything

Let them

to do with the riding master or the swineherd.

come and say

it!

Such dignity and morality are indeed pathetic,

because they indicate how completely serfdom
may annihilate even the longing for something

human being.
Kristins represent the greatest obstacle to
social growth, the deadlock in the conflict between

higher and better in the breast of a

The

the classes.
all

On

their longing

the other hand, the Jeans, with

for higher possibilities, often

become brutalized
though
tality

in

in the conflict

the hard school of life;

with Julie, Jean shows bru

only at the critical moment,

when

it

be-

Strindberg

58

life and death, a moment

means discovery and consequent ruin, or

comes a question of
that

safety for both.

Jean, though the male is aroused in him, pleads

with Julie not to play with fire, begs her to re
turn to her room, and not to give the servants a

chance for gossip.

room

And when

later

Jean suggests

for a hiding place that Julie

may escape
the approaching merry-makers, it is to save her
from their songs full of insinuation and ribaldry.

his

Finally when the inevitable happens, when as a

result of their closeness in Jean s room, of their

overwrought nerves, their intense passion, the

avalanche of sex sweeps them off their feet, for
getful of station, birth and conventions, and they
return to the kitchen, it is again Jean who is will
I
ing to bear his share of the responsibility.
don t care to shirk my share of the blame," he tells
"

"

Julie,

but do you think any one of

my

position

would have dared to raise his eyes to you if you

had not invited it?
There is more truth in this statement than the
"

Julies can grasp, namely, that even servants have

their passions and feelings that cannot long be

with impunity.
The Jeans know
the glitter of brass, not gold, that
dazzles us from below, and that the eagle s back

trifled
"

with,

that

is

it

gray

"

is

like

the rest of

him."

sorry to have to realize that

For Jean
all

says,

that I have

Countess Julie

59

not worth while, and it pains me

to see you fallen lower than your cook, as it pains

looked up to

me

to see

is

autumn blossoms whipped

the cold rain and transformed into

It is this force that helps to

som

to pieces
dirt!

by

"

transform the blos

into dirt that

August Strindberg emphasizes

For the child born against
the will of its parents must also be without will,
and too weak to bear the stress and storm of life.
"

in

In

"

The

Father."

Countess Julie

more

"

this idea recurs

with even

had been brought

In
into the world against her mother s wishes.
deed, so much did her mother dread the thought
of a child that she
was always ill, she often
had cramps and acted queerly, often hiding in the
orchard or the attic." Added to this horror was
the conflict, the relentless war of traditions be
tween Julie s aristocratic father and her mother
descended from the people. This was the
tragic effect.

Julie, too,

"

heritage of the innocent victim, Julie

an au

tumn blossom blown

stability, lack

into fragments by lack of

of love and lack of harmony.
In

other words, while Julie is broken and weakened

by her inheritance and environment, Jean is hard

ened by

When
rescue

his.

Jean

kills

the bird which Julie wants to

from the ruins of her

out of real cruelty, as

it is

life, it is

not so much

because the character

60

Strindberg

was molded

of Jean

in

the

relentless

school

of necessity, in which only those survive who have

For
the determination to act in time of danger.
as

"

Jean

says,

Miss

Julie, I see that

you are un

know

that you are suffering, but I cannot

happy,
understand you. Among my kind there is no non
I

sense of this sort.

work

We love as we play when

We haven t the whole day

gives us time.
and night for it as you."

Here we have

the key to the psychology of

the utter helplessness and weakness of the Julie

The one,
type, and of the brutality of the Jeans.
the result of an empty life, of parasitic leisure, of
The other, the
a useless, purposeless existence.
for
effect of too little time
development, for ma
and depth; of too much toil to permit the
growth of the finer traits in the human soul.
August Strindberg, himself the result of the
class conflict between his parents, never felt at
home with either of them. All his life he was
galled by the irreconcilability of the classes; and
though he was no sermonizer in the sense of offer

turity

ing a definite panacea for individual or social ills,

yet with master touch he painted the degrading

of

and its tragic antago

Countess Julie
he popularized one
of the most vital problems of our age, and gave
to the world a work powerful in its grasp of ele
mental emotions, laying bare the human soul beeffects

nisms.

class distinction

In

"

"

Comrades
hind

the

mask of

61

tradition

social

and

class

culture.

COMRADES
ALTHOUGH

Comrades was written in i

it is in a measure the most up-to-date play of
so thoroughly modern that one at
Strindberg,
"

"

Com
conversant with the milieu that inspired
rades
could easily point out the type of character
"

all

"

portrayed

in the play.

It is a four-act

comedy of marriage

the kind

of marriage that lacks social and legal security in

the form of a ceremony, but retains all the petty

The re
conventions of the marriage institution.
sults of such an anomaly are indeed ludicrous when
viewed from a distance, but very tragic for those

who

play a part in

it.

Axel Alberg and

his wife Bertha are

artists residing in Paris.

They

Swedish

are both painters.

Of

course they share the same living quarters, and

although each has a separate room, the arrange
ment does not hinder them from trying to regulate

each other

movements.

Thus when Bertha does

not arrive on time to keep her engagement with

her model, Axel is provoked; and when he takes
the liberty to chide her for her tardiness, his wife
is indignant at the
invasiveness
of her husband,
"

because

women

"

of the type of Bertha are as

sensi-

62

Strindberg

tive

Nor

sisters.

which

love,

Bertha different

in

her concept of

expressed in the following dialogue

very, very good?

always want to be good to you, my friend.

Bertha,

who

has sent her painting to the exhibi

tion, wants to make use of Axel s

goodness
to secure the grace of one of the art jurors.
"

Bertha.
wife,

Will you be very good,

Bertha.

Axel.

is

is

their ultra-conservative

as

fair criticism

to

You would

"

not make a sacrifice for your

would you?

Go

Axel.

begging?

No,

don

want

to

do

that.

Bertha immediately concludes that he does not

love her and that, moreover, he
art.

There

is

is

jealous of her

a scene.

But bent on gaining her

purpose, she changes her manner.
Bertha soon recovers.

Bertha.

Axel,

Do

moment.

let s

be

friends!

you think that

my

And

hear

me

position in your house

for it is yours
is agreeable to me ?
You support
me, you pay for my studying at Julian s, while you your
self cannot afford instruction.
Don t you think I see

how you

sit

and wear out yourself and your talent on

and are able to paint only in

these pot-boiling drawings,

leisure

moments?

You

haven

been

able

to

afford

models for yourself, while you pay mine five hard-earned

francs an hour.
You don t know how good
how

how sacrificing you are, and also you don t

noble
know how I suffer to see you toil so for me. Oh, Axel,
you can t know how I feel my position. What am I to

Comrades
Of what

you?

when

Axel.

What

Bertha.
help me.
could be

your house?

in

Oh,

blush

it!

talk!

don

am

use

think about

63

Isn

want

it.

not your equal

man
And

to support his wife?

you, Axel, you must

when

it s

like that,

but

you would humble yourself

once, just once!

Don t think that you are alone in going to one of the
If it were for
jury to say a good word for another.
for me
would
be
but
it
another
yourself,
matter,

me
Now I beg of you as nicely as I know how.
me from my humiliating position to your side, and

Forgive
Lift
I ll

if

be so grateful

reminding you

of

my

you again with

Axel!
Never,

shall never trouble

position.

Yet though Bertha gracefully accepts everything

Axel does for her, with as little compunction as
the ordinary wife, she does not give as much in re
turn as the latter.
On the contrary, she exploits

Axel

in a thousand ways, squanders his hardearned money, and lives the life of the typical

wifely parasite.

August Strindberg could not help attacking with

much bitterness such a farce and outrage parading
in the disguise of radicalism.
For Bertha is not
an exceptional, isolated case.

To-day, as when

Strindberg satirized the all-too-feminine, the ma

jority of so-called emancipated women are willing
to accept, like Bertha, everything from the man,

and yet feel highly indignant if he asks in return

the simple comforts of married life.
The ordi-

Strindberg

64
nary wife, at

least,

does not pretend to play an im

But the
Berthas deceive themselves and others with the no
tion that the
emancipated wife is a great moral
an
Whereas in
force,
inspiration to the man.
portant role in the life of her husband.
"

"

often a cold-blooded exploiter of the

and ideas of the man, a heavy handicap to his

reality she

work

is

life-purpose, retarding his

growth

as effectively as

did her grandmothers in the long ago.

Bertha
takes advantage of Axel s affection to further her

own

artistic

ambitions, just as the Church and

woman uses her husband s love to

State married

advance her social ambitions.

It never occurs to
Bertha that she is no less despicable than her le
She cannot understand
gally married sister.
Axel s opposition to an art that clamors only for
approval, distinction and decorations.
However, Axel can not resist Bertha s plead
ings.

He visits

the patron saint of the salon, who,

by the way, is not M. Roubey, but Mme. Roubey;

President of the Woman-Painter
for she is the
"

Protective

Society."

What

chance would Berlha

have with one of her own sex in authority?

Hence her husband must be victimized. During

Axel s absence Bertha learns that his picture has

been refused by the salon, while hers is accepted.
She is not in the least disturbed, nor at all con
cerned over the effect of the news on Axel. On
the contrary, she

is

rather pleased because

"

so

Comrades

65

are refused that a man might put up

and be made to feel it once."
In her triumph Bertha s attitude to Axel be
comes overbearing; she humiliates him, belittles
his art, and even plans to humble him before the
guests invited to celebrate Bertha s artistic suc

many women
with

it,

cess.

But Axel

is

tearing himself free from the meshes

He begins to see Bertha as

her unscrupulousness in money matters, her
In a terrible
ceaseless effort to emasculate him.
of his decaying love.

she

is:

word

tussle

he

tells

her:

"

but you clipped the hair of

tired

head lay

in

your

lap.

had once been

my

free,

strength while

During sleep you

my

stole

my best blood."
In the last act Bertha discovers that Axel had

generously changed the numbers on the paintings

in order to give her a better chance.
It was his

was chosen as her work. She feels

ashamed and humiliated; but it is too late. Axel
I want to meet
leaves her with the exclamation,
comrades
in
but
home
I want a
the
at
cafe,
my
picture that

"

wife."

characteristic sidelight in the play

is

given by

Mrs. Hall, the divorced wife

of Doctor Ostermark.
She comes to Bertha with
a bitter tirade against the Doctor because he gives

the conversation of

her insufficient alimony.

66

Strindberg

And now

Mrs. Hall.
and about to

Isn

grown up and

Do

grown up

he writes us that he

is

send us more than half the

that nice, just

now when

the girls are

are going out into life?

We

Bertha.

now

start in life,

bankrupt and that he can

allowance.

that the girls are

must look into

this.

He ll

be here in a

you know that you have the law on your

few

days.

side

and that the courts can force him to pay?

do so. Do you understand?

shall be forced to

And

he

So, he

can bring children into the world and then leave them
empty-handed with the poor deserted mother.

Bertha,

man, and

who
in

believes in

woman

equality with

her economic independence, yet de

gush in be

livers herself of the old sentimental

half of

"

the poor deserted

mother,"

who

has been

supported by her husband for years, though their

relations had ceased long before.

A
Not

distorted picture, some feminists will say.

at all.
It is as typical to-day as it was twenty-

six years ago.

women
demand

Even

to-day some

"

"

emancipated

claim the right to be self-supporting, yet

In fact, many
their husband s support.

leaders in the

American suffrage movement assure

when women will make laws, they will force

men to support their wives. From the leaders
down to the simplest devotee, the same attitude
prevails, namely, that man is a blagueur, and that

us that

but for him the Berthas would have long ago be-

Comrades

67

come

Michelangelos, Beethovens, or Shakespeares; they claim that the Berthas represent the
most virtuous half of the race, and that they have

made up

their

minds to make man

as virtuous as

they are.
That such ridiculous extravagance should be re
It is
sented by the Axels is not at all surprising.

resented even by the more intelligent of Bertha s

sex.
Not because they are opposed to the

own

emancipation of woman, but because they do not

believe that her emancipation can ever be achieved
by such absurd and hysterical notions. They re

pudiate the idea that people who retain the sub

stance of their slavery and merely escape the
shadow, can possibly be free, live free, or act free.

The

no less than the feminists, must

mere external change in their eco

radicals,

realize that a

nomic and

political status, cannot alter the inher

ent or acquired prejudices and superstitions which

underlie their slavery and dependence, and which
are the main causes of the antagonism between the
sexes.

The transition period is indeed a most difficult

and perilous stage for the woman as well as for the
man. It requires a powerful light to guide us
past the dangerous reefs and rocks in the ocean of
life.

August Strindberg

is

such a light.

Some

times glaring, ofttimes scorching, but always bene

ficially illuminating the path for those who walk

68

Strlndberg

in darkness, for the blind

ones

who would

rather

deceive and be deceived than look into the recesses

of their being.
Therefore August Strindberg is
not only
the spiritual conscience of Sweden," as
"

he has been called, but the spiritual conscience of

the whole

human

family, and, as such, a

revolutionary factor.

most

vital

THE GERMAN DRAMA

HERMANN SUDERMANN
has been said that military conquest gen
erally goes hand in hand with the decline

of creative
of culture.

IT

The

assertion.

genius, with the retrogression

I believe this is not a mere

history of the

human

demonstrates that whenever

race
a

re

nation

peatedly
achieved great military success, it invariably in
volved the decline of art, of literature, of the

drama;

in

short,

of culture in the deepest and

This has been particularly borne out

by Germany after its military triumph in the
Franco-Prussian War.
finest sense.

For almost twenty years

after that war, the

of
and
thinkers
country
poets
remained, intellectu
ally, a veritable desert, barren of ideas.
Young

Germany had
France,
Russia
finally

to go for its intellectual food to

Daudet, Maupassant, and Zola; or to
Tolstoy, Turgenev, and Dostoyevski
also to Ibsen and Strindberg.
Nothing
;

thrived in

Germany during that period, except a

sickening patriotism and sentimental romanticism,
perniciously misleading the people and giving
69

Hermann Sudermann

7<3

them no adequate outlook upon

life

and the

social

struggle.
Perhaps that accounts for the popular
vogue of Hermann Sudermann: it may explain
why he was received by the young generation with
open arms and acclaimed a great artist.
It is not my intention to discuss Hermann Suder
mann as an artist or to consider him from the
I in
point of view of the technic of the drama.
tend to deal with him as the first German drama
tist to treat social topics and discuss the pressing
From this point of view
questions of the day.

Hermann Sudermann may

neer of a
marily

is

new

era in the

this true

be regarded as the pio

German drama.

of the three plays

Pri

"

Honor,"

The Fires of St. John." In

Magda," and
these dramas Hermann Sudermann, while not
"

"

delving deeply into the causes of the social con

nevertheless touches upon many vital sub

flicts,

jects.

In

"

Honor

"

the author demolishes the super

sentimental conception of
honor
that is
"

ficial,

a purely external manifestation,

"

having no roots

or the customs of the people.

He exposes the stupidity of the notion that be
cause a man looks askance at you, or fails to pay
in the life, the habits,

respect to your uniform, you

to a duel and shoot him dead.

mann shows

must challenge him

In this play Suder

that the conception of honor is noth

ing fixed or permanent, but that It varies with

Mag da

71

economic and social status, different races, peo

With
ples and times holding different ideas of it.
Honor Sudermann succeeded in undermining
"

"

to a considerable extent the stupid and ridiculous

notion of the Germans ruled by the rod and the

Kaiser

But

s coat.
"

Magda,"
particularly wish to consider
Hermann
of
all
the
written
because,
plays
by
Sudermann, it is the most revolutionary and

the least national.

ject,

the

It deals

with a universal sub

woman. It is revo
awakening
not because Sudermann was the first to
of

lutionary,
treat this subject, for Ibsen

had preceded him, but

because in
Magda he was the first to raise the
of
s right to motherhood with or
woman
question
without the sanction of State and Church.
"

"

MAGDA
LIEUTENANT COLONEL SCHWARTZE, Magda
father, represents all the conventional
servative notions of society.

and con

Oh, pshaw! I know

homes where are bred
brave soldiers and virtuous wives. There you ll hear no
talk about heredity, no arguments about individuality, no
scandalous gossip. There modern ideas have no foot
hold, for it is there that the life and strength of the
Fatherland abide. Look at this home! There is no
faded
luxury,
hardly even what you call good taste,
Schwartze.

them.

Modern

But come

ideas!

into the quiet

Hermann Sudermann

72

and yet when you see

beams of the western sun pour through the white
curtains and lie with such a loving touch on the old room,
does not something say to you,
Here dwells true hap
rugs, birchen chairs, old pictures;

the

"

piness

"?

The Colonel

is

utterly blind to the

a rigid military

man.

He

modern conception of woman

is

He

rules his family as the Kaiser

rules the nation, with severe discipline, with ter

place in life.

rorism and depotism.

Magda

is

to marry,

cept his choice,

He

chooses the

man whom

and when she refuses

to ac

he drives her out of the house.

At

the age of eighteen Magda goes out into

the world yearning for development; she longs
for artistic expression and economic independence.
Seventeen years later she returns to her native
As Madelene dell
town, a celebrated singer.
Orto she is invited to sing at the town s charity

bazaar, and is acclaimed, after the performance,

one of the greatest stars of the country.
Magda has not forgotten her home; especially

does she long to see her father

whom

she loves

passionately, and her sister, whom she had left

a little child of eight.
After the concert Magda,
the renowned artist, steals away from her admir
ers, with their flowers and presents, and goes out
into the darkness of the night to catch a glimpse,
through the window at least, of her father and her
little sister.

Magda
Magda

father

life:

what

with

men without

73

mode of

scandalized at her

is

will people say if the daughter of the

distinguished officer stops at a hotel, associates

and

a chaperon,

dined away from her

home?

wined and

is

Magda

is

finally

She
prevailed upon to remain with her parents.
consents on condition that they should not pry
into her life, that they should not soil and be

But that is expect

the
from
a
impossible
ing
provincial environment.
It is not that her people really question; but they
smirch her innermost being.

insinuate, they speak with looks and nods; burn

ing curiosity to unearth Magda s life is in the very
air.

Come here, my child

implore you
let me be happy in my
implore you
Tell me that you have remained pure in

Schwartze.
nearer

so

dying hour.

body and

soul,

Magda.

and then go with

have remained

my

blessing on your way.

true

to

myself,

dear

father.

How?

Schwartze.

In what

Magda.

Schwartze.
I

In good or
for

love you with

have sorrowed for you

who you

to

the

my

whole

so long.

But

heart, because
I

must know

full

is

who come

to

pay

Councillor von Keller.

In

townspeople

Magda

his student days

and was

in ill?

was good.

are.

Among
homage

me

he belonged to the bohemian set

of advanced ideas.

At

that period

Hermann Sudermann

74

he met Magda, young, beautiful, and inexperi

enced.
A love affair developed. But when Von
Keller finished his studies, he went home to the
fold of his family, and forgot his sweetheart
Magda. In due course he became an important
pillar of society, a very influential citizen,

respected, and feared

in the

admired,

community.

When Magda

returns home, Von Keller comes

to pay her his respects.
But she is no longer the
insignificant little girl he had known; she is now

What

a celebrity.

pillar of society

basking
glow of celebrities?
offers flowers and admiration.
But
in the

covers in him the

and

faith

averse to

is

Von

Keller

Magda

man who had robbed

dis

her of her

the father of her child.

trust,

Magda has become purified by her bitter strug

She does not
It made her finer and bigger.
gle.
even reproach the man, because

Magda.
sand

times,

Something

ve painted this meeting to myself a thou

and have been prepared for it for years.

warned me, too, when I undertook this

journey home
just here

to

Yes,

passed between
to

me

little

keep worthy
conscience,

though
us,

you came

...

of respect
is

must say

how
I

is

it

hardly expected

what has

after

that,

into this house?

can see

it

under such

awkward.

You

all.

The

difficulties,

look

down

It

seems

effort

to

with a bad

from

the

height of your pure atmosphere on your sinful youth,

for you are called a pillar, my dear friend.

Magda
Von

Keller.

thought
Why
have become Councillor, and that comparatively
An ordinary ambition might take satisfaction in
I

things.

tion?

young.
that.

But one

called

to the ministry.

tionality,

sits

and waits at home, while others are

And this environment, conven

and narrowness,

the ladies here

I

myself called to higher

should I undervalue my posi

felt

Well,

75

for one

all

who

is

so

gray

gray,

And

cares at all about elegance

me when

within

assure you something rejoiced

read this morning that you were the famous singer,

you to whom I was tied by so many dear memories

and

Magda. And then you thought whether it might not

be possible with the help of these dear memories to bring
a little color into the gray background?

Von Keller. Oh, pray don t

Magda. Well, between old friends
Von Keller. Really, are we that, really?
Magda.

Certainly,

sans rancune.

Oh,

from the other standpoint, I should have

whole gamut,
But
liar, coward, traitor
!

owe you nothing but thanks, my

it,
Von Keller. This is a view which
I

Magda.

why

Which

should I not

is

if

to

took

it

range the

as I look at

friend.

But
very convenient for you.
it convenient for you?
In the

make

which we met, you had no obligations towards

left my home
I was young and innocent,
hot-blooded and careless, and I lived as I saw others live.

manner

in

me.

had

I might per
gave myself to you because I loved you.
have
loved
who
came
in
haps
anyone
my way. That
that seemed to be all over.
And we were so happy,

weren

we?

Yes,

we were

a merry set; and

the fun had lasted half a year, one day

when

lover van

my

ished.

Von

An

Keller.

was

father

ill.

unlucky chance, I swear to you. My

had to travel. I wrote everything to

you.

Magda.

H m!

will tell you

why

didn

I
I

owe you

And now

reproach you.
thanks.

was a

stupid,

un

runaway mon
For whatever
I have done in my art, for whatever I have become in
myself, I have you to thank.
My soul was like yes,
down below there, there used to be an ^Eolian harp
which was left moldering because my father could not
bear it.
Such a silent harp was my soul; and through
you it was given to the storm. And it sounded almost
to breaking,
the whole scale of passions which bring us
suspecting thing, enjoying freedom like a

Through you

key.

women

to

ambition,

maturity,

became a woman.

love and

three

and the highest, the strongest, the

mother s love
All I owe to you

Von

Keller.

My

Your
Dare

Ha, ha!

need
the

all,

Who

calls

Who

are

gratified his lust

so?

it

him and

you?

You

Yours?

I ll kill

re

you

strange

and passed on with a laugh.

For him
have a child,
my son, my God, my all
lived and starved and froze and walked the streets;

But
I

of

child!

child?

to claim portion in

with these hands.

man who

times

holiest

Magda.

and revenge and

hate

and need, need, need,

for

him

who was

sang and danced

in concert-halls,

crying for his bread!

for

my

child

Magda
Von

For

Keller.

Heaven

77

hush!

sake,

someone

come!

coming.

Let

Magda.
don

care, I

Let them

them come!
care!

To

all

their faces I

ll

say

what

you and your respectable society.

you,
should I be worse than you, that I must prolong
of

of

think

Why
my

don

among you by a

existence

Why

lie!

should

this

gold upon my body, and the lustre which surrounds my

name, only increase my infamy? Have I not worked
early and late for ten long years?

Have

not

woven

this

with sleepless nights? Have I not built up my

career step by step, like thousands of my kind?
Why
dress

should

blush before anyone?

myself

have become what

Magda

am

myself, and through

am.

father learns about the affair and im

mediately demands that the Councillor marry his

Magda resents the
daughter, or fight a duel.
is indeed glad to
idea.
Von
Keller
preposterous

marriage she is so beau

tiful and fascinating; she will prove a great asset
to his ambitions.
But he stipulates that she give
of
her
singer, and that the existence
up
profession
be
of the child
He tells Magda that
kept secret.
later on, when they are happily married and firmly
offer

Magda

his

hand

in

established in the world,

they will bring their

but for the pres

home and adopt it;

respectability must not know

child to their

ent

that

it

is

theirs,

born out of wedlock, without the sanction of the

Church and the State.

Hermann Sudermann

78

That

is

more than Magda can endure.

She

is

outraged that she, the mother, who had given up

everything for the sake of her child, who had
slaved, struggled and drudged in order to win a
all for the
career and economic independence

that she should forswear her

sake of the child

right to motherhood, her right to be true to her

self!

what do you say?

Magda. What
Von Keller. Why, it would ruin us.
But we can make
absurd to think of it.

No, no,
a

it

is

little

journey
One can

every year to wherever it is being educated.

register under a false name; that is not unusual in for
eign parts, and

is

hardly criminal.

And when we

are

years old, and other regular conditions have been

Then we can,
fulfilled, that can be arranged, can t it?

fifty

under some pretext, adopt it, can t we?

Magda. I have humbled myself, I have surrendered

my

judgment,

the slaughter.

my

have

But

let

my

myself be carried like a lamb to

Give up

child I will not leave.

child to save his career!

Magda

orders

Von

Keller out of the house.

But the old Colonel is unbending. He insists that

his daughter become an honorable woman by
marrying the man who had seduced her.
refusal fires his wrath to wild rage.
Either you swear to me now
become the honorable wife of your child

Schwartze.

you will
or

neither of us

two

shall

go out of

this

Her

that

s father,

room

alive.

Magda
.

You

think

79

because you are free and a great

that you can set at naught

artist,

Leave art out of the question.

Magda.

Consider

me

nothing more than the seamstress or the servant-maid

who seeks, among strangers, the little food and the little
love

she

sources,
in

See

needs.

demand from

morality

it

how much
us!

It

the

with

family

throws us on our

gives us neither shelter nor happiness,

our loneliness,

we must

live

own
and

its

re
yet,

according to the laws

We

it has planned for itself alone.

must still
crouch in the corner, and there wait patiently until a re
And mean
spectful wooer happens to come.
Yes, wait.

which

while the war for existence of body and soul is consum

Ahead we see nothing but sorrow and despair,
ing us.

and yet

shall

we

not once dare to give what

youth and strength to the

cries?

Gag

us,

man

stupefy us,

and that perhaps would be

give us our freedom, do not wonder if

cloisters

of

we

have of

whom

our whole being

shut us up in harems or in
for

best.

we

But

if

you

take advantage

it.

But morality and. the family never understand

Magdas. Least of all does the old Colonel

understand his daughter. Rigid in his false no
tions and superstitions, wrought up with distress,
he is about to carry out his threat, when a stroke
the

of apoplexy overtakes him.

In
Hermann
Magda,"
"

given to the

manhood,
the play

is

world

new

a type of free

Sudermann has
picture of modern wo

motherhood.

As

such

of great revolutionary significance, not

Hermann Sudermann

80

alone to Germany, but to the universal spirit of

a

newer day.

THE
IN

"

The

FIRES

Fires of

OF

St.

ST.

John,"

JOHN
Sudermann does

"

not go as far as in
Nevertheless the
Magda."
deals
with
truths.
Life does not
play
important

always draw the same conclusions;

logical, not always consistent.

ways

of the artist is to portray Life

be true both to art and to life.
In this

drama we witness

life is

The

not

al

function

only thus can he

the bondage of grati

one of the most enslaving and paralyzing

factors.
Mr. Brauer, a landed proprietor, has a
child, Gertrude, a beautiful girl, who has always

tude,

The
lived the sheltered life of a hothouse plant.
Brauers also have an adopted daughter, Marie,

whom

they had picked up on the road, while travel

the
ing on a stormy night.
They called her
calamity child," because a great misfortune had
"

befallen

them

shortly

before.

Mr.

Brauer

younger brother, confronted with heavy losses, had

shot himself, leaving behind his son George and a

The finding of the

heavily mortgaged estate.
under
these
circumstances, was considered
baby,
by the Brauers an omen. They adopted it and
brought it up as their own.
This involved the forcible separation of Marie

The Fires

of St.

John

81

from her gypsy mother, who was a pariah, an out

cast beggar.
She drank and stole in order to sub
sist.
But with it all, her mother instinct was
strong and it always drove her back to the place
where her child lived. Marie had her first shock
when, on her way home from confirmation, the
ragged and brutalized woman threw herself be
fore the

Mamie!
origin.

"

young

girl, crying,

"

It

Mamie, my

child,

my

was then that Marie realized her

Out of

gratitude she consecrated her life

to the Brauers.

Marie never forgot

everything

for a

moment

that she

owed

her education, her support and hap

She wrapped
adopted parents.

to her

piness
herself around

them with all the intensity and pas

her
She became the very spirit of
nature.
sion of
She looked after the estate, and de
the house.

voted herself to

little

Gertrude, as to her

own

sis

ter.

Gertrude

is

engaged

to

marry

her

cousin

George, and everything is beautiful and joyous in

the household.
No one suspects that Marie has

been

in love

childhood.

with the young man ever since her

However, because of her gratitude to

her benefactors, she stifles her nature, hardens her

heart, and locks her feelings behind closed doors,
were.

And when

Gertrude

about to marry
George, Marie throws herself into the work of fix
ing up a home for the young people, to surround

as

it

is

Hermann Sudermann

82

them with sunshine and joy in their new love life.

Accidentally Marie discovers a manuscript writ
ten by George, wherein he discloses his deep love
for her.
She learns that he, even as she, has no

other thought, no other purpose in life than his

love for her.
But he also is bound by gratitude
for his uncle Brauer who had saved the honor of

him from poverty.

refuse to marry Ger

his

father and had rescued

He

feels

it

dishonorable to

trude.
George. All these years I have struggled and de
to be free
prived myself with only one thing in view

and yet

free

must bow

must bow.

If

it

were

not for the sake of this beautiful child, who is innocent

of it all, I would be tempted to
But the die is cast,

and so am I! ... I, too, am a

ready
child of misery, a calamity child; but I am a subject of
the yoke

charity.

is

I accept all they

have to

picked up from the street, as

me

this

house, and

damnable charity of
It is

St.

John

my
s

Was

not

uncle so kindly informed

Do I not be
like yourself?

for the second time

long to

give.

my

am

not smothered with the

benefactors, like yourself?

night.

The

entire

family

is

gathered on the estate of the Brauers, while the

peasants are making merry with song and dance at
the lighted bonfires.
It

is

a glorious,

dreamy

night,

suggestive of

symbolic meaning.
According to the servant
Katie , it is written that whoever shall give or re"

The Fires
their

ceive

love

first

sealed

is

of St.

kiss on
and they

St.

John
John

will

be

83
eve,

faithful

their

unto

death."

In the opinion of the Pastor, St. John s night

represents a religious phase, too holy for flippant

pagan

joy.

On

Pastor.

such a dreamy night, different emotions

seem to be able to look into

are aroused within us.

We

and imagine ourselves able to fathom all mys

The common becomes ele
tery and heal all wounds.
vated, our wishes become fate; and now we ask our
the future,

What

selves:

is

that causes all this within us

it

and wishes?

these desires

It

is

has been planted in our souls, that

is

life

bound,

itself.

will find:
is

the

will

Am
come

"God

fills

not right?

to the point.

is

all

love, brotherly love, that

our

lives: and,

And now,

it

with one

In the revelation you

Yes, God is love; and that

trait of our religion
that the

love."

most beautiful

the most beautiful within us, has been granted us

by Him above. Then how could I, this very evening,
best,

so

overcome with feeling for

pass

Him

by?

my

Therefore,

fellow-man

Mr.

how

could

Brauer, no matter,

whether pastor or layman, I must confess my inability

to grant your wish, and decline to give you a genuine
pagan toast

But Christian symbolism having mostly de

scended from primitive pagan custom, George s
view is perhaps the most significant.
George.

Since

the

Pastor

has

so

eloquently

with-

Hermann Sudermann

84
drawn,

give you a toast.

I will

For, you

dear

my

see,

Pastor, something of the old pagan, a spark of heathen

is

ism,

glowing somewhere within us

still

has

It

all.

outlived century after century, from the time of the old

Once every year

Teutons.
flame
Fires

it

of

that spark

St.

John."

Then

Once

is

fanned into

The

"

flames up high, and then

is

it

called

we have

every year

"

free

witches ride upon their brooms

the same brooms with which their witchcraft was once
night."

the

driven out of them

with scornful laughter the wild

hordes sweep across the tree-tops, up, up, high upon the
Blocksberg!
wild desires
and,

Then

it is,

which

when

our

in

our hearts awake those

fates

could

me well, dared
what may be the name of

understand

no matter

not

not
the

fulfill

fulfill

then,

law that governs

the world on that day, in order that one single wish

become a
able

may

by whose grace we prolong our miser

thousand others must miserably perish,

reality,

existence,

part because they

were never

attainable; but the others,

we

allowed them to escape us

like wild birds, which, though already in our hands, but

yes,

the others,

because

too listless to profit by opportunity,

at the right

moment.

we have

free

we

failed to

grasp

Once every year

But no matter.

And yonder tongues of fire

night."
towards
the
heavens
do you know what
shooting up
are?
are
the
of
our dead perished
they
They
spirits
wishes!
dise

"

That

is

the red plumage of our birds of para

we might have

petted and nursed through our entire

That
lives, but have escaped us!
heathenism within us; and though

the old chaos, the

is

we

shine and according to law, to-night

is

be happy in sun
St.

John

night.

The
To

its

Fires of St. John

85

ancient pagan fires I empty this glass.

they shall

burn and flame up high

To-night

high and

again

high!

They, too, have had

their instinct locked away even from their own
consciousness.
And on this night they break loose

George and Marie meet.

with

tremendous, primitive force. They are

driven into each other s arms because they feel

that they belong to each other; they know that if

they had the strength they could take each other by

the hand, face their benefactor and tell him the

truth: tell him that it would be an unpardonable

crime for George to marry Gertrude

loves another

Now

when he

woman.

but find courage and strength for

the pitiful plaint reaches them,
Oh,

they

all

when
mine Mamie, mine daughter, mine child." And
Marie is cast down from the sublime height of her
love and passion, down to the realization that she
"

it,

also, like

world

her pariah mother, must go out into the

to struggle, to fight, to

become

free

from

the bondage of gratitude, of charity and depend

ence.

so George.
He goes to the altar, like
another
with
a lie upon his lips.
He
man,
many
to
swear
that
all
his
life
he
will
goes
love,
long

Not

protect and shelter the

wife.

woman who

is

to be his

Hermann Sudermann

86
This play

is

bound by
think

rich in thought and revolutionary

is it not true that we are all

For

significance.

gratitude, tied

we owe

to others ?

and fettered by what we

Are we not thus turned

do we not enter
upon our lips?
Do we not become a lie to ourselves and a lie to
those we associate with?
And whether we have
the strength to be true to the dominant spirit,

into weaklings and cowards, and

into new relationships with lies

warmed

into being by the fires of St. John;

whether we have the courage to live up to it al
ways or whether it manifests itself only on oc
casion,

it is

nevertheless true that there

is

the po

tentiality of freedom in the soul of every man and

every woman; that there is the possibility of great
ness and fineness in all beings, were they not bound

and gagged by gratitude, by duty and shams,

network that enmeshes body and soul.

vicious

GERHART HAUPTMANN
LONELY LIVES

HAUPTMANN
dramatist of

whom

it

may be

the

is

justly said

that he revolutionized the spirit of dram

the last Mohican of
atic art in

GERHARTGermany
a group of four

Ibsen, Strindberg, Tolstoy, and

illumined the horizon of the

who

Hauptmann

Of

nineteenth

century.
doubtedly the most
versal.
It is

human,

unnecessary to

great artists: life

is

Hauptmann, un

these
is

also the

most uni

make comparisons between

sufficiently

complex to give

each his place in the great scheme of things.

then, I consider Hauptmann more human,

If,
it

is

because of his deep kinship with every stratum of

life.
While Ibsen deals exclusively with one at
titude,

Hauptmann embraces

and portrays

all,

all,

because nothing

understands

human

is

all,

alien

to him.

Whether

be the struggle of the transition

Lonely Lives," or the conflict between
the Ideal and the Real in
The Sunken Bell," or
it

"

stage in

"

87

Gerhart Hauptmann

88
brutal

the

Hauptmann

Weavers,"

never as
nor
Strindberg,
yet as

The
poverty in
never aloof as the icono
*

of

background
is

bitter as the soul dissector

clast Ibsen,

set as the crusader Tolstoy.

And

that because of his humanity, his boundless

love, his oneness with the disinherited of the
earth, and his sympathy with the struggles and

the travail, the hope and the despair of every

human soul. That accounts for the bitter opposi

which met Gerhart Hauptmann when he made

his first appearance as a dramatist; but it also
accounts for the love and devotion of those to

tion

whom

he was a battle cry, a clarion

all iniquity, injustice

In

"

Lonely Lives

call

against

and wrong.
"

we

see the

wonderful sym

pathy, the tenderness of Hauptmann permeating

every figure of the drama.

Dr. Fockerat

is

not a fighter, not a propagand

or a soap-box orator; he is a dreamer, a poet,

and above all a searcher for truth; a scientist, a

ist

man who
and

is

realm of thought and ideas,

out of touch with reality and his immediate
lives in the

surroundings.

His parents are simple folk, religious and de

To them the world is a book with seven

voted.
seals.

Having

their life on a farm,

regulated and classified
good or bad, great or small,

lived

all

everything with them

into simple ideas

strong or weak.

How

is

can they

know

the infinite

Lonely Lives

89

how could they

the good and
between
variations
the
endless
grasp
the bad?
To them life is a daily routine of work
shades between strong and weak,

and prayer. God has arranged everything, and

God manages everything. Why bother your
Leave it
head? Why spend sleepless nights?
"

all to

plicity

God."

What

pathos in this childish sim

They love their son John, they worship him,

and they consecrate their lives to their only boy;
and because of their love for him, also to his wife
and the newly born baby. They have but one
sorrow: their son has turned away from religion.
Still greater their grief that John is an admirer of
Darwin, Spencer and Haeckel and other such
men,
sinners, heathens all, who will burn in
To protect their beloved
purgatory and hell.
son from the punishment of God, the old folks
continuously pray, and give still more devotion
and love to their erring child.
Kitty, Dr. Fockerat*s wife, is a beautiful type
of the Gretchen, reared without any ideas about
life, without any consciousness of her position in

She loves
he
her
is
her
all.
But she
is
he
John;
ideal;
She does not live in his
cannot understand him.
She has never
sphere, nor speak his language.
the world, a tender, helpless flower.

dreamed

not because she is not

his thoughts,
or
to
not
willing
eager
give the man all that he

Gerhart Hauptmann

90

needs, but because she does not understand and

does not

know how.

Into this atmosphere comes Anna Mahr like a

breeze from the plains.
Anna is a Russian girl,
a

woman

so far produced in Russia only, perhaps

because the conditions, the life struggles of that

country have been such as to develop a different
Anna Mahr has spent most of
type of woman.
life on the firing line.
She has no conception
of the personal: she is universal in her feelings
and thoughts, with deep sympathies going out in

her

abundance to

When

mankind.
she comes to the Vockerats, their whole
all

of John Fockerat,
balmy spring to the parched
in
She understands him,
the
desert.
wanderer
for has she not dreamed such thoughts as his,

life is disturbed, especially that

to

whom

she

is

associated with

like a

men and women who,

of the ideal, sacrificed their

and

suffered

How

then could she

in

the

lives,

underground
Vockerat?

fail a

natural that John should find in

own

for the sake

went

to Siberia,

dungeons?
It

is

quite

Anna what

his

world could not give him,

understand
ing, comradeship, deep spiritual kinship.
The Anna Mahrs give the same to any one, be
For theirs is not a feel
it man, woman or child.
little

ing of sex, of the personal; it is the selfless, the

human, the all-embracing fellowship.
In the invigorating presence of Anna Mahr,

Lonely Lives

91

John Fockerat begins to live, to dream and work.

Another phase of him, as it were, comes into be
ing; larger vistas open before his eyes, and hislife is filled with new aspiration for creative work
of a liberating purpose.

in behalf

Alas, the inevitability that the ideal should be

besmirched and desecrated when it comes in con
tact

This tragic fate befalls

with sordid reality!

Anna Mahr and John Fockerat.

Old Mother Fockerat, who, in her

simplicity

of soul cannot conceive of an intimate friendship

between a man and a woman, unless they be hus

band and wife, begins first to suspect and insinuate,

Of course, it is her
then to nag and interfere.
love for John, and even more so her love for her
son s wife, who is suffering in silence and wear
ing out her soul in her realization of

mean to her husband.

Mother Fockerat interprets

how

little

she

can

Kitty

grief in a

manner: jealousy, and antagonism to

the successful rival is her most convenient explana
different

tion for the loneliness, the heart-hunger of love.

But as a matter of fact, it is something deeper

and more

vital that

is

born

the awakening of her

in Kitty s soul.

own womanhood,

It is

of her

personality.
Kitty.

was saying
degradation.

agree with Miss

lately that

think

Mahr

we women
she

is

on many

points.

She

live in a condition of

quite

right

there.

It

is

Gerhart Hauptmann

92
what

that she

very often.

feel
is

We

right.

Only think

ill-used sex.

...

It s

as

clear

as

daylight

are really and truly a despised and

that there

is

still

a law

so

me

which allows the husband to

yesterday
a moderate amount of corporal punishment on his

she told
inflict

wife.

And yet, corporal punishment is not half as

terrible as the punishment society inflicts on the
Kittys by rearing them as dependent and useless
beings, as hot-house flowers, ornaments for a fine

house, but of no substance to the husband and cer

tainly of less to her children.

And Mother

Fockerat, without any viciousness,

poison into the innocent soul of Kitty and

embitters the life of her loved son.
Ignorantly,
instills

Mother Fockerat meddles,

ples

upon

the

most sacred

interferes,

and tram

feelings, the innocent

joys of true comradeship.

And all the time John

and Anna are quite

unaware of the pain and tragedy they are the
cause of: they are far removed from the com
monplace, petty world about them.
They walk
and discuss, read and argue about the wonders of
life,

ideal.

the needs of humanity, the beauty of the

They have both been famished so long:

John for
of

home

which

in

spiritual

that she

communion, Anna for warmth

had known so little before, and

her simplicity she has accepted at the

Kitty, oblivious of

hand of Mother Fockerat and

Lonely Lives

93

the fact that nothing is so enslaving as hospitality

prompted by a sense of duty.

Miss Mahr.
which has
their

so

It

me

seems to

lives

we

a great age that

is

weighed upon people

to

That

live in.

minds and darkened

be gradually disappearing.

Do

you not think so, Dr. Vockerat?

John. How do you mean?

Miss Mahr. On the one hand we were oppressed by

a sense of uncertainty, of apprehension, on the other by
This exaggerated tension

gloomy fanaticism.
down, is yielding
current of fresh
let

that

air,

is

calming

the influence of something like a

to

in

blowing

is

upon us from

us say from the twentieth century.

But

John.

don

real joy in life yet.

Miss Mahr.
our

fates

find

don

It has

little

it
t

possible

know.

to arrive at

any

no connection with our individual

fates,

Dr.

Vockerat!

...

have

but you are not to get angry ;

you are to be quite quiet and good. . . . Dr. Vockerat!

something to say to you

we

weak natures. We
more impersonally. We must learn

also are falling into the error of

must look

at things

to take ourselves less seriously.

John.

And

is

But we

ll

not talk about that at present.

.
.
sacrifice everything that one has
.

one really to

gained to this cursed conventionality?

Are

in

people

capable of understanding that there can be no crime in a

situation which only tends to make both parties better

and nobler?
better,

wiser

Do

parents lose by their son becoming a

Does a wife lose by the spiritual

man?

growth of her husband?

Miss Mahr. You are both right and wrong.

Gerhart

94
Your
Kitty

have

parents

again, differs

Hauptmann>
different

from

theirs.

from

standard
It

me

seems to

you.
that

we

cannot judge for them.

John. Yes, but you have always said yourself that one
should not allow one s self to be ruled by the opinion of

in this

that one ought to be independent?

others

You

Miss Mahr.
see a

have often said to

me

that you fore

new, a nobler state of fellowship between

man and

woman.
a
it will come some time
which the human will preponderate over
the animal tie. Animal will no longer be united to

John.

Yes, I feel that

relationship in

animal, but one

human

being to another.

the foundation on which this love will

miraculous

unchangeable,

structure.

Friendship
rise,

And

is

beautiful,
I

foresee

more than this

something nobler, richer, freer still.
Miss Mahr. But will you get anyone, except me, to
believe this?
Will this prevent Kitty s grieving herself
to death?

Don

let

us speak of ourselves at

all.

Let us suppose, quite generally, the feeling of a new,

more perfect relationship between two people to exist, as

were

it

all

prophetically.

It

is

only a feeling, a young and

too tender plant which must be carefully watched and

guarded. Don t you think so, Dr. Vockerat? That this

plant should come to perfection during our lifetime is

not to be expected.

But we may help

I

We

shall not see or taste its fruits.

to propagate

it

for future generations.

could imagine a person accepting this as a life-task.

John. And hence you conclude that we must part.

Miss Mahr. I did not mean to speak of ourselves.

But it is as you say ... we must part. Another idea

Lonely Lives
.

had

sometimes

95
me

to

itself

suggested

too

...

momentarily. But I could not entertain it now. I too

have felt as if it were the presentiment of better things.
And since then the old aim seems to me too poor a one
for us

ing

too

common,

down from

to tell the truth.

the mountain-top with

its

It

is

like

com

wide, free view,

and feeling the narrowness, the nearness of everything

in

the valley.

Those who

feel the

must either die or

narrow,

atmosphere

stifling

Anna Mahr

leave.

She must

is

made

not

on the heights.
But John Fockerat, harassed and whipped on by
those who love him most, is unmanned, broken
and crushed. He clings to Anna Mahr as one
for the valley.

condemned

to death.

Help me, Miss Anna!

John.

live

There

no manliness,

is

am quite changed. At this

moment I am not even the man I was before you came
to us.
The one feeling left in me is disgust and weari
no pride

ness

of

soiled,

When

life.

me.

in

left

Everything has

polluted,

desecrated,

lost

its

w orth
r

dragged through

to

me,

the

is

mire.

presence, your words made

be
cannot
that
then all
me,
again, then
the rest no longer means anything to me.
I draw a line
I

think

what you, your

I feel that if I

through

it

all

and

Miss Mahr.
see

my account.
me terribly, Dr.
hardly know how I am
close

It grieves

you like this. I

But one thing you ought
saw this. We knew that
sooner or later.

to

remember

we must

Vockerat, to
to help you.

that

we

fore

be prepared for this

Gerhart Hauptmann

g6
John.

Our

prophetic feeling of a new, a free existence,

a far-off state of blessedness

ized.

my

extinguished,

life

we

that feeling

never be forgotten, though it

It shall be my guiding light;

It shall

will keep.

may never
when this

be real
light

is

will be extinguished too.

Miss Mahr. John! one word more! This ring

was taken from the finger of a dead woman, who had
her husband to Siberia

followed her

and faithfully

shared his suffering to the end.

Just the opposite to our

case. ... It is the only ring I have ever worn.
Its
And
story is a thing to think of when one feels weak.
when you look at it
in hours of weakness
then
think of her
fighting the

is

to

who, far away

same secret fight

lonely like yourself

Good-bye !

But John lacks the strength for the fight. Life

him is too lonely, too empty, too unbearably

desolate.

He

has to die

a suicide.

What wonderful grasp of the deepest and most

hidden tones of the human soul! What signif
who struggle
for an ideal, those who attempt to cut themselves
loose from the old, from the thousand fetters
icance in the bitter truth that those

hold

that
lives

them down,

are

doomed

to

lonely

Gerhart Hauptmann has dedicated this play

who have lived this life." And there
are many, oh, so many who must live this life,
torn out root and all from the soil of their birth,
The ideal they
of their surroundings and past.
"

to those

Lonely Lives

97

see only in the distance

sometimes quite near,
in the far-off distance.
These are the lonely

again
lives.

drama

This

also

emphasizes

the

important

point that not only the parents and the wife of

John Fockerat fail to understand him, but even
his own world, the
of
fanatical revolution
the type
painter Braun,
ist who scorns human weaknesses and ridicules

own comrade, one of

his

who make concessions and compromises.

But not even this arch-revolutionist can grasp the
needs of John.
Referring to his chum s friend
those

Anna, Braun
with causing
John
charges
ship

with

upbraids

him.

He

his wife s

unhappiness
and hurting the feelings of his parents. This
very man who, as a propagandist, demands that
every one live up to his ideal, is quick to condemn
his friend

when

the latter, for the

first

time in his

be consistent, to be true to his

life, tries to

own

innermost being.

The

human sig
consists in the les

revolutionary, the social and

nificance

of

"

Lonely Lives

"

son that the real revolutionist,

the dreamer, the
creative artist, the iconoclast in whatever line,
is

fated to be misunderstood, not only by his own

but often by his own comrades.
That is the

kin,

doom

of

all

great

spirits:

from their environment.

they

are

detached

Theirs is a lonely life

the life of the transition stage, the hardest and

Gerhart Hauptmann

98
the

most

difficult

period for the individual as well

as for a people.

THE WEAVERS

WHEN

The Weavers

"

first saw the light,

broke
out
the
land of thinkers
in
pandemonium
and poets."
cried Philistia,
work"What!"
ingmen, dirty, emaciated and starved, to he placed
on the stage
Poverty, in all its ugliness, to be
"

"

"

presented as an after-dinner
is

too

much

Indeed

That

amusement?

"

it

is

much

too

for

the

self-satisfied

brought face to face with the

It is too much,
horrors of the weaver s existence.
because of the truth and reality that thunders in
the placid ears of society a terrific J accuse!
bourgeoisie to be

Gerhart Hauptmann
grandfather was

is

a child of the people;

and the only way

father could escape the fate of his parents
was by leaving his trade and opening an inn.
his

a weaver,

his

Little Gerhart s vivid and impressionable mind

must have received many pictures from the stories

told about the life of the weavers.

Who

knows

but that the social panorama which Hauptmann

subsequently gave to the world, had not slum
bered in the soul of the child, gaining form and
substance as he

grew

to

manhood.

At any

rate

The Weavers
"

The

Weavers," like

99

the canvases of Millet and

the heroic figures of Meunier, represent the epic

of the age-long misery of labor, a profoundly
stirring picture.

The background
weaving

home

of

"

The Weavers

district in Silesia,

"

is

the

during the period of

gruesome sight of human

on
their emaciated existence
phantoms, dragging
almost by superhuman effort.
Life is a tenacious
force that clings desperately even to the most
meager chance in an endeavor to assert itself.
But what is mirrored in
The Weavers is so
industry

"

"

appalling, so dismally hopeless that

it

stamps the

damning brand upon our civilization.

One man and his hirelings thrive on the sinew
and bone, on the very blood, of an entire com
The manufacturer Dreissiger spends
munity.

more for

cigars in a day than an entire family

Yet so brutalizing, so terrible
earns in a week.
is the effect of wealth that neither pale hunger

nor black despair can move the master.

There

is nothing in literature to equal the cruel

of
the scene in the office of Dreissiger,
reality
when the weavers bring the finished cloth. For

hours they are kept waiting in the stuffy place,

waiting the pleasure of the rich employer after
they had walked miles on an empty stomach and
For as one of the men says, What s
sleep.
"

little

Gerhart Hauptmann

ioo

weaver waitin for an hour, or for a

to hinder a

day? What else is he there for?

Indeed what else, except to be always waiting
in humility, to be exploited and degraded, always
at the mercy of the few pence thrown to them
after an endless wait.
Neither does it know
Necessity knows no law.
"

The

weavers, driven by the whip of

bend
their backs, beg and cringe before
hunger,
pride.

"

their

superior."

Weaver s

No

wife.

now for what I

As to John,
carriage.
not

fit

one can

call

once was.

me

idle,

but

am

ve twice had a mis

he s but a poor creature.

He s
been to the shepherd at Zerlau, but he couldn t do him
no good, and . .
you can t do more than you ve strength
.

for.

week

We works
ve been at

as
it

hard as ever
till

we

This many

can.

far into the night.

An we ll

keep our heads above water right enough if I can just

But you must have pity
get a bit o strength into me.

on

us,

to let

Mr. Pfeifer, sir. You ll

me have a few pence on

please be so very kind as

the next job, sir?

a few pence, to buy bread with.

credit.
ve a lot o little ones.

We

can

get no

Only
more

We

"

Suffer

little

children

to

come unto

me."

The more
Christ loves the children of the poor.
starve?
care
if
better.
then,
they
Why,

the

Why

care

if

away with hunger, like

For little
Drelssiger s office ?

they faint

"

the

little

Philip

is

boy

in

one of nine and the tenth

coming, and

The Weavers

101

the rain comes through their roof

and the
mother hasn t two shirts among the nine."
Who is to blame ? Ask the Dreissigers. They
will tell you,
The poor have too many chil
"

Besides

dren."

was nothing serious. The boy is all

all the same it s a disgrace.
The
right again.
child s so weak that a puff of wind would blow him over.
It

Dreissiger.

But

How

how any

people,

parents can be so thoughtless

passes my comprehension.
heavy pieces of fustian to carry

would

believe

that

it

that I shall have to

hadn

make a

six

seen

it.

It

No

one

simply means

sincerely trust that

Who

not occur again.

gets all the
of
It s
course
manufacturer.
the
Why,

will

things

blame for

good miles!

rule that no goods brought

by children will be taken over.

such

is

Loading him with two

what

it?

If some poor little fellow sticks in

winter and goes to sleep, a special correspond
ent arrives post-haste, and in two days we have a blood

entirely our fault.

the

snow

in

Is any blame
all the papers.
on the father, the parents, that send such a child ?

curdling story served up in

laid

Not a
the

bit of

How

it.

manufacturer

They

flatter

the

nothing but abuse

should they be to blame? It s all

he s made the scapegoat.

fault

weaver, and give the manufacturer

he s a cruel man, with a heart like

a stone, a dangerous fellow, at whose calves every cur of

a journalist may take a bite.
He lives on the fat of the

and pays the poor weavers starvation wages. In

the flow of his eloquence the writer forgets to mention

land,

that such a

man

has his cares too and his sleepless nights

Gerhart Hauptmann

IO2

that he runs risks of

that he

he has to make, and

into

which the workman never dreams;

often driven distracted by all the calculations

is

all the different

things he has to take

account; that he has to struggle for his very

life

and that no day passes without some

annoyance or some loss. And think of the manufactur
er s responsibilities, think of the numbers that depend on
against competition

No,
him, that look to him for their daily bread.
none of you need wish yourselves in my shoes

would soon have enough

fellow,

that scoundrel

of

it.

Becker,

You

all

behaved.

No!
you

saw how that

Now

he

ll

go

and spread about all sorts of tales of my hardheartedness, of how my weavers are turned off for a mere trifle,
without a moment
unmerciful

The weavers
terror-stricken
in his

own

Is that true?

Am

I so

very

are too starved, too subdued, too

not to

behalf.

corpses

living

s notice.

accept

Drelsslger s plea
of these

What would become

were

it

not

for

the

rebels

and hope

to

in

like

them?

put fire, spirit,

Verily the Beckers are dangerous.
Appalling as the scene in the office of Drels-

Becker,

home of the old weaver

even more terrible.
His decrepit old
wife, his idiotic son August, who still has to wind
slger

is,

Baumert

the life in the

is

spools, his two daughters weaving their youth and

bloom into the cloth, and Ansorge, the broken
remnant of a heroic type of man, bent over his

baskets, all live in

cramped quarters

lit

up only

The Weavers

103

by two small windows. They are waiting anx

iously for the few pence old Baumert is to bring,
that

may

they

What

salt in the

bit o

wood

is

house

for the

what

long-missed meal.
is to become of us

much

as a handful

not a bite o

bread, nor a

not so

fire."

But old Baumert has not forgotten

He

Mother

laments

home?"

"

in

indulge

what
if
he don t come
There
Baumert.
"

them a repast, the

have
had
in two years.
they

his family.
"

good meal
It is the meat of
their faithful little dog, whom Baumert could not
kill himself because he loved him so.
But hunger
knows no choice Baumert had his beloved dog
a nice little bit o meat like that
killed, because
brings

"

first

"

does you a lot o good."

It did not do old Baumert

much good.

His

stomach, tortured and abused so long, rebelled,

and the old man had to
give up the precious
And
all
this
wretchedness, all this horror
dog."
almost within sight of the palatial home of Dreis"

siger,

whose dogs are better fed than

his

human

slaves.

Man s

endurance

yet not quite.

Baumerts, even

is

almost

limitless.

For there comes

like

their

a time

Almost,

when

the

stomachs, rise in re
bellion, when they hurl themselves, even though
in blind fury, against the pillars of their
prison
house.
Such a moment comes to the weavers, the

Gerhart Hauptmann

IO4

most

when
to

patient, docile and subdued of humanity,

stirred to action by the powerful poem read

them by the Jaeger.

The

justice to us

weavers dealt

Is bloody, cruel,

Our

and hateful;

one torture, long drawn out:

For Lynch law we d be grateful.
life s

Stretched on the rack day after day,

Heart sick and bodies aching,

Our

heavy sighs their witness bear

To
The

spirit

slowly breaking.

Dreissigers true

hangmen

are,

Servants no whit behind them;

Masters and men with one accord

Set on the poor to grind them.

You villains all, you brood of hell

You fiends in fashion human,

curse will fall on all like you,

Who
The

prey on

suppliant

man and woman.

knows he

asks in vain,

Vain every word that

"

If not content, then go

Our
Then

O
Our

rules cannot be

spoken.

and starve

broken."

all our woe and want,

hear
this ditty!
ye,
struggle vain for daily bread

think of

Hard

who

hearts

would move

to pity.

The Weavers
But

pity s

105

what you ve never known,

You d take both skin and clothing,

You cannibals, whose cruel deeds
Fill all good men with loathing.

The

Dreissigers, however, will take no heed.

Arrogant and secure in the possession of their
stolen wealth, supported by the mouthpieces of

the Church and the State, they feel safe from

But
till it is too late.
the wrath of the people

when

the storm breaks, they show the yellow

streak and cravenly run to cover.
The weavers, roused at last by the poet s de

urged on by the in
spiring enthusiasm of the Beckers and the Jaegers,
become indifferent to the threats of the law and
scription of their condition,

ignore the soft tongue of the dispenser of the pure

word of God,
the God who provides shelter
"

and food for the birds and clothes the lilies of the
Too long they had believed in Him. No
wonder Pastor Kittelhaus is now at a loss to under
field."

stand the weavers, heretofore

so patient, so hum
The Pastor has to pay the
ble, so easily led."
price for his stupidity: the weavers have outgrown
"

even him.

The

of revolt sweeps their souls.

It
gives them courage and strength to attack the rot
ten structure, to drive the thieves out of the tem
spirit

ple, aye,

even to rout the soldiers

who come to
The

save the sacred institution of capitalism.

Gerhart Hauptmann

106

women, too, are imbued with the spirit of revolt

and become an avenging force. Not even the
devout faith of Old Hilse, who attempts to stem
the tide with his blind belief in his Saviour, can
stay them.

Old

Lord, we know not how to be thankful

Thee, for that Thou hast spared us this night
an hast had pity on us ...
Thy goodness

Hilse.

enough

to

.
.
again in
an hast suffered us to take no harm.
.

merciful, an

we

we are
Yet Thou

bad that
feet.

we

sin.

Our

covering

when
hot

the fire

oh, lay

Give us

it

patience,

we may

these sufferin

blessedness.

Amen.

Luise.

You

an

serve to keep the

dirt they lay,

do

is

"

Jesus

dear Son,
blood and

and glorious dress." An*

down under Thy chas

dry.

an

if

forgive us our

up

like to

Old Hilse

Luise,

part of the

my

the four

you d

on.

your piety an

I sets

burns too

purification

heavenly Father, that after all

be made partakers of Thy eternal

life in

all

Yes!

Thy

of

not to our charge

The tide is rushing

own daughter-in-law, is

em

that

re sometimes too sore cast

tening
ragin

men

Thy

accept us for the sake of

our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

if

art the All-

not worthy to be trampled under Thy

art our loving Father, an Thou wilt

look upon us an

righteousness,

Thou

are poor, sinful children of

tide.

did

religion

poor children
it didn t as

they

In rags an

much

as keep

to be a mother, that s

what

know

d send

it,

that

why

The Weavers
manufacturers to hell

all the

Not one

107

because I

am

a mother!

It was
more
than
breathin
with
me
from
the
time
each
cryin
poor little thing came into the world till death took pity

on

of the four could I keep in

The

it.

and singin
to get one

devil a bit

and

let

you cared
about

You sat there prayin

my feet bled, tryin
How many hundred

me run

life

till

little drop o skim milk.

has
I lain an
racked my head to think what I
nights
could do to cheat the churchyard of my little one? What

harm has a baby

a

like that

end

miserable

eh

done that

An

over

they re

bathed in wine an washed

talk as

you

hold

me

Dittrich
pity the

enough,

like,

s,

but

if

you will see

must come

there

they begins here,

me

to such

Dittrich

at

No! you may

ten horses won t

in milk.

An what s more

back.

it

in the

man as tries to prevent me

so now you know it.

if

there

a rush on

forefront of
I

it

ve stood

it

an
long

Thus the tide sweeps over Old Hilse, as it must

sweep over every obstacle, every hindrance, once
labor awakens to the consciousness of its solidaric
power.

An

epic

of misery and revolt never before

terrific force, such inclusive art

painted with such

istry.

Hence

its

wide human appeal, its incon

and its ultra-revolutionary

trovertible indictment
significance, not

merely to Silesia or Germany, but

our whole pseudo-civilization built on the mis
ery and exploitation of the wealth producers, of
to

Labor.

None

greater,

none more universal than

Gerhart Hauptmann

io8
this stirring,

all-embracing message of the most

creative genius of our time

humanly
Hauptmann.

Gerhart

THE SUNKEN BELL

THE

great versatility of Gerhart

Hauptmann

The
perhaps nowhere so apparent as in
Sunken Bell," the poetic fairy tale of the tragedy
"

is

of

Man,

a tragedy as rich in symbolism as it is

a tragedy as old as mankind,

realistically true

elemental as

as

man

from the rock of

loose

ceaseless

struggle to cut

ages.

Heinrich, the master bell founder, is an idealist

consumed by the fire of a great purpose. He has

already set a hundred bells ringing in a hundred

different towns, all singing his praises.
But his
restless spirit is not appeased.
Ever it soars to

always yearning to reach the sun.

once more he has tried his powers, and

loftier heights,

Now
the

new

the great Master Bell, is raised aloft,

only to sink into the mere, carrying its maker

with

bell,

it.

His old
in the

ideals are broken,

wilderness of

and Heinrich

is

lost

life.

Weak and faint with long groping in the dark

woods, and bleeding, Heinrich reaches the moun
tain top and there beholds Rautendelein, the spirit
of freedom, that has allured him on in the

work

The Sunken Bell

109

"

in one grand Bell, to weld

which he strove
the silver music of thy voice with the warm gold
of a Sun-holiday.
It should have been a master-

work!

then wept I tears of

failed,

blood."

Heinrich returns to his faithful wife Magda, his

to die.
The
children, and his village friends
bell that

sank into the mere was not made for the

it was not
heights
echoes of the peaks!

fit

to

wake

the answering

Heinrich.

Twas
I

not the mountain-top

for the valley

The

choose to die.

service of the valleys

Charms me no longer,
Youth
a new youth

since on the peak I stood.

d need, if I should live:
Out of some rare and magic mountain flower

Marvelous

juices I should need to press

Heart-health, and strength, and the

Steeling

my

hand

to

work none

mad

lust of triumph,
have
dreamed of!
yet

Rautendelein, the symbol of youth and freedom,

the vision of new strength and expression, wakes

Heinrich from his troubled sleep, kisses him back

to life, and inspires him with faith and courage
to

work toward

greater heights.

Heinrich leaves his wife, his hearth, his native

place, and rises to the summit of his ideal, there
to

create,

to

fashion a marvel bell

throat shall send forth

whose iron

no
The

Gerhart Hauptmann
waking

first

peal

Shall shake the skies

That weighed upon

when, from the somber clouds

us through the winter night,

Rivers of jewels shall go rushing down

Into a million hands outstretched to clutch!

Then

who

all

drooped, with sudden power inflamed,

Shall bear their treasure

There

homeward

to their huts,

to unfurl, at last, the silken banners,

so long, so long

Waiting

And now

the

to be upraised.

wondrous chime again

rings out,

Filling the air with such sweet, passionate sound

As makes

each breast to sob with rapturous pain.

and long forgotten,

a childlike song of Love,
song of home
Born in the waters of some fairy well

It sings a song, long lost

Known
And
The
And

as

to all mortals,

it

rises,

softly

and yet heard of nonel

first,

and low,

nightingale and dove seem singing, too

all

the ice in every

Is melted,

Stream out

human

breast

and the hate, and pain, and woe,

in tears.

Indeed a wondrous

who have reached

bell, as

only those can forge

they who
can soar upon the wings of their imagination high
above the valley of the commonplace, above the
the mountain top,

dismal gray of petty consideration, beyond the

reach of the cold, stifling grip of reality,
higher,
ever higher, to kiss the sun-lit sky.

The Sunken Bell

ill

Heinrich spreads his wings.

Inspired by the
fire of Rautendelein, he all but reaches the

divine

But there

pinnacle.

the Vicar, ready to wrestle

human soul; to buy it

is

with the devil for a poor

free, if

need

may never

drag it back to its cage that it

again in rebellion to the will of

be, to

rise

God.
The

Vicar.

You shun the church, take refuge in the mountains;

This many a month you have not seen the home
Where your poor wife sits sighing, while, each day,
Your
For

children drink their lonely mother

this there

And

I,

tears!

no name but madness,

wicked madness.

Here stand

At

is

Yes.

speak the truth.

Master, overcome with horror

the relentless cruelty of your heart.

Now

God, hath dealt a blow

must speak my mind
a blow so dread
That even he must marvel at his triumph.
Satan, aping

Yes,

Too

deep, yea to the neck,

Your

Now

have done.

you are sunk in sin!

Hell, decked out in beauty as high Heaven,

I will not waste more words.

Yet mark this, Master: witches make good fuel,
Even as heretics, for funeral-pyres.

Shall hold you fast.

Heathen, and

secret once, are

now

Horror they wake, and soon there

Your

ill

deeds,

laid bare.
shall

come

hate.

Gerhart Hauptmann

112

Then, go your way! Farewell! My task is done.

The hemlock of your sin no man may hope

To

rid

But

your soul of. May

remember! There

this

God
s

pity you!

word named

rue!

And some

day, some day, as your dreams you dream,

sudden arrow, shot from out the blue,

Shall pierce your breast!

Nor

shall

All you

live.

you

now

cherish

Your wretched
me!
That bell

self

And

yet

you

shall not die,

In that dread day you

God,
you

ll

shall ring again!

ll

curse

the world, your work,

Then

curse.

Then

think of

think of

me!

Barely does Helnrich escape the deadly clutch

of outlived creeds, superstitions, and conventions
embodied in the Ficar, than he is in the throes of

who

conspire his doom.

Nature herself has decreed the death of

other foes
rich.

For has not man turned

has he not cast her

off,

his

Hem-

back upon her,

scorned her beneficial of

ferings, robbed her of her beauty, devastated her

for the
all
charms and betrayed her trust
ephemeral glow of artifice and sham? Hence
Thus the Spirit
Nature, too, is Heinrich s foe.
of the Earth, with all its passions and lusts, sym
bolized in the Wood Sprite, and gross materialism

the person of the Nickelmann, drive the in

in

truder back.

The Wood

He

Sprite.

crowds us from our

hills.

He

hacks and hews,

The Sunken Bell

113

Digs up our metals, sweats, and smelts, and brews.

earth-man and the water-sprite he takes

The

To

drag

his burdens, and, to harness, breaks.

She

steals

My

gold,

my
my

She serves him

Tis he she

The

like

a slave, by night and day.

us she keeps at bay.

kisses

Naught stands

my red-brown ores,
my resinous stores.

cherished flowers,
precious stones,

against him.

Ancient trees he

fells.

earth quakes at his tread, and all the dells

Ring with the echo of his thunderous blows.

His crimson smithy furnace glows and shines
Into the depths of my most secret mines.
he is up to, only Satan knows!

What

The Nickelmann.
Brekekekex!

Hadst thou the creature

slain,

A-rotting in the mere long since he had lain

The maker of the bell, beside the bell.

And so when next I had wished to throw the stones,
The bell had been my box
the dice, his bones
!

But even they are powerless to stem the tide of

the Ideal: they are helpless in the face of Heinnew-born faith, of his burning passion to
complete his task, and give voice to the thousandthroated golden peal.
Helnrich works and toils, and when doubt casts

rich s

its

black

shadow athwart

his path, Rautendelein

She alone has boundless faith
for he
god of the joy of Life

charms back hope.

in
is

her Balder,
part of her, of the great glowing force her spirit

Gerhart Hauptmann

114

breathed into the Heinrichs since

Liberty, redeemer of man.

Time was born

Heinrich.

am thy Balder?
Make me believe it
I

Give

To

my

nerve

make me know

faint soul the rapturous joy

child!

needs,

For, as the hand,

to its task.

it

it,

it

Toiling with tong and hammer, on and on,

To hew the marble and to guide the chisel,

Now

bungles here,

now

there, yet

may

not halt.

But

enough of
and steady doth the smoke ascend
.

Still straight

this,

From my poor human sacrifice to heaven.

Should now a Hand on high reject my gift,
Why, it may do so. Then the priestly robe
Falls from

my

by no

shoulder

act of

mine;
was set,
upon
Must look my last on Horeb, and be dumb!
But now bring torches! Lights! And show thine Art!

While

I,

who

Enchantress!

Ay,

like the

the heights

erst

Fill

the wine-cup!

common herd

We

will drink!

of mortal men,

With resolute hands our fleeting joy we ll

Our unsought leisure we will fill with life,
Not waste it, as the herd, in indolence.

We

grip!

will have music!

While Heinrich and Rautendelein are in the

ecstasy of their love and work, the spirits
weave their treacherous web
they threaten,
whose
pain and
spirits
they plead, they cling,

The Sunken Bell

grief

115

harder to bear than the enmity or

a thousand foes.
Spirits that entwine
heartstrings with tender touch, yet are heav
are

menace of
one

ier fetters,

Heinrich

more oppressive than leaden

weights.

children, symbolizing regret that par

one
s creative powers, bring their mother s
alyzes
tears and with them a thousand hands to pull
s

He mrich down

from

his heights,

back to the val

ley.
"

The

bell

The

bell again ringing

"

bell

and

The

tolling.

Is

long buried
not the echo

old,
it

The superstitions instilled from

the
birth,
prejudices that cling to man with cruel
persistence, the conventions which fetter the wings
from the past?

of the idealist: the Old wrestling with the

for the control of man.
"

The Sunken

Bell

"

is

a fairy tale in

its

New

poetic

beauty and glow of radiant color. But stripped

of the legendary and symbolic, it is the life story
of every seeker for truth, of the restless spirit of
rebellion ever striving onward, ever reaching out

toward the sun-tipped mountain, ever yearning

for a new-born light.
Too long had Heinrich lived in the valley. It
has sapped his strength, has clipped his wings.
Too late
Thy heavy burdens weigh thee
!

down; thy dead ones are too mighty for

Heinrich has to

"

die.

He who

thee."

has flown so high

n6

Gerhart Hauptmann

into the very Light, as thou hast flown,

ish, if he once fall back to earth."

Thus speak

the

As

worldly wise.

must per
death

if

the burning thirst for light; as if the

hunger for the ideal could ever be appeased by the
The worldly wise never
thought of destruction

could

still

feel the irresistible

With

urge to dare the cruel

Maxim Gorki

fates.

"

Song of the
Falcon"
they sneer, "What is the sky? An
empty place.
Why disturb the soul with the
the adder in

desire to soar into the sky?

they laugh at the falcons.

"

Queer

birds,"

Not knowing

the

earth and grieving on it, they yearn for the sky,

For it is
seeking for light in the sultry desert.
a
with
no
and
no
food
desert,
only
supporting
place for a living

The

Heinrichs

body."

are

the

social

falcons,

and

though they perish when they fall to earth, they

die in the triumphant glory of having beheld the
sun, of having braved the storm, defied the clouds
and mastered the air.
The sea sparkles m the glowing light, the waves
dash against the shore. In their lion-like roar a
O dar
song resounds about the proud falcons
"

ing Falcon, in the battle with sinister forces you

lose your life.
But the time will come when your

precious blood will illumine, like the burning torch

of truth, the dark horizon of man; when your

The Sunken Bell

117

blood shall inflame many brave hearts with a burn

ing desire for freedom."
The time when the peals of Heinrich

Bell will

call the strong and daring to battle for light and

"Hark!
Tis the music of the Sunjoy.
.

bells

song!

near!"

dawn

The Sun
.

breaks,
Heinrichs.

and though
its

first

the Sun

"the

is

draws

night
long,"
rays falling on the dying

FRANK WEDEKIND
THE AWAKENING OF SPRING

WEDEKIND
most daring dramatic

is

perhaps

spirit in

the

Germany.

Coming to the fore much later than Sudermann and Hauptmann, he did not fol
their path, but set out in quest of new truths.

FRANK
low

in

More

boldly than any other dramatist Frank

Wedekind has laid bare the shams of morality
in reference to sex, especially attacking the igno

rance surrounding the sex

its

life

of the child and

resultant tragedies.

Wedekind became widely known through his

The Awakening of Spring," which
great drama
"

he called a tragedy of childhood, dedicating the

work to parents and teachers. Verily an appro
priate dedication, because parents and teachers
are, in relation to the child s needs, the most
Needless
ignorant and mentally indolent class.
to say, this element entirely failed to grasp the
social significance of Wedekind s work.
On the

contrary, they saw in it an invasion of their tradi

tional authority and an outrage on the sacred
rights of parenthood.
ziS

The Awakening
The

of

Spring

119

could see naught in Wedekind,

except a base, perverted, almost diabolic nature
bereft of all finer feeling.
But professional critics
critics also

seldom see below the surface;

discover beneath the grin and

else

they would
of Frank

satire

Wedekind

a sensitive soul, deeply stirred by the

Stirred and
heart-rending tragedies about him.

grieved especially by the misery and torture of

the child,
the helpless victim unable to explain
the forces germinating in

its

nature, often crushed

and destroyed by mock modesty, sham decencies,

and the complacent morality that greet its blind
gropings.

Never was

more powerful indictment hurled

out of sheer hypocrisy and
which
against society,
cowardice persists that boys and girls must grow
a

up in ignorance of their sex functions, that they

must be sacrificed on the altar of stupidity and
convention which taboo the enlightenment of the
child in questions of such elemental importance
to health and well-being.

The most
ever,

is

criminal phase of the indictment, how

it is generally the most promising

that

who

are sacrificed to sex ignorance and

to the total lack of appreciation on the part of
children

teachers of the latent qualities and tendencies in

the child: the one slaying the body and soul, the

other paralyzing the function of the brain; and

Frank Wedekind

I2O

both conspiring to give to the world mental and

physical mediocrities.

The Awakening

"

and fourteen

acts

of

dialogues

Wedekind

of Spring

"

is

laid in three

scenes, consisting almost entirely

the children.
So close is

among

to the soul of the child that he suc

ceeds in unveiling before our eyes, with a most

gripping touch,

The

its

joys

and sorrows,

its

hopes and

struggles and tragedies.

play deals with a group of school children

despair,

its

imaginative be
mysteries of life.

just entering the age of puberty,

ings

speculating

Wendla, sent

to

about

the

her grave by her loving but

is an exquisite,
lovable child;

prudish mother,
Melchior, the innocent father of Wendla

unborn

baby, is a gifted boy whose thirst for knowledge

leads him to inquire into the riddle of life, and
to share his observations with his school chums,
a youth who, in a free and intelligent atmos

might have developed into an original

That such a boy should be punished as
a moral pervert, only goes to prove the utter unfitness of our educators and parents.
Moritz,
Melchior s playfellow, is driven to suicide because
he cannot pass his examinations, thanks to our
stupid and criminal system of education which con
phere,

thinker.

cramming the mind to the bursting point.

Wedekind has been accused of exaggerating

sists in

his types,

but any one familiar with child

life

The Awakening
knows

word

that every

"

in

[The Awakening of
conversation be

The

"

vividly true.

is

121

of Spring

Spring
tween Melchior and Moritz, for instance,
cal of all boys not mentally inert.
Melchior.
earth

know why we

to

like

is

typi

really are

on

Moritz.
school

be

rather

Why

we go

do

cab-horse

to

school

than

school so that somebody can examine us!

go

We

to

go to

And why

In order that we may fail.

do they examine us?
Seven must fail, because the upper classroom will hold
only

feel so

sixty.

devil take me,

if

The
queer since Christmas.
I d pack my

were not for Papa,

it

bundle and go to Altoona, to-day!

Moritz. Do you believe, Melchior, that the feeling
of shame in man is only a product of his education?
Melchior. I was thinking over that for the first time
the day before yesterday.
It seems to me deeply rooted in

human

nature.

Only

think,

you must appear entirely

You wouldn t do so if

clothed before your best friend.

he didn
less of

do the same thing.

Therefore,

it s

more or

a fashion.

Moritz.
Melchior.

Moritz.
Melchior.

Moritz.
Melchior.

Moritz.
Melchior.

Have you

experienced

it

yet?

What?

How

do you say

it?

Manhood s emotion?

hm.

Certainly.
I also

I ve

most for a year.

known

that for a long while !

Al

Frank Wedekind

122
Moritz.

was startled as if by lightning.

Did you dream?
of legs
Only for a little while
I

Melchior.

Moritz.

thought they wanted to go over

rect,

them for an
Melchior.

Moritz.
incurable.

light

saw

I only

it.

instant.

George Zirschnitz dreamed of his mother.

Did he tell you that? ... I thought I was
I believed I was suffering from an inward

Finally I became calm enough to begin to jot

hurt.

down

the recollections of

my

life.

Mel

Yes, yes, dear

chior, the last three weeks have been a

me.

in

to be cor

blue tights, that strode over the cathedral

Gethsemane

for

they play a remarkable

Truly
game with us.
And we re expected to give thanks for it. I don t re
member to have had any longing for this kind of excite
.

Why

ment.

was

still

didn

My

again.

let me sleep peacefully until all

dear parents might have had a hun

they

I came here, I don t know how,

and must be responsible myself for not staying away.

dred better children.

Haven

you often wondered, Melchior, by what means

we were brought into this whirl?

Melchior. Don t you know that
Moritz. How should I know it?
lay

her

yet either,

Moritz?

how the hens

Mamma
had
to
carry me under
eggs, and hear that
heart.
But is that enough? ... I have gone
I see

"

"

through Meyer

Words

from

Little Encyclopedia

Not

nothing but words and words

Oh, this feeling of shame!
!

plain explanation.

an encyclopedia that won t answer

cerning the most important question in life?
good to

me

is

to Z.

a single

What
me

con

The Awakening

of Spring

123

Yes, of what good is an encyclopedia or the

other wise books to the quivering, restless spirit
of the child? No answer anywhere, least of all

from your own mother, as Wendla and many an

other like her have found out.

The

girl, learning that her sister has a new

rushes
to her mother to find out how it came
baby,
into the world.

who

Wendla. I have a
two and a half years,
for the third time, and

I
I

haven

Don

be

comes about

Whom

be cross!
Please

sister

made an aunt

the least idea

cross,

Mother

how

dear,

all

it

don

the world should I ask but you!

in

me, dear Mother!

tell

am ashamed
Don t scold me
I

has been married for

myself have been

for

myself.

for asking

Tell me, dear Mother!

Mother, speak!
Give me an

Please,

you about

it.

answer
How does it happen?
How does it all
come about?
You cannot really deceive yourself that
I,

who am

fourteen years old,

Frau Bergmann.
liar

What

still

Good Lord,
you have

ideas

believe in the stork.

child,
!

but you are pecu

really can t do

that!

Wendla.
It

can

But why

Frau Bergmann.
serve

Go

Wendla.

Mother?

not,

be anything ugly

if

everybody

Why
is

not?

delighted over

God, protect

me!

it

de

get dressed, child, go get dressed.

I ll

go

And

suppose your child went out

and asked the chimney sweep?

Frau Bergmann.

But that would

be

madness

Frank Wedekind

124

Come

here, child,

everything
love
the
I tell

him
can
at

you

come

here, I ll tell you!

In order to have a child

to

whom

one

is

describe

it!

your age are

whole

One must

love him,

love him,
love

so that one

Wendla,

Now

you

one must

One must

heart, so

unable to love

still

I ll tell

married

man

as one can only love a

much with one

so
t

...
man

as

you know

you
it

How

much Wendla knew, her mother found

out when too late.
Wendla and Melchior, overtaken by a storm,
seek shelter in a haystack, and are drawn by what
first emotion of manhood
Melchior calls the
"

"

and curiosity into each other s arms. Six months

later Wendla s mother discovers that her child is
to

become

who

To

in the

is

Wendla.
haven

a mother.

save the family honor,

hands of a quack
promptly placed
treats her for chlorosis.

the girl

No, Mother, no!

t chlorosis.

have the dropsy,

must

I
I

have dropsy

must

die,

know
I

it.

won

Mother

I feel
t

it.

get better.

O, Mother,

die!

Frau Bergmann. You must not die, child! You

must not die
Great heavens, you must not die!
Wendla. But why do you weep so frightfully, then?
Frau Bergmann. You must not die, child! You

You

have a

Wendla. I haven t done anything to you.

Frau Bergmann. Oh, don t deny it any

more,

haven
child!

the dropsy, you have a child, girl!

Oh, why did you do that to me?

The Awakening
Wendla!
word

say a

know

Wendla,

But

my Wendla

not possible, Mother.

it s

125
want

See, I didn t

everything.

to you.

Wendla.

of Spring

to

...

have

loved nobody in the world as I do you, Mother.

The pathos of it, that such a loving mother

should be responsible for the death of her own
child
Yet Frau Bergmann is but one of the many
!

good, pious mothers who lay their children to

rest in God," with the inscription on the tomb
"

stone:

"Wendla

died

Bergmann,

from

chlorosis,
1878,
Blessed are the pure of heart."

born

May

Oct.

27,

5th,

1892.

pure of
Melchior, like Wendla, was also
he
blessed
heart
how
was
Surely not
yet
"

"

"?

";

his teachers

by
mystery of

on the
who, discovering
Only
expel the boy from school.
his essay

life,

Wedekind could

inject such

grim humor

into the

smug importance of the

School
of
the
sitting under the por
High
faculty
traits of Rousseau and Pestalozzi, and pronounc
farce of education

ing judgment on their

Rector

Sonnenstich.

the

"

immoral

"

Gentlemen:

pupil Melchior.

We

cannot

the expulsion of our guilty pupil before the

moving
tional Board of Education there
;

why we

cannot:

we

help

Na

are the strongest reasons

cannot, because

we must

expiate the

misfortune which has fallen upon us already; we cannot,

because of our need to protect ourselves from similar

blows
tise

in the future;

our guilty pupil

we

cannot, because

we must

chas

for the demoralizing influence he

Frank Wedekind

126

exerted upon his classmates

we

cannot, above

all,

because

we must

hinder him from exerting the same influence

cannot ignore the
upon his remaining classmates.

We

and

charge
of all

cause

it

this,

gentlemen,

is

possibly the weightiest

on any pretext concerning a ruined career, be

is our duty to protect ourselves from an epidemic

of suicide similar to that which has broken out recently

in various grammar schools, and which until to-day has
mocked all attempts of the teachers to shackle it by any
means known to advanced education.
We see our
.

selves

under the necessity of judging the guilt-laden that

we may

not be judged guilty ourselves.

.
.
Are you the
this obscene manuscript?
I request you, sir, to show me any
Melchior. Yes
.

author of

thing obscene in
Sonnenstich.

it.

You

have

nity of your assembled

as little

respect for the

dig

teachers as you have a proper

appreciation of mankind s innate sense of shame which

belongs to a moral world.
s mother, a modern type, has greater
But
her child than in school education.

Melchior
faith in

even she cannot hold out against the pressure of

opinion; still less against the father of
Melchior, a firm believer in authority and dis
public

cipline.

Anyone who can write what Melchior

The mark
to the core of his being.
is
A half-healthy nature wouldn t do such a
plain.
None of us are saints. Each of us wanders from
thing.

Herr Gabor.

wrote must be rotten

The Awakening
the

path.

straight

His

of Spring
on

writing,

the

127
contrary,

His writing is no evidence of

tramples on principles.
a chance slip in the usual way it sets forth with dread
;

ful plainness

and a frankly

definite purpose that natural

longing, that propensity for immorality, because

it

is

im

His writing manifests that exceptional state

of spiritual corruption which we jurists classify under
morality.

the term

"

moral

imbecility."

Between the parents and the educators,

Melchior is martyred even as Wendla. He is
sent to the

House of Correction;

but being of

sturdier stock than the girl, he survives.

Not so his chum Moritz. Harassed by the im
pelling forces of his awakened nature, and unable
to grapple with the torturous tasks demanded by
his
educators
at the most critical period of his
"

"

Moritz

life,

fails in

the examinations.

He

can

not face his parents: they have placed all their

hope in him, and have lashed him, by the subtle
cruelty of gratitude, to the grindstone till his brain
reeled.
Moritz is the third victim in the tragedy,
the most convenient explanation of which is given

by Pastor Kahlbauch

funeral sermon.

in the

Pastor Kahlbauch.
He who rejects the grace with
which the Everlasting Father has blessed those born in
sin,

he shall die a spiritual death

in willful carnal abnegation of

for

and serves

Who,

evil,

He, however, who

God

proper honor, lives

shall die the death of the body
s

however, wickedly throws away from him the cross

Frank Wedekind

128

which the All Merciful has

laid

upon him for

his sins,

unto you, he shall die the everlasting

however, praise the All Gracious Lord

verily, verily, I say

death!

Let

and thank

we may
For
the

us,

Him

His inscrutable grace in order that

more and more surely.

for

travel the thorny path

one died a

as truly as this

triple death, as truly will

Lord God conduct the righteous unto happiness and

life.

everlasting

hardly necessary to point out the revolu

It
tionary significance of this extraordinary play.
It is

speaks powerfully for itself. One need only add

that
The Awakening of Spring has done much
"

"

to dispel the mist enveloping the paramount issue

of sex in the education of the child.
To-day it is

conceded even by conservative elements that the

conspiracy of silence has been a fatal mistake.

And

while sponsors of the Church and of moral

fixity still clamor for the good old methods, the

message of Wedekind is making itself felt

throughout the world, breaking down the barriers.
The child is the unit of the race, and only
through its unhampered unfoldment can humanity

come

its

"

Spring
times that
race.

The Awakening of
one of the great forces of modern
"

into
is
is

heritage.

paving the way for the birth of a free

THE FRENCH DRAMA

MAETERLINCK
those

works

who

of

are conversant with the

Maeterlinck

it

may seem

rather far-fetched to discuss him from

the point of view of revolutionary and
Above all, Maeterlinck is the

social significance.

portrayer of the remote, the poet of symbols;

therefore it may seem out of place to bring him
down to earth, to simplify him, or to interpret his
To some extent these ob
revolutionary spirit.

have considerable weight; but on the other

one keeps in mind that only those who
the
to
remote are capable of understanding the
go
obvious, one will readily see how very significant
Maeterlinck is as a revolutionizing factor.
Be
sides, we have Maeterlinck s own conception of

jections

hand,

if

the significance of the revolutionary spirit.

In a
article
The
called
Social Revolu
very masterly
"

he discusses the objection on the part of the

conservative section of society to the introduction
of revolutionary methods.
He says that they

tion,"

129

Maeterlinck

130

would

like us to

of the

evils

"

that they object to

go slow
the use of violence and the forcible overthrow
";

"

men

And

of society.

in these significant

Maeterlinck answers

words:

We

are too ready to forget that the heads

of misery are less noisy, less theatrical, but

infinitely

more numerous, more

than those of the most terrible

Maeterlinck

realizes

that

cruel

and active

revolutions."

there

are

certain

which
demand immediate solution, and that if we do not
solve them with the readiest and quickest methods
at our command, they will react upon society and
grievances

in society, iniquitous conditions

upon life a great deal more terribly than even the

most terrible revolutions. No wonder, then, that
his works were put under the ban by the Catholic
Church which forever sees danger in light and
emancipation.
Surely if Maeterlinck were not
primarily the spokesman of truth, he would be
embraced by the Catholic Church.
In
Monna Vanna Maeterlinck gives a won
"

derful picture of the

"

new woman

not the

woman as portrayed in the newspapers, but

new woman as a reborn, regenerated spirit;
woman who has emancipated herself from

new
the

the

her

narrow outlook upon life, and detached herself

from the confines of the home; the woman, in
short, who has become race-conscious and there
fore understands that she

is

a unit in the great

Monna Vanna

131

ocean of life, and that she must take her place as

an independent factor in order to rebuild and re
In proportion as she learns to become
race-conscious, does she become a factor in the

mold

life.

reconstruction of society, valuable to herself, to

her children, and to the race.

subdued by the forces of Florence; it is

The city is in danger of
and
the
being destroyed,
people exposed to famine
and annihilation. There is only one way of sav
Pisa

is

beaten and conquered.

Marco Colonna,

ing Pisa.

mander of
enemy

Pisa,

brings

the father of the

the

ultimatum

Com

of

the

Marco.
with him.

Know,

...

saw Prinzivalle and spoke

then, that I

thought to find some barbarian, arro

gant and heavy, always covered with blood or plunged
in drunken stupor; at best, the madman they have told
I

whose spirit was lit up at times, upon the battle

by dazzling flashes of brilliance, coming no man
knows whence. I thought to meet the demon of combat,
blind, unreasoning, vain and cruel, faithless and disso
us

of,

field,

lute.

...

found a

man who bowed

before

He

loving disciple bows before the master.

me

is

as

lettered,

eager for knowledge, and obedient to the voice of wis

dom.
He loves not war; his smile speaks of under
.
.

standing and gentle humanity.

passions and events.

He

endowed with conscience and

his will that

He

seeks the reason of

looks into his

sincerity,

he serves a faithless State.

own

heart; he

and

it

is

is

against

have told

Maeterlinck

132

you that Prinzivalle seems wise, that he is humane and

But where is the wise man that hath not
reasonable.
his private

madness, the good man to whom no monstrous

come? On one side is reason and pity and

idea has ever

justice;

on the other

ah! there

is

and passion

desire

the insanity into which we

and what you will
I have fallen into it myself, and shall,
at times.

Man

so have you.

again

is

made

all

fall

belike,

in that fashion.

grief which should not be within the experience of man is

Hearken: this great
on the point of touching you.
.

convoy, the victuals that I have seen, wagons running

over with corn, others full of wine and fruit; flocks of
sheep and

herds of cattle,

a city

feed

to

enough

for

tuns of powder and bars of lead, with

vanquish Florence and make Pisa lift her

all these

months;
which you may
head

all

...

enter the city to-night,

this will

if

you

send in exchange, to give her up to Prinzivalle until to

for he will send her back when
morrow s dawn, . .
.

the

first faint

that,

in

gray shows

in the sky,

only, he exacts

sign of victory and submission, she shall

alone, and her cloak for all her covering.

Guido. Who? Who shall thus come?

Marco.

Giovanna.

Guido.

My

Marco.

Ay, your Vanna.

wife?

Guido Colonna,

come

Vanna?

in

the consciousness that the

woman

belongs to him, that no man may even

with
look,
desire, upon her dazzling beauty, re
mortal
insult.
He is willing that all
this
sents
the other

women

should face danger, that the

lit-

Monna Vanna

133

children of Pisa should be exposed to hunger

and destruction, rather than that he give up his

tie

But Monna Vanna does not hesitate.

possession.
When she is before the issue of saving her people,
She goes into the
might go, without con
imbued solely with the impulse

she does not stop to consider.

enemy

tent,

as a child

sciousness of self,

to save her people.

The meeting

Monna Vanna and

of

Prinzivalle

the sweet
is an exquisite interpretation of love
ness, purity, and fragrance of Prinzivalle s love
for the

woman

known when

of his dream

was but

she

the one he had

child,

and who

re

mained an inspiring vision all through his career.

He knows he cannot reach her; he also knows that
he will be destroyed by the political intriguers of
Florence, and he stakes his all on this one step
to satisfy the dream of his life to see Vanna and
in return to save Pisa.
Prinzivalle.

my

tent, all

ters

whom

Had

there

come

ten thousand of you into

clad alike, all equally fair, ten thousand

even their mother would not

know

sis

apart, I

should have risen, should have taken your hand, and said,
Is it not strange that a beloved image
"This is she!"

can live thus in a

man

mine that each day

it

heart?

changed

For yours

as in real life

lived so in

the image

of to-day replaced that of yesterday

it blossomed out,
it became always fairer; and the years adorned it with
all

that they add

to

a child that grows in grace and

Maeterlinck

134
But when

beauty.

saw you

again,

it

My

eyes deceived me.

my

that

first

seemed to

me

at

memories were so

but they had been too slow and too

they had not dared to give you all the splendor
which appeared so suddenly to dazzle me. I was as a
fair

and so fond

timid

man

mind a flower he had but seen

that recalled to

in

passing through a garden on a gray day, and should be

suddenly confronted with a hundred thousand as fair in

a field bathed with sunshine.
I saw once more your

your brow, your

hair,

and

eyes,

the face I had adored

but

found

how

its

all the soul

of

beauty shames that

which

I had treasured in silence through endless days,

through years whose only light was a memory that had
taken too long a road and found itself outshone by the

reality!

to do.

me

Ah!

felt

that I

knew not
was lost

too well

and

what

meant

desired to drag

.
.
And I hated you, because of the
Yes, I should have gone to the end had it
not been you. .
.
Yet any other would have seemed

with

love.

all I could.

me

odious to

you yourself would have had to be other

... I lose my reason when I

One word would have been enough

than you are.

it.

was

from your words

one gesture that was not

the slightest thing would have inflamed my hate
loose the monster.
But when I saw you, I saw

different

yours

and

think of
that

let

same moment that

in that

Vanna.

felt

it

was

a change, too.

impossible.

...

marveled that

could speak to you as I have spoken since the first mo

ment. ... I am silent by nature
I have never spoken
thus

to

father.

any
.

man,

And

unless

it

even with him

be
it

to
is

Marco,

Guide

not the same.

He

Monna Vanna
has a thousand dreams that take up
and we have talked but a few times.

135
all his

The

mind,

others have

always a desire in their eyes that will not suffer one to

tell them that one loves them and would fain know what
they have in their hearts.

burns

nor

fill

but

me with

you before

In your

not the same

is

it

loathing.

remembered that

it

felt

eyes,

too,

a longing

does not affright

at once that I

had ever seen you.

me

knew
.

Vanna, awed by the character and personality

of this despised and hated outlaw, pleads with
him to come with her to Pisa under the protec
tion of herself and her husband.
She is sure that
he will be safe with them, and that he will be
hailed as the redeemer of the people of Pisa.
Like innocent children they walk to their doom.
Vanna is honored by the people whom she has
saved, but scorned by her husband who, like the
true male, does not credit her story.

Hear me,

Vanna,

say

have never

but

lied

to-day, above all days, I tell the deepest truth, the truth

that can be told but once and brings life or death.

Hearken, Guido, then

never known me until

when you have

be loved.

am, of

all

which
.

your power to love me as I would

name of our life, of all that I

in the

is

... Be

strong enough
This man has spared
I was given over
power

incredible.

He had all
.
Yet he has not touched me

honor.

to him.

in

that you are to me.

to believe that

my

it

speak

and look upon me, if you have

this hour, the first and only hour

have issued

Maeterlinck

136

.
his tent as I might from my brother s house.
.
and he gave
gave him one only kiss upon the brow

from
I
it

me

again.

Ah, that was what you were to

Guido.

was

miracle!

the

divined

Ay,

beneath

something

the

at

already,

them

tell

first

that

us

that

words, I
understood

I took no heed of
... It passed me like a flash
it ... But I see now that I must look more closely.
So, when he had you in his tent, alone, with a cloak for

not.

all

all

your covering,
?

Am

night

man

you say he spared

long,

to believe that the stars are frag

you
ments of hellebore, or that one may drop something into
a well and put out the moon?
What! a man de
.

sires

you so utterly that he will betray his country, stake

all that

and do

he has for one single night, ruin himself forever,

basely, do such a deed as no man ever thought

it

to do before him, and make the world uninhabitable to

himself forever!
And this man has you there in his tent,

alone and defenseless, and he has but this single night

and he contents

that he has bought at such a price

himself with a kiss upon the brow, and comes even hither
to

make us

give

him credence!

and not too long mock

that,

what need was

No,

let

at misfortune.

us reason fairly
If he asked but

there that he should plunge a whole

me in an abyss of misery such

crushed and older by ten years?
he craved but a kiss upon the brow, he might

people into sadness, sink

that

Ah!

have come from

Had

it

have saved us without torturing us so!

He had but to
come like a god to our rescue. .
But a kiss upon the
.

brow

is

not demanded and prepared for after his fash-

Monna Vanna
ion.

despair.

It

is

The
.

truth

is

found

in

our

137

cries of

anguish and

only at this psychological moment, a mo

all our conceptions,

ment that sometimes changes

thoughts, our very life, that Monna

Vanna feels the new love for Prinzivalle stirring
in her soul, a love that knows no doubt.
The
all

our

conception of such a love is revolutionary in

the scope of its possibilities
a love that is preg
nant with the spirit of daring, of freedom, that lifts
woman out of the ordinary and inspires her with
the strength and joy of molding a
race.

new and

free

ROSTAND
CHANTECLER
view of the progress the modern drama
made as an interpreter of social ideas and

has

portrayer of the

IN

ternal

human

and external

struggle against in
it is difficult to

barriers,

say what the future may bring in the way of great

dramatic achievement.
So far, however, there is

hardly anything to compare with

"

Chantecler

"

in

philosophic depth and poetic beauty.

Chantecler is the intense idealist, whose mission
is light and truth.
His soul is aglow with deep
human sympathies, and his great purpose in life
is to
He keeps aloof from
dispel the night.

mediocrity; indeed, he has

little

knowledge of

his

immediate surroundings. Like all great vision

all too human
aries, Chantecler is human,
therefore subject to agonizing soul depressions and
doubts.
Always, however, he regains confidence
and strength when he is close to the soil; when
he feels the precious sap of the earth surging
through his being. At such times he feels the
"

"

mysterious power that gives him strength to pro138

Chantecler
claim the truth, to
the day.

call

139

forth the golden glory of

The pheasant hen

is the eternal female, bewitchbut

self-centered
and vain. True
ingly beautiful,
to her destiny, she must possess the man and is

jealous of everything that stands between her and

him she loves. She therefore employs every de
vice to kill Chantecler

she tells him,

nothing to the

"

You

faith in himself, for, as

can be

all in all

to me, but

dawn."

is the modernist who has become

He is a
and
blase, mentally
spiritually empty.
cynic and scoffer; without principle or sincerity
himself, he sees only small and petty intentions in

The

blackbird

everybody

else.

Patou, true and stanch, is the symbol of honest

conviction and simplicity of soul.
He loathes the
blackbird because he sees in him the embodiment
of a shallow, superficial modernity, a modernity
all poetic vision, which aims only at ma

barren of

terial success

for worth,

and tinseled display, without regard

harmony or

peace.
the overbearing, conceited, in
tellectual charlatan; the spokesman of our present-

The peacock

is

"

day culture the idle prater of art for art s sake."

As such he sets the style and pace for the idle
pursuits of an idle class.
The guinea hen is none other than our most
;

illustrious society lady.

Sterile of

mind and empty

Rostand

140
of soul, she
other, taking

flits

up

from one

social function to

an

every fad, clinging to the coat-

of every newcomer, provided he represent

She is the slave of fashion,
station and prestige.
tails

the imitator of ideas, the silly hunter after effect

in short, the parasite upon the labor and efforts

of others.

The

night birds are the ignorant, stupid mainThey detest the light because

tainers of the old.

exposes their mediocrity and stagnation.

They
hate Chantecler because, as the old owl remarks,
it

"

Simple torture it is to hear a brazen throat for

ever reminding you of what you know to be only
too true
This is a crime mediocrity never for
"

gives,

and

it

conspires to

The woodpecker

kill

Chantecler.

our very learned college

and
professor.
important, he loudly
Dignified
proclaims the predigested food of his college as
the sole source of all wisdom.
is

The

toads represent the cringing, slimy hangersthe

flunkies and lickspittles who toady for the
on,
sake of personal gain.
"

Chantecler," then, is a scathing arraignment

of the emptiness of our so-called wise and cultured,
of the meanness of our conventional lies, the petty

jealousies of the human breed in relation to each

other.
At the same time Chantecler character
"

izes the lack of

tion of,

understanding

"

for,

and apprecia

the ideal and the idealists

the

mob

Chantecler

141

whether on top or at the bottom, using the

most cruel and contemptible methods to drag the
idealist down; to revile and persecute him
aye,
for the unpardonable sin of
even to kill him
spirit,

proclaiming the ideal. They cannot

Chantecler for worshiping the sun:

forgive

Chantecler.

Blaze forth

in

glory!

among weeds

thou that driest the tears of the meanest

And
Thy

dost of a dead flower

living butterfly

miracle, wherever almond-trees

Shower down

Dead
1

make a

the

wind

petals dancing

worship

thee,

their scented shreds,

in a living

swarm

Sun! whose ample

light,

Blessing every forehead, ripening every fruit,

Entering every flower and every hovel,

Pours
Still

itself

forth and yet

is

spending and unspent

never
like

less,

mother

love!

sing of thee, and will be thy high priest,

Who

disdainest not to glass thy shining face

In the humble basin of blue suds,

Or

see the lightning of thy last farewell

Reflected in an humble cottage pane!

Glory

to thee in

the vineyards!

Glory

to

fields!

Glory among the grass and on the roofs,

In eyes of lizards and on wings of swans,
Artist

who making

splendid the great things

thee in the

Rostand

142

Forgets not to make exquisite the small!

Tis thou that, cutting out a silhouette,
To all thou beamest on dost fasten this dark twin,

Doubling the number of delightful

Appointing to each thing

More charming

its

often than

Thou

shapes,

shadow,

itself.

sheddest roses on the

I praise thee,

Sun!

Diamonds on

the stream, enchantment on the hill;

A poor dull tree

O Sun, without
Would

be no

air,

thou takest and turnest to green rapture,

whose golden magic

things
more than what they are!

In the atmosphere of persecution and hatred

Chantecler continues to hope and to work for his
sublime mission of bringing the golden day. But
his passion for the pheasant hen proves his Water
loo.
It is through her that he grows weak, dis

Because of her he attends the

closing his secret.
o
clock
function at the guinea hen s, and
silly five

His passion teaches

involved in a prize fight.
him to understand life and the frailties of his fel
low creatures. He learns the greatest of all truths,
is

"

the struggle for, rather than the

attainment of, the ideal, which must forever in
Indeed, it is
spire the sincere, honest idealist."
that

life

it

is

which teaches Chantecler that if he cannot

the dawn, he must rouse mankind to greet

wake

the sun.

Chantecler finds himself

in

a trying situation

Chantecler

143

when he comes

into the gathering at the guinea

o clock tea, to meet the pompous, over
bearing cocks representing the various govern
When he arrives in the midst of these
ments.

hen

s five

distinguished society people, he

is

plied with the

How

do you sing? Do you sing the

query,
Italian school or the French school or the German
"

Poor Chantecler,
I don

school?"

in the simplicity

"

his idealism, replies,

but

know why
know how

sing."

know how

Why

of

I sing,

need the chante-

They represent the

they sing?
truth, which needs no stylish clothes or expensive

clers

feathers.

That

difference between truth

is the
Falsehood must deck herself out
semblance of nature and reality.

and falsehood.

beyond

all

Chantecler.
I say
.
that these resplendent gen
tlemen are manufactured wares, the work of merchants
with highly complex brains, who to fashion a ridiculous
.

chicken have taken a

this.

wing from

that one, a topknot

from

Cocks nothing remains of the

are
Cocks
of shreds and patches, idle
They

say that in such

true Cock.
bric-a-brac,

with

fit

to figure in a catalogue, not in

decent dunghill and

a barnyard

dog.
say that those
bedeviled
Cocks
were
never stroked
befrizzled, beruffled,
its

its

and cherished by Nature s maternal hand.

And I
add that the whole duty of a Cock is to be an embodied
.

crimson cry!
little

quills

that his

And when

a Cock is not that, it matters

comb be shaped like a toadstool, or his

twisted like a screw, he will soon vanish and be

Rostand

144

heard of no more, having been nothing but a variety of

a variety!

He greets Chanteappears.
with the announcement that he is the Cham

The Game Cock

cler

pion fighter, that he has killed so and so many

Cocks in one day and an equal number on other
occasions.
Chantecler replies simply,
I have
"

never killed anything.

But as I have at different
times succored, defended, protected this one and
that, I might perhaps be called, in my fashion,
brave."

The fight begins. Chantecler is wounded and

about to succumb, when suddenly all the guests
present rush to Chantecler for protection the com
:

mon

the

Hawk

is

seen

to

enemy,
approach.
Chantecler mistakes the cowardice of those who

come

to

moment

friendship; but the

over, the crowd again cir

seek his aid,

for

the danger is
around the fighters, inciting the Game Cock
to kill Chantecler.
But at the critical moment the
Game Cock mortally wounds himself with his own
spurs, and is jeered and driven off the scene by the
same mob that formerly cheered him on. Chante
cler, weak and exhausted from loss of blood,
disillusioned and stung to the very soul, follows
the pheasant hen to the Forest.
Soon he finds himself a henpecked husband: he
may not crow to his heart s content any more, he
cles

Chantecler

may
The

145

not wake the sun, for his lady love is jealous.

only time he can crow is when her eyes are

closed in sleep.
But leave it to the pheasant hen to ferret out a
secret.
Overhearing Chantecler s conversation
"

I will
with the woodpecker, she is furious.
not let the sun defraud me of my love," she

cries.

But Chantecler

"

replies,

There

love outside of the shadow of the

is

no great
She
win him

ideal."

makes use of her beauty and charm to

from the sun. She embraces him and pleads,
Come to my soft bosom. Why need you bother
"

about the sun?

"

Chantecler hears the nightingale and, like all

great artists, he recognizes her wonderful voice,
her inspiring powers compared with which his own

must seem hard and crude. Suddenly a shot is

heard, and the little bird falls dead to the ground.
Chantecler is heart-broken.
And as he mourns
the sweet singer, the
pheasant hen covers

dawn

begins to break.

The

him with her wing, to keep

him from seeing the sun rise, and then mocks him
because the sun has risen without his crowing.

The shock

is

terrible to

his desperation

poor Chantecler, yet in

he gives one tremendous cock-a-

doodle-do.

Why are you

"

"

crowing? the hen asks.

As a warning to myself, for thrice have

denied the thing

love."

Rostand

146
Chantecler

in

is

despair.

But now he hears

another Nightingale, more silvery and beautiful

than the first.
Learn, comrade, this sorrowful
and reassuring fact, that no one, Cock of the morn
"

ing or evening nightingale, has quite the song of

his

dreams."

A wonderful message,

"

for there must always be

in the soul a faith so faithful that it comes back

even after
stand that

we

it

has been

slain."

It

is

vital to

under

rather the consciousness that though

cannot wake the dawn, we must prepare the
it is

people to greet the rising sun.

BRIEUX

the

preface

the

to

English

edition

of

George Bernard Shaw

Lord Melbourne,
in the early days of Queen Victoria.
When
the cabinet meeting threatened to break up in con
fusion, Lord Melbourne put his back to the door
and said:
Gentlemen, we can tell the house the
truth or we can tell it a lie.
I don t give a damn
which it is. All I insist on is that we shall all tell
the same lie, and you shall not leave the room until
you have settled what it is to
"

Damaged

Goods,"

IN

relates a story concerning

"

be."

This seems to characterize the position of our

middle-class morality to-day.
Whether a thing
be right or wrong, we are all to express the same

opinion on the subject.

same

lie,

and the

lie

upon which

than on any other, is the

be kept up at all costs.

How slow

All must agree on the

lie

our moralists

all

agree,

more

of purity, which must

move

is

best proved by

the fact that although the great scientist Neisser

had discovered, as far back as 1879, that sup
posedly insignificant venereal afflictions are due to
147

Brieux

148

a malignant micro-organism often disastrous not

only to the immediate victim, but also to those who

come

touch with him, the subject

tabooed and must not be discussed.
in

To be sure, there is a
women who realize

and

is still

largely

small contingent of men

the necessity of a frank

discussion of the very important matter of ven

ereal disease.
But unfortunately they are attempt

ing to drive out the devil with fire.

They are en
the
as
to
of
the
lightening
public
gravity
gonorrhea
and syphilis, but are implanting an evil by no means
less

harmful, namely, the element of fear.

result often

is

fection are as
selves

now

that the victims

little

who

The

contract an in

capable of taking care of them

as in the past

about the subject.

Brieux is among the few

when they knew

who

little

treats the question

frank manner, showing that the most danger

ous phase of venereal disease is ignorance and fear,
in a

and that

if

treated openly and intelligently, it is

Brieux also emphasizes the im

perfectly curable.

portance of kindness and consideration for those

who contract the affliction, since it has nothing to

do with what

is

commonly

called evil, immorality,

or impurity.

Therein

Goods

lies

"

to

lacking logic

and warmth.

the

superiority

of

"

Damaged

most scientific treatises. Without

and clarity, it has greater humanity

Damaged Goods
But

"

Damaged Goods

"

149

contains

more than an

expose of venereal disease. It touches upon the

whole of our social life. It points out the cold
blooded indifference of the rich toward those who

do not belong to their class, to the poor, the

workers, the disinherited whom they sacrifice with
out the slightest compunction on the altar of their

own

comforts.

Moreover, the play

also treats of

the contemptible attitude towards love not backed

In short, it un
by property or legal sanction.

covers and exposes not only sexual disease but that

which is even more terrible
our social disease,
our social syphilis.

George Dupont, the son of wealthy people, is

informed by a specialist that he has contracted a
venereal disease of a most serious nature; but that
with patience and time he will be cured.
Dupont
is crushed by the news, and decides to blow out

His only regret

his brains.

is

that he cannot in

the least account for his trouble.

George.

not a rake, Doctor.

My

life

might be

held up as an example to all young men.

I assure you,
no one could possibly be more prudent, no one. See
I told you that in all my life I have only
had two mistresses, what would you say to that?
Doctor. That would have been enough to bring you

here; supposing

here.

George.

No, Doctor.

Not one

of those two.

No

Brieux
one

in the

world has dreaded

one has taken such

mistress

first

was

this so

much

as I

have; no

infinite precautions to avoid

the wife of

my

it.

My

chose

best friend.

her on account of him ; and him, not because I cared most

for him, but because I knew he was a man of the most
rigid morals,

who watched

his wife jealously

and didn

her go about forming imprudent connections.

for her, I kept her in absolute terror of this disease.

let

told her that almost all

men were

taken with

As
I

so that

it,

My

she mightn t dream of being false to me.

friend
died in my arms.
That was the only thing that could

me from

Then

took up with a
young seamstress. . . . Well, this was a decent girl with
a family in needy circumstances to support.
Her grand
mother was an invalid, and there was an ailing father and

have separated

three

little

lived.

...

she played

they

all

brothers.

me

false I

way

was a

was by

and

my means

I let the others

that they all

know

should leave her at once.

that

if

So then

It became a regular thing

Sunday with them, and in that sort

watched her for me.

that I should spend

of

It

I told her

her.

was

able to give her a

lift

up.

respectable kind of outing for her.

them and her mother used

Church-going
I

rented a

go with her to
church; they liked seeing their name engraved on the
card.
She never left the house alone. Three months

pew

for

ago,

when

the question of

my

to

marriage came up,

had

to leave her.

Doctor.

You were

very happy,

why

did you

want

to

change ?
George.

wanted

to settle

down.

My

father

was a

notary, and before his death he expressed a wish that I

Damaged Goods
my

should marry

dowry

cousin.

will help to get

She

adore her.

could want to

me

was a good match; her

It

a practice.

fond of me, too.

make my

life

151

Besides, I simply

had everything one

And

happy.

then a lot of

must give me a farewell dinner and make me gad

about with them.
I haven t
See what has come of it!
idiots

any luck,
the

ve never had any luck!

the most

lead

beasts

know

fellows

racketty life: nothing happens

But

for

to

who

them,

what

wretched lark

is

me? My future is ruined, my

Well then, isn t it better for me

there left for a leper like

whole

life

poisoned.

Anyway, I shan t suffer any more.

now, no one could be more wretched than I am.

to clear out of it?

You

see

The doctor explains to him that there is no need

for despair, but that he must postpone his mar
riage if he does not wish to ruin his wife and pos
sibly

make her

sterile for life.

It

especially because of the offspring,

to be syphilitic.

Doctor.
carefully

Twenty
observed

Nineteen times
the

woman was

cases identical

from

the

is

imperative

which

is

certain

with yours have been

beginning

to

the

end.

you hear, nineteen times in twenty

contaminated

by her husband.

You

think that the danger is negligible: you think you have

the right to let your wife take her chance, as you said,
of being one of the exceptions for which we can do

nothing! Very well then; then you shall know what

you are doing. You shall know what sort of a disease
it is that your wife will have five chances per cent, of
contracting without so much as having her leave asked.

Brieux

152
.

But there

children,
It

is

in

is

not only your wife,

your children,
the

name

appeal to you;

it

whom

you may contaminate,

of those innocent
is

there are her

little

too.

ones that I

the future of the race that I

am

defending.

But George Dupont

will not

postpone the mar

He

riage for several years.

an explanation, break his

would have to give

word, and lose his in

things infinitely more important than

or for
adores
any consideration for the girl he
In short,
their children, should they have any.
heritance,

"

he

"

actuated by the morality of the bourgeoisie:

silly conception of honor, the dread of public

is

the

opinion and, above

The second
Dupont.

act

all,

is

the greed for property.

laid at the

George and

his wife

home of George

Henriette are child

ishly happy, except for the regret that their mar

riage could not have taken place six months earlier

because poor George had been declared consump

tive.
stupid of doctors to suspect the

How

healthy strong George Dupont of consumption!

all doctors are stupid."
But now that
But, then,
"

they are together, nothing shall part them in their

great happiness, and especially in their great love
for their baby.
sunny horizon.

True, a

little

cloud obscures their

The baby is not very strong; but

with the care and devotion of the grandmother, out
in the country air, it is sure to recover.

Damaged Goods
The grandmother

153

unexpectedly

an

arrives,

nouncing that she has brought the baby back to

town it is very ill and she has consulted a specialist
who has promised to come at once to examine the
:

He insists
Presently the doctor arrives.
that the wet nurse be dismissed immediately, as the

child.

child
fect
is

would

her

infect her

and she

own husband and baby.

in

return

would

in

Madame Dupont

What, leave her precious grand

Rob him of the milk he needs!

scandalized.

child!

Mme.
it is

Dupont.

to treat

it

If there

one

is

way

to save

its

life,

me
every possible attention,
in a way that you doctors condemn even for

to give

and you want

it

healthy children.

You

think I will let her die like that!

good care she does not! Neglect the

one single thing that can save her! It would be crim

Oh,

shall take

We

As for the nurse, we will indemnify her.

do everything in our power, everything but that.
Doctor. This is not the first time I have found my

inal!

will

self

in

this situation,

that parents

who have

and

must begin by

have invariably repented of

it

most

you

telling

refused to be guided by
bitterly.

my
.

advice

You

Be

propose to profit by her ignorance and her poverty.

sides,

she could obtain the assistance of the court.

You

can convince yourself.

In one or two cases the
parents have been ordered to pay a yearly pension to the
nurse; in the others sums of

money varying from

three

to eight thousand francs.

Mme.

Dupont.

If

we had

to

fight

we
Thank

an action,

should retain the very best lawyer on our

side.

Brieux
we

heaven

are rich enough.

No

doubt he would make

hadn t caught this dis

the
nurse from the child.
than
ease from the nurse, rather

it

appear doubtful whether

the child

Indeed, what matters a peasant woman!

They
In vain the doctor tries to con
are so numerous.
vince

Mme. Dupont

that

it

is

not a question of

of humanity, of decency;
money.
he would not and could not be a party to such a
It is a question

crime.

After the doctor leaves to examine the child,

her worthy son clinch the bar
the
with
gain
unsuspecting and ignorant servant.
tell
her
that the baby has a cold which it
They
might communicate to her. The poor peasant girl
had lived in the cold all her life, and as she justly
We of the country are not as delicate as
says
the Parisian ladies."
She realizes that a thou
sand francs would mean a great fortune to her, and
that it would help her people to pay the mortgage
and become independent. She consents to stay

Mme. Dupont and

"

and signs away her health.

The

doctor returns with the dreaded news that

the child has

congenital syphilis.

them that with care and patience the

He

informs

child

might

be cured, but that it will have to be put on bottle

milk, because otherwise it would be disastrous to
When he is told that the nurse has
the nurse.
consented to remain, he grows indignant, declar
ing:

Damaged Goods
"

You must

not ask

and strong woman

no party to giving

this

bitter the lives of her

render her

to sacrifice the health of a

woman

a disease that

young

I will

be

would em

whole family, and almost certainly

do it from a

Besides, I cannot even

sterile.

legal standpoint.

me

to that of a sickly infant.

If you do not consent to have the

child fed by hand, I shall either speak to the nurse or

give up the

case"

But there

is

no need for the doctor to

interfere.

for the

servant, she discovers the

Fortunately
miserable transaction.
She learns from the but
ler the real condition

to the

know

of the child, and announces

Duponts that she must refuse to stay.

I know
your brat isn t going to live.

"

I
it s

rotten through and through because its father s

got a beastly disease that he caught from some
woman of the streets."

At

moment

the unsuspecting, light

headed and light-hearted mother, Henriette, ar
rives.
She overhears the horrible news and falls
this terrible

screaming to the

The

floor.

last act takes place in the hospital

the

refuge of the unfortunate victims of poverty, ig

norance and false morality. M. Loche, the
Deputy, is announced. The doctor is overjoyed
because he believes that the representative of the

people comes to inform himself of the causes of

the widespread misery.
But he is mistaken.

M. Loche

is

the father-in-law of

George Dupont.

Brieux

156

He

wants to secure the signature of the doctor as

evidence in the divorce sought by his daughter.
Doctor.

with such a

And

absolute.

is

secrecy

that I

regret

certificate.

am unable to furnish you

The rule of professional
may add that even were I

should refuse your request.

I should regret hav
It would be in your
ing helped you to obtain a divorce.
daughter s own interest that I should refuse. You ask
free, I

me

for a certificate in order to prove to the court that

your son-in-law has contracted syphilis? You do not

consider that in doing so you will publicly acknowledge

daughter has been exposed to the infection.

that your

Do

you suppose that after that your daughter is likely to

find a second husband ?
Do you think that this poor
.

thing has not been unlucky enough in her start in

life?
She has been blighted physically. You wish be

little

sides indelibly to

stamp her with the legal proof of con

genital syphilis.

Then what am

Loche.

Doctor.
posed

you

Forgive.
doubtless

future son-in-law
ties;

you

I to

do?

When

made

the marriage

was pro

your
income; you investigated his securi
inquiries

concerning

satisfied yourself as to his character.

omitted one point, but

it

You

was the most important

only

of all:

you made no inquiries concerning his health.

Loche.
No, I did not do that. It is not the cus
tom.

...

Doctor.
are too

I think

a law should be passed.

No, no!

many

already.

We

want no new

All that

is

to

understand the nature of

It

would soon become the custom

this

laws.

needed
disease

for a

is

There

for people

rather better.

man who

pro-

Damaged Goods

157

posed for a girl s hand to add to the other things for

is asked a medical statement of bodily fitness,
which would make it certain that he did not bring this

which he

plague into the family with him. . . . Well, there is

one last argument which, since I must, I will put to you.
Are you yourself without sin, that you are so relentless
to others?

have never had any shameful disease, sir.

was not asking you that. I was asking
never exposed yourself to catching one.
had
you

Locke.

Doctor.

you if
Ah, you
it

"

term

This

not virtue that has saved you;

things exasperate me more than that
which you used just now.
disease,"

Few

shameful

disease

is

speaking!

other diseases:

all

no shame

is

one deserves to be

plain

it is

like

There

afflictions.
if

Then

see!

luck.

is

in being

it

let

Come, come,
should like to know
so.

who

these rigid moralists,

is

one of our

wretched

when

little

how many

are so shocked with their

that they dare not mention the

dle-class prudery,

even

us have a

of

mid

name
it

do

so with expressions of every sort of disgust, and treat

its

syphilis, or

they bring themselves to speak of

victims as criminals, have never run the risk of contract

it

ing

themselves?

of a thousand?
all

It

How many

to talk.

is

those alone

who

have the right

Four out

do you think there are?

Well, leave those four aside: between

the rest and those

who

catch the disease there

difference but chance, and by heavens, those

won

get

much sympathy from me:

who

is

no

escape

the others at least

have paid their fine of suffering and remorse, while they

have gone scot free! Let s have done, if you please,
once for

all

with

this sort of hypocrisy.

Brieux

158

The doctor, who is not only a sincere scientist

but also a humanitarian, realizes that as things
are to-day no one is exempt from the possibility
of contracting an infection; that those who are
responsible for the spread of the disease are they

who

constantly excuse themselves with the inane

did not know," as if ignorance were not the
crime of all crimes.
The doctor demonstrates to
"

M. Loche
all

number of

cases under his observation,

of them the result of ignorance and of poverty.

There is, for instance, the woman whose hus

band died of the

disease.

He

"

didn

know

She, on the other hand,

so he infected her.

"

is

poor and cannot afford the treatment she needs.

A private physician is beyond her means, and she
has too much pride to stand the indignities heaped
upon the poor who are at the mercy of dispensaries
and charity. Therefore she neglects her disease
and perhaps is unconsciously instrumental in in
fecting others.
Then there is the

man whose young

tracted the disease.

His father

"

son has con

didn

t know,"

and therefore he did not inform his son, as a

sult of which the boy became half paralyzed.

Man.

We

bled

ourselves

now

others.

It

are small trades-people;

in

order

to

send

we have

him

to

only wish the same thing mayn

was

regularly

college,
t

and

happen to

at the very college gates that

boy was got hold of by one of these women.

re

Is

my
it

poor
right,

Damaged Goods
Aren

that that should be allowed?

sir,

police to prevent children of fifteen

like that?

I ask, is it

t there enough
from being seduced

right?

The poor man, in

these women
that

his ignorance, did not

"

"

are the

know

most victimized,

as

demonstrated by the doctor himself in the case of

She was both ig
the poor girl of the street.
norant and innocent when she found a place as
domestic servant and was seduced by her master.
Then she was kicked out into the street, and in
her endless search for work found every door

She was compelled to stifle

her feeling of motherhood, to send her baby to a
foundling asylum, and finally, in order to exist, be
closed in her face.

come
the

a street-walker.

men who came

she

seducer,

If in return she infected

to her, including her erstwhile

was only paying back

in

a small

measure what society had done to her,

jury, the bitterness, the misery and tears

upon her by
It

is

a cruel

and

self-satisfied

the in

heaped

world.

to be expected that a political representa

tive of the people like Loche should suggest the

same stereotyped measures as his predecessors
:

legal enactments, prosecution, imprisonment.

the doctor, a real social student, knows that

true

remedy

Doctor.
terious

evil,

lies in a

Syphilis

the

change of our

of which

"

the

ways."

must cease to be treated

very name

But

like a

mys

cannot be pro-

Brieux

160

.
People ought to be taught that there is
nothing immoral in the act that reproduces life by means
of love.
But for the benefit of our children we organize

nounced.

round about
spectable

man

it

a gigantic conspiracy of silence.

re

will take his son and daughter to one of

where they will hear things of

won t let them
hear a word spoken seriously on the subject of the great
act of love.
The mystery and humbug in which phy
sical facts are enveloped ought to be swept away and

these grand music halls,

the most loathsome description; but he

young men be given some pride in the

with which each one of us is endowed.
In other words, what

we need

creative

power

more general

is

enlightenment, greater frankness and, above

different

social

and economic conditions.

all,

The

Damaged Goods
revolutionary significance of
not
consists in the lesson that
syphilis but the causes
that lead to it are the terrible curse of society.
"

"

Those who rant against syphilis and clamor for

more laws, for marriage certificates, for registra
tion and segregation, do not touch even the sur
face of the evil.

Brieux

is

modern dramatists who go

among
to the

the very few

bottom of

this

question by insisting on a complete social and

economic change, which alone can free us from
the scourge of syphilis and other social plagues.

161

Maternity

MATERNITY
MOTHERHOOD

to-day

on the

is

lips

of every

penny-a-liner, every social patch-worker and polit

ical climber.
It is so much prated about that one
is

led to believe that motherhood, in

is

force

for

present con
therefore re

its

It

good.
quired a free spirit combined with great dramatic
power to tear the mask off the lying face of
dition,

motherhood, that we

see that, whatever

may

possibilities in a free future,

motherhood

is

its

to-day

a sickly tree setting forth diseased branches.

For
its sake thousands of women are being sacrificed

and children sent

into a cold

and barren world

without the slightest provision for their physical

and mental needs. It was left to Brieux to in
scribe with letters of fire the crying

motherhood of

shame of the

to-day.

Brlgnac, a provincial lawyer and an unscrupu

lous climber for political success, represents the
typical pillar of society.

He

believes implicitly

supremacy of God over the destiny of man.

He swears by the State and the army, and cringes
before the power of money.
Naturally he is the
in the

champion of large families as essential to the wel

fare of society, and of motherhood, as the most
sacred and sole function of woman.

He

is

the father of three children,

are in a precarious condition.

He

all

of

whom

resents the idea

Brieux

62

that society ought to take care of the children

already in existence, rather than continue indis

criminately
breeding more.
Brignac himself

wants more children.

In vain his wife Lucie,
weakened by repeated pregnancies, pleads with
him for a respite.
Lucie.
I

we

Listen, Julien, since

wanted

to tell

are talking about this.

I haven t had much leisure since

you
have not been able to take advantage

We

our marriage.
of a single one of your holidays.
to

know

really

have a right

Consider, we have not had any time

one another, or to love one another. Besides,

to a little rest.

remember that we already have

dowries for three

to find

girls.

Brignac.
Lucie.

tell

boy

is

you

this

is

going to be a boy.

expensive.

We

are going to be rich.

Brignac.
Lucie.
How?

Luck may come

Brignac.

in the civil service

back to the bar.

After

not

all, it s

in several

ways.

and get promoted quickly.

may stay
may go

... I am certain we shall be rich.

much good your saying so, if I say yes.

Lucie.
Evidently.
My consent was asked for before
was given a husband, but my consent is not asked for

before I

am

slavery.

After

sufferings,

given a child.

my

all
life

This

is

you are disposing of

of a year of

my

slavery

my

am

yes,

my

existence, calmly,

without consulting me.

Do I do it out of selfishness?
Brignac.
pose I

health,

not a most unhappy husband

Do
all

you sup

the time I

Maternity
have a future mother at

wife?

...

Lucie.

father

Rubbish!

my

163

side

instead

of a loving

man all the same.

You evidently take me

is

for a fool.

know what you do at those times.

Don t deny it.
You must see that I know all about it. ... Do you want
me to tell you the name of the person you go to see over
at Villeneuve, while I am nursing or
a future mother,"
I

"

as

you

call it?

We

Erignac goes

had better say no more about

off to his political

it.

meeting to pro

claim to his constituency the sacredness of mother

the deepest and highest function of
hood,

woman.
Lucie has a younger

sister,

Annette, a girl of

Their parents being dead, Lucie takes

eighteen.
She is passionately fond
the place of the mother.
of her little sister and makes it her purpose to
keep the girl sheltered and protected from the
Annette arrives and announces
outside world.
with great enthusiasm that the son of the wealthy
Bernins has declared his love and asked her to

marry him, and that his mother, Mme. Bernin,

is coming to talk the matter over with Lucie.

Mme.

Bernin does arrive, but not for the pur

Rather is it to
pose poor Annette had hoped.
tell Lucie that her son cannot marry the girl.

Oh, not because she isn

Indeed not!

tractive.

beautiful, pure or at

Mme.

Bernin

herself

says that her son could not wish for a more suit
able match.
But, then, she has no money, and

Brieux

164
her son must succeed
quire social standing

in the world.
He must ac
and position; that cannot be

When

had without money.

Lucle pleads with her

the Bernins themselves had begun at

that after all

the bottom, and that

happy,

Mme.

it

did not prevent their being

Bernin replies:

No, no; we are not happy, because we have worn our

hunting after happiness. We wanted to
get
"

selves out

and we got on. But what a price we paid for it!

when we were both earning wages, our life was
long drudgery of petty economy and meanness.

on,"

First,

one

When we

set

up on our own account, we

lived in an

atmosphere of trickery, of enmity, of lying; flattering the

customers, and always in terror of bankruptcy.
Oh, I
know the road to fortune! It means tears, lies, envy,
hate

one suffers

and one makes other people

have had to go through

only had two children
I

it:

my

children shan

t.

suffer.

We ve

we meant

only to have one.

doubly hard upon ourselves.
Instead of a husband and wife helping one another, we
:

Having two we had

to be

have been partners spying upon one another; calling one

another to account for every little expenditure or
stupidity;
business.

and on our very pillows disputing about our

s how we got rich; and now we can t

That

enjoy our money because we don t know

and we aren t happy because our old age

how
is

to use it;

made

bitter

by the memories and the rancor left by the old bad days
because we have suffered too much and hated too mucL

My

children shall not go through this.

they might be spared.

endured

it

that

Maternity

165

Learning the price Mme. Bernln has paid for

her wealth, we need not blame her for turning a
deaf ear to the entreaties of Lticie in behalf of
Neither can Lucle be held responsible
sister.

her

for her stupidity in keeping her sister in ignorance

was incapable of protecting herself when

until she

the occasion

demanded.

Poor Annette, one of

offered up to the insatiable monster of

and
social convention
ignorance
When Annette is informed of the result of
Mme. Bernin s visit, the girl grows hysterical,
and Lucle learns that her little sister is about to
become a mother. Under the pretext of love and
marriage young, pampered Jaques Bernln has
taken advantage of the girl s inexperience and in
nocence.
In her despair Annette rushes out in
search of her lover, only to be repelled by him
in a vulgar and cruel manner.
She then attempts
suicide by trying to throw herself under the train
which is to carry off her worthless seducer. She
is rescued
by the faithful nurse Catherine, and
to her anxious sister Lude.
back
Ann
brought

the

many

ette, in

great excitement, relates:

Annette. You ll never guess what he said.

He got
He said he guessed
angry, and he began to abuse me.
what I was up to; that I wanted to make a scandal to
force

force

that

him
him

to
to

to
oh, he spared me nothing
marry me
marry me because he was rich. And when

made me

furious, he threatened to call the police!

66

Brieux

ought

to

have

left

him, run away, come home, oughtn

him all at once, like that

And I couldn t go away while I had any hope. ... As
long as I was holding to his arm it was as if I was en
gaged. When he was gone I should only be a miserable
ruined girl, like dozens of others.
My life was at
stake and to save myself I went down into the very low
I cried, I im
est depths of vileness and cowardice.
I ?

But

couldn

believe

of

it

shame.

What

plored.

I lost all

not

not even you

I did not understand at

tell

much

you

he said then

was too much

first.
It was only

can
too

it

after

wards, coming back, going over all his words, that I made
out what he meant. . . . Then he rushed to the train,
and jumped into a carriage, and almost crushed my fin
gers in the door

and he went and hid behind

his

mother,

and she threatened, too, to have me arrested. ... I wish

I was dead
Lucie, dear, I don t want to go through all
!

that s

too

coming

young

to bear

am
it.

too little

Really, I haven

am
t

too weak,

the strength.

But Lucie has faith in her husband. In all the

years of their married life she has heard him pro
claim from the very housetops that motherhood is
the most sacred function of woman; that the State
needs large numbers; that commerce and the army
the
require an increase of the population, and
government commands you to further this end to
the best of your ability, each one of you in his own
commune."
She has heard her husband repeat,
over and over again, that the woman who refuses
to abide by the command of God and the laws to
"

Maternity

167

become a mother is immoral, is criminal. Surely

he would understand the tragedy of Annette, who
had been placed in this condition not through her
own fault but because she had been confiding and
Surely Brigtrusting in the promise of the man.
nac would come to the rescue of Annette; would
help and comfort her in her trying and difficult
moment. But Lucie, like many wives, does not

know her husband; she does not know that a man

who is so hide-bound by statutes and codes cannot
have human compassion, and that he will not stand
unpar
by the little girl who has committed the
"

donable
Lucie does not know, but she
soon to learn the truth.
sin."

is

I tell you Annette is the victim of this wretch.

you are going to do nothing but insult her, we had

Lucie.
If

better stop discussing the matter.

Brignac.
left for us

Ruined!

for.

am

in a nice fix

Smashed!

tell

red handed stealing, the wreck

.

We

now!

There

but to pack our trunks and be

you

wouldn

must make some excuse.

aunt or cousin

if
t

When

will invent an

You

I
ll

will find a

be

all right

the time comes she can put the child out

to nurse in the country, and

Lucie.

was caught

she

has invited her to stay.

decent house for her in Paris to go to.
She

there.

nothing

am done

be more complete.

We

who

is

off.

come back

to us.

seriously propose to send that poor child

where she doesn t know a soul?

I will go to
Brignac. What do you mean by that?
Paris myself, if necessary.
There are special boarding

to Paris,

Brleux

68

houses: very

ones.

respectable

without letting out that

I

ll

pay what

Lucie.

To

And

the child

can you want?

most in need of every

is

propose to send her off alone

derstand, alone!

course

know.

What more

necessary.

when

Just

you

care,

is

inquire: of

I ll

for anyone I

it is

tear her

do you un

alone,

away from

here, put her

into a train, and send her off to Paris, like a sick animal

you want

If I consented to that I should

to get rid of.

feel that I

was

as

bad

Julien: remember

honest,

man who

as the

We

pose to sacrifice her.

in

is

the price of her loneliness and

To

despair.

we

serious troubles, I admit

selves

Be

seduced her.

our interest you pro

shall gain peace and quiet at

it

save our

are to abandon

away from all love and care

and comfort, without a friend to put kind arms around
her and let her sob her grief away,
i implore you,
this child to strangers

Julien, I entreat you, for our children

me from

her,

ask

Engnac.
if she had behaved

ery

She

Lucie.

You

ll

ant.

this

is

me

to

do

s sake,

this

herself.

man

But

victim!

stifle

through; to turn away her eyes and

don

want

him."

And

forgiven for another person

Society

welcome

To

Brignac.
it

won

go.

her strongest instinct; to silence the cry of

we

love that consoles us all for the tortures

If

she

have to drive her out as you drove out the serv

.
.
And then
after that
she is to let her child

go; to

don

t keep
shameful thing.
There would have been no question of mis

don

wasn

to the

at
s

"

say,

have to go

Take him away,

that price she

crime.

new born

is

Then

to be

that

is

child?

the child born outside of marriage, yes.

for that, there

would soon be nothing but

Maternity
illegitimate
society

births.

It

is

to

condemns the natural

169

preserve

the

family

that

child.

You

say you want a larger number of births,

same time you say to women
No mother
hood without marriage, and no marriage without money."
Lucie.

and

"

at the

As long

as

you ve not changed

that, all

be met with shouts of derision

from

pity.

...

If

your circulars will

half from hate, half

you drive Annette

out, I shall go

with

her.

Lucie and Annette go out into the world.

middle-class girls they have been taught a

As
little

of everything and not much of anything. They

try all kinds of work to enable them to make a
but though they toil hard and long hours,
they barely earn enough for a meager existence.
As long as Annette s condition is not noticeable,

living,

life is

state.

bearable; but soon everybody remarks her

She and Lucie are driven from place to

what many
girls in her position have done before her and will
do after her so long as the Brignacs and their
She visits a midwife, and
morality are dominant.
one more victim is added to the large number

place.

In her despair Annette does

slaughtered upon the altar of morality.

The last act is in the court room.

Mme.

Thomas, the midwife, is on trial for criminal

abortion.
With her are a number of women
whose names have been found on her register.
Bit by bit we learn the whole tragedy of each of

Brieux

170
the defendants;

we

see all the sordidness of

pov

procure the bare necessities of

and the dread of the unwelcome child.

erty, the inability to

life,

schoolmistress, although earning a few hun

dred francs, and living with her husband, is com

pelled to have an abortion performed because an
other child would

mean hunger

We

Schoolmistress.

just

for

managed

being most careful; and several times

penses
child

We

it

should have

directresses
if

of them.

to

get

we

cut

We

we

don

all
t

third
lived.

and

Besides, the inspectors

starved.

us to have

like

couldn

along by
ex

down

have

did not seem possible to cut down.

coming upset everything.

cially

all

nurse them ourselves.

many children, espe

They told me to hide

I only had ten

myself when I was suckling the last one.
minutes to do it in, at the recreation, at ten o clock and

at
I

two o clock; and when

my

mother brought baby

had to shut myself up with him

in a

dark

to

me

closet.

The couple Tupln stand before the bar to de

fend themselves against the charge of criminal
abortion.
Tupln has been out of work for a long

He is
driven by misery to drink.
known to the police as a disreputable character.
One of his sons is serving a sentence for theft,
time and

and

is

daughter

is

woman

a thinking man.
Tupln
earnings at best are not
is

of the

streets.

But

He

proves that his

enough to supply the

The daily
needs of an already large family.
nourishment of five children consists of a four-

Maternity

171

loaf, soup of vegetables and dripping, and

a stew which costs 90 centimes.
Total, 3f. 750.
This is the expenditure of the father: Return

pound

for

ticket

tram,

The

Tobacco,

3Oc.

150

Dinner,

Clothing for the whole

and
boots:
16
pairs of boots for the chil
family,
dren at 4f. 5oc. each, 4 for the parents at 8f.,
if. 25c.

total

rent, 3Oof.

Total for the year, 2,6oof.

again 3Oof.

who

Tupin,

is

an exceptional workman, earns i6of.

a month, that

is

to say, 2,1 oof. a year.

an annual

therefore

There

is

of 5Oof.,

deficit

provided
Tupin keeps at work all the time, which never
happens in the life of a workingman. Under such
circumstances no one need be surprised that one of
his children is imprisoned for theft, and the other
is

walking the

streets,

while

Tupin himself

is

driven to drink.

When we

Tupin.
wife and

began to get short

I started to

we were mad at making it

so ... I ended up in the saloon.
you can
forget.

my

It s

warm

there,

and

hear the children crying nor the mother com

And besides, when you have drink in you, you

plaining.

My

in the house,

Every time a child came

worse for the others. And

quarrel.

fault, if

And
you

that
like.

s
.

how we
Our

got poorer and poorer.

last child

was a

cripple.

He was

born in starvation, and his mother was worn out.

And they nursed him, and they nursed him, and they
nursed him. They did not leave him a minute. They

made him

live in spite of himself.

And

they let the other

Brieux

172
children

the strong ones

With

go to the bad.

money and the fuss they wasted on

could have made fine fellows of all the
the

half

the cripple, they

others.

Mme.

Tupin. I have to add that all this is not my

fault.
husband and I worked like beasts; we did
without every kind of pleasure to try and bring up our

My

we

we had wanted

If

children.

you

couldn

have done

to slave more, I declare to

it.

And now

given our lives for them, the oldest

and done for because he worked

as they call

it.

world.

My

tion

and the

know w hat
7

street.

it

There

little girl

means

...

is
"

in

are too

that

we have

in hospital, ruined

a dangerous trade

many

"

people in the

had to choose between starva

only a poor

woman, and

to have nothing to eat, so I forgave

her.

Thus Mme. Tupin also understands that it is

crime to add one more victim to those who are

born

ill

whom society has no place.

faces the court,
Lucie who loved

and for

Then Lucie

her sister too well, and who, driven by the same

that killed Annette, has also been

conditions

compelled to undergo an abortion rather than have

a fourth child by the man she did not love any

Like the Schoolmistress and the Tupins,

is dragged before the bar of justice to explain
her crime, while her husband, who had forced
both Annette and Lucie out of the house, has
more.
she

meanwhile risen to a high position as

supporter

Maternity

173

of the State with his favorite slogan,

Mother
hood is the highest function of woman."
"

Finally the midwife

Thomas

is

called

upon for

her defense.
Thomas. A girl came to me one day; she was a serv
She had been seduced by her master. I refused to
do what she asked me to do: she went and drowned her
ant.

Another

self.

you here for

"

said,

refused to help

infanticide.

Yes."

was brought up before

Then when

have prevented

many

the others came, I

a suicide and

many

a crime.

not likely that the venerable judge, the

State s attorney or the gentlemen of the jury can
see in Mme. Thomas a greater benefactress to
It

is

society than they;

any more than they can grasp

the deep importance of the concluding words of

the counsel for the defense in this great social trag
edy.
Counsel for the Defense.
vidual crime;

it

against nature.
all

the

warmth

is

Their crime

a social crime.

...

It

is
is

not an indi
not a crime

And with
a revolt against nature.
of a heart melted by pity, with all the
It

is

indignation of my outraged reason, I look for that glori

ous hour of liberation when some master mind shall dis

cover for us the means of having only the children we

need and desire, release forever from the prison of hypoc
risy

and absolve us from the profanation of

would indeed be a conquest

of nature

love.

That

savage nature

Brieux

74

which pours out life with culpable profusion, and

disappear with indifference.

sees it

Surely there can be no doubt as to the revolu

the demand
Maternity
tionary significance of
"

"

woman must

be given means to prevent con

of
undesired
and unloved children; that
ception
she must become free and strong to choose the
that

father of her child and to decide the

children she

is

to bring into the world,

what conditions. That

hood which can endure.

is

number of
and under

the only kind of mother

THE ENGLISH DRAMA

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW
**"W"

AM not an ordinary playwright

practice.

am

a specialist in

heretical plays.

-^- gained by my

My

in

general

immoral and

reputation has been

persistent struggle to force

In particular,
the public to reconsider its morals.
I regard much current morality as to economic and
sexual relations as disastrously wrong; and I regard
certain doctrines of the Christian religion as under
I write
in England to-day with abhorrence.
with
the
deliberate
of
plays
object
converting the
nation to my opinions in these matters."

stood

This confession of
as to the place of

dramatic

most

faith should leave

George Bernard Shaw

no doubt
in

modern

Yet, strange to say, he is among the

doubted of his time. That is partly due to
art.

humor generally serves merely to

But
amuse, touching only the lighter side of life.
there is a kind of humor that fills laughter with

the fact that

tears, a

humor

that eats into the soul like acid, leav

ing marks often deeper than those made by the

tragic form.

There

is

another reason

regarded lightly:

it is

to

why Shaw

be found
175

sincerity

is

in the difference

George Bernard Shaw

176

As the
of his scope as propagandist and as artist.
Shaw
is
and
set.
limited, dogmatic,
propagandist
Indeed, the most zealous Puritan could not be more
antagonistic to social theories differing from his
But the artist, if he is sincere at all, must go

own.

of his inspiration, and life is

beyond dogmas, beyond the House of Commons,
beyond even the eternal and irrevocable law of
to life as the source

"

"

the materialistic conception of history.

If, then,
the Socialist propagandist Shaw is often lost in the
artist

Shaw,

because
It

it is

life will

not because he lacks sincerity, but

not be curtailed.

may be contended that Shaw

is

much more

the

propagandist than the artist because he paints in

But that is rather because of the in
loud colors.
dolence of the human mind, especially of the An
glo-Saxon mind, which has settled down snugly to
the self-satisfied notion of its purity, justice, and

naught but the strongest current of

wince.
In
Mrs. Warren s Pro
fession
and
Major Barbara," George Ber
nard Shaw has accomplished even more. He has
pulled off the mask of purity and Christian kind
ness that we may see their hidden viciousness at
work.

charity, so that
light will make
"

MRS.
MRS.

"

it

"

WARREN S PROFESSION

WARREN is

has existed through

engaged
all

in a profession

the ages.

It

was

at

which

home

Mrs. Warren

Profession

177

Egypt, played an important role in Greece and

Rome, formed one of the influential guilds in the

in

Middle Ages, and has been one of the main sources

of income for the Christian Church.
But

it

Warren

was

left to

modern times

to

make

of Mrs.

profession a tremendous social factor,

ministering to the needs of man in every station of
s

from the brownstone mansion to the hovel,

from the highest official to the poorest drag.
Time was when the Mrs. Warrens were looked

life,

as possessed

upon

by the

who would

creatures

lewd, depraved
they had the

devil,

not,

even

if

engage in any other profession, because

are
vicious at heart, and should therefore be
they
held up to condemnation and obloquy.
And
while we continue to drive them from pillar to
choice,

we still punish them as criminals and

them
the
deny
simplest humanities one gives even
post, while
to the

dumb

by men

beast, the light turned

on

this subject

George Bernard Shaw has helped to

the
lie
of inherent evil tendencies and nat
expose
like

Instead

ural depravity.

Do

Mrs. Warren.
cause

liked

it,

we

learn

you think

or thought

it

did

right, or

what I
wouldn

did be
t

rather

have gone to college and been a lady if I d had the

chance?
Oh, it s easy to talk, very easy, isn t it?
Here
Would you like to know what my circum
.

stances

D you

were?

No, you don

t.

do.

know what your gran mother was?

She called herself a widow and

George Bernard Shaw

178

fried-fish shop down by the Mint, and kept her

and four daughters out of it. Two of us were sis
that was me and Liz and we were both good look

had a
self

ters

suppose our father was a well fed

mother pretended he was a gentleman; but I don t

ing and well made.

man:

The

know.

other

two were only

half sisters

under

hard working, honest poor creatures:

would have half murdered them if mother

sized, ugly, starved,

Liz and

hadn

half murdered us to keep our hands off them.

They were

the respectable ones.

get by their respectability?

Well, what did they

One of them
you.

I ll tell

worked

in a whitelead factory twelve hours a day for

nine shillings a week until she died of lead poisoning.
She only expected to get her hands a little paralyzed
but she died. The other was always held up to us as a
;

model because she married a Government laborer in the

Deptford victualling yard, and kept his room and the
three children neat and tidy on eighteen shillings a week
until

he took to drink.

spectable for,

wasn

That was worth being

re

it?

Fivie.
Did you and your sister think so?
Mrs. Warren. Liz didn t, I can tell you; she had
more spirit. We both went to a Church School
that
was part of the lady-like airs we gave ourselves to be
superior to the children that knew nothing and went no
where
and we stayed there until Liz went out one
I knew the schoolmistress
night and never came back.

thought

d soon follow her example; for the clergyman

was always warning me that Lizzie d end by jumping

off Waterloo Bridge.
Poor fool: that was all that he
knew about it! But I was more afraid of the whitelead

Mrs. Warren
factory than I

was of

Profession

179

and so would you have

the river;

my place.
got me a situation as
a scullery maid in a temperance restaurant where they
sent out for anything you liked.
Then I was waitress;
That clergyman

been in

and then

went

to the bar at

Waterloo Station

four

teen hours a day serving drinks and washing glasses for

four shillings a

w eek and my
r

ered a great promotion for me.

night,

when

was so

tired I

board.

That was

consid

Well, one cold, wretched

could hardly keep myself

awake, who
Lizzie, in

should come up for a half of Scotch but

a long fur cloak, elegant and comfortable, with

a lot of sovereigns in her purse.

aunt Lizzie?
Vivie.

My

Mrs. Warren.
chester,

now,

Yes.

She

down

at

Win

most

re

chaperones girls at the country

spectable ladies there

No

river for Liz,

ball, if

you

please.

remind

me

of Liz a little: she

woman

s living

close to the cathedral, one of the

was a

thank you!

You

first-rate business

never let
money from the beginning
never lost her head
what she was
or threw away a chance. When she saw I d grown up
saved

herself look too like

good-looking she said to

me

across the bar

"

fool?

What

are

out

you doing there, you

Wearing
your
health and your appearance for other people s profit!"
Liz was saving money then to take a house for herself
in Brussels: and she thought we two could save faster
than one.
So she lent me some money and gave me a
saved steadily and first paid her back, and
and
I
start;
little

Why

then went into business with her as her partner.

shouldn t I have done it? The house in Brussels was
real

high class

much

better place for a

woman

to

George Bernard Shaw

180

be in than the factory where Anne Jane got poisoned.

None of our girls were ever treated as I was treated in
the scullery of that temperance place, or at the

Would you

home.

me

Waterloo

them
and become a worn-out old drudge before I was forty?
But where can a woman get the
Yes, saving money.
bar, or at

have had

stay in

to save in

money

any other business? Could you save

week and keep yourself dressed

out of four shillings a

Not you. Of course, if you re a plain woman

earn anything more: or if you have a turn for
music, or the stage, or newspaper writing: that s differ
as well?

and can

ent.
all

But neither Liz nor

we had was

I had any turn for such things :

our appearance and our turn for pleas

Do you think we were such fools as to let

ing men.
other people trade in our good looks by employing us as
shop-girls, or barmaids, or waitresses, when we could
trade in them ourselves and get all the profits instead of
starvation

Not

wages?

likely.

Everybody

dislikes

having to work and make money; but they have to do

all the

same.

sure I ve often pitied a poor

out and in low

spirits,

that she doesn

care

fool that thinks he s

it

girl, tired

having to try to please some man

for
some half-drunken

two straws

making himself agreeable when he

teasing and worrying and

disgusting a

woman

so that

hardly any money could pay her for putting up with it.
But she has to bear with disagreeables and take the rough

with the smooth, just like a nurse in a hospital or any

one else. It s not work that any woman would do for

knows; though to hear the pious peo

you would suppose it was a bed of roses. Of
course it s worth while to a poor girl, if she can resist
pleasure, goodness

ple talk

Mrs. Warren
temptation and

181

Profession

good looking and well-conducted and

is

It s far better than

any other employment open

that
thought
oughtn t to be. It can t
always
be right, Vivie, that there shouldn t be better opportu
sensible.

to her.

nities for

women.

I stick to that:

It s

But

wrong.

it s

right or wrong; and a girl must make the best of it.

If you
But, of course, it s not worth while for a lady.

so,

took to
if

it

you d be a

fool; but I should

d taken to anything

ent and able to give

when

other

women

are in the gutter?

else.

my

have been a fool

Why am

independ

daughter a first-rate education,

that had just as good opportunities

Because

how

always knew

to re

spect myself and control myself.

Why is Liz looked up
The same reason. Where
to in a cathedral town?

we

would we be now

if

ness?

floors for

d minded the clergyman s foolish

one and sixpence a day and

Scrubbing
nothing to look forward to but the workhouse infirmary.
Don t you be led astray by people who don t know the
world,

my

The

girl.

for herself decently

woman

to provide

for her to be good to

some man

only

is

way

for a

that can afford to be good to her.

station of life, let her

make him marry her; but

far beneath him, she can

wouldn t be
London society
It

manners

That
to be

all

tell

and she

ashamed of

it

it s

own
she s

should she?

ll tell

you straight and she

the difference.

if

Ask any lady

happiness.

that has daughters

why

it

expect

own

for her

same, except that I

crooked.

If she s in his

ll

tell

It s only

expected from a

in

you the
you
good

woman.

Women

have to pretend a great deal that they don t feel.

Liz used to be angry w ith me for plumping out the truth
T

about

it.

She used to say that when every

woman would

George Bernard Shaw

182

what was going on in the world before

her eyes, there was no need to talk about it to her. But
then Liz was such a perfect lady!
She had the true in
learn enough from

stinct of it;

while

used to be so pleased
to see that you

was always a

when you

were growing up
way. But

lady-like determined

thing

when everyone knows

use in such hypocrisy?

way

for

women,

I consider that I

like
I

Liz

photographs
you ve just her

stand saying one

another.
What s the

can

mean

me your
t

world that
no use pretending that it s ar
never was a bit ashamed really.

If people arrange the

there s

ranged the other way.

bit of a vulgarian.

sent

had a right

to be

proud that

we man

aged everything so respectably, and never had a word

against us, and that the girls were so well taken care of.

Some

them did very well: one of them married an

But of course now I daren t talk about
such things: whatever would they think of us.
of

ambassador.

No,
things,
truth.

not respectable to talk about these

because respectability cannot face the

it

is

Yet everybody knows that the majority

if they wish to provide for them
women,
selves decently must be good to some man that
"

of

The only differ

can afford to be good to them."
ence then between Sister Liz, the respectable girl,
and Mrs. Warren, is hypocrisy and legal sanc
Liz uses her money to buy back her
reputation from the Church and Society. The re
spectable girl uses the sanction of the Church to
buy a decent income legitimately, and Mrs. Wartion.

Sister

Mrs. Warren

Profession

183

ren plays her game without the sanction of either.

Hence she is the greatest criminal in the eyes of
the world.
Yet Mrs. Warren is no less human

than most other women.

In

love for her daughter Fivian

a superior sort of mother.

fact, as

far as her

concerned, she is
That her daughter
is

not have to face the same alternative as she,

slave in a scullery for four shillings a week

may

Mrs. Warren surrounds the girl with comfort

and ease, gives her an education, and thereby es
tablishes

which

between her child and herself an abyss

can

nothing

bridge.

Few

respectable

mothers would do as much for their daughters.

However, Mrs. Warren remains the outcast,
while all those who benefit by her profession, in
cluding even her daughter Vivian, move in the
best circles.
Sir

John Crofts, Mrs. Warren s business part

has invested 40,000 pounds in Mrs.
house, drawing an income of 35 per

who
Warren s

ner,

worst years,
pillar of society and an honored
class.
Why not
cent, out

of

it

in the

is

a recognized

member

of his

Crofts.

The

fact

is,

it s

not what would be considered

exactly a high-class business in

you know.
don t think

Not

my

set

the county

set,

any mystery about it:

Of course you know by your mother s
that.
I ve
that it s perfectly straight and honest.

being in it
known her for

many

that there

is

years; and I can say of her that

George Bernard Shaw

184

she d cut off her hands sooner than touch anything that
it ought to be. ... But you see you can t
mention such things in society. Once let out the word
hotel and everybody says you keep a public-house.
You

was not what

wouldn

like people to say that of

That

you?

why we

re so reserved

your mother, would

about it. ... Don t

turn up your nose at business, Miss Vivie: where would

You
your Newnhams and Girtons be without it? . .
.

wouldn
the

refuse the acquaintance of

Duke

my

mother

s cousin,

of Belgravia, because some of the rents he gets

You wouldn

are earned in queer ways.

cut the

Arch

bishop of Canterbury, I suppose, because the Ecclesiasti

Commissioners have a

cal

tenants?

their

among

scholarship at

my

brother the

factory with

Newnham?
M.P. He

600

wages enough
them manage?

Do

girls in

to live on.

it,

few publicans and sinners

you remember your Crofts
Well, that was founded by
gets his 22 per cent, out of a

and not one of them getting

d ye suppose most of

How

Ask your mother. And do you expect

on 35 per cent, when all the rest are
back
my
what
pocketing
they can, like sensible men? No such

me

to turn

If

fool!

re going to pick

you

and choose your acquaint

ances on moral principles, you d better clear out of this

country, unless you want to cut yourself out of all decent
society.

croakers

The world

make

out.

isn t

So long

such a bad place as the

as

questions; and

who

do.

it

There

secrets that

troduce you

you don

fly

openly in

ask any inconvenient

makes precious short work of the cads
are no secrets better kept than the

the face of society, society doesn

In the society I can in

everybody guesses.
or
no
to,
lady
gentleman would so far forget

Mrs. Warren
themselves

mother

as

to

discuss

my

Profession
business

affairs

185
or

your

s.

Indeed, no lady or gentleman would discuss the

profession of Mrs. Warren and her confreres.

But they partake of the dividends. When the

evil becomes too crying, they engage in vice cru
sades, and call down the wrath of the Lord and
the brutality of the police upon the Mrs. Warrens
and her victims. While the victimizers, the
Gardner
the
Rev.
Crofts,
Canterburys,
Vivian s own father and pious mouthpiece of the
Church
and the other patrons of Mrs. War
houses parade as the protectors of woman,

ren

the

home and

the family.

To-day no one of the

least intelligence denies

the cruelty, the injustice, the outrage of such a
state of affairs, any more than it is being denied

that the training of

woman

as a sex

commodity

has left her any other source of income except to

sell herself to one man within marriage or to many

men

outside of marriage.
Only bigots and inex
perienced girls like Vivian can say that
every
body has some choice. The poorest girl alive
"

not be able to choose between being Queen of

England or Principal of Newnham; but she can

may

choose between rag-picking and flower-selling, ac

cording to her taste."
It is astonishing

lege

degrees

teach

how

little

people.

education and col

Had

Vivian

been

George Bernard Shaw

86

compelled to shift for herself, she would have dis

covered that neither rag-picking nor flower-sell
It is
taste."
ing brings enough to satisfy one s
not a question of choice, but of necessity, which
"

is

most people s lives.

Mrs. Warren into the smug

the determining factor in

When Shaw

flung

midst of society, even the educated Vivians knew

little of the compelling force which whips thou

women into prostitution. As to the

their
minds are a mental and spiritual
ignorant,
desert.
Naturally the play caused consternation.

sands

of

red rag to the so

Profession
infu

It still continues to serve as the

"

cial

bull.

riates because

because

it

Mrs. Warren
it

"

goes to the bottom of our evils;

places

the

accusing finger upon the

and most damnable spot in our social fabric

SEX as woman s only commodity in the competi
An immoral and heretical
tive market of life.
of
indeed,
play,"
very deep social significance.
sorest

"

MAJOR BARBARA
"

MAJOR BARBARA

"

is

of

still

greater social

importance, inasmuch as it points to the fact that

while charity- and religion are supposed to minis
ter to the poor, both institutions derive their main

revenue from the poor by the perpetuation of the

evils both pretend to fight.

Major Barbara,

the daughter of the world re-

Major Barbara

187

nowned cannon manufacturer Undershaft, has

The latter lays claim
joined the Salvation Army.
to being the most humane religious institution, be
unlike other soul savers

cause

does not en

it

of the body.

needs
It also
forget
teaches that the greater the sinner the more glor
ious the saving.
But as no one is quite as black
the

tirely

as he

is

becomes necessary for those

be saved, and incidentally to profit by
it

painted,

who want

to

the Salvation

the blacker

to invent sins

Army,

the better.

What am

Rummy.

do?

I to

can

Them

starve.

dear girls; but the better you are the

worse they likes to think you were before they rescued
shouldn t they av a bit o credit, poor loves?
you.
Salvation lasses

is

Why

They

re

worn

they get the

And where would

we was to let on we re
You know what ladies

to rags by their work.

money

to rescue us

if

no worse than other people?

and gentlemen are.
Price.

Thievin

misfortune,

Rummy.

Who

Rummy.

swine!
.

We re

companions

in

saved you,

Mr.

Was

Price?

it

Major

Barbara?
Price.

No:

know wot

come here on

O Brien

be Bronterre

I ll tell

like.

they

gambled and wopped

Rummy.
Price.
ter:

you

likely.

you come and

ll

hear

my

Used you

Not

how

she

Price,

my

own.

the converted

em how

goin

to

painter.

blasphemed and

poor old mother

your mother?
She used to beat me.

to beat

listen

to the converted

was a pious woman

No mat

painter,

that taught

and

me

George Bernard Shaw

88

me

prayers at

er knee,

an

how

drunk and drag her out o bed be

and lam into er with the poker.

That

Rummy,
confessions

you

is

what

used to come
er

so unfair to us

just as big lies as ours:

home

snow-white

Your

women.

you don

airs,

t tell

what

done no more than us; but you men can tell

right out at the meetin s and be made much of

really
lies

your

for it; while the sort o

to be

confessions

we

whispered to one lady at a time.

az to make
It ain

as

right,

spite of all their piety.

Price.

Right!

Do

you suppose the

Army

d be

al

went and did right? Not much. It combs

our air and makes us good little blokes to be robbed and
But I ll play the game as good as any of em.
put upon.
lowed

see

I ll

sayin
I

if

it

somebody struck by lightnin or hear a voice

Price: where will you spend eternity?"
,

"Snobby

ave a time of

ll

It

is

it,

I tell you.

inevitable that the Salvation

Army,

like all

other religious and charitable institutions, should

by its very character foster cowardice and hypoc

premium securing entry into heaven.

Major Barbara, being a novice, is as ignorant
of this as she is unaware of the source of the money
which sustains her and the work of the Salva

risy as a

She consistently refuses to accept

conscience sovereign
of Bill Walker for
a
Salvation
lassie.
Not so Mrs.
beating up
tion

the

Army.

"

"

She is dyed in
Baines, the Army Commissioner.
the wool in the profession of begging and will
take

money from

the

devil himself

"

for

the

Major Barbara
Glory of

the

God,"

189

Glory of God which con

"

taking out the anger and bitterness

against the rich from the hearts of the poor," a
service
gratifying and convenient for all large
sists

in

"

No wonder the whisky distiller

makes
the generous contribution of 5000
Bodger
pounds and Undershaft adds his own little mite
employers."

of another 5000.
Barbara is indeed ignorant or she would not
protest against a fact so notorious:
Barbara.
Do you know what my father is? Have
you forgotten that Lord Saxmundham is Bodger the
whisky man? Do you remember how we implored the

Council

County

Whisky

to

stop

him

from

Bodger

writing

in letters of fire against the sky; so that the

drink-ruined

creatures

wake up from
minded of

on

the

embankment

their snatches of sleep

poor
could not

without being re

by that wicked sky sign ?

you know that the worst thing that I have had to

Do

fight here

with

his

their deadly thirst

is

not the devil, but Bodger, Bodger, Bodger

his distilleries, and his tied houses?

whisky,

Are you going

him, and ask

make our

to

me

Undershaft.

My

doctor: that
it.

It

is

dear

Barbara: alcohol

It heals the sick

necessary article.

ting

shelter another tied house, for

to keep it?

...

is

very

It assists the

perhaps a less questionable way of put

life bearable to millions of people who

makes

could not endure their existence

if

they were quite sober.

do things at eleven at night

that no sane person would do at eleven in the morning.
It

enables Parliament to

George Bernard Shaw

190

Mrs. Baines.
the

Barbara: Lord

money

Saxmundham
own

gives us

to take his

to stop drinking

business

from him.
also, Mrs. Baines, may claim a little
Think of my business! think of the

Undershaft.
disinterestedness.

widows and orphans!

the

men and

lads torn

to pieces

with shrapnel and poisoned with lyddite! the oceans of

blood, not one drop of which is shed in a really just
cause! the ravaged crops! the peaceful peasants forced,

women and men,

to

till

cowards

fierce

the

money

me

of

am

national

fire

of op

the bad blood of the

home who egg on

at

gratification

for

under the

their fields

posing armies on pain of starvation

others to fight for

vanity!

All

this

makes

never richer, never busier than when

it.
Well, it is your work to preach
on
earth
and
peace
good will to men. Every convert
make
is
a
vote
Yet I give you this
against war.
you

the papers are full of

money

to hasten

Barbara.

my own

commercial ruin.

Drunkenness and Murder!

hast thou forsaked

My

God, why

me?

However, Barbara s indignation does not last

very long, any more than that of her aristocratic
mother, Lady Britomart, who has no use for her
plebeian husband except when she needs his
Similarly Stephen, her son, has become
converted, like Barbara, not to the Glory Halle
lujah of the Salvation Army but to the power

money.

of money and cannon.

family, including the

bara

s suitor.

Likewise the rest of the

Greek Scholar Cusins, Bar

Major Barbara
During the visit
Undershaft family

191

to their father

factory the

makes several discoveries.

learn
that
the
best modern method of ac
They
cumulating a large fortune consists

manner

industries in such a

as to

ers content with their slavery.

in

organizing

make

It s a

the

work

model fac

tory.

Undershaft.
side town.

It

is

There

a spotlessly clean and beautiful hill

two chapels a Primitive one and

are

a sophisticated one. There s even an ethical society; but

it is not much patronized, as my men are all strongly
religious.

In the high explosives sheds they object to the

presence of agnostics as unsafe.

The

family further learns that it is not high

moral precepts, patriotic love of country, or sim
ilar sentiments that are the

of the nation.
lightens

It

them of

backbone of the

the

en

its

role

in dictating governmental policies, making

peace, and shaping the destinies of man.

Undershaft.

The government

war or

of your country.

the government of your country:

I,

life

who

Undershaft again
power of money and

is

and Lazarus.

you suppose that you and a half a dozen amateurs

you, sitting in a

row

in

us,

what pays

us.

You

and keep peace when

like

that foolish gabble shop, can

govern Undershaft and Lazarus?

will do

am

Do

it

will

No,

my

friend: you

make war when

doesn

t.

that trade requires certain measures

You

it

suits

will find out

when we have

de-

George Bernard Shaw

192

on those measures. When I want anything to

keep my dividends up, you will discover that my want is
a national need. When other people want something to
cided

dividends down, you will call out the police and

my

keep

military.

And
my

in return

shall

you

have the support and

newspapers, and the delight of imagining

that you are a great statesman.
Government of your
applause of

Be off with you, my boy, and play with your

country!
caucuses and leading articles and historic parties and great
leaders and burning questions and the rest of your toys.
I

am

and

going back to

call

the tune.

my
.

counting house to pay the piper

To

give

arms

to all

men who

offer an honest price for them,

without respect of persons

or principles: to Aristocrat and Republican, to Nihilist
and Tsar, to Capitalist and Socialist, to Protestant and
Catholic, to burglar and policeman, to black man, white

man, and yellow man, to

all sorts

and conditions, all na

and all crimes.

tionalities, all faiths, all follies, all causes

...
as

I will take

an order from a good

from a bad one.

man

as cheerfully

If

you good people prefer preaching

and shirking to buying my weapons and fighting the ras
I can make cannons: I cannot
cals, don t blame me.

make courage and

That

is

just

conviction.

it.

The Undershafts

cannot make

conviction and courage; yet both are indispens

able if one is to see that, in the words of Undershaft:
"

tion

Cleanliness and respectability do not need justifica

There are millions of poor
they justify themselves.

people,

abject

people,

dirty

people,

ill

fed,

ill

clothed

Major Barbara
They

people.

poison us morally and physically: they

the happiness of society:

our

own

liberties

and

they force us to do

and drag us down into

fools fear crime:

Only

had rather be a

kill

away with

to organize unnatural cruelties for

fear they should rise against us

their abyss.

193

we

all fear

thief than a pauper.

a murderer than a slave.

don

want

poverty.

had rather be

to be either; but

you force the alternative on me, then, by Heaven, I ll

choose the braver and more moral one.
I hate poverty
if

and slavery worse than any other crimes

whatsoever."

Cusins, the scientist, realizes the force of

Un-

Long enough have

the

dershaft s argument.
people been preached
used to enslave them.
Cusins.

As

at,

and

intellectual

power

a teacher of Greek I gave the intellectual

man weapons against the common man. I now want to

give the common man weapons against the intellectual
man. I love the common people. I want to arm them
against

the lawyer,

man, the

professor,

the

doctor,

the artist,

the priest, the literary

and the

politician,

who,

once in authority, are the most dangerous, disastrous, and

tyrannical of all the fools, rascals, and impostors.

This thought is perhaps the most revolutionary

sentiment in the whole play, in view of the fact
that the people everywhere are enslaved by the

awe of the lawyer, the professor, and the poli

It is
tician, even more than by the club and gun.
the lawyer and the politician who poison the

George Bernard Shaw

194
people with

"

thereby unfitting
in

germ of briefs and politics,"

them for the only effective course

the

the

action, resultant
great social struggle
from the realization that poverty and inequality
never have been, never can be, preached or voted

out of existence.
Poverty and slavery have stood up for

Undershaft.

centuries to your sermons and leading articles

not stand up to my machine guns.

Don
don t reason with them. Kill them.

Barbara.

Is

Killing.

they will
preach at them
:

remedy for every

that your

thing?
It

Undershaft.

the final test of conviction, the only

is

enough to overturn a social system, the only

way of saying Must. Let six hundred and seventy fools
loose in the street; and three policemen can scatter them.
lever strong

But huddle them together in a certain house in West

let them go through certain ceremonies and
call themselves certain names until at last they get the
minster; and

courage to kill; and your six hundred and seventy fools

become a government. Your pious mob fills up ballot
papers and imagines

it

is

bullet

wrapped up

in

it.

is

masters; but the

its

governing

ballot paper that really governs

the paper that has a

... Vote!

Bah!

When you
When

vote you only change the names of the cabinet.

you shoot, you pull down governments, inaugurate new

Is that his
epochs, abolish old orders and set up new.
torically true,

Cusins.

admit

it.

It
I

Mr. Learned Man,

is

historically

true.

or

it

is

not?

loathe

repudiate your sentiments.

having to
abhor your

Major Barbara
nature.

But

true.

defy you in every possible way.

ought not to be true.

Undershaft.
rest

of

is

Ought,

ought,

ought,

ought!

ought,

to spend your life saying ought, like the

Turn your

our moralists?

embrace
"

it

oughts into

shells,

Come and make

of the world
to

Still,

it

Are you going

man.

19$

is

The history
explosives with me.
the history of those who had the courage

this truth.

Major Barbara

"

one of the most revolu

In any other but dramatic form
tionary plays.
the sentiments uttered therein would have con
demned the author to long imprisonment for in
is

and violence.
Shaw the Fabian would be the first to repudiate
such utterances as rank Anarchy,
impractical,
brain cracked and criminal."
But Shaw the
citing to sedition

"

dramatist

is

closer

to

life

closer

to

reality,

closer to the historic truth that the people wrest

only as much liberty as they have the intelligence

to

want and the courage

to take.

JOHN GALSWORTHY
power

of the

modern drama

as an

interpreter of the pressing questions of

our time is perhaps nowhere evident

as clearly as

it

is

in

England

to-day.

Indeed, while other countries have come al

most to a standstill in dramatic art, England is the

Nor can it
at the present time.
be said that quantity has been achieved at the ex
pense of quality, which is only too often the case.
The most prolific English dramatist, John
Galsworthy, is at the same time a great artist
most productive

whose dramatic

quality can be

compared with

that

of only one other living writer, namely, Gerhart

Hauptmann. Galsworthy, even as Hauptmann, is
neither

propagandist
"

background

is life,

nor

moralist.

that palpitating

sorrow and joy.

His attitude toward dramatic art
the following words
is

the root of

life,"

His
which

all

is

given

in

"

look upon the stage as the great beacon light

of civilization, but the drama should lead the so
cial thought of the time and not direct or dictate it.
I

The

great duty of the dramatist

life as it really is.

is

to present

true story, if told sincerely,

196

197

Strife

the strongest moral argument that can be put on

the stage.
It is the business of the dramatist so
is

to present the characters in his picture of life that

the inherent moral is brought to light without any

lecturing on his part.

"

Moral codes

in

themselves are, after

lasting, but a true picture of life

all,

A man

is.

not

may

preach a strong lesson in a play which may exist

for a day, but if he succeeds in presenting real life
itself in

moral

manner

such a

as to carry with

inspiration, the force of the

never be

for a

lost,

new

it

a certain

message need

interpretation to

the

fit

spirit of the time can renew its vigor and power."

John Galsworthy has undoubtedly succeeded in

presenting real

life.

It is this that

thoroughly human and

makes him

so

universal.

STRIFE

NOT

"

since

Hauptmann

Weavers

"

was

placed before the thoughtful public, has there ap

Strife."
peared anything more stirring than
"

a strike in the Trenartha Tin

on
the borders of England and
Works,
Wales. The play largely centers about the two
dominant figures: John Anthony, the President of
the Company, rigid, autocratic and uncompromis
Its

theme

is

Plate

ing; he
sion,

is

unwilling to

although

the

make

the slightest conces

out for six

men have been

John Galsworthy

198

months and are in a condition of semi-starvation.

On the other hand there is David Roberts, an un
compromising revolutionist, whose devotion to
the workers and the cause of freedom is at redwhite heat.
Between them are the strikers, worn
and weary with the terrible struggle, driven and
tortured by the awful sight of poverty at home.
At a directors meeting, attended by the Com
pany s representatives from London, Edgar An
thony, the President s son and a man of kindly
feeling, pleads in behalf of the strikers.

don t see how we can get over it that to go

means starvation to the men s wives and fam

Edgar.

on

like this

...

ilies

It

won

dend or two;

kill

don

the shareholders to miss a divi

see that that s reason

knuckling under.
Wilder.
m!

Shouldn

brute Roberts hadn

same
I

I hate a

idea.

Edgar.

We

didn

got us

man with
t

enough for

be a bit surprised if that

here with the very

down

a grievance.

pay him enough for

his discovery.

always said that at the time.

Wilder.
paid him five hundred and a bonus of

We

two hundred three years

What

Tench.
brains,

Company made

If

a hundred thousand out of his

that

the

way he

sir.

Wilder.

The man

hate the Unions.

him

that s not enough!

sake?

and paid him seven hundred

goes on,

get

later.

does he want, for goodness

to settle

Look here, I
s a rank agitator!
But now we ve got Harness here let s
the whole thing.

Strife

199

Harness, the trade union official, speaks in

favor of compromise. In the beginning of the
strike the union had withdrawn its support, be
cause the workers had used their

own judgment

in

deciding to strike.
Harness.
to

We

quite frank with you.

men

withhold our support from your

were forced

because some of

their demands are in excess of current rates.

I expect to
make them withdraw those demands to-day.
Now, I
want to see something fixed upon before I go back to
.

Can

night.

we

have done with

What

this old-fashioned tug-

it
doing you? Why
you recognize once for all that these people are
men like yourselves, and want what s good for them just

of-war

don

as

business?

good

you want what

good for you.

There

just one

d like to put to you. Will you pay

one penny more than they force you to pay

very simple question

your men

them?

Of

course not.

With

trade unionism lacking

and the workers not conscious

power, why should the Company pay one

in true solidarity,

of their

penny more?
fully

David Roberts

is

the only one

who

understands the situation.

London? What are you talk

Thomas?
Have you gone silly? We
ing about, Henry
know very well what we are
discontented dogs
never satisfied. What did the Chairman tell me up in
London? That I didn t know what I was talking about.
I was a foolish, uneducated man, that knew nothing of
Roberts.

Justice from

John Galsworthy

2OO
the wants of the

and

say

men

to

as

first

for.

spoke
their

...

condition.

Every man of us

squeeze them any more.

have

I
.

is

this

Ye

to

can

well nigh

Ye wonder why I tell ye that? Every man

can t be no worse off than
going short.
we ve been these weeks past. Ye needn t think that by
ll die first, the
waiting ye ll drive us to come in.
starving.

of us

We

is

We

whole

The men

lot of us.

once and for

demands.

all,

but

tyranny

have sent for ye to know,

whether ye are going to grant them their

best whether ye can afford your

Ye know
this

tell

ye: If ye think the

men

will

making the worst

mistake ye ever made.
Ye think because the Union is
not supporting us
more shame to it
that we ll be
give

way

the least part of an inch, ye re

coming on our knees to you one

men have

because the
think

of

two

that
.

it s

got
just

their

morning. Ye think
wives an families to

fine

question

of

week or

The

appalling state of the strikers is dem

onstrated by the women: Anna Roberts, sick with
heart

trouble

and slowly dying for want of

warmth and nourishment; Mrs. Rons, so accus

tomed to privation that her present poverty seems
easy compared with the misery of her whole life.
Into this dismal environment comes Enid, the
daughter, with delicacies and jams for
Like many women of her station she im

President

Annie.

agines that a

between the

will bridge the chasm

You
or
as
her
father says,
classes,
little

sympathy

"

2O I

Strife

think with your gloved hands you can cure the

troubles of the century."

Enid does not know

class: that

it is

Annie Roberts
from
the
time e s
gamble

born to the time

the life of

"

all a

dies."

Mrs. Roberts. Roberts says workin folk have al

ways lived from hand to mouth. Sixpence to-day is
worth more than a shillin to-morrow, that s what they
say.

He

it s

born,

says that

when

man

a working

baby

a toss-up from breath to breath whether

it

is

ever

draws another, and so on all is life; an when he comes

it s the workhouse or the grave.
He says that

to be old,

without a

and

is

is

That

security.

though

man

very near, and pinches and stints imself

children to save, there can be neither surplus nor

why

he wouldn

have no children, not

wanted them.

The strikers meeting is a masterly study of

mass psychology,
the men swayed hither and
thither by the different speakers and not knowing
whither to go.
It is the smooth-tongued Harness
who first weakens their determination to hold out.
Cut your demands

Harness.

we ll

see

waste
sort

my

you through;
time coming

that speaks at random,

this time.

matter

who

If

you

re the

in,

it

to

I take

you

ll

and

expect rne to
I

you ought to

sound men

and trust

here again.
as

advises you against

minds to come

and don

refuse,

down

to the right pattern,

not the

know by

you for

no

make up your

us to get your terms.

John Galsworthy

2O2
Which

is it

to

the starvation

Hands together, and

you ve got now?
be?

Then Old Thomas

sentiments

It

Nature.

iss

iss

pigger than

is

my

not London;

it

iss

not the Union

no disgrace whateffer to a potty to

For this Nature iss a fery pig thing;

It iss

give in to Nature.
it

appeals to their religious

Thomas.
it

what a man

There

is.

is

hett than to the hett of anyone here.

to pe

pisness

what Chapel

pure, honest, just,

tells

An

tamnation.

I will

Chapel

or

victory

you.

more years
It

is

and merciful.

to

man

That

We re

so I say to all

going the roat to

of you.
If ye co against

not pe with you, nor will any other Got-

fearing man.

At

last

Roberts who
brain, heart and blood
aye,

Roberts makes

his plea,

has given his all

sacrificed even his wife to the cause.

sheer

By

force of eloquence and sincerity he stays his fickle

comrades long enough at least to listen to him,

though they are too broken to

and courage.

rise to his

great dig

nity

You don t want to hear me then? You ll

Rous and to that old man, but not to me. You ll
listen to Sim Harness of the Union that s treated you so
fair; maybe you ll listen to those men from London.
Roberts.

listen to

You
I

love their feet on your necks, don

liar,

to me, I

a coward, a traitor?

sure.

Is there a

you?

Am

If only I were, ye d listen

man

of you here

who

has

Strife
less to

more
up

Is there

hundred

eight

Come, now,

"

that I

tell

if

you

this if

since

How much

Thomas

You

what?

or

five

None can

"

to say?

trouble

this

has

tes

further,

man
"

ye can!

going

listened

but

to

him,

he

said,

when Nature
Nature

against

cannot say to Nature

his principles are but

began?
given up

pretend,"

not a believer in principle

No

pounds

there?

is

ten pounds or
and what had he

says

man of you that had

man among you who has given

Is there a

gain by striking?

to lose?

203

"

Budge me from
his belly.
Oh,

"

"

Thomas says, a man can be pure and honest, just

and merciful, and take off his hat to Nature." I tell you
Nature s neither pure nor honest, just nor merciful. You
"

but,"

chaps that live over the

dark on a snowy night

hill,

an go home dead beat

don

ye fight your

in the

way

every

Do

ye go lyin down an trustin to the ten

der mercies of this merciful Nature? Try it and you ll
inch of it?

know with what

soon

face that a

man

Tes only by

ye ve got to deal.

that (he strikes a blow with his clenched

"

can be a man.

Give

in

Nature

says

Thomas

fist}

in,"

go down on your knees throw up your foolish fight, an

perhaps," he said,
perhaps your enemy will chuck you
"

"

down

crust."

And what

"

Chapel

against

he

it,"

did he say about Chapel?

"

said.

She

against

it."

Chapel and Nature go hand in hand, it s the

first I ve ever heard of it.
Surrendering s the work of
cowards and traitors.
You ve felt the pinch o t in

Well,

if

your

many

You ve

bellies.

times

once again.

forgotten

have told you;

The

fight o

against a blood-sucker.

what
I

that fight

will

the country

The

fight

as been;

you now this

body and blood

tell
s

of those that spend

John Galsworthy

204

themselves with every blow they strike and every breath

they draw, against a thing that fattens on them, and
grows and grows by the law of merciful Nature. That
is

thing

Capital!

Don

know

men

thing that buys the sweat o

brows, and the tortures o

their brains, at

Wasn

that?

work o

the

its

own

price.

my

brains

bought for seven hundred pounds, and hasn t one hun

dred thousand pounds been gained them by that seven

hundred without the stirring of a finger. It

that will take as much and give you as little

That

Capital!

that

thing

will

say

a thing

is

as

"I

can.

it

very

you have a cruel time of it,

I know," but will not give one sixpence of its dividends
That s Capital! Tell
to help you have a better time.

sorry for you, poor fellows

me, for

all their talk, is

sent to another

That

poor?
monster!

don,

sitting

ished

Capital!

Tax

white-faced,

to help the

stony-hearted

have got it on its knees; are ye to give up

minute to save your miserable bodies pain?

went

this

morning

sittin

holders in this
finger, takin

be roused

Scantlebury, a mass of flesh nour

there for all the world like the share
that

Company,
its

food

sit

a great

dividends

when
I

earts.

Mr.

there

on us:

men from Lon

One of them was

to those old

looked into their very

eyes and

them that will con

Ye

at the last

When

there one of

penny on the Income

is

not moving tongue nor

dumb ox that can only

threatened.

saw he was afraid

looked into his

afraid for himself

his dividends, afraid for his fees, afraid of the

holders he stands for

and

but one of them

all

like children that get into a

wood

every rustle of the leaves.

at

afraid

night, and

ask you,

men

and

very share
start at

give

me

20$

Strife
hand

free

"

them

to tell

men have nothing

Go
"

for

you

you back
Give me

to

The

London.

that,

and

swear

week you shall have from London all

Tis not for this little moment of time we re

to you, within a

you want.

righting, not for ourselves,

wants,

our

for all those that

tis

own
come

little bodies,

and

their

after throughout all

for the love o them, don t roll up

Oh! men
another stone upon their heads, don t help to blacken the
They re welcome
sky, an let the bitter sea in over them.

time.

to the worst that can

happen to us

happen to me, to the worst that can

t they
aren t they? If we can

aren

all,

shake the white-faced monster with the bloody lips, that

has sucked the life out of ourselves, our wives, and chil
dren, since the world began.
of

men

to stand against

and force

it

on sucking
less

it

backward

life;

and we

If

we have

not the hearts

breast to breast, and eye to eye,

till

cry for mercy,

it

shall stay forever

it

will go

w hat we
r

are,

than the very dogs.

Consistency
mercial age.

the greatest crime of our com

No matter how intense the spirit or
is

how

important the man, the moment he will not

allow himself to be used or sell his principles, he

thrown on the dust heap. Such is the fate of

Anthony, the President of the Company, and of
David Roberts. To be sure they represent oppo
is

poles antagonistic to each other,

divided
poles
by a terrible gap that can never be
over.
Yet they share a common fate.
bridged
site

poles

Antho,ny

is

the

embodiment of conservatism, of

old ideas, of iron methods

John Galsworthy

206

had

up

inception two and

its

to

men

the

have

of this

justly,

thirty years ago.

for fifty years; I ve always stood

Company

them.

beaten

"

Company
... I have

this

have never been beaten

men

"

do with

them

to

have been Chairman of

Anthony.
since

they have had

I have fought
yet.
four times, and four times I

The men have been treated

wages, we have always been

fair

It has been said that times

ready to listen to complaints.
have changed; if they have, I have not changed with
them.
Neither will I. It has been said that masters

and men are equal!

ter in

It has

will rule.

There can only be one mas

Cant!

Where two men meet

a house!

the better

man

been said that Capital and Labor have

the same interests.

Their

Cant!

interests are as

wide

asunder as the poles. It has been said that the Board is

Cant!
are the machine;
only part of a machine.
its brains and sinews ; it is for us to lead and to determine

We

what

is to be done; and to do it without fear or favor.

Fear of the men! Fear of the shareholders! Fear of

our

own shadows!

There

only one

is

Before

way

am

like that, I

of treating

iron hand.

This half-and-half

manners of

this generation, has

"men"

hope to die.
with the

business, the half-and-half

brought all this upon us.

Sentiments and softness and what this young man, no
You can t eat cake
doubt, would call his social policy.

and have

it!

or whatever

men
it

If I

men!

are

six.

it

They

were

This middle-class sentiment, or socialism,

may be, is rotten. Masters are masters,
Yield one demand, and they will make
asking for more.

are like Oliver Twist,

should be the same.

in their place I

not in their place.

...

But

am

have been accused of being a

Strife

207

I am
my pride
of
the
future
of
this
with
threatened
thinking
country,
the black waters of confusion, threatened with mob gov

domineering tyrant, thinking only of

If by any
ernment, threatened with what I cannot say.
conduct of mine I help to bring this on us, I shall be
ashamed to look my fellows in the face. Before I put
this

amendment
If

say.

we

it is

to the

carried,

Board,

it

set ourselves to do.

the duty that

we owe

shall fail in the

have one more word to

means that we
It

to all

duty that

we owe

We may not like this

shall fail in

what

means that we shall fail in

It means that we
Capital.
ourselves.

adherence to old, reaction

ary notions, and yet there is something admirable

in the courage and consistency of this man; nor

he half as dangerous to the interests of the op

pressed as our sentimental and soft reformers who
rob with nine fingers, and give libraries with the
is

tenth

who

of dollars

grind

human

in social

beings and spend millions

research work.
Anthony is a

worthy foe to fight such a

meet him in open battle.
;

David Roberts has

all

foe,

one must learn to

the mental and moral at

tributes of his adversary, coupled with the spirit

of revolt and the inspiration of modern ideas.

He,

too,

is

consistent: he wants nothing for his

class short of

complete victory.

compromise and petty in

terest should triumph until the masses become im
bued with the spirit of a David Roberts. Will
It is inevitable that

208

John Galsworthy

they ever?

Prophecy is not the vocation of the

One
dramatist, yet the moral lesson is evident.
cannot help realizing that the workingmen will
have to use methods hitherto unfamiliar to them;
that they will have to discard the elements in their
midst that are forever seeking to reconcile the ir
reconcilable
Capital and Labor.
They will

have to learn that men like David Roberts are the

very forces that have revolutionized the world and
thus paved the
clutches of the

for emancipation out of the

white-faced monster with bloody

way
"

toward a brighter horizon, a freer

lips,"
truer recognition of human values.

life,

and a

JUSTICE

No subject of equal social import has received

such thoughtful consideration in recent years as
num
the question of Crime and Punishment.

Europe and
them
Prison
country
preeminently among
Memoirs of an Anarchist," by Alexander Berkdiscuss this topic from the historic, psycho
man
logic, and social standpoint, the consensus of opin
ion being that present penal institutions and our
methods of coping with crime have in every re

ber of books by able writers, both

in

"

this

proved inadequate as well as wasteful.

This new attitude toward one of the gravest sospect

Justice
cial

wrongs has now

209

also found dramatic interpre

tation in Galsworthy

"

Justice."

How

The

&

play opens in the office of James

solicitors.
The senior clerk, Robert CokeSons,
son, discovers that a check he had issued for nine

pounds has been forged to ninety. By elimina

tion, suspicion falls upon William Falder, the

The latter is in love with a

junior office clerk.
married woman, the abused and ill-treated wife of
a brutal drunkard.
Pressed by his employer, a
severe yet not unkindly man, Falder confesses the
forgery, pleading the dire necessity of his sweet
heart,

Ruth Honeywill, with whom he had planned

from the unbearable bru

to escape to save her

tality

of her husband.

Oh!

Falder.

back

I will, I

sir,

look over

it!

I ll

pay the money

promise.

Notwithstanding the entreaties of young Walter

How, who

holds

modern

moral and law-respecting

over to the police.

The

second

act, in

ideas,
citizen,

his

father,

turns

Falder

the court room, shows Justice

The scene
very process of manufacture.
in
dramatic
and
equals
power
psychologic verity
Resurrection."
the great court scene in
Young
in the

"

nervous and rather weakly youth of

Ruth, his
twenty-three, stands before the bar.

Falder,

John Galsworthy

2io
faithful

of love and devotion,

full

sweetheart,

burns with anxiety to save the young man, whose

affection for her has brought about his present pre

Folder

dicament.

whose speech

defended by Lawyer Frame,

is

a masterpiece of social
does not attempt to dispute the

to the jury

is

philosophy. He
fact that his client had altered the check; and
though he pleads temporary aberration in his de

mere

based on a social conscious

ness as fundamental and all-embracing as the roots
the background of life, that
of our social ills
which
life
always lies behind the com
palpitating
He shows Falder to have
mission of a crime."
fense, the

argument

is

"

faced the alternative of seeing the beloved woman

whom she can

murdered by her brutal husband,

not divorce, or of taking the law into his own

hands.
He pleads with the jury not to turn the

weak young man

him to prison.
Frame.

Men

into a criminal

like

the

by condemning

are

prisoner

destroyed

daily

under our law for want of that human insight which sees
them as they are, patients, and not criminals. .
Justice
.

a machine that,

when someone

a starting
push, rolls on of itself. ... Is this young man to be
ground to pieces under this machine for an act which, at

is

the worst,

was one

of weakness ?

ber of the luckless crews that

ships called prisons?

ruin this young man.

...

For

has given

Is

man

it

he to become a

mem

those dark, ill-starred

urge you, gentlemen, do not

as a result of those four min-

Justice
utes, ruin, utter
.

The

and

him

irretrievable, stares

in the face.

rolling of the chariot wheels of Justice over

boy began when

this

211

was decided

it

to prosecute him.

But the chariot of Justice rolls mercilessly on,

as the learned Judge says

for

Your

"

made an attempt to trace your of

what he seems to suggest is a defect in the
marriage law; he has made an attempt also to show that
to punish you with further imprisonment would be un
I do not follow him in these flights.
The Law is
just.
what it is
a majestic edifice, sheltering all of us, each
counsel has

fense back to

I am concerned only
crime you have committed
cannot feel it in accordance with

stone of which rests on another.

with
is

its

a very serious one.

my

The

administration.
I

duty to Society to exercise the

You

favor.

powers

have

will go to penal servitude for three

in

your

years."

In prison the young, inexperienced convict soon

finds himself the victim of the terrible

The

"

system."

young Falder is men

bad shape," but nothing

authorities admit that

and physically
in
can be done in the matter: many others are in a
similar position, and
the quarters are inade
"

tally

"

quate."

The

third scene of the third act

in its silent force.

The whole

is

heart-gripping
scene is a panto

in Falder s prison cell.

In fast-falling daylight, Falder, in his stock
ings, is seen standing motionless, with his head in-

mime, taking place

"

John Galsworthy

212

He

clined towards the door, listening.

moves a
closer to the door, his stockinged feet making

little

no

He

noise.

stops at the door.

He

is

trying

harder and harder to hear something, any little

He springs sud
thing that is going on outside.
as if at a sound
and remains
denly upright
motionless.
a
with
Then,
heavy sigh,
perfectly
he moves to his work, and stands looking at it,
with his head down; he does a stitch or two, hav
ing the air of a man so lost in sadness that each
is, as it were, a coming to life.
Then, turn

stitch

ing abruptly, he begins pacing his

head, like an animal pacing

its

cell,

cage.

moving

He

his

stops

again at the door, listens, and, placing the palms

of his hands against it, with his fingers spread out,

forehead against the iron. Turning

from it, presently, he moves slowly back towards
the window, tracing his way with his finger along

leans

his

the top line of the distemper that runs round

He stops under the window, and, pick

the wall.

It
ing up the lid of one of the tins, peers into it.
has grown very nearly dark.
Suddenly the lid
the only
falls out of his hand with a clatter
and he stands
sound that has broken the silence

staring intently at the wall where the stuff of the

he
shirt is hanging rather white in the darkness

seems

There

to be seeing
is

somebody or something there.

sharp tap and click; the cell light be

hind the glass screen has been turned up.

The

Justice
cell

213

Falder

is

brightly lighted.
for breath.

seen gasping

is

"

sound from far away, as of distant, dull

beating on thick metal, is suddenly audible. Falder
shrinks back, not able to bear this sudden clamor.
But the sounds grows, as though some great tum
bril were rolling towards the cell.
And gradu

seems to hypnotize him. He

ing inch by inch nearer to the door.
sound, traveling from cell to cell,
and closer; F alder s hands are seen
it

ally

his spirit

"

The banging
draws closer
as

moving

if

had already joined

the sound swells until

very

begins creep

it

in this beating; and

seems to have entered the

He

suddenly raises his clenched fists.

Panting violently, he flings himself at his door,
cell.

and beats on

it."

Falder leaves the prison, a broken

ticket-of-

leave man, the stamp of the convict upon his brow,

the iron of misery in his soul..
Falder.

seem to be struggling against a thing that

round me.

all

can

net; as fast as I cut

explain

it

here,

it

it:

it s

as

grows up

if

there.

act as I ought to have, about references; but

you

to

afraid,

do?
and

You must
I left.

In

have them.

fact, I

And

was

that

in a

didn

what are
made me

afraid all the time

now.

Thanks

How

to

6f Son

Ruth
is

pleading, the firm of

James

willing to take Falder back in their

John Galsworthy

214

employ, on condition that he give up Ruth.

der resents this

Fal-

Folder.

sir! I

couldn

she

all

give

her

up.

And

got to look to.

couldn

Oh,

t!

sure she

all

ve got.
It

then that Folder learns the awful news that

is

woman

he loves had been driven by the chariot

wheel of Justice to sell herself.
the

Ruth.

was the

tried

skirts

making

best I could get, but I never

shillings a

week, buying

my own

cheap things.

It

made more than

ten

cotton and working all

I kept at
day;
hardly ever got to bed till past twelve.
it for nine months. ... It was starvation for the chil
I

dren.

And

then

my

he

employer happened

happened ever since.

At

this terrible psychologic

appear

to

moment

the police

drag Falder back to prison for failing

to report to the authorities as ticket-of-leave man.

Completely overcome by the inexorability of his
fate,

Falder throws himself down the

stairs,

break

ing his neck.

The
"

tice

"

Jus
socio-revolutionary significance of
consists not only in the portrayal of the in

human system which

grinds the Falders and

but
even
more
so in the utter helpless
Honeywills,
ness of society as expressed in the words of the

Senior

"

Clerk,

Cokeson,

No

one

ll

touch

him

The Pigeon
now!

Never

He s

again!

21$
safe

with

gentle

Jesus!"

THE PIGEON
JOHN GALSWORTHY
To me it seems cruelly
the best

human

material

imechanism of our

play a fantasy.
demonstrates that

calls this

real:
is
"

life.

it

crushed

in the

The Pigeon

fatal

"

also dis

closes to us the inadequacy of charity, individual

to cope with poverty, as well as the

and organized,

absurdity of reformers and experimenters who at

tempt to patch up effects while they ignore the
causes.

in

Christopher Wellwyn, an artist, a man deeply

sympathy with all human sorrow and failings,

generously shares his meager means with everyone

who

applies to him for help.

His daughter Ann is of a more practical turn
of mind.
She cannot understand that giving is
as natural and necessary to her father as light and
air; indeed, the greatest joy in life.

Perhaps
father

who

Ann
is

is

actuated by anxiety for her

that he would
hopeless

so utterly

"

"

last pair of trousers."

From her
give away his
de
people who beg are rotters
point of view
But Chris
cent folk would not stoop to begging.
topher Wellwyn s heart is too full of humanity to
"

"

"

admit of such a straight-laced

"

attitude.

.We

re

John Galsworthy

216
not

the same.

all

What

One

the use of being alive

likes to
if

one

be friendly.
"

isn t?

Unfortunately most people are not alive to the

tragedies around them. They are often unthinking

mechanisms, mere tabulating machines,

like

Alfred

who believes that we re

to give the State all we can spare, to make the
Or as Sir Hoxton, the
undeserving deserving."
of
who
insists
the
that
we ought to
Peace,
Justice
"

Calway, the Professor,

"

support private organizations for helping the de

serving,

there
dle

is

and damn the

the

Finally
seeks
the
mid
religiously
wants a little of both."
undeserving."

Canon who

road and

"

When Ann

concludes that her father

is

the de

spair of all social reformers, she is but expressing

a great truism namely, that social reform is a cold
;

and bloodless thing that can find no place

glowing humanity of Christopher Wellwyn.
It

is

in

the

Christmas Eve, the birth of Him who came

Peace on earth, good will to

to proclaim

"

Christopher Wellwyn

all."

is

about to retire when he

is

disturbed by a knock on the door.

The snow-covered, frost-pinched figure of

She is a flower-seller
Guinevere Megan appears.
to whom Wellwyn had once given his card that
She comes to
she might find him in case of need.
him when the rest of the world has passed her by,

The Pigeon

217

forlorn and almost as dead as her violets which no

one cares to buy.
At sight of her misery Wellwyn forgets his

daughter s practical admonition and his promise

to her not to be
a fool."
He treats the flower"

makes her warm and comfortable.

has barely time to show Guinevere into his
model s room, when another knock is heard.
This time it is Ferrand,
an alien," a globe trot
seller tenderly,

He

"

a tramp whom Wellivyn had

once met in the Champs-Elysees.
Without food
for days and unable to endure the cold, Ferrand

ter without means,

too comes to the

Ferrand.

If

would have been a

was so discouraged.
utes

He

artist.

had

found you, Monsieur

hole in the river to-night

not

little
.

will be born!

And to think that in a few min

The world would reproach
to me.
Monsieur, if He himself
.

you for your goodness

were on earth now, there would be a

little heap of gen

tlemen writing to the journals every day to call him

sloppee sentimentalist!

gentlemen

But that
from the

they

would

And what
all

be

will not trouble you,

first

is

veree funny, these

most strong Christians.

Monsieur;

that you are no Christian.

saw well

You

have so

kind a face.

Ferrand has deeper

Christopher

knows

insight into the character of

Welliscyn than his daughter.

that the artist

He

would not judge nor could he

John Galsworthy

2i8
refuse one

whom

misery stares in the face. Even

Well uoyn ) the old cabman Tim-

the third visitor of

son, with more whisky than bread

receives the

in his

same generous reception

stomach,

as the other

two.

The

next day

Ann

calls a council

of war.

The

learned Professor, Alfred Calway; the wise judge,

Sir Thomas Hoxton; and the professional Chris

Edward Bertley
moned to decide the fate
tian,

There are few

the

Canon

are

sum

of the three outcasts.

scenes in dramatic literature so

rich in satire, so deep in the power of analysis as

the one in which these eminent gentlemen discuss
human destiny. Canon Bertley is emphatic that it

remove the temptation and

form the husband of the flower-seller."
"

is

necessary to

re

Bertley.
Now, what is to be done?
Mrs. Megan. I could get an unfurnished room, if I d
the money to furnish it.
Never mind the money. What I want to
Bertley.
find in

you

is

repentance.

Those who

are engaged in saving souls cannot

be interested in such trifles as money matters, nor
to understand the simple truth that if the Megans

did not have to bother with making a

repentance would take care of itself.

The
since

"

livin

,"

other two gentlemen are more worldly,

law and science cannot experiment with

The Pigeon
such elusive things as the soul.
opines that Timson

219
Professor Calivay

a congenital case, to be put

is

under observation, while Judge Hoxton decides

that he must be sent to prison.
Calway. Is it, do you think, chronic unemployment
with a vagrant tendency? Or would it be nearer the

mark

to say:

Dipsomaniac? ... By the

Vagrancy

look of his face, as far as one can see

there was a leaning towards mania.
I

it,

should say

know

the treat

ment.

Hundreds

Hoxton.

The

time.

Calway.

me

of these fellows before

disagree.

in

my

a sharp lesson!

is

only thing

ve seen the

man; what he

re

steady control, and the Dobbins treatment.

He wants one for his knob
Hoxton. Not a bit of it

quires

is

Bracing him up!

It s the

only thing!

Calway. You re moving backwards, Sir Thomas.

ve told you before, convinced reactionaryism, in these
The merest sense of continuity
a simple instinct
days
I

for order

The

Hoxton.

only

way

to get order,

the disorderly up with a round turn.

sir,

You

is

to bring

people with

out practical experience

Calway.

The

Thomas.
Hoxton.

No,

mits

itself to

Calway.

Thomas.

question

sir,

is

repeat,

much wider

if

the country once

your views of reform, it s

I
seem to have heard

And

let

me

as

good

that

as

one,

Sir

com

doomed.

before,

Sir

say at once that your hitty-missy

cart-load of bricks regime

John Galsworthy

22O
Hoxton.

deuced sight better,

Is a

What

motherly methods.

With

shock!

this

all

sir,

socialistic

than your grand

wants is a

fellow

old

the

molly-coddling,

you re

losing sight of the individual.

"

Calway. You, sir, with your

most," have never seen him.

The

by each one

farce ends

periority of his

devil

take the hind

insisting

on the su

own

pet theory, while misery con

tinues to stalk white-faced through the streets.

Three months

later

Ann

determines to rescue

her father from his disreputable proclivities by

removing with him to a part of the city where their
address will remain unknown to his beggar friends

and acquaintances.

While their belongings

Canon Bertley relates the
Mrs. Megan.
I

Bertley.
to try a

consulted with

certain

excellent place;

are

being

trouble he

removed,
had with

Calway and he advised me

institution.

We

got her safely in

d you know, she broke out three

I ve
heard
I
since
hopeless,

but,

And

weeks

ago.

afraid

sometimes tempted to believe

nothing for some of these poor folk but to pray

there

quite!

for death.

Wellwyn.

The

Professor said he felt there was noth

ing for some of these poor devils but a lethal chamber.

What

is

chamber?

science for if not to advise a lethal

It s the easiest

way

to dispose of

"

the

The Pigeon

221

"

and to supply learned professors with the

means of comfortable livelihood.
Yet there is Ferrand, the vagabond, the social
unfit

who

outcast

has never seen the inside of a uni

propounding a philosophy which very few

professors even dream of:

versity,

While

Ferrand.
of a fever.

how

truth

never be good

would go

to

me

my

nor anyone for

never of

days short

saw it all
was nothing

in

my

on the ground

me

let

me

took

"

more."

let

And

clear as that flame

fever

no one of

was verree

my

there

fever.

And

I lay

They

looked in their eyes while

saw more clear than the blue heaven

it

me.

is

out

But they would

cold.

best that I should die, although they

Then

naturally

my

So much the worse for you.

One

all

ever mocking me.

die on the roads of their parishes

lay there, and

me

fame, and fortune, and

should be vagabond all my days,

dying in the end the death of a dog.

I told
it

that they thought

said

life,

world

to an Institution.

would not

it

this

ill

saw the
I would

for us others, but the herb of death.

so I wished to die.

not

illness that I

in

anyone

saw, so plain, that

and

my

was wasting

peace, even the necessities of

I

the road this time I fell

in

for

and

by,

was on

seemed

It

made

like

that!

and

spirit rose,

I will live

Life

is

sweet.

little

That

Monsieur
in her too there is
something of wild savage. She must have joy of life.
I have seen her since I came back.
She has embraced
She is
It is not quite the same thing.
the life of joy.
little girl

lost,

you had

Monsieur,

as

here,

a stone that sinks in water.

can

John GalswortHy

222

to

she cannot.

if

see,

see anything

fatal.

I shall

wind blows on my

the

till

great part of mankind,

To

No, Monsieur.

me good

near to death has done

any more

For the

is

be so

not lack courage

Since I

grave.

saw

They
you, Monsieur, I have been in three Institutions.
are palaces. . . . One little thing they lack
those pal
It is

aces.

understanding of the

uman heart. In them

Ah! Monsieur, I

tame birds pluck wild birds naked.

am

my

is

for all that, pov

what you like
If I were rich, should I not be

waster

loafer,

erty

only crime.

ighly respected, with soul above

simply verree original,

commerce, traveling
girl,

would

chic,

you

is

here
"

their

give

theories,

abits

me

Tims

Monsieur, it
are with you

is

to understand

Eh

"

feel
it

Those

bien
all.

by

just that.

we

veree

good old-fash
despised

beasts,

You

something

would
sirs,

be,

with

they can clean our skins and chain our

them the aesthetic sense it gives

that soothes for

them too

young

ladee,"

had one prayer to make,

If I

Good God,

the old

Dark

When we

understand.

charming

drinking his liquor well.

now?

Monsieur.

life,

that

"

that

And

know!"

And

world?

"

she not be

ioned gentleman
what are we

That

to see the

their

good

they cannot touch, for

But our spirits

Without
they nevare understand.

little

importance.

Monsieur, all is dry as a parched skin of orange.

Monsieur, of their industry I say nothing. They do a
good work while they attend with their theories to the

that,

sick

and the tame

ing.

when

What

Above

all

old,

and the good unfortunate deserv

But, Monsieur,

to the little children.

all is done, there are always us hopeless ones.

can they do with me, Monsieur, with that girl, or

The Pigeon
man?

with that old

we

qualities,

others

Ah! Monsieur, we
it

we know

will those

sirs.

young

They waste

ave our

to undertake

We

s.

girl

a thousand times more of

Be kind

rooks white.

too,

wants you courage

a career like mine, or like that

ones

223

life

make

their time trying to

to us if

you

wild

than ever

will, or let us alone

Mees Ann, but do not try to change our

Leave us to live, or leave us to die when we like

like

skins.
in the

free air.
If you do not wish of us, you have but to shut
we shall die the faster.
your pockets and your doors
... If you cannot, how is it our fault? The harm we
is it so much?
If I am criminal, dan
me up! I would not pity myself
nevare.
But we in whom something moves
like that
we others
flame, Monsieur, that cannot keep still
we are not many
that must have motion in our lives,

do

to others

shut

gerous

do not

let

them make us

because

we

are not like them

enclose!

an

It
I

is

so that I

would
would

it

sit

that I

am

What would you have?

Monsieur, I say to you things
Monsieur! Are you really English?

a vagabond.

stronger than me.

have never

The

The good God made me

theories,

they

of nights, hungry, with the

one single day making round business on
stool!
I cannot
It is not to my advantage.

than

office

help

with their

it is life itself

walk a whole month

rather
stars,

prisoners,

said.

English are so civilized.

"

else
civilized
Truly the English are highly
it would be impossible to explain why of all the na
tions on earth, the Anglo-Saxons should be the
";

only ones to punish attempts at suicide.

John Galsworthy

224

makes no provision whatever for the

the
Ferrands and Mrs. Megans. It has
Timsons,
closed the door in their face, denying them a seat
Society

Yet when Guinevere Megan

at the table of life.

attempts to

drown

herself, a benevolent constable

drags her out and a Christian Judge sends her to

the workhouse.
Constable.
Well, sir, we can t get over the
we? ... You know what soocide amounts to
awkward job.

Wellwyn.

But look

can

facts,
it s

an

here, Constable, as a reasonable

This poor wretched little girl

you know what
means better than anyone! Why! It s to her
try and jump out of it!

man
that life
credit to

Constable.

Can

neglect

me

duty, sir; that s impos

sible.

Wellwyn.

Of

all

the

topsy-turvy

a soul in the world wants her alive

and now she

Not
is

to

be prosecuted for trying to go where everyone wishes her.

Is

it

necessary to dwell on the revolutionary sig

It is so all-embrac
nificance of this cruel reality?
in
its
so
ing
sweep,
penetrating of the topsy-tur-

viness of our civilization, with all

fice,

its

cant and arti

so powerful in its condemnation of our cheap

and cold institutionalism which freezes the

theories

and destroys the best and finest in our being.

Ferrands, and Megans are the stuff
out of which a real humanity might be fashioned.
They feel the needs of their fellows, and whatsoul

The Wellwyns,

The Pigeon
ever

is

in their

22$

to give, they give as nature

power

But the Hoxtons, Calways

unreservedly.
and Bertleys have turned the world into a dismal
prison and mankind into monotonous, gray, dull
shadows.
The professors, judges, and preachers cannot
meet the situation. Neither can Wellwyn, to be
does,

And yet his very understanding of the dif

ferentiation of human nature, and his sympathy

sure.

with the inevitable reaction of conditions upon

bring the

Wellwyns much

of our evils than

all

it,

closer to the solution

the Hoxtons,

Calways and

This deep conception of

Bertleys put together.
social factors is in itself perhaps the most signifi
cant lesson taught in

"

The

Pigeon."

STANLEY HOUGHTON
KINDLE WAKES
Stanley Houghton, who died last year, the
lost a talented and brave artist.

drama

Brave, because he had the courage to touch

one of the most sensitive spots of Puritanism
woman s virtue. Whatever else one may criti

IN

cise or attack, the

main untouched.

sacredness of virtue must re

It

the last fetich which even

is

so-called liberal-minded people refuse to destroy.

To be sure, the attitude towards this holy of
holies has of late years

change.

It

is

undergone

beginning to be

circles that love

is

its

own

a considerable

felt in

ever-growing

justification, requiring

no sanction of either religion or law. The revolu

tionary idea, however, that woman may, even as
man, follow the urge of her nature, has never be
fore been so sincerely and radically expressed.
The message of Hindle Wakes is therefore
of inestimable value, inasmuch as it dispels the fog
of the silly sentimentalism and disgusting bombast
that declares woman a thing apart from nature
one who neither does nor must crave the joys of
life permissible to man.
Hindle is a small weaving town, symbolically
"

"

226

H in die

Wakes

227

com

representing the wakefulness of every small

munity to the shortcomings of its neighbors.

Christopher Hawthorne and Nathaniel Jeffcote

had begun life together as lads in the cotton mill.

But while Christopher was always a timid and
shrinking boy, Nathaniel was aggressive and am

When

bitious.

the

play

opens,

Christopher,

though an old man, is still a poor weaver; Na

thaniel, on the contrary, has reached the top of fi
nancial and social success.
He is the owner of the
is
biggest mill;
wealthy, influential, and withal a
man of power. For Nathaniel Jeffcote always
loved power and social approval.
Speaking of
the

motor he bought for

his only

son Alan, he

tells

his wife:
Jeffcote.
I

wanted

people
"

There

dred

Why

did I buy a motor-car?

to

hate

go motoring.
could see Alan driving
s

Jeffcote

lad in his

it.

about

new

car.

Not

bought
in

it,

because

it

so that

and

It cost five

say,

hun

quid."

However, Nathaniel is a
square man," and
when facing an emergency, not chary with jus
"

tice

and always quick to decide

in its favor.

The

Jeff cotes center all their hopes on Alan,

their only child, who is to inherit their fortune and

business.

Alan

is

engaged

to Beatrice, the lovely,

sweet daughter of Sir Timothy Farrar, and

joyous at the Jeffcotes

all is

228

Stanley

Houghton

Down

in the valley of Hindle live the Hawhumble

and content, as behooves God
thornes,
workers.
fearing
They too have ambitions in be
half of their daughter Fanny, strong, willful and
self-reliant,
qualities molded in the hard grind
of Jef cote s mill, where she had begun work as a
tot.
"

bank holiday

"

Fanny with her

chum Mary goes to a neighboring town for an
There they meet two young men, Alan
outing.
During the

Jef cote and his

and they spend

friend.

Fanny departs with Alan,

a glorious time together.

On

the

way home Mary is drowned. As a result of the

accident the Hawthornes learn that their daughter
had not spent her vacation with Mary. When
Fanny returns, they question her, and though she
at

first

refuses

to

give

an account of herself,

they soon discover that the girl had passed the

time with a man,
young Alan Jef cote. Her
parents are naturally horrified, and decide to force
the

Jef cotes

to

have Alan marry Fanny.

In the old mother of Fanny the author has suc

ceeded in giving a most splendid characterization
of the born drudge, hardened by her long struggle
with poverty, and grown shrewd in the ways of the

She knows her daughter so little, how

ever, that she believes Fanny had schemed the af
fair with Alan in the hope that she might force him
In her imagination the old woman
to marry her.
world.

H in die

Wakes

229

already sees Fanny as the mistress of the Jeffcote

She persuades her husband to go immedi

estate.

ately to the Jeff cotes, and though it is very late at

night, the old man is forced to start out on his dis

agreeable errand.
Jeffcote, a

the

man

of integrity,

is

much shocked

at

news brought to him by old Hawthorne.

Nevertheless he will not countenance the

wrong.
Jeffcote.

I ll see
I

Christopher.
Jeffcote.

you

can

I ll see

Do

re treated right.

ask for

more than

you re treated

you hear?

that.

right.

Young Alan had never known responsibility.

Why should he, with so much wealth awaiting
him? When confronted by his father and told
that he
it.

It

must marry Fanny, he

be

may

said,

in justice

fights

hard against

to Alan, that he

really loves his betrothed, Beatrice,

though such a
circumstance has never deterred the Alans from
having a lark with another girl.

The young man

resents his father

command

to

the mill

But when even Beatrice in

marry
girl.
sists that he
belongs to Fanny, Alan unwillingly
consents.
Beatrice, a devout Christian, believes
in renunciation.
I do need you, Alan.
So much that noth
on
earth
could make me break off our
ing
engagement,

Beatrice.

if

I felt that

it isn t.

it

was

at all possible to let

It s impossible.

it

go on.

But

230

Houghton

Stanley

And

Alan.

you want

me

to

marry Fanny?
can t you see what a
splendid sacrifice you have it in your power to make?
Not only to do the right thing, but to give up so much
in order to do it.
Yes.

Beatrice.

Alan!

Oh,

The Jef cotes and

the

Hawthornes gather to

ar

It does not
range the marriage of their children.
occur to them to consult Fanny in the matter.

Much to their consternation, Fanny refuses to

abide by the decision of the family council.
Fanny. It s very good of you.
son and get the license and make

You
all

hire the par

ll

the arrangements

on your own without consulting me, and I shall have

nothing to do save turn up meek as a lamb at the church
or registry office or whatever it is. ... That s just where
you make the mistake.
I

mean what

I say,

don

and

I ll

without swearing at me.

The dismayed

last

Alan asks

want

Look

Alan.
.

marry Alan.

But Fanny

Fanny,

here,

Why won

Weren

obdurate.

is

what

all

nonsense

this

you marry me?

understand a girl not jumping
t

aren

going to
you fond of her?

you

girl.

Fanny. You can t

you when she gets the chance, can you?
that

to be left alone with her, confi

dent that he can persuade the

about?

to

trouble you to talk to me

not one of the family yet.

parents, and even Alan, plead

with her and threaten.

At

marry

How

Beatrice

is

at
it

Farrar?

H
Alan.

...

Very.

Wakes

in die

231

gave her up because

my

father

made me.

Made you?

Fanny.

My

Alan.

way.

He

Alan.

can keep

Earn some

Fanny.

it ll

you

ll

get

of tea, as

Alan.

doing

you,

know why you won

my
Don

for

were?

it

Fanny.
cause I

Then all
with me?
I

it

it will mean hard

And, after all, I shan t earn
get now.
you want to wed me for is w hat
I m to be given away with a pound

take time.

anything like what

Fanny.

brass.

can earn some brass, but

work and

Good Lord, a chap of your age!

man who will have his own
me short of brass.

father s

marry me.

you kid yourself,

afraid of spoiling your

but because

didn

fair

all

look

down on

You

re

sake.

the time.

You don

you.

of

afraid

occur to you ?
Alan.
Look here, Fanny,

We

my

spoiling

It isn t

be

refusing

mine!

That

promise you I ll treat you

need to fear that folk ll

have too

shall

lad!
that

life

much money

for

that.
I

Fanny.
week.
Alan.

can manage
going to

up with Beatrice, of

all

fall

right

on twenty-five bob a

between two

course.

And

if

stools.

you won

It s all

have

me

have parted from her to no purpose; besides get

ting kicked out of the house by my father, more than
You said you were fond of me once, but it hasn t
likely!
I

shall

taken you long to alter.

Fanny. All women aren

built

alike.

Beatrice

is

Houghton

Stanley

232
She

religious.

be sorry for you.

ll

was fond

of

you

in a

way.
Alan.
But you didn

ever really love

me?

Fanny. Love you? Good heavens, of course not!

Why on earth should I love you? You were just some
one to have a bit of fun with. You were an amuse

ment

How

a lark.

But

Alan.

m
t

man,

she takes

if

did you care for

prevent a
it

me

little

fancy.

You

fancy.

woman

enjoying herself as well as a

into her head ?

But do you mean

any more for

me ?

a man.

re a man, and I was your

woman, and you were my little

wouldn
Alan.

much more

not the same.

You

Fanny.
Well,

it s

you didn

to say that

than a fellow cares for any

girl

care

he hap

pens to pick up?

Alan.

It s a bit thick;

You

Fanny.
Alan.

Are you shocked?

Yes.

Fanny.

it is

really!

re a beauty to talk!

It sounds so jolly

immoral.

never thought

of a girl looking on a chap just like that!

you wanted
Fanny.

The

chap Fanny Hawthorn weds

different stuff
I

made

marry me if you got the chance.

No fear! You re not good enough

sure

to

from you,

my

has got to be

lad.

My

husband,

for me.

made
if

of

ever

who ll throw over

Strikes me the sons of
much alike. They seem

have one, will be a man, not a fellow

his girl at his father s bidding!

these rich manufacturers are all

a bit
that

weak in the upper story. It

too much for them, happen!

to be afraid.

s their
.

father s brass

You

ve no call

not going to disgrace you.

But so

Hindi e Wakes
long as
shouldn

I
t

my own

ve to live

choose

Unheard
fuse to be

what

of, is

made

it s

it

life

233
don

see

why

to be.

not, that a

Fanny should

"

good

woman,"

re

and that she

should dare demand the right to live in her own

way? It has always been considered the most
wonderful event in the life of a girl if a young
man of wealth, of position, of station came into

her

and said,
I will take you as my wife until
death do us part."
But a new type of girlhood is in the making.
We are developing the Fannies who learn in the
school of life, the hardest, the crudest and at the
same time the most vital and instructive school.
"

life

marry a young man in order to

good,"
any more than that he should
marry her in order to become good? Is it not be
cause we have gone on for centuries believing that
woman s value, her integrity and position in so
ciety center about her sex and consist only in her
virtue, and that all other usefulness weighs naught

Why should Fanny

become

"

"

balance against her purity

express her sex as the Fannies do,

in the

"

If she dare

we deny her

in

dividual and social worth, and stamp her fallen.

The past of a man is never questioned: no

one inquires
life.

how many Fannies have been

Yet man has the impudence

Fannies to abstain

them

his

name.

till

he

is

in his

to expect the
ready to bestow on

234
"

Stanley

Hindle Wakes

tant social lesson,

"

is

Houghton
a

much needed and impor

not because

necessarily in
volves the idea that every girl must have sex ex
perience before she meets the man she loves, but
it

rather that she has the right to satisfy, if she so

chooses, her emotional and sex demands like any

other need of her mind and body.

When the
Fannies become conscious of that right, the rela
tion of the sexes will lose the shallow romanticism

and artificial exaggeration that mystery has sur

rounded it with, and assume a wholesome, natural,
and therefore healthy and normal expression.

GITHA SOWERBY
RUTHERFORD AND SON
women

I
until the

rights

women who

claim

for their sex the most wonderful things

in the way of creative achievement, will
find

it

difficult to

author of

"

explain the fact that

Rutherford and Son

"

made

her appearance, no country had produced a single

woman dramatist of note.

That

is

the

more remarkable because woman

has since time immemorial been a leading figure in

histrionic art.
Rachel, Sarah Bernhardt, Eleanore Duse, and scores of others have had few male
peers.
It can hardly be that woman is merely a repro
ducer and not a creator.
have but to recall

We

Charlotte

and Emily

Bronte, George Sand, George Eliot,

Mary Woll-

such

creative

artists

as

Marie Bashkirtshev, Rosa Bonheur,

Sophia Kovalevskaya and a host of others, to ap

stonecraft,

preciate that woman has been a creative factor in

Not so in the drama,
literature, art and science.
so far the stronghold exclusively of men.
It is therefore an event for a woman to
235

come

Githa Sowerby

236

who

to the fore

possesses such dramatic power,

grasp and artistic penetration

denced by Githa Sowerby.
realistic

The

circumstance

is

the

as

evi

more remarkable be

cause Githa Sowerby is, according to her pub

lishers, barely out of her teens; and though she be
a genius, her exceptional maturity

is

phenomenon

Generally maturity comes only

No one who has
with experience and suffering.
not felt the crushing weight of the Rutherford
rarely observed.

atmosphere could have painted such a vivid and

life-like picture.

The

"

Rutherford and Son

is
art
Ibsen
and
such
lesser
not novel.
Turgenev,
ists as Sudermann and Stanley Houghton have
dealt with it: the chasm between the old and the

theme

basic

"

in

the tragic struggle of parents against

their children, the one frantically holding on, the

young,
other

and Son

"

is

paralyzing

on

all

letting go.
more than that.

recklessly

effect

human

life,

But
It

is

"

Rutherford

a picture

of the

of tradition and institutionalism

growth, and change.

John

"

Rutherford, the owner of the firm

Rutherford and Son," is possessed by the phan
the thing handed down
and which he must pass on to

tom of the past

by

his father

to

him

his son

with undiminished luster; the thing that has turned

his soul to iron and his heart to stone; the thing
for the sake of which he has never

known

joy and

Rutherford and Son

because of which no one else must
"

Rutherford and

237

know

joy,

Son."

The crushing weight of this inexorable monster

on Rutherford and his children is significantly
summed up by young John
Have you
Moloch
was a
Well,
John.

ever heard of
sort of a

God

Moloch?

No.

size of

a real head, with great wheels instead of legs, and set

up

the middle

of

a great

you know, before Dick and his

built his image with an ugly head ten times the
in

some time ago,

kind came along. They
.

And

dirty town.

him
they

thought him a very important person indeed, and made

sacrifices to

human sacrifices ... to keep him

Out of every family they set aside one
offering to him when it was big enough, and

him

going, you know.

child to be an
at last

way,

it

so

became a

much

sort of

honor to be dedicated

so, that the victims

to be crushed out of life

in this

came themselves gladly

under the great wheels.

That

was Moloch.
Janet.

Dedicated

to Rutherfords

we

are dedicated

all

of us

Not only the Rutherford children, their with

ered Aunt Ann, and old Rutherford himself, but
even Martin, the faithful servant

in the

employ of
"

dedi
the Rutherfords for twenty-five years, is
their
of
use
to
when
be
and
he
ceases
to
cated,"

Moloch, he
off,

is

turned into a thief and then cast

even as Janet and John.

Not

love for John, his oldest son, or sympathy

Githa Sowerby

238
with the latter

wife and child induces old Ruther

ford to forgive his son s marriage with a mere

shop-girl, but because he needs John to serve the
house of Rutherford.

The one

inexorable pur

pose, always and ever!

His second son Richard, who is in the ministry,
to old Rutherford s God of
and
of no use
You were
stone, receives the loving assurance:
no good for my purpose, and there s the end; for
"

"

"

the matter o

that,

you might

never

just as well

ha been born."
For that matter, his daughter Janet might also
never have been born, except that she was
good
to look after her father s house, serve
enough
him, even helping take off his boots, and submitting
"

"

without a

murmur

to the loveless, dismal life in

Her

the Rutherford home.

"

kept every suitor away,

ley

good enough for

father has sternly

because no one
us."

in

Grant-

Janet has become

faded, sour and miserable with yearning for love,

for sunshine and warmth, and when she at last
secretly with her father s
Martin, old Rutherford sets his iron

dares to partake of
trusted
heel

man

upon her

till it lies

love,

it

and drags

it

through the

mud

dead.

Again, when he faces the spirit of rebellion in

his son John, Rutherford crushes it without the
slightest hesitation in behalf of his one obsession,
his

one

God

the

House of Rutherford.

Rutherford and Son

239

John has made an invention which holds great

possibilities.
By means of it he hopes to shake

He

off the deadly grip of the Rutherfords

wants to become a free man and mold a new
.

life

for himself, for his wife and child.

He knows his
father will not credit the value of his invention.

He

dare not approach him: the Rutherford chil

dren have been held in dread of their parent too
long.

John turns
only one

to

Martin, the faithful servant, the

feels himself safe with

know

Rutherford. John
Martin. But he does not

in the confidence of

that Martin, too,

broken by
without

his

will,

Rutherfords

Martin

is

dedicated to Moloch,

twenty-five yeais of service, left

without purpose outside of the

tries to enlist

Rutherford s interest in
But the old man decides that
John must turn over his invention to the House of
behalf of John.

Rutherford.
Rutherford. What s your receipt?
I want to know where I stand.
John.

my

want

price.

Your

Rutherford.

impudence,
is

...

what

sir.

... So

that

Damn

your price?

price
s

your

line,

get for all I ve done for you.

it?

is
.

ve

This

worked

early

and

late, toiled like

dog when

is

toiled

result of the schooling I gave you.

sweated to give you a name you d be proud to
I

your
This

the

and

own
men

other

Githa Sowerby

240
were taking

plotted and planned to get

their ease

chance, taken

and held

it

burst with the struggle.

when
life I

everything you
ve given to you!

ll

John.
years.

it

when

Sell

ever

You

You

till

come

to

when

pay back the

ve been both for five

began at the bottom

I
.

Your

father has lived

here, and your grandfather before you.

can

my

could ha

ve been put to learn your business

any other young fellow.

ve
you
got to do the same. .
like

heritance

talk o selling to me,

make couldn

Oh, I know, I know.

Only I ve had no salary.

Rutherford.

come

it

realize that

It s

in

your

what you ve got to

We ve made it for

you
under ground.
?

you, stone by stone, penny by penny, fighting through

thick

and thin for

close

on a hundred

what you ve got to do

or
ve
to
come
after
me.
got
you

starve.

years.

You

re

my

It s

son

Janet knows her father better than John; she

that
no one ever stands out against

knows

"

father

for long

about,

don

they

or else they get so knocked

matter any more." Janet

knows, and when the moment arrives that brings

her father s blow upon her head, it does not come
as a surprise to her.
When old Rutherford dis
her
covers
relation with Martin, his indignation is

man as everything else in

not outraged morality or a father s
always and forever the House of

as characteristic of the
his life.

love.

It
It

is

is

Rutherford.
affair

between

Moreover,
his

the

daughter

discovery

and

his

of

the

workman

Rutherford and Son

241

comes at a psychologic moment: Rutherford is

determined to get hold of John s invention
for
the Rutherfords, of course
and now that Mar
tin has broken faith with his master, his offense
serves an easy pretext for Rutherford to break
faith with Martin.
He calls the old servant to his
office

and demands the receipt of John

On

entrusted to Martin.

the latter

betray John, the master plays on the

to the Rutherfords.
Rutherford. Rutherfords
got to pull her up, somehow.
Mr. John s made this metal
for

going

There

refusal to

man

loyalty

down

down.

one

out.

a thing,

worth a fortune.

that s

it,

is

s invention,
s

way

I take

And we

I
.

your word

re going to sit

by and watch him fooling it away

selling it for a song
to Miles or Jarvis, that we could break to-morrow if we

had half a chance.

in

your
re with them

You

tle souls that

in

their

do

it

by

it?

ure,
I

You

ve got but to put your hand

and you don t do

with the money-grubbing

pocket to save the place

pockets.

...

you
t
.

see
.

beyond the next

Whea men

to gain something.

maybe ?

Tell

me
If

joy,

me
and

you give

shilling they put

steal,

If I steal this,

Martin,

what

ll

they
gain

it

anything in the wide world that d

ll swear to you never to touch it.

to

me what ll

you gain by it? Not

no more than
me

a farthing shall you ever have from

I get myself.

Martin.

it.

lit

make money, what ll I buy with it? Pleas

Children to come after me
glad o what

If I

done?

bring

can

re

And what

will

Mr. John

get for it?

Githa Sowerby

242

when I m gone. He ll
Rutherfords
Rutherford.
thank you in ten years
he ll come to laugh at himself
him and his price. He ll see the Big Thing one day,
mebbe, like what I ve done. He ll see that it was no
more

his

twas yours to give nor mine to take.

than

It s Rutherfords

.
Will you give
shame to be doing

it

to

me?

it now.
.
He
worked it out along o me. Every time it changed he
come running to show me like a bairn wi a new toy.

Martin.

take

Rutherford.

Rutherfords

It s for

Rutherfords ruthlessly marches on. If the

Rutherford purpose does not shrink from corrupt
ing its most trusted servant, it surely will not bend
before a daughter who has dared, even once in her
life,

to assert herself.

Rutherford.
Janet.

How

far s

it

at first

Right
you ever found out,

gone?

made up my mind

that

He wanted to tell you at the first. But

would be no use. ... It was / said not

straight.

that

it

if

d go right away, to put things

knew

to tell

you.

Rutherford.

Martin

that

trusted

as

trust

myself.
Janet.

You haven

turned him away

That

my

you couldn

do that!
Rutherford.
Janet.

You

Rutherford.

couldn

Leave

servant, that I pay

children

name

business.

do that
it

wages

leave
to.

it

not Martin.

... Martin s my

made

name

respected in all the countryside

for

my
and

Rutherford and Son

you go with a workingman.
my house.
ye understand?
.

under

my

No

roof.

house

one shall say

leave

have no light ways

winked

at

You

it.

to

my

in

never again.

Oh, you ve no

Janet.

Gone
when

To-morrow you

I ll

To-morrow when I come in

Your name shan t be spoken

can bide the night.

find ye gone.

243

Nobody d

sour.

pity.

...

was

ever come after me.

thirty-six.

Not even

I was young.
You took care o that. Half of my
was gone, well-nigh all of it that mattered.
Martin loves me honest. Don t you come near! Don t

life

You think that I m sorry you ve

you touch that!
found out
you think you ve done for me when you use
shameful words on me and turn me out o your house.
.

You

ve

let

me

out o

jail!

Whatever happens

to

me

now, I shan t go on living as I lived here. Whatever

Martin s done, he s taken me from you. You ve ruined

my

life,

edness,

fear

you with your getting on. I ve loved in wretch

the joy I ever had made wicked by the

all

man

you.

man

you? Who are you? A

power to himself, power to
a man
him and use them as he wills
.

Who

that

gather people to

are

takes

that d take the blood of life itself and put

Works

into Rutherfords

what?
fool

it

And what ha you

into the

got by

it

You

ve got Dick, that you ve bullied till he s a

John, that s waiting for the time when he can

me to take
sell what you ve done
and you got me
to well-nigh wish you dead
your boots off at night
when I had to touch you. . . . Now! . . . Now you
know

it!

Githa Soiverby

244

But for the great love in her heart, Janet could

not have found courage to face her father as she
did.
But love gives strength; it instills hope and
faith, and kindles anew the fires of life.
Why,
then, should it not be strong enough to break the
Such a love only
fetters of even Rutherfords ?
those famished for affection and warmth can feel,
and Janet was famished for life.
Janet.

had a dream

a dream that

wi

flowers, in the

me

with the look he had when

was

in

a place

summer-time, white and thick like they

a place
never grow on the moor
but it was the moor
near Martin s cottage. And I dreamt that he came to
head up and the
I knew I was on

was a

little lass,

with

his

gone out of his eyes. All the time

but it was
my bed in my room here

lie

poured into me, spreading and covering

water in the tarn when the rains are heavy

as if sweetness

me

like the

in the fells.

night.

dream

He

be.
I

That
if all

was

I
t

w hy

to

that

was

as a bairn

dreamt of him so
best in

me

here

it

me was

and what

help but love me.

have thought of

come

breast}.

as

couldn

couldn

that

was
what

It

It

last

in that

going to

was a message

by myself.

It s

something
on her

(putting her hands

Part of me!

All that lay dormant in Janet now turns into

fire at the touch of Spring.
But in

glowing

Martin life has been marred, strangled by the iron

hand of Rutherfords
.

Rutherford and Son

Turned away

Martin.
five years.

Janet.

And in
You say
warm

I ll

again.

heart that can

Martin.
I

d ha

now

But

it ll

out of

it

be

it s

that

made

true to

m,

in

face.

like I

It

again
heart,

But

Janet.

as ever

Martin.
o

it

world

cold

warm
Martin
my

just

me

away.

know that I was

at me wi the love
gave me
you in

to

was till you looked

was a great love ye

it s

it ll

died than he turn

your
your grand hoose wi your delicate ways.
me.

same

Twentytwo words.

because your heart

warm
my own

everything in the

lost

Wi

broke.

cold.

d rather ha

am, sure enough.

a minute

with the trouble.

24$

But

the same with

broke

it s

Just the

us.

was.

But there

Aye.

no mending, wi the

likes

him.

What

Janet.

except

what

You

re free

lad

mebbe.

free

We

You and

happy.

that s been

time afore
the flowers

there to

11

we

ll

What s

mend?

bound you

like

slave

the

for the first time since you

begin

me,

We

again.

free in the

mend

there to

all

ll

world!

be

years?

were a

happy

All the time

be just like a dream that s past, a waiting

the long winter afore
found each other

come out white and

thick on the

moors

Martin. Twenty-five years ago he took me. . . . It s

I ll never do his work no more;
too long to change. . .
if
he
d
be
but it s like as
my master just the same
.

till I

die

Janet.

worked

Listen,

Martin.

Listen

all your life for him, ever since

to

me.

You

you were a

ve

little

Githa Sowerby

246
Early and

late you ve been

for him.
working
Martin. Gladly!

lad.

Works

at the

work

ing

Now

Janet.

and then he give you a kind word

out mebbe
and your thoughts

when you were wearied

men

turned to what other

might ha

You

time for rest and pleasure.

didn

you wi your big heart, Martin.

like

see,

was

but

maybe

Mary

came.

time

your

till

the

all

lives

were, wi

see

through him,
were too near to

You
You worked
life

gladly

was going

into

your manhood into the place he s built.

s had you, Martin,
like he s had me, and all of us.
used to say he was hard and ill-tempered.
Bad to

Rutherfords

He

We

do with

we

in the

couldn

we

silent

when

he came in

for the little things,

we
And

couldn

all the

time

house

t see

fell

the years passing because of the days.

it

see

was our

lives he was taking bit by bit

our lives that
never get back. . . . Now s our chance at last!
two
s turned us both away, me as well as you.

we ll

We

He
he

it

himself of his

our happiness.
it if he could.

The
kill

world together.

sent out into the

own

We

cruelty of

get

it,

He s

it

that the Rutherfords never

with one blow never so merciful are they.

their ruthless

done

ours to take, Martin

in spite of him.
He d kill

It s

will.

ll

Free.

march they

In

strangle inch by inch,

shed the blood of life drop by drop, until they

have broken the very spirit of man and made him
as helpless and pitiful as Martin,
a trembling
leaf tossed about by the winds.

Rutherford and Son

247

picture of such stirring social and human im

portance that no one, except he who has reached

the stage of Martin, can escape its effect.

Yet
even more significant is the inevitability of the

doom of the Rutherfords as embodied

dom of Mary, John s wife.

When

her husband steals his father

wis

in the

money

very small part indeed compared with what the

father had stolen from him
he leaves the hate

ful place and Mary remains to face the master.

For the sake of her child she strikes a bargain with

Rutherford.

Mary.

money

only

something to

My

in the

world.

They won

where one person has something

There s no love in it

wants to buy.
that

money

sell

Rutherford.

Mary.

is

bargain

to sell that another

that you

pays

want

for

life.

ve

got

to buy.

What s that?
You ve lost

everything you ve had

and Richard
and Janet.
John s gone
come back. You re alone now and getting
son.

with no one to come after you. When you die

Rutherfords will be sold
somebody ll buy it and give
it a new name perhaps, and no one will even remember
old,

that you

Just

my
in

boy.

it.

If I

so.

get

That

You

want

the world.

made
I

made

nothing.

be the end of

all

a chance of

life

for

your work.
.

him

It s

for

his place

John can t give him that, because he s

went to London and worked my hardest

twenty-five

From you

ll

ve thought of that.

can get

shillings

when

want

week.
for

my

We ve
boy.

failed.
I

want

Githa Sowerby

248
all

common

the good

He s

warmth.

things

a delicate

to stay

on here.

thing now, but he

little

strong like other children.

and in return I ll give you

won

a good house, good food,

Give me what

interfere

Rutherford.

Mary.

He

ll

Rutherford.
Yes.

ask,

trouble you

you needn t
For ten years

to.

I like with.

You

you mustn t tell him to do things or

s mine for ten years more.

He
And

frighten him.

grow

one condition.

speak to me or see me unless you want

he s to be absolutely mine, to do what

mustn

On

him.
t

ll

after that?

be yours.

To

train

up.

For Rutherfords

Mary.

Rutherford. After all? After Dick, that I ve bullied

he s a fool? John, that s wished me dead?
Mary. In ten years you ll be an old man; you won t

till

be able to make people afraid of you any more.

When

I saw the masterly presentation of the

the
on
stage, Mary s bargain looked unreal
play
and incongruous. It seemed impossible to me
that a mother who really loves her child should
want it to be in any way connected with the Ruther
fords
But after repeatedly rereading the play,
I was convinced by Mary s simple statement:
In ten years you ll be an old man; you won t be
.

"

make people afraid of you any more."

Most deeply true. The Rutherfords are bound

able to

by time, by the eternal forces of change. Their

Notinfluence on human life is indeed terrible.

Rutherford and Son

249

however, they are fighting a

losing game.
They are growing old, already too
old to make anyone afraid.
Change and innova
tion are marching on, and the Rutherfords must
make place for the young generation knocking at
withstanding

the gates.

it

all,

THE

IRISH

DRAMA

WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

Americans know about the Irish
people only that they are not averse

MOST

and that they make brutal

policemen and corrupt politicians.

to drink,

But those who are familiar with the revolutionary

movements of the past are aware of the fortitude
and courage, aye, of the heroism of the Irish,
manifested during their uprisings, and especially
in the Fenian movement
the people s revolt
against political despotism and land robbery.

And though for years Ireland has contributed to

the very worst features of American life, those in
terested in the fate of its people did not despair;
they knew that the spirit of unrest in Ireland was
not appeased, and that it would make itself felt

again in no uncertain form.

The

cultural

and rebellious awakening

in that

country within the last twenty-five years once more

proves that neither God nor King can for long
suppress the manifestation of the latent possibili
of a people.
The possibilities of the Irish

ties

250

The

Irish

must indeed be great

humor of

Lady

Drama

251

they could inspire the rich

Gregory, the deep symbolism of
if

a Yeats, the poetic fancy of a Synge, and the re

bellion of a Robinson and Murray.
a people unspoiled by the dulling hand
of civilization and free from artifice can retain

Only

such simplicity of faith and remain so imaginative,

so full of fancy and dreams, wild and fiery, which

have kindled the creative spark in the Irish dram

atists of our time.
It is true that the work of only
the younger element among them is of social sig
nificance, yet all of them have rendered their peo
ple and the rest of the world a cultural service of

no mean value.

William Butler Yeats is among

and Lady Gregory;
his art, though deep in human appeal, has no bear
Mr.
ing on the pressing questions of our time.
Yeats himself would repudiate any implication
of a social character, as he considers such dramas
too
half bad
and therefore
plays.
topical
In view of this attitude, it is difficult to reconcile
the latter, together with Synge

"

"

"

"

standard of true art with the repertoire of the

Abbey Theater, which consists mainly of social
his

dramas.
"

work,

Still

more

less social in its

sen

"

difficult is

Where There

Brand."

it

to account for his

which is no
and
philosophy
tendency than Ib
is

Nothing,"

William Butler Yeats

252

WHERE THERE
WHERE There

"

IS

NOTHING
"

Is

Nothing

is

as true an inter

pretation of the philosophy of Anarchism as could

be given by its best exponents.
I say this not out

of any wish to tag Mr. Yeats, but because the ideal

of Paul Ruttledge, the hero of the play, is nothing

than Anarchism applied to everyday life.

Paul Ruttledge, a man of wealth, comes to the

less

conclusion, after a long process of development

and growth, that riches are wrong, and that the

of the propertied

life

is

artificial,

useless

and

in

ane.

Paul Ruttledge. When I hear these people talking I

always hear some organized or vested interest chirp or
I would like to
quack, as it does in the newspapers.
have great iron claws, and to put them about the pillars,
and to pull and pull till everything fell into pieces.
.

am

pulling down my own house,

and sometimes it is the whole world that I am pulling
down.
When everything was pulled down we would

Sometimes

dream

have more room to get drunk in, to drink contentedly out

of the cup of life, out of the drunken cup of life.

He
and

we

decides to give up his position and wealth

cast his lot in with the tinkers

in

America know

as

"

hoboes,"

an element

men who tramp

the highways

making their living as they go about,

mending kettles and pots, earning an honest penny
without obligation or responsibility to anyone.

Where There

Is

Nothing

253

Paul Ruttledge longs for the freedom of the road,

to sleep under the open sky, to count the stars,
to be free.
He throws off all artificial restraint
and is received with open arms by the tinkers.

To

identify himself

marries a tinker
the rites

more

closely with their

life,

he

not according to
daughter
of State or Church, but in true tinker
s

freedom
bound only by the prom
ise to be faithful and
not hurt each other."
In honor of the occasion, Paul tenders to his
comrades and the people of the neighborhood a
fashion

in

"

grand

feast, full

of the spirit of

life s joy,

an out

pouring of gladness that lasts a whole week.

Paul s brother, his friends, and the authorities

They demand

are incensed over the carousal.

that he terminate the

Mr.

Joyce.

This

"

drunken

orgy."

a disgraceful business, Paul; the

demoralized. There is not a man

is

whole countryside is
who has come to sensible years who
Mr. Dowler. This is a flagrant

is

not drunk.

violation of all pro

My

own serv
Society is shaken to its roots.
ants have been led astray by the free drinks that are being

priety.

butler, who has been with me

given in the village.
for seven years, has not been seen for the last two days.

My

Mr.

Algie.

endorse

There has not been a

is

completely.
for the last

hay is lying in ridges where it has been cut,

It is
not a man to be found to water the cattle.

impossible to get as
lage.

sentiments

work done

The

week.
there

his

stroke of

much

as

a horse shod in the vil

William Butler Yeats

254

Paul Ruttledge.
Colonel Lawley?
Colonel Lawley.

know when law and

think you have something to say,

I
have undoubtedly. I want to
order are to be reestablished. The

police have been quite unable to cope

with the disorder.

them have themselves got drunk. If my advice
had been taken the military would have been called in.

Some

of

The

Mr. Green.

military are not indispensable

on

There are plenty of police

have wired to Dublin for them, they

occasions like the present.

We

coming now.

will be here by the four o clock train.

Paul Ruttledge. But you have not told me what you

have come here for. Is there anything I can do for
you?

Mr. Green.

We have come

to request

you to go

to the

public-houses, to stop the free drinks, to send the people

back to their work.

As

for those tinkers, the

them when the police arrive.

Paul Ruttledge. I wanted to give a

law will

deal with

my

little

pleasure to

fellow-creatures.

Mr. Dowler.

This seems rather a low form of pleas

ure.

Paul Ruttledge. I daresay it seems to you a little vio

But the poor have very few hours in which to en
joy themselves; they must take their pleasure raw; they
haven t the time to cook it. Have we not tried sobriety?
lent.

Do

you

like

it is

to

them

I found it very dull. . . . Think what

have their imagination like a blazing tarbarrel for a whole week.
Work could never bring them
it ?

to

such blessedness as that.

Where There
Mr. Dowler.

Is

Nothing

Everyone knows there

is

255

no more valua

ble blessing than work.

Paid Ruttledge decides to put

"

his visitors

on

them

see themselves as they are in all

their hypocrisy, all their corruption.
charges the military man, Colonel Lazvley,
trial,"

to let

He

with calling himself a Christian, yet following the

business of man-killing.
The Colonel is forced to
admit that he had ordered his men to fight in a
war, of the justice of which they
did not believe in, and yet it is

knew
"

nothing, or
the doctrine of

your Christian church, of your Catholic church,

that he who fights in an unjust war, knowing it to
be unjust, loses his own soul."
Of the rich man
Dowler, Paul Ruttledge demands whether he could
pass through the inside of a finger ring, and on

Paul

attention being called by one of the tinkers

Mr. Dowler, he tells him to help

to the fine coat of

himself to

Threatened by Mr. Green, the

it.

spokesman of the law, with encouraging robbery,

Ruttledge admonishes him.
Give to
Remember the commandment,
Ruttledge.
commandment
hard
and
the
him that asketh thee
goes
"

"

even farther,
take thy coat

"Him

that taketh thy cloak forbid not to

also."

But the worst indictment Ruttledge hurls against

Mr. Green.

The

other professed Christians

kill,

William Butler Yeats

256

murder, do not love their enemies, and do not give

to any man that asks of them.
But the Greens,

For the
Ruttledge says, are the worst of all.
others break the law of Christ for their own
"

pleasure, but
you take pay for breaking it; when
their goods are taken away you condemn the taker;

when they

You encourage them

smiter.

the

Law

For

are smitten on one cheek you punish the

of

in their

breaking of

Christ."

several years Ruttledge lives the life of the

But of weak physique, he finds himself

unable to withstand the rigors of the road.
His
health breaks down, and his faithful comrades
tinkers.

carry him to his native town and bring him to a

monastery where Paul is cared for by the priests.

While there he begins

to

preach a wonderful

gospel, a gospel strange to the friars and the su

so rebellious and terrible that he is de
perior,

clared a disenter, a heathen and a dangerous char

acter.

Now

Paul Ruttledge.
has come to me.
fore this altar;

can give you the message that

Lay down your palm branches be

you have brought them

as a sign that the

walls are beginning to be broken up, that we are going

For a long time
back to the joy of the green earth.
.
.
after their making men and women wandered here and
.

there, half blind

from the drunkenness of Eternity; they

had not yet forgotten that the green Earth was the Love
of God, and that all Life was the Will of God, and so

Where There

Is

Nothing

257

they wept and laughed and hated according to the impulse

They gathered the great Earth to their

of their hearts.

breasts and their

be an eternal
gan.

cause

lips,

kiss.

It

...

in what they believed would

was then that the temptation be

The men and women listened to them, and be

they had lived ... in mother wit and nat

when

ural kindness, they sometimes did one another an injury,

they thought that it would be better to be safe than to be

made the Laws. The Laws were the first

They were the first mouthful of the apple the mo
ment man had made them he began to die; we must put
out the Laws as I put out this candle. And when they
blessed, they

sin.

had lived amidst the green Earth that is the Love of

God, they were sometimes wetted by the rain, and some
times cold and hungry, and sometimes alone from one
another; they thought it would be better to be com
fortable than

to

be blessed.

houses and big towns.

They began to build

They grew wealthy and they

big
sat

chattering at their doors; and the embrace that was to

have been eternal ended.

towns

man

We

worse

must put out the

But

as I put out this candle.

that

Man

is

not

all,

for

up the
Church. We must destroy the Church, we must put it
We must destroy
out as I put out this candle.
everything that has Law and Number.
created

thing.

built

The rebel is driven from the monastery. He is

followed by only two faithful friars, his disciples,
who go among the people to disseminate the new
But the people fail to understand them.
gospel.
Immersed in darkness and superstition, they look

William Butler Yeats

258

upon these strange men as evildoers. They ac

cuse them of casting an evil spell on their cattle
and disturbing the people s peace. The path of
the crusader is thorny, and Colman, the friar dis
ciple of Paul, though faithful for a time, becomes
discouraged in the face of opposition and persecu

He

tion.

weakens.

no use stopping waiting for the wind;

s worth the people lis
we
them
to
hear it one way or an
must
bring
tening to,
what
it
is
I
was
other.
Now,
saying to Aloysius, we
must begin teaching them to make things, they never had
Those
the chance of any instruction of this sort here.
Colman.

if

we

It s

have anything to say that

we

and other things,

And we

ll

got a good training in the old days.

get a grant from the Technical Board.

Board pays up

to

The

four hundred pounds to some of

its

instructors.

Oh, I understand you will sell them.

You will
the
what
about
And
dividing of the money?
we
will
that.
laws
about
make
need to
Oh,
grow quite
Paul Ruttledge.

rich in time.

Colman.
who come

We
to

build workshops and houses for those

a distance, good houses, slated,

w ill think so much more of

They
when we have

not thatched.

our teaching

ll

work from
.

got them under our influence

by other things. Of course we will teach them their

meditations, and give them a regular religious life.
must settle out some little place for them to pray in

We

there
bell

a high gable over there where

we

could hang a

Where There

Is

Nothing

259

Paul Ruttledge. Oh, yes, I understand. You would

weave them together like this, you would add one thing
to another, laws and

money and church and bells, till you

had got everything back again that you have escaped
But

from.

it is

my

business to tear things asunder.

Brother Paul, it is what I am thinking;

now the tinkers have come back to you, you could begin
to gather a sort of an army; you can t fight your battle

Aloy sius.

without an army. They would call to the other tinkers,

and the tramps and the beggars, and the sieve-makers and
all the wandering people.
It would be a great army.

Paul Ruttledge.

Yes, that would be a great army, a

great wandering army.

The people would

we would march on

Aloysius.

then

be afraid to refuse us

Paul Ruttledge. We could march on. We could

march on the towns, and we could break up all settled or
der;

we

vidual

could bring back the old joyful, dangerous, indi

will have
would have banners.

We

life.

We

one great banner that will go in front, it will take two

men to carry it, and on it we will have Laughter
That will be the banner for the front.
Aloysius.

We

will have different troops,

we

will have captains to

organize them, to give them orders.

Paul Ruttledge.
law and number.
all

To

organize?

Organize

the mischief has been done.

That

was

cannot destroy the world with armies;

minds that

it

must be destroyed.

to bring in

is

that

organize

is

forgetting,
it

is

inside

how
we
our

William Butler Yeats

260

Deserted, Paul Ruttledge stands alone

in

his

most iconoclasts. Misunderstood

and persecuted, he finally meets his death at the
hands of the infuriated mob.
Where There Is Nothing is of great social
like

crusade,

"

"

significance, deeply revolutionary in the sense that

message of the destruction of every

institution
that
State, Property, and Church
enslaves humanity.
For where there is nothing,
it

carries the

man begins.
certain critic characterized this play as a
statement of revolt against the despotism of

there

"

Is there a

facts."

despotism more compelling and

destructive than that of the facts of property, of

the State and Church?
But "Where There Is
"

"

"

not merely a
statement
of revolt.
It embodies the spirit of revolt itself, of that most

Nothing

is

constructive revolt which begins with the destruc

tion of every obstacle in the path of the new life

that

is

to

grow on

the debris of the old,

when

the

paralyzing yoke of institutionalism shall have been

broken, and man left free to enjoy Life and

Laughter.

LENOX ROBINSON
HARVEST

HURLEY,

in

an old farmer,

and mortgages his farm

order to enable his children to lead an

slaves

all his life

idle, parasitic life.

Started on this road toward so-called culture by

the school-master. William Lordan, Hurley s chil

dren leave their father

farm and

in

due time es

tablish themselves in society as priest, lawyer, sec

retary and chemist, respectively.

The

secretary son is ashamed of his lowly origin

and denies it. The lawyer son is much more con
cerned with his motor car than with the condition

of the farm that has helped him on his feet.

The
has
for
there
to
collect
America,
departed
priest
funds for Church work.
Only Maurice, the

youngest son of Timothy Hurley, remains at home

as the farm drudge, the typical man with the hoe.
Jack Hurley, the chemist, and Timothy s only

daughter Mary, retain some loyalty to the old

place, but when they return after an absence of
years, they find themselves out of touch with farm
life, and they too turn their back on their native
261

Lenox Robinson

262

Jack Hurley s notion of the country is

nature is beautiful, the
city people
scenery lovely, so long as it is someone else who
has to labor in the scorching sun, to plow and toil
heath.

that of

most

sweat of his brow.

Jack and his wife Mildred are both extremely
romantic about the farm.
in the

Jack.

mously.
that

don

sown

ment

field of oats,

exactly

how many

...

return.

grains a stalk carries, but

I m sure
why, there s no invest
world would give you a return like that.

hundred

in the

for instance; every grain

gives a huge percentage in

know

several

farming must pay enor

stands to reason

It

Take a

But soon they discover that every grain of corn

does not yield hundreds of dollars.

You

Maurice.

can

have a

solicitor,

and a

priest,

and

a chemist in a family without spending money, and for

the last ten years you ve been all drawing money out of
the farm

there

no more

to drain

now.

Oh,

a bloody fool not to be able to

make it pay; but sure what chance have I and I never
taught how to farm? There was money and education
I

suppose you think I

wanted to make priests and doctors and gentlemen of you

all, and wasn t there money an education wanted to make
a farmer of me?
No; nothing taught me only what I
from
father
and the men, and never a bit of
picked up
my
fresh money to put into the farm only it all kept to make
a solicitor of Bob and a chemist of you.

Harvest

263

During Jack s visit to the farm a fire breaks out

and several buildings on the place are destroyed.

Much to the

horror of the well-bred Jack, he learns

that his father himself had lit the match in order

He

"

to get

compensation."

sternly upbraids the

old farmer.

Didn

Jack.

you

see yourself
did, but

how

dishonest it was?
saw something more,

Timothy. Maybe
and that was that I was on the way
I

to being put out of

the farm.

Jack is outraged; he threatens to inform on his

own people and offers to stay on the farm to help
with the work.
But two weeks experience in the
field beneath the burning sun is more than delicate
Jack can stand. He suffers fainting spells, and
is in the end prevailed upon by his wife to leave.

Mary, old Hurley s daughter, also returns to the

farm for rest and quiet. But she finds no peace
there, for the city is too much in her blood. There
is,

moreover, another lure she cannot escape.

Mary. I was too well educated to be a servant, and

was never happy as one, so to better myself I learned

typing.

how

hard

it

It s

a hard

was, and

life,

was

Jack, and I soon found out

as dissatisfied as ever.

there only seemed one

my

employer,

mean.

my eyes open.
typing and went in for this

with

Then

... and he ...

way out of
... I went into it deliberately
You see, a woman I knew chucked
it

and

saw what a

splen-

Lenox Robinson

264

did time she had, and

miserably unhappy

how happy she was

and how she had

wanted and

and

was

so

everything she

I had nothing, and

and
But this
made me unhappy, too, and so in desperation I came
home; but I ve grown too far away from it all, and now
.

life

Don

going back.

here.

thought

old simple

life it

you

see,

Jack,

not happy

could get home to the farm and the

would be all right, but it isn t. Every
if I

thing jars on me, the roughness and the hard living and
the coarse food
but they make
oh, it seems ridiculous
me physically ill. I always thought, if I could get away

home

to Knockmalgloss I could start fair again.

came home, and everything is the same, and every
one thinks that I m as pure and innocent as when I went

So

away, but

want

but

to go back.

But, Jack, the dreadful thing

...

I
longing for that
excitement and splendor and color.

is

its

life,

and

In her misery and struggle a great faith sus

Mary and keeps her from ruin. It is the

tains

thought of her father, in whom she believes im

plicitly as her ideal of honesty, strength and incor
ruptibility.

The shock

is

terrible

when

she learns

that her father, even her father, has fallen a victim

to the cruel struggle of life,
that her father him
self set fire to the buildings.

Mary.
so

And

unspoiled!

I
.

thought he was so simple, so innocent,

Father, the simple, honest peasant,

the only decent one of us.

contrast!

we

re all

His

unselfishness,

equally bad

now

I cried all last night at the

his

simplicity.

he and I

we

Why,

both

sell

Harvest

265

ourselves, he for the price of those old houses

a few years of splendor and happiness.

The

and

I for

whom

only one

life seems to teach nothing

Schoolmaster Lordan.
Oblivious of the stress
and storm of reality, he continues to be enraptured
with education, with culture, with the opportunities
is

offered by the large cities.

proud of the Hurley children.
Lordan.
if

He

The way you

every boy and

girl I

feel

content and satisfied

you and saw what

Lordan.

no

less.

...

Isn
It

it

particularly

ve all got on
I tell you what,
ever taught had turned out a fail

when
made of you.
Mary. What you ve made of us?
really know what you ve made of us?
ure

is

looked at

wonder do you

all

of

ve

One with

easily seen?

was good, sound

in the little schoolhouse

and

it s

a motor car,

seed I sowed long ago

to-day you re

all

reaping

the harvest.
"

Harvest

"

grim picture of civilization in

its especially demoralizing effects upon the people
who spring from the soil. The mock culture and
shallow education which inspire peasant folk with
awe, which lure the children away from home,
only to crush the vitality out of them or to turn
them into cowards and compromisers. The trag
is

edy of a civilization that dooms the tillers of the

soil to a dreary monotony of hard toil with little
return, or charms them to destruction with the

Lenox Robinson

266
false

glow of

city culture

and ease

Greater

still

this

tragedy in a country like Ireland, its people

taxed to the very marrow and exploited to the

verge of starvation, leaving the young genera

tion

no opening, no opportunity

It is inevitable that the sons

in life.

and daughters of

Ireland, robust in body and spirit, yearning for

For
things better and bigger, should desert her.
as

"

Mary

says,

When

dark and cold and

light and warmth

the sun sets here, it s all so

But the young need

dreary."

and these are not

in

the

valley of ever-present misery and want.

Harvest
is an expressive picture of the so
"

"

background of the Irish people, a background

somber and unpromising but for the streak of
dawn that pierces that country s dark horizon in
the form of the inherent and irrepressible fighting
cial

spirit of the true

revolt

whose

out, all the

Irishman, the spirit of the Fenian

often slumber but are never put

fires

ravages of our false civilization not

withstanding.

T. G.

MURRAY

MAURICE HARTE

M-AURICE

"T*

^k
-^-

^r

/|| most

HARTE" portrays the

which holds the

sinister force

Irish people in

-^-of

awe

that heaviest

all

bondage, priestcraft.
Michael Harte, his wife Ellen, and their son
Owen are bent on one purpose; to make a priest
of their youngest child Maurice.
The mother es
pecially has

her son

no other ambition

No

"

in life

than to see

to most
priested."
higher
Catholic mothers than to consecrate their favorite
ideal

son to the glory of God.

What it has cost the Hartes to attain their

am

revealed by Ellen Harte in the

conversation with her sister and later with her
bition

and hope

is

husband, when he informs her that he cannot bor

row any more money

to continue the

boy

in the

seminary.
If Michael and myself have our son
this
a
priest
day, tis no small price at all we have
nearly
Isn
t it the terrible thing, every time you
for
it.
...
paid
look through that window, to have the fear in your heart

Mrs. Harte.

267

268

T. G.

that

Murray

the process-server you

tis

ll

and he coming up

see

the boreen?

Old Harte impoverishes himself to enable his

son to finish his studies. He has borrowed right
and

till

left,

his resources are

But he

hausted.

is

now

entirely ex

compelled to try another

loan.

Michael.
He made out twas as good as insulting him
making such a small payment, and the money that s on us
to be so heavy.
If you don t wish to sign that note,"
says he,
you needn t. It don t matter at all to me one
"

"

way

or the other, for before the next Quarter Sessions

Andy

Driscoll, the process-server, will be marching

up to your door." So what could I do but sign ? Why,
twas how he turned on me in a red passion.
And
tis

"

isn

t it

a scandal, Michael

you, with your

dred and

"

Harte,"

says he,

name on them books

for the like

there for a

hun

pounds, and you with only the grass of nine

or ten cows, to be making your son a priest? The like of
was never heard of before."
says he,
fifty

"

it,"

Mrs. Harte.

What

business

know?

Jealous of us! There

will ever be anything much

was
no

it

of his, I d like to

fear any of his sons

was thinking it might do Maurice some

Bishop if it came out on the papers that

Michael.

harm with

the

we were up

before the judge for a civil

Mrs. Harte.
that I had

Tisn

bill.

once or twice

told

heart set on hearing Maurice say the

riage words over his own brother.

my

you

mar

Maurice Harte

269

Maurice comes home for the summer vacation,

His mother ascribes
looking pale and emaciated.
his condition to the bad
city air and hard study at
school.
But Maurice suffers from a different
cause.
His is a mental struggle the maddening
:

struggle of doubt, the realization that he has lost

his faith, that he has no vocation, and that he must

He knows how fa
give up his divinity studies.
bent
his
are
on having him or
natically
people
and
he
is
tortured
dained,
by the grief his decision
His heart is breaking as he
inform them.
He reasons and pleads with his parents and im
But
plores them not to drive him back to college.
they cannot understand.
They remain deaf to his
will cause his parents.
at last determines to

arguments; pitifully they beg him not to fail them,

not to disappoint the hope of a lifetime.
When it
all proves of no avail, they finally disclose to

Maurice

their gnawing secret: the farm has been

mortgaged and many debts incurred for the sake
of enabling him to attain to the priesthood.

Maurice, would you break our hearts?

Father, would you have your son live a

Michael.

Maurice.
of sacrilege?

Would

Mrs. Harte.

every bit as good as the next?

Maurice. I may be, but

My mind

is

finally

Mrs. Harte.

Would you?

you, Father?

That s only

made

foolish

life

haven

talk.

Aren

you

a vocation.

up.

Maurice,

listen

to

me

listen

to

me!

T. G.

270
.

If

it

Murray

went out about you

this day, isn

it

destroyed

we d be? Look! The story wouldn t be east in

Macroom when we d have the bailiffs walking in that
door.
The whole world knows he is to be priested next
forever

June, and only for the great respect they have for us

through the means o that, tisn t James McCarthy alone,

but every other one o them would come down on us
In one week there wouldn

straight for their money.

be a cow

left

should

...
know how we

wouldn

at all!

nor a horse, nor a lamb, nor anything

by
Look at them books.
Tis about time you
us,

stand

here.

God

knows,

be hard on you at all, but look at the great load

that s on us this day, and mostly all on your ac

money

count.

Maurice.

Mother, don

make my

cross

harder

to

bear.

Mrs. Harte. An would you be seeing a heavier cross

put on them that did all that mortal man and woman
could do for you?

Maurice.
in pity spare

Look!
me!

And

Mrs. Harte.
and on

Owen

I ll

wear the

my

flesh off

bones, but

will you have no pity at all on us

that have slaved

here,

for

you

all

our

lives ?

Mother
Mrs. Harte. You

Maurice.
Maurice.
Michael.
will

come

to

Mother

ll

Tis only a mistake?

you ll kill me.

go back?

Heaven!
.
Great God
You ll go back, Maurice?
of

you

in

The

vocation

time with the help of God.

It will,

surely.

Maurice.

Don

ask

me!

Don

ask

me!

Maurice Harte
Mrs. Harte.
this

door or

you don t how can I ever face outside

head again ?
.
.
How could I listen

If

my

lift

to the neighbors

making

pity for me,

tell

dead a thousand times

you, Maurice,
in the

and many a one o

How

them only glad in their hearts?

again into town o Macroom?
Maurice. Oh, don t.

Mrs. Harte.

271

could

ever face

d rather be lying

graveyard over Killnamar-

tyra

Maurice.
as

as

you

Stop,
all

Mother, stop!

wish

I ll

I ll

go back

it.

Nine months later there is general rejoicing at

Maurice has passed his examina

the Hartes

tions with flying colors; he

and he is to officiate at the

about to be ordained,
his brother

is

wedding of

Owen and

his wealthy bride.

Ellen Harte plans to give her son a royal wel
come.
Great preparations are on foot to greet

the return of Maurice.

He

comes back

not in

the glory and triumph expected by his people, but

a driveling idiot.
His mental struggle, the agony

of whipping himself to the hated task, proved too

much for him, and Maurice is sacrificed on the
altar of superstition and submission to paternal
authority.
Mau
In the whole range of the Irish drama
rice Harte
is the most Irish, because nowhere
"

"

does Catholicism

demand

that unfortunate land.

so

But

many

in a

victims as in

deeper sense the

T. G.

272
play

is

Murray

of that social importance that knows no

limit of race or creed.

There

is

no boundary of land or time

sistance of the

human mind

to coercion;

to the re

it is

world

wide.

Equally so is the rebellion of youth against

the tyranny of parents.
But above all does this

play mirror the self-centered, narrow, ambitious

love of the mother, so disastrous to the happiness
and peace of her child. For it is Ellen Harte,

who forces Maurice back to

From whatever viewpoint, however,

rather than the father,

his studies.
"

Maurice Harte

"

be considered, it carries a
dramatically powerful message of wide social sig
nificance.

THE RUSSIAN DRAMA

of

outside

Russia,

especially

Anglo-Saxons, have one great objection

to the Russian drama it is too sad, too

PEOPLE
gloomy.

It

is

often asked,

"

Why

is

the

Russian drama so pessimistic?

The answer is:
the Russian drama, like all Russian culture, has
been conceived in the sorrow of the people; it was
"

born

in their

woe and

Anything thus

struggle.

conceived cannot be very joyous or amusing.

It is no exaggeration to say that in no other
country are the creative artists so interwoven, so
much at one with the people. This is not only

men

true of

Turgenev, Tolstoy and the dram

It applies also to Gogol,
and
Dead Souls
The Inspector
like

atists

of modern times.

who

in

"

"

"

"

behalf of the people, appealing to the

The same is true of Dosconscience of Russia.

spoke

in

toyevsky, of the poets Nekrassov, Nadson, and

In fact, all the great Russian artists have
others.
gone to the people for their inspiration, as to the

That explains the depth and

all life.
the humanity of Russian literature.

source of

273

The Russian Drama

274

The modern drama

naturally suggests

Henrik

But prior to him, Gogol

pioneer.
utilized the drama as a vehicle for popularizing the
Ibsen as
social

its

issues of his time.

In

"

The

Inspector,"

(Revizor) he portrays the corruption, graft and

extortion rampant in the governmental depart
ments.
If we were to Anglicize the names of the
characters in

moment

that

"

it

The
was

Inspector,"

a Russian

and forget for a

who wrote

the play,

would apply with

similar force to present-day America, and to every
other modern country.
Gogol touched the deep
est sores of social magnitude and marked the be

the criticism contained therein

ginning of the realistic drama in Russia.

However, it is not within the scope of this work
to discuss the drama of Gogol s era.
I shall be
gin with Tolstoy, because he is closer to our own
generation, and voices more definitely the social
significance of the modern drama.

TOLSTOY
Leo Tolstoy

died, the represen

Church proclaimed him

as their own.
He was with
said.
It
reminds
one of the
they
Russian fable about the fly and the ox.
The fly
was lazily resting on the horn of the ox while he
tatives of the

WHEN

plowed the

field,

exhausted with

been

plowing."

"

us,"

when

but

toil,

The

the ox returned
"

home

We

have
bragged,
spokesmen of the Church

the

fly

are, in relation to Tolstoy, in the same position.

It is true that Tolstoy based his conception of hu

man

relationships on a

Gospels.

But he was

new

interpretation of the

as far

removed from pres

ent-day Christianity as Jesus was alien to the

tutional religion of his time.

insti

Tolstoy was the last true Christian, and as such

he undermined the stronghold of the Church with
all its pernicious power of darkness, with all its
injustice

and

cruelty.

For this he was persecuted by the Holy Synod

and excommunicated from the Church; for this
he was feared by the Tsar and his henchmen; for
this his works have been condemned and pro
hibited.
275

Tolstoy

276

The

only reason Tolstoy himself escaped the

of other great Russians was that he was
mightier than the Church, mightier than the ducal
fate

He was the
mightier even than the Tsar.
of
conscience
Russia
exposing her
powerful

clique,

crimes and evils before the civilized world.

How deeply Tolstoy felt the grave problems

of his time, how closely related he was to the peo
ple, he demonstrated in various works, but in
none so strikingly as

"

in

The Power

of

Dark

ness."

THE POWER OF DARKNESS

THE POWER OF DARKNESS

"

is the tragedy of
It deals with
sordid misery and dense ignorance.
a group of peasants steeped in poverty and utter
This appalling condition, especially in
darkness.
"

relation to the

women

folk, is

expressed by one

of the characters in the play:

Mitrich.

There

are millions of you

anything.

man

women and

girls,

Just as one
She has neither seen or heard

the beasts of the forest.

but you are

has been born, so she
all like

dies.

will learn something;

if

nowhere

else,

by some chance, in prison, or in the

But what about a woman? She does

at least in the inn, or

army, as I have.
not know a thing about God,
nay, she does not know
from
another.
one day
They creep about like blind pups,
and stick their heads into the manure.

The Power
Peter, a rich peasant,

Yet he

of Darkness
is

in a

money and

clings to his

277

dying condition.
slave-drives his

young wife, Anisya, his two daughters by a

marriage, and his peasant servant Nikita.

first

He

them any rest from their toil, for

the greed of money is in his blood and the fear

will not allow

of death in his bones,

Anisya hates her husband:

is old and ill.
She
loves Nikita.
The latter, young and irresponsi
ble, cannot resist women, who are his main weak
ness and final undoing.
Before he came to old
Peter s farm, he had wronged an orphan girl.
When she becomes pregnant, she appeals to Nikita s father, Akim, a simple and honest peasant.
he forces her to drudge, and he

He

urges his son to marry the

a sin to wrong an orphan.

girl,

because

"

it is

Look

out, Nikita!
tear of offense does not flow past, but upon a

man

with

you."

head.

Look

out,

or the same will happen

Akim s kindness and simplicity are opposed by

the viciousness and greed of his wife Matrena.
Nikita remains on the farm, and Anisya, urged
and influenced by his mother, poisons old Peter
and steals his money.
When her husband dies, Anisya marries Nikita
and turns the money over to him. Nikita be
comes the head of the house, and soon proves him
Idleness and affluence
self a rake and a tyrant.

278

Tolstoy

undermine

whatever

good

is

latent

him.

in

the destroyer of souls, together with the

consciousness that he has been indirectly a party
to Anisya s crime, turn Nikita s love for the

Money,

woman

into bitter hatred.

He

takes for his mis

tress Akulina, Peter s oldest daughter, a girl of six

teen, deaf and silly, and forces Anisya to serve

She had strength to resist her old husband,

but her love for Nikita has made her weak.
them.

The moment I see him my heart softens. I have

no courage against him."
Old Akim comes to ask for a little money from
his

newly rich son.

He

quickly senses the

swamp

of corruption and vice into which Nikita has sunk.

He tries to save him, to bring him back to himself,

But he

to arouse the better side of his nature.

fails.

The ways

of

life

are too evil for

He

Akim.

leaves, refusing even the money he needs so badly

to purchase a horse.

One

holds on to another and pulls you

You are stuck, I
Nikita, you are stuck in sins.
along.
I have
in
so
to
sins.
You
are
stuck
speak.
see,
fast,

Akim.

sin

heard that nowadays they pull fathers beards, so to speak,

.
.
but this leads only to ruin, to ruin, so to speak.
.

There

will go and beg, so to speak,

your money.
Let me
but I will not, so to speak, take the money. .
.
near
the
I
will
not
I
would
rather
sleep
go!
stay!
is

fence than in your nastiness.

The Power
The

Darkness

of

279

type of Akim is most vividly characterized

in the talk between the old
peasant and

by Tolstoy
the

new

help on the farm.

Mitrich.

Let

money, and
is

it

I,

spring,

us

for

suppose,

for example, have

and

example,

you

have

my

land lying fallow;

have no seed; or I have to pay the

come

to you, and say:

"Akim, give me ten
will have the harvest in by St. Mary s Inter
cession and then I will give it back to you, with a tithe
for the accommodation."
You, for example, see that I

So

taxes.

roubles!

can be

flayed, having a horse or a cow, so you say:

Give me two or three roubles for the accommodation."
The noose is around my neck, and I cannot get along
without it.
I will take the ten
Very well," says I,
"

"

"

In the

roubles."

fall I sell

the money, and you skin

some

me

things,

and

bring you

for three rou

in addition

bles.

But

Akim.

this

so to speak, a

is,

If one forgets

ant.

God,

wrong done

so to speak,

it is

to a peas

not good.

Mitrich. Wait a minute! So remember what you

have done: you have fleeced me, so to speak, and Anisya,
She
for example, has some money which is lying idle.
has no place to put

know what

to
"

I,"

says she,

in and,

it

do with

it.

make some

And

being a

woman,

So she comes to you :

use of

my money?

"

does not
"

Can

"

Yes, you

you wait. Next summer I come

Give me another ten roubles," says
to you once more.
and I will pay you for the accommodation." So you
I,
watch me to see whether my hide has not been turned
if I can, you give
yet, whether I can be flayed again, and
can,"

you

say.

"

"

so

280

Tolstoy

me Anisya s money.
and nothing

to eat,

But

have not a blessed thing,

if

you make your

calculations,

that I cannot be skinned, and you say:

"

and
my brother
whom to give Anisya s
you,

Now
It

is

this

What

Akim.

is

this?

If a peasant, so to speak,

regard

So

my

it

keeps going around.

friend.

This

were

is

a nastiness, so to speak.

to do

as a sin, so to speak.

Law, not according

the

to the

it,

This

Law,

the peasants
is

would

not according to

so to speak.

It is

How

can the learned men, so to speak

... As
look at it, so to speak, there is trouble without money,

bad.
I

it

seeing

be with

you look out for another man to

money, and whom you can flay.

called a bank.

is

a very clever thing,

"God

so to speak, and with

speak.

money

God

has

money
commanded

the trouble
to

in the bank, so to speak,

and

is

double, so to

But you put the

work.

lie

down

to sleep,

and the money will feed you, so to speak, while you are
This is bad,
not according to the Law, so to
lying.
speak.

Mitrich.
Not according to the Law? The Law does
not trouble people nowadays, my friend. All they think
about is how to clean out a fellow. That s what
!

As long
the

as Akulina s condition

relation

is

not noticeable,

of Nikita with his dead master

remains

hidden

from the neighbors.

daughter
But the time comes when she

is to give birth to a
then that Anisya becomes mistress of
the situation again.
Her hatred for Akulina, her

child.

It is

outraged love for Nikita and the evil spirit of Nikita s mother all combine to turn her into a fiend.

The Power

of Darkness

281

Akullna

is driven to the barn, where her terrible

labor pains are stifled by the dread of her step
mother. When the innocent victim is born, Ni-

kita s vicious

that the child

mother and Anisya persuade him

dead and force him to bury it in

is

the cellar.

While Nikita
the deception.

is

digging the grave, he discovers

The

child

is

The

alive!

terrible

shock unnerves the man, and in temporary madness

he presses a board over the little body till its bones
crunch.
Superstition, horror and the perfidy of
the

women

drown

drive Nikita to drink in an attempt to

the baby

cries constantly

ringing in his

ears.

The

last act deals

with Akulina

wedding

to the

son of a neighbor.
She is forced into the mar
The peasants
of
her
misfortune.
because
riage
all gather for the occasion, but Nikita is missing:

he roams the place haunted by the horrible phan

tom of his murdered child. He attempts to hang
himself but

fails,

and

the entire assembly

Nikita.

finally decides to

Father, listen to me!

look at me!

am

guilty

First of

all, Marina,
had promised
deceived you and

toward you:

marry you, and I seduced you. I

abandoned you; forgive me for Christ
to

sake!

Oh, oh, he is bewitched. What is the mat

with him? He has the evil eye upon him. Get up

Matrena.
ter

go before

to confess his crimes.

and stop talking nonsense!

282

Tolstoy

Nikifa.

also

her baby.

You

man!

debauch

"

But,

lost."

your father, and I, dog, have ruined

had the power over her, and I killed

I killed

his daughter.

I
.

told me,

When
I,

Father dear!

when

the claw

Forgive me, sinful

on this life of

I first started
is

caught, the whole bird

so everything turned out as you said.

Christ

The

is

dog, did not pay any attention to you, and

Forgive me, for

sake.
"

Power of Darkness

"

is

a terrible picture

of poverty, ignorance and superstition.

To write
such a work it is not sufficient to be a creative art
requires a deeply sympathetic human soul.
Tolstoy possessed both. He understood that the
ist: it

tragedy of the peasants life is due not to any in

herent viciousness but to the power of darkness

which permeates their existence from the cradle

the grave.
Something heavy is oppressing
in the words of Anlsya
them
weighing them
down, something that saps all humanity out of
them and drives them into the depths.
The Power of Darkness is a social picture
at once appalling and gripping.

to

"

"

ANTON TCHEKHOF
Anton Tchekhof
no

first

came

to

an authority than
said:
"Russia
has given
Tolstoy
birth to another Turgenev."
The
the

fore,

WHEN

less

estimate was not overdrawn.

Tchekhof was in
deed a modern Turgenev. Perhaps not as uni
versal, because Turgenev, having lived in western
Europe, in close contact with conditions outside of
Russia, dealt with

But as

a creative

his place

more variegated aspects

artist Tchekhof is fitted

of

life.

to take

with Turgenev.

Tchekhof is preeminently the master of short

Within the limits of a few pages he paints
the drama of human life with its manifold tragic
and comic colors, in its most intimate reflex upon

stories.

who pass through the panorama.

has been called a pessimist. As if one could
miss the sun without feeling the torture of utter
the characters

He

darkness

Tchekhof wrote during the gloomiest period of

Russian life, at a time when the reaction had
drowned the revolution in the blood of the young
when the Tsar had choked the very
generation,
283

Anton Tchekhof

284

breath out of young Russia.

The intellectuals
were deprived of every outlet: all the social chan
nels were closed to them, and they found them
selves without

to

faith, not having yet learned

cause with the people.
could not escape the atmosphere

hope or

make common
Tchekhof

which darkened the horizon of almost the whole of

Russia.
It was because he so intensely felt its
oppressive weight that he longed for air, for light,
for new and vital ideas.
To awaken the same

yearning and faith in others, he had to picture life

as it was, in all its wretchedness and horror.
This he did in
The Seagull," while in The
"

"

he holds out the hope of a new

Cherry Orchard
and brighter day.
"

THE SEAGULL
IN

"

The

"

the young artist, ConstanSeagull

tine Treplef, seeks new forms, new modes of ex
He is tired of the old academic ways,
pression.

the beaten track; he is disgusted with the endless

imitative methods, no one apparently capable of an
original thought.

is

Constantine has written a play; the principal part

to be acted by Nina, a beautiful girl with whom

Constantine

is

in love.

He

arranges the

first

formance to take place on the occasion of

mother s vacation in the country.

per
his

The Seagull

285

She herself
known as Mme. Arcadina
is a
famous actress of the old school. She knows how
to show off her charms to advantage, to parade her
beautiful gowns, to faint and die gracefully before
the footlights; but she does not know how to live
her part on the stage. Mme. Arcadina is the type

of artist

who

lacks

all

conception of the relation

between art and life. Barren of vision and empty

of heart, her only criterion is public approval and
material success.
Needless to say, she cannot un
derstand her son.
She considers him decadent,
a foolish rebel who wants to undermine the settled
canons of dramatic art.
Constantine sums up his
mother s personality in the following manner
:

Treplef.

She

is

a psychological curiosity, is my mother.

woman, who can cry over a novel,

clever and gifted

will reel you off all Nekrassov s poems by heart, and

is

the

perfection of a sick nurse; but venture to praise Eleonora

Duse before her! Oho! ho! You must praise nobody

but her, write about her, shout about her, and go into
ecstasies over her wonderful performance in La Dame aux
Carnelias, or

these

she

The Fumes

of Life; but as she cannot have

intoxicating pleasures

down

bored and gets spiteful.

she thinks that she

and her sacred

is

here in
.

the

country,

She loves the stage;

advancing the cause of humanity

art; but I regard the stage of to-day as

mere routine and prejudice. When the curtain goes up

and the gifted beings, the high priests of the sacred art,
appear by electric light, in a room with three sides to it,
representing how people eat, drink, love, walk and wear

Anton Tchekhof

286
their jackets;

from the
a

flat,

when they strive to squeeze out a moral

vulgar pictures and the flat, vulgar phrases,

tiny moral, easy to

little

home consumption, when

offer

me

comprehend and handy for

a thousand variations they

in

always the same thing over and over and over

then I take to my heels and run, as Maupassant

again
ran from the Eiffel Tower, which crushed his brain by its
must have new for
overwhelming vulgarity. . .
.

That

mulas.

then

it s

We

what we want.

better to have nothing at

With Mme. Arcadina

And

if

there are none,

all.

her lover, Trigorin, a

he began his literary
But
career, he possessed originality and strength.
successful writer.

is

When

gradually writing became a habit: the publishers

constantly demand new books, and he supplies

them.

Oh, the slavery of being an

arrived

new

forging
"

seller

"

"

artist,
"

chains for oneself with every

best
Such is the position of Trigorin he
:

work

as the worst drudgery.

Exhausted
of ideas, all life and human relations serve him

hates his

only as material for copy.

Nina, innocent of the ways of the world and
saturated with the false romanticism of Trigorin s
works, does not see the man but the celebrated art
ist.
She is carried away by his fame and stirred

by

his presence;

an infatuation with him quickly

To her

replaces her affection for Constantine.

The Seagull

287

Trigorin embodies her dream of a brilliant and

teresting

How

Nina.

are

different

in

life.
I

envy you,

the

of

lots

you but knew

if

different

How

it!

Some can

people!

hardly drag on their tedious, insignificant existence; they

are all alike, all miserable; others, like you, for instance
are blessed with a brilliant,
you are one in a million
interesting
.

life,

What

What

Trigorin.
I

night

You

are happy.

there so fine about it?

Day and

all full of

a delightful

am

must write,

is

meaning.

life

yours

is!

obsessed by the same persistent thought; I

must write,

must

write.

No

sooner

one story than I am somehow compelled to

write another, then a third, and after the third a fourth.
... I have no rest for myself; I feel that I am devour
have

I finished

my own

ing

life.

an

irresistible desire to write.

than a landscape painter;

country,
I

ve never

have the feeling for nature;

love the people;

am bound

satisfied

a citizen as well;
feel that if I

to speak of the people, of

its

future, to speak of science, of the rights of

and

speak about

it all,

in return by everyone;

myself.

wakes a passion in me,

But I am something more
it

am

love

suffering, of

man,

my

a writer
its

etc., etc.;

am attacked angrily
dart from side to side like a fox

volubly, and

run down by hounds I see that life and science fly farther
and farther ahead of me, and I fall farther and farther
behind, like the countryman running after the train; and
;

in the

end

I feel that the

landscape, and

in

false to the very

only thing

everything

marrow

of

else

my

can write of

am

bones.

is

untrue to

the
life,

Anton Tchekhof

288

Constantine realizes that Nina

from him.

The

situation

is

is

slipping

away

aggravated by the

constant friction with his mother and his despair

at the lack of encouragement for his art.
In a fit

of despondency he attempts suicide, but without

His mother, although nursing him back
to health, is infuriated at her son s
foolishness,"
success.

"

his inability to

practical ideas.

adapt himself to conditions, his im

She decides to leave, accompanied

by Trigorin. On the day of their departure Nina

and Trigorin meet once more. The girl tells him
of her ambition to become an actress, and, encour
aged by him, follows him to the city.

Two

years later Mme. Arcadina, still full of her

idle triumphs, returns to her estate.
Trigorin is

again with her still haunted by the need of copy.

Constantine has in the interim matured consider
ably.

Although he has made himself heard

as a

writer, he nevertheless feels that life to-day has no

place for such as he: that sincerity in art is not

wanted.

His mother

is

with him, but she only

serves to emphasize the flatness of his surround

He loves her, but her ways jar him and
ings.
drive him into seclusion.

Nina, too, has returned to her native place,

broken in body and spirit. Partly because of the
memory of her past affection for Constantine, and

mainly because she learns of Trigorin

she

is

drawn

to the place

presence,

where two years before

The Seagull

289

she had dreamed of the beauty of an artistic career.

cruel struggle for recognition, the bitter dis

The

appointment in her relation with Trigorin, the care

of a child and poor health have combined to change
the romantic child into a sad woman.
still loves her.
He pleads with her
with
to
But it
him,
go away
begin a new life.
too late.
The lure of the footlights is beckon

Cons tan tine

to
is

ing to
tine,

Nina; she returns

Constan-

to the stage.

unable to stand the loneliness of his

the mercenary

demands upon

life

and

his art, kills himself.

To

the Anglo-Saxon mind such an ending is pes

defeat.
simism,
Often, however, apparent de
feat

is

in reality the truest success.

For

is

not suc

commonly understood, but too frequently

at
the expense of character and idealism?
bought
The Seagull is not defeat. As long as there
cess, as

"

is still

"

such material in society as the Constantines

rather die than

men and women who would

compromise with the sordidness of life

hope for humanity. If the Constantines

there

is

perish,

it

our indifference to, and lack

is the social fault,
of appreciation of, the real values that alone ad
vance the fuller and more complete life of the race.

Anton Tchekhof

290

THE CHERRY ORCHARD

"

THE CHERRY ORCHARD

"

is

Tchekhof s pro

In this play he depicts three stages

phetic song.

of social development and their reflex in literature.

Mme. Ranevsky, the owner of the cherry or
chard, an estate celebrated far and wide for its
beauty and historic traditions, is deeply attached to
the family place.

She loves

it

for

its

romanticism

nightingales sing in the orchard, accompanying the

wooing of lovers. She is devoted to it because of

memory of her ancestors and because of the

many tender ties which bind her to the orchard.
The same feeling and reverence is entertained by
her brother Leonid Gayef. They are expressed in
the Ode to an Old Family Cupboard:
the

Gayef.
glory to

Beloved and venerable cupboard; honor and

your existence, which for more than a hundred

years has been directed to the noble ideals of justice and

virtue.

Your

weakened

silent

summons

in all these

the courage

of succeeding

you have upheld

to profitable labor has

hundred

years.

You have

generations of

faith in a better future

human

never

upheld
kind;

and cherished

in

us ideals of goodness and social consciousness.

But the social consciousness of Gayef and of his

of a paternal nature: the attitude of the
It is a paternalism
aristocracy toward its serfs.
that takes no account of the freedom and happiness
of the people,
the romanticism of a dying class.
sister is

The Cherry Orchard

Mme. Ranevsky
orchard

is

The

impoverished.

heavily mortgaged and

is

291

as

cherry

romance and

sentiment cannot liquidate debts, the beautiful es

tate falls into the cruel hands of commercialism.

The merchant Yermolai Lopakhin

He

place.

possession.

from the

buys the
over his newly acquired
the owner
he who had risen

in ecstasy

is

He

serfs of the

former master of the or

chard!
Lopakhin. Just think of it! The cherry orchard is
mine! Mine! Tell me that I m drunk; tell me that I m
off my head; tell me that it s all a dream! ... If only

my

father

and

my

grandfather could

rise

from their

graves and see the whole affair, how their Yermolai, their
flogged and ignorant Yermolai, who used to run about
barefooted in the winter, how this same Yermolai had

bought a property that hasn

in the whole world!

where
where

my

weren

its equal for beauty any

have bought the property

father and grandfather were slaves, where they

even allowed into the kitchen.

new epoch

begins

in the

cherry orchard.

On

the ruins of romanticism and aristocratic ease there

commercialism, its iron hand yoking nature,

devastating her beauty, and robbing her of all
rises

radiance.

With the greed of rich returns, Lopakhin cries,

Lay the ax to the cherry orchard, come and see
We ll fill the place with
the trees fall down!
"

villas."

Anton Tchekhof

292

Materialism reigns supreme; it lords the or

chard with mighty hand, and in the frenzy of its
triumph believes itself in control of the bodies and
souls of

men.

But

madness of conquest

in the

it

has discounted a stubborn obstacle

the spirit of
idealism.
It is symbolized in Peter Trophimof,
perpetual student," and Anya, the young
wonderful
daughter of Mine. Ranevsky. The
"

the

"

of the materialistic age do not en

thuse them; they have emancipated themselves
from the Lopakhin idol as well as from their aristo

achievements

"

cratic traditions.

Why

Any a.
orchard as
there

did

was no

that I

it

is

no longer love the cherry

used to love

it

so tenderly

thought

better place on earth than our garden.

our garden. The earth is

wonderful places. Think,
Anya, your grandfather, your great-grandfather and all
your ancestors were serf-owners, owners of living souls.

Trophimof.

All Russia

great and beautiful

Do

not

human

it is

is

full of

look out at you from every tree in

?
Do you not

spirits

the orchard, from every leaf and every stem

hear

human

voices?

chard frightens me.

Oh!

When

it

is

terrible.

walk through

Your
it

in

or
the

rugged bark on the trees glows

and the cherry trees seem to see all that
happened a hundred and two hundred years ago in pain
ful and oppressive dreams.
Well, well, we have fallen

evening or
with a dim

at least

at night, the
light,

two hundred years beyond the

achieved nothing at

all as yet;

minds how we stand with the

times.

We

have

we have not made up our

past; we only philosophize,

The Cherry Orchard

complain of boredom, or drink vodka. It
before we can live in the present, we must

and have done with

past,

The

Anya.

be our house;

is

so plain that,

first

redeem the

it.

live in has

long since ceased to

I shall

go away.
you have the household keys, throw
the well and go away.
Be free, be free as the
If

Trophimof.

them

we

house

293

in

I am hungry as the winter; I am sick, anxious,

a
Fate has tossed me hither and thither;
poor
beggar.
I have been everywhere, everywhere.
But everywhere I

...

wind.

as

have been, every minute, day and night,

full of

mysterious anticipations.

Anya;

happiness,

wards

see

it

it,

And

what does

if
it

feel

coming ...

us, nearer and nearer;

footsteps.

know

we do

soul has been

the approach of
it

is

it,

if

we do

Others will see

And

even

if

the

its

not

it.

The new generation, on the threshold of

new epoch, hears the approaching footsteps of
Future.

to

coming

can hear the sound of

not see

matter?

my

the
the

Anyas and Trophimofs

of to-day will not see it, others will.

It was not given to Anton Tchekhof to see it
But his prophetic vision be
with his bodily eyes.
held the coming of the
ful pen he proclaimed

New
it,

Day, and with power

that others might see

it.

Far from being

a pessimist, as charged by unintelli

gent critics, his faith was strong in the possibilities

of liberty.

This

is

Orchard."

the inspiring message of

"

The Cherry

MAXIM GORKI
A NIGHT S LODGING
America are conversant with
of
tramp literature. A number
writers of considerable note have de
scribed what is commonly called the
underworld, among them Josiah Flynt and Jack
London, who have ably interpreted the life and
But with all due re
psychology of the outcast.
for
be said that, after
their
it
must
spect
ability,
in

WE

they wrote only as onlookers, as observers.

They were not tramps themselves, in the real sense
all,

The Children of the Abyss

London
that when he stood in the
relates
Jack
breadline, he had money, a room in a good hotel,
of the word.

In

"

"

and a change of linen at hand. He was therefore

not an integral part of the underworld, of the
homeless and hopeless.

Never before has anyone given such

true,

picture of the social depths as Maxim

himself
a denizen of the underworld from
Gorki,
his early childhood.
At the age of eight he ran
realistic

away from

his poverty-stricken, dismal

294

home, and

A
for

many

Lodging

years thereafter he lived the

He

bosyaki.

Night

295
life

of the

tramped through the length and

breadth of Russia; he lived with the peasant, the

factory worker and the outcast.

He knew

them

intimately; he understood their psychology, for he

was not only with them, but of them. Therefore
Gorki has been able to present such a vivid picture

of the underworld.
"

"

Lodging
portrays a lodging
house, hideous and foul, where gather the social
Night

derelicts,

the thief, the gambler, the ex-artist, the

All of them had at

ex-aristocrat, the prostitute.

one time an ambition, a goal, but because of their

lack of will and the injustice and cruelty of the
world, they were forced into the depths and cast
back whenever they attempted to

rise.

are

They

the superfluous ones, dehumanized and brutalized.

In this poisonous air, where everything withers

and

dies,

we

nevertheless

find

girl, still retains

character.

Na

her wholesome

in
young
She had never known love or sympathy,
had gone hungry all her days, and had tasted noth
ing but abuse from her brutal sister, on whom she
was dependent. Vaska Pepel, the young thief, a

tasha, a

stincts.

lodger in the house, strikes a responsive chord in

her the moment he makes her feel that he cares
for her and that she might be of spiritual and

moral help to him. Vaska, like Natasha,

product of his social environment.

is

Maxim Gorki

296
From

Vaska.

childhood, I have been

was

only a

thief.

Vaska the pickpocket, Vaska

the son of a thief!
See, it was of no consequence to me,
as long as they would have it so ... so they would have
it. ... I was a thief, perhaps, only out of spite ... be
thief.
cause nobody came along to call me anything
.

Always

You

no easy

...

me

call

life

called

something

that I lead

I sink like

man

in

Natasha.

else,

friendless

swamp

...

It

is

pursued like a wolf.

.
.
whatever I touch

.
but you are
slimy and rotten . . . nothing is firm .
like a young fir-tree; you are prickly, but you give sup

is

port.

There is another humane figure illuminating the

dark picture in
A Night s Lodging
Luka.
He is the type of an old pilgrim, a man whom the
He has
experiences of life have taught wisdom.
Russia
and
and
con
Siberia,
tramped through
"

",

sorted with

all

sorts of people; but disappointment

his faith in

and grief have not robbed him of

He believes that every man,

beauty, in idealism.
however low, degraded, or demoralized can yet be
reached,

Luka

if

we but know how

inspires courage

to touch his soul.

and hope

in

everyone he

meets, urging each to begin life anew.

former

actor,

now

steeped

in drink,

he says

To

the

The drunkard, I have heard, can now be cured,

without charge. They realize now, you see, that the
drunkard is also a man. You must begin to make ready.
Luka.

Begin a new

life!

Night

Lodging

297

Luka tries also to imbue Natasha and Faska

with new faith.
They marvel at his goodness.
In simplicity of heart Luka gives his philosophy of
life.

Luka. I am good, you say. But you see, there must

be some one to be good.
must have pity on
mankind.
.
Have pity while there is still time, be
.

We

I was once, for example, em

me, it is very good.
ployed as a watchman, at a country place which belonged
to an engineer, not far from the city of Tomsk, in Siberia.

lieve

The

house stood in the middle of the

forest,

an out-of-the-

was winter and I was all alone

in the country house.
It was beautiful there
mag
nificent!
And once ... I heard them scrambling

way

location

and

it

up! ...
Natasha.

Luka.

Thieves

crept higher and I took my rifle

looked
and went outside.
up: two men ... as they
were opening a window and so busy that they did not see

Yes.

They
I

Heh there
anything of me at all. I cried to them:
and
would
"...
.
.
of
that
you think it,
get out
them
I
warned
hand
ax.
...
with
a
fell
on
me
they
"

"

"

Halt,"

first

at one

cried,

or else

and then
"

knees, saying,

fire "...

at the other.

Pardon

us."

They

then

aimed

on

fell

their

was pretty hot ... on

You
account of the hand ax, you remember.
didn
t
out
and
clear
to
told
I
you
cried,
you
"

devils,"

"

"

now,"

switch."

said,

It

and

one of you go into the brush and get a

And now," I commanded, one

was done.

"

"

of you stretch out on the ground, and the other thrash

Maxim Gorki

298

him "... and so they whipped each other at my com

mand. And when they had each had a sound beating,
"Grandfather," said they, "for the
they said to me:

We

sake of Christ give us a piece of bread.

haven t a
bite in our bodies."
They were the thieves, who had

upon me with the hand

fallen

...

asked for

bread."

ten past that.

would
.

they were a

I said to

We

give us anything

endurance was worn

and so they remained with

Yes

ax.

them, "If you had

Then they answered: "We had got
had asked and asked and nobody

pair of splendid fellows.

me

out,"

the whole winter.

One of them, Stephen by name, liked to take the rifle and

and the other, Jakoff, was con
go into the woods
the three of us watched
stantly ill, always coughing
.

the place, and

grandfather,"

"

spring came, they said,

and went away
to Russia.

Were

Natasha,

when

Farewell,
.

they convicts, escaping?

Luka.

They were
fugitives
they had left
colony ... a pair of splendid fellows. ... If I
had not had pity on them
who knows what would have
.
Then they
happened. They might have killed me.
would be taken to court again, put in prison, sent back to
.

their

Siberia.

Why

all

prison, nor in Siberia

learn.
.

Man may

that?
.

You

learn nothing good in

but a man,

teach his fellowman

what can he not

something good

very simply.

Impressed and strengthened by Luka s wonder

and vision, the unfortunates make an at

ful faith

tempt to

rise

come too

from the

social

But he has
They have been

swamp.

late into their lives.

Night

robbed of energy and

Lodging

299

and conditions always

will;

them back into the depths.

Natasha and Vaska are about to start out on
to

conspire

When

thrust

new

the road to a

life,

during
ribly scalded by the
the defense of his
girl,

The

fate overtakes them.

a scene with her heartless sister,

ter

is

and Faska, rushing

latter,

sweetheart,

encounters

to

her

brutal brother-in-law, whom he

accidentally kills.
these
superfluous ones
go down in the

Thus

"

"

Not

because of their vicious or degrad

ing tendencies on the contrary, it is their better in
stincts that cause them to be
swept back into the
struggle.

But though they

abyss.

Luka

perish, the inspiration of

not entirely lost.

It
words of one of the victims.
is

The

Sahtin.

He

man

"Grandfather,

Man

epitomized

in the

he lived from within.

own eyes. ...

why do men really

saw everything with

once:
"

old

is

his

live?"

There

lives ever to give birth to strength.

asked him

live,

for example, the carpenters, noisy, miserable people

and suddenly

such

in their

midst

is

a carpenter born

a carpenter as the world has never seen he

no other carpenter can be compared to him.
his own
new face to the whole trade

is

above

He
face,

all,

gives a

so to

and with that simple impulse it has advanced

the lock
and so the others live
twenty years
smiths and the shoemakers, and all the rest of the work
speak

ing people

and the same

all to give birth to strength.

is

true of other classes

Everyone thinks that he for

himself takes up room in the world, but

it

turns out that

Maxim

3<x>

he

is

here for another

Gorki
for

benefit

someone better

a hundred years ... or perhaps longer

so long . . . for the sake of genius. .
.

dren,

fulfill

...

tune

No
"

ing

my

live
chil

We

for

is,

All,

we

only to give birth to strength. For that

cannot know
must respect everybody.

we

he

if

live

all,

reason

who

...

what purpose

born, or

what he may

yet

perhaps he has been born for our good for

or great

benefit."

"

stronger indictment than

Night s Lodg
is to be found in contemporary literature of

our perverse civilization that condemns thousands

men and women

Vaskas and Anyas, doomed

to the

often the very best

fate of the

and unnecessary

fluous

as super

And

in society.

yet they
are necessary, aye, they are vital, could we but see
beneath the veil of cold indifference and stupidity
to discover the deep humanity, the latent possibili
ties in these lowliest of the low.
If within our so
cial

conditions they are useless material, often

and detrimental to the general good, it is

vicious

because they have been denied opportunity and

forced into conditions that kill their faith in them
selves

and

The

all

that

is

best in their natures.

depravity and crimes of these

fundamentally the depravity and crim

so-called

derelicts are

inal anti-social attitude

creates

wastes

of Society

the underworld and,

much energy and

itself that first

having created

destroying the menacing phantom of

its

it,

and
own mak-

effort in suppressing

Night

Lodging

301

forgetful of the elemental brotherhood of

blind
to the value of the individual, and igno
man,
rant of the beautiful possibilities inherent in even
ing,

the

most despised children of the depths.

LEONID ANDREYEV
KING-HUNGER

ANDREYEV

is

the youngest

and

at the present time the

most power

ful

dramatist of Russia.

Like Tchek-

LEONID
and

hof
Gorki, he is very versatile: his
and stories possess as fine a literary
quality and stirring social appeal as his plays.
No one who has read his terrible picture of war,

sketches

"

The Red

ment of

Were

Laugh,"

or his unsurpassed arraign

The Seven Who

from memory the ef
"

capital punishment,

Hanged,"

can erase

Leonid Andreyev s forceful pen.

The drama
deals with the
King-Hunger
most powerful king on earth,
King-Hunger. In
the presence of Time and Death he pleads with
fect of

"

"

Time

to ring the alarm, to call the people to rebel

because the earth is replete with suffering:
cities, shops, mines, factories and fields resound
with the moans and groans of the people.
Their

lion,

agony

is

unbearable.

King-Hunger. Strike the bell, old man; rend

Let no one slumber
ears its copper mouth.
!

303

to the

King-Hunger
But Time has no

knows

faith in

303

He

King-Hunger.

Hunger had deceived the people on

occasions:
You will deceive again, Kingmany
You
have
Hunger.
many a time deluded your
children and
Yet Time is weary with wait
that

"

me."

ing.

He

consents to strike the

King-Hunger
bel.

The

calls

scene

is

bell.

the

upon
workingmen to re
machine shop; the place is

in a

with deafening noises as of men s groans.

Every machine, every tool, every screw, holds its
human forms fettered to it and all keep pace with
filled

maddening speed of their tormentors. And

through the thunder and clatter of iron there rises

the

the terrible plaint of the toilers.

We
We

are starving.
are crushed by machines.

Their weight smothers

The
The

steel oppresses.

Oh, what a
upon me

drawn

As

a mountain

The whole earth is upon me.

The iron hammer flattens me. It crushes the
of my veins, it fractures my bones, it makes me

sheet iron.

Through
blood?

furious weight!

blood out
flat as

us.

iron crushes.

the

rollers

my body
my body?

Where is
Where is my soul?
The wheel is twirling

thin as wire.

Day and

is

and

pressed

Where

is

my

me.

night screaks the saw cutting

steel.

Leonid Andreyev

304
Day and
ting

steel.

night in my ears the screeching of the saw cut

All the dreams that I see, all the sounds and

songs that I hear,

is

Day and

We
We

screeching of the saw

night.

are crushed by the machines.

ourselves are parts of the machines.

We

Brothers!

The

saw cutting
the screeching of the

the screeching of the

What is the earth? It is

saw. What is the sky?
It is the
steel.
and
night.
cutting
Day
steel.

crushed

forge our

own

chains!

upon King-Hunger to help

them, to save them from the horror of their life.
Is he not the most powerful king on earth?
King-Hunger comes and exhorts them to rebel.
All follow his

call

call

except three.

One of

these

is

huge of body, of Herculean built, large of muscle

with small, flat head upon his massive

but

shoulders.

but with the

He

is

The second workingman is young,

mark of death already upon his brow.

constantly coughing

and the

hectic flush

on

his cheeks betrays the

The

wasting disease of his class.

third workingman is a worn-out old man.

Everything about him, even his voice, is deathlike,

colorless, as if in his person a thousand lives had
been robbed of their bloom.
First

Workingman.

am

as eld as the earth.

have

performed all the twelve labors, cleansed stables, cut off

the hydra s heads,

and have

so

dug and vexed

altered

its

face,

the earth, built

cities,

that the Creator himself

King-Hunger
would not
did all

But

readily recognize her.

this.

Whose

My

did I aspire?

can

head

is

dull.

am

To

will did I shape?

dead

say

why

what end

My

tired.

Explain it to me,
King! Or
and crack the earth as a hollow

strength oppresses me.

hammer

I ll clutch this

305

nut.

King-Hunger.

Patience,

my

Save your powers

son!

Then you

for the last great revolt.

ll

know

all.

First

Workingman. I shall wait.

Second Workingman. He cannot comprehend
King. He thinks that we must crack the earth.

O King! The earth

We must guard and caress

a gross falsehood,

garden of God.
tle

Many

girl.

there
earth.

no

is

sky,

is

that stand

no sun,

as

there in
if

fair

it,

It

is

the

as

her as a

lit

darkness say,

the

eternal night

upon the

is

Just think: eternal night!

King-Hunger. Why, coughing blood, do you smile

and gaze to heaven?
Second Workingman. Because flowers will blossom on

my
my

them now.
saw a red rose

blood, and I see

tiful rich

lady

On

the breast of a beau

she didn

know

it

was

blood.

King-Hunger.

You

are a poet,

my

son.

suppose

you write verses, as they do.

Second Workingman. King,
King, sneer not at me.
In darkness I learned to worship fire. Dying I under

stood

that

life

is

enchanting.

Oh,

how

enchanting!

King, it shall become a great garden, and there shall walk

Dare not ruffle
in peace, unmolested, men and animals.
them play,
man!
Let
the animals!
Wrong not any
embrace, caress one another

let

them!

But where

is

Leonid Andreyev

306

Where

the path?

the path?

is

Explain, King-Hunger.

Revolt.

King-Hunger.
Second Working-man.

Through

Through

violence to freedom?

blood to love and kisses?

King-Hunger. There is no other way.

Third Workingman. You lie, King-Hunger. Then
you have killed my father and grandfather and great

would st thou
unarmed? Don t you

grandfather, and
lead us,

how

blind and impotent.

You

kill

see

us?

how

Where do you
ignorant we are,

are a traitor.

you are a king, but there you lackey

Only here you wear a crown, but

upon

there you

Only here
their tables.

walk about

with a napkin.

King-Hunger will not listen to their protest.

gives them the alternative of rebellion or starv
ation for themselves and their children.
They

He

decide

to

rebel,

for

King-Hunger

is

the

most

powerful king on earth.

The subjects of King-Hunger, the people of the
underworld, gather to devise ways and means
of rebellion.
the cellar.

gruesome assembly

Above

is

this,

held in

the palace ringing with music

and laughter, the fine ladies in gorgeous splendor,

bedecked with flowers and costly jewels, the tables
laden with rich food and delicious wines.
Every
thing is most exquisite there, joyous and happy.
And underneaths in the cellar, the underworld is
gathered, all the dregs of society: the robber and
the murderer, the thief

and the

prostitute,

the

King-Hunger
gambler and the drunkard.

how

to

throw

off

They have come

how

consult with each other

307

the yoke, and

poverty

what

to

is

to

to rebel,

do with the

rich.

Various suggestions are made.

One advises
the
of
water.
But this is con
poisoning
supply
demned on the ground that the people also have to
drink from the same source.

Another suggests that

for they teach the rich
motion
books?
writers,

fails.

What

all

books should be burned

to oppress.
But the

how

is

the use

of burning the

The wealthy have money; they will buy

poets and scientists to make new books.

third proposes that the children of the rich

From the darkest, most dismal corner

be killed.

of the cellar comes the protest of an old woman:

Oh, not the children. Don t touch the children.
"

have buried many of them myself.

I know the
of
children
are not
the
mother.
the
Besides,
pain
Don t
to blame for the crimes of their parents.
touch the children
The child is pure and sacred.
I

Don

hurt the

A little

child!"

girl rises, a child

of twelve with the face

of the aged.
She announces that for the last four
She had
years she has given her body for money.
been sold by her mother because they needed bread
for the smaller children.

of her terrible
of men,

life,

During the four years

she has consorted with

influential

men,

rich

all

kinds

men, pious men.

Leonid Andreyev

308

They

Therefore she proposes that

infected her.

the rich should be infected.

The underworld

plans and plots, and the grue

closed with a frenzied dance be

some meeting is
tween King-Hunger and Death,

to the music of the

dance above.

King-Hunger is at the trial of the Starving. He

the most powerful king on earth he is at home
everywhere, but nowhere more so than at the trial

is

of the Starving.
On high chairs sit the judges, in
all their bloated importance.
The courtroom is
filled with curiosity seekers, idle ladies dressed as
for a ball; college professors and students look
ing for object lessons in criminal depravity; rich
if

girls are there, to satisfy a

young

perverted craving

for excitement.

The

first

is

starveling

King-Hunger.

What

Old Man.

stole

is

of

I will

He

Forgive me,

your

in

muzzled.

offense, starveling?

five-pound

had only time to

wrested from me.

it.

brought

loaf,

but

it

was

bite a small piece

never again

condemned in the name of the Law and

King-Hunger, the most powerful king on earth.
Another starveling is brought before the bar of
It is a woman, young and beautiful, but
justice.
is

pale and sad.

child.

She

is

charged with killing her

King-Hunger

309

Young Woman. One night my baby and I crossed

the long bridge over the river.
And since I had long be
fore decided, so then approaching the
middle, where the
river is deep and swift, I said :
how
Look,
"

the water

mamma,

is

a-roaring

the railing

is

below."

so

She

baby dear,
I can t reach,
"

said,

Come, let me
was gazing down
That s all.
"

high."

I said,

And when she

you, baby dear."
into the black deep, I threw her over.
lift

The Law and King-Hunger condemn

to

"

blackest

burned

hell,"

there to be

"

the

woman

tormented and

in everlasting, slackless fires.

The heavy

responsibility of meting out justice

has fatigued the judges. The excitement of the

has sharpened the appetite of the spectators.

King-Hunger, at home with all people, proposes
trial

that the court adjourn for luncheon.

The scene in the restaurant represents

devouring

like a wild beast the

Hunger

produce of

ravenous, famished, the victim of his

own

toil,

glutton

ous greed.

The monster fed, his hunger and thirst ap

now returns to sit in self-satisfied judg
ment over the Starving. The judges are more
peased, he

bloated than before, the ladies more eager to bask

The college pro
in the misery of their fellows.
fessors and students, mentally heavy with food, are
still

anxious to add data to the study of

criminality.

human

Leonid Andreyev

310

lean boy

lowed by

Woman.
little

in,

muzzled; he

fol

is

He stole an apple for me,

Let me bring
thought he.
Tell them that you won t
Pity him!

Have mercy!

your Honor.
her a

brought

is

ragged woman.

apple."

Well!

any more.

Starveling.

Woman.

"

was

sick,

Speak!

won

any more.

ve already punished him myself.

youth, cut not at the root his bright little days!

Voices.
Indeed, pity one and then the next.

Pity his

Cut

the

evil at its roots.

One

needs courage to be ruthless.

It

better for them.

is

Now

he

King-Hunger.

when he grows up

only a boy, but

is

Starveling, you are condemned.

starveling, heavily

He is big and strong.

muzzled,

is

in,

dragged

He protests to the court

he

But Kingalways been a faithful slave.

the
announces
that
man
is
dangerous, be
Hunger
has

cause the faithful slave, being strong and honest, is

obnoxious to people of refined culture and less
"

brawny."

The

slave

is

faithful

to-day,

King-

Hunger warns the judges, but who can trust the

to-morrow? Then in his strength and integrity
we will encounter a violent and dangerous enemy."
"

In the

demned.

name of

justice the faithful slave

is

Finally the last starveling appears.

looks half human, half beast.

con

He

King-Hunger

311

King-Hunger. Who are you, starveling?

you understand human speech?

Answer.

Do

We

Starveling.

King-Hunger.

We

Starveling.

King-Hunger.
Starveling.
so,

and then

your offense?

killed the devil.

It

No,

we

are the peasants.

What s

it

was a man whom you

was the devil. The

burnt.
priest told us

burnt him.

The

The session of the

peasant is condemned.
Court closes with a brief speech by King-Hunger:
King-Hunger.
structive spectacle.
us, as

earth.

To-day you witnessed a highly

in

Divine, eternal justice has found in

judges and your retainers, its brilliant reflection on

Subject only to the laws of immortal equity, un

known

to culpable compassion, indifferent to cursing and

entreating prayers, obeying the voice of our conscience
alone
we illumed this earth with the light of human

wisdom and

moment
we have

sublime,

sacred

forgetting that justice

truth.
is

Not

for

a single

the foundation of

crucified the Christ in days gone by

and

life,

since,

we cease not to grace Golgotha with new

But, certainly, only ruffians, only ruffians are

to this very day,

crosses.

hanged.

name

We

showed no mercy

to

God

himself, in the

would we be

of the laws of immortal justice

now

disconcerted by the howling of this impotent, starv

ing rabble, by their cursing and raging? Let them curse!
Life herself blesses us, the great sacred truth will screen

us with her veil, and the very decree of history will not
be more just than our own. What have they gained by

cursing?

What?

They

are there,

we

re

here.

They

Leonid Andreyev

312

are in dungeons, in galleys, on crosses, but we will go to

the theater.
They perish, but we will devour them

devour

devour.

The

The

has

court

Hunger

is

fulfilled

its

mission.

King-

the most powerful king on earth.

The

starvelings break out in revolt.

bells

peal with deafening thunder; all is confusion and

The city is immersed in the blackness of
chaos.

Now

and

all is dark.
and then gusts of
the
the
scene of battle.
sweep
sky illuminating
The air is filled with cries and groans there is the

despair,

fire

thud of falling bodies, and still the fight goes on.

In a secluded part of the town stands the castle.

most magnificent ballroom the

scientists, teachers and
lackeys
In

its

They tremble with

gathered.

To

sounds outside.
terror they

rich

and

their

are

artists

fear at the ominous

silence the loud beat of their

command

liveliest tunes,

and

the musicians to strike up the

the guests whirl about in a mad

dance.

From time to time the door is forced open and

someone drops exhausted to the floor. An artist
rushes

in,

crying out that the art gallery

is

in

flames.
"

Murillo

is

burning!

Velasquez

is

burning

"

Giorgione

He

is

is

burning!
not in the least concerned with living

King-Plunger

313

he dwells in the past and he wildly bewails

the dead weight of the past.
One after another men rush in to report the
burning of libraries, the breaking of statues, and
values

the destruction of monuments.

No

mob

one

regrets the slaughter of

Panic-stricken the mighty fall

wealthy

among the
human life.
from

their

The

Starving, infuriated and vengeful,

on the masters! They must not see

thrones.

are marching
the craven fear of the huddled figures in the man
the lights are turned off.
But darkness
sions,

even more terrible to the frightened palace mob.

In the madness of terror they begin to accuse and
denounce each other. They feel as helpless as

is

before

children

the

approaching

avalanche

of

vengeance.

At

this critical

moment

man

appears.

He

is

small, dirty, and unwashed; he smells of cheap

whisky and bad tobacco; he blows his nose with a
red handkerchief and his manners are disgusting.

He

is

the engineer.

presses a button,
light.

revolt

He

looks calmly about him,

is flooded with

and the place

He
is

brings the comforting news that the

crushed.

On Sunny Hill we planted a line of im

Engineer.
mense machine guns of enormous power. ... A few
A public
projectiles of a specially destructive power ...
one or two such
. Enough
square filled with people
.

Leonid Andreyev

314
shells.

And

should the revolt

still

continue,

we

ll

shower the city.

The

revolt

is

is

quiet

soaked with blood.

streets are

about.

the peace of
strewn with bodies, the

All

over.

is

The ground

death.

They

lift

their

Fine ladies

children and bid

flit

them

mouth of the cannon, for the cannon have

saved the rich from destruction. Prayers and

kiss the

are offered up to the cannon, for they have

saved the masters and punished the starvelings.
And all is quiet, with the stillness of the graveyard

hymns

where sleep the dead.

King-Hunger, with hollow cheeks and sunken
eyes, makes a desperate last appeal to his chil
dren.

my

Oh,

King-Hunger.
so loud

my

son,

mute?

are you

why

son!

Oh,

my

You

clamored

daughter,

my

daughter, you hated so profoundly, so intensely, you most

miserable on earth
Arise from the dust!
Rend
arise.
the

shadowy bonds of death!

the

name

For

You

of Life!

a brief

movable.

moment

Suddenly

Arise!

conjure you in

re silent?

all remains silent and im

sound is heard, distant at

then nearer and nearer, till a thousandthroated roar breaks forth like thunder:
first,

We
We

shall yet

come!

shall yet

come!

Woe

unto the victorious!

King-Hunger
The

315

Victors pale at the ghostly cry.

Seized

with terror, they run, wildly howling:

The
The

dead arise!
dead arise!

We shall yet come

who

"

cry the dead.

For they

died for an ideal never die in vain.

must come back, they

woe be

shall

to the victorious

deed the most

terrible

come
!

back.

They

And

King-Hunger

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come, and take possession,
wretched scum, but the masters of the world.
those

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