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Side 51 av 112
How many of the plays that divert and misinform the modern theatre-
goer turn on the pivot of a love-affair, not always pure, but
generally simple! And how many of those that are imported from
France proceed upon the theory that the Seventh is the only
Commandment, and that the principal attraction of life lies in the
opportunity of breaking it! The matinee-girl is not likely to have
a very luminous or truthful idea of existence floating around in her
pretty little head.
But, after all, the great plays, those that take the deepest hold
upon the heart, like HAMLET and KING LEAR, MACBETH and OTHELLO, are
not love-plays. And the most charming comedies, like THE WINTER'S
TALE, and THE RIVALS, and RIP VAN WINKLE, are chiefly memorable for
other things than love-scenes.
Even in novels, love shows at its best when it does not absorb the
whole plot. LORNA DOONE is a lovers' story, but there is a blessed
minimum of spooning in it, and always enough of working and fighting
to keep the air clear and fresh. THE HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN, and
HYPATIA, and ROMOLA, and THE CLOISTER AND THE HEARTH, and JOHN
INGLESANT, and THE THREE MUSKETEERS, and NOTRE DAME, and PEACE AND
WAR, and QUO VADIS,--these are great novels because they are much
more than tales of romantic love. As for HENRY ESMOND, (which seems
to me the best of all,) certainly "love at first sight" does not
play the finest role in that book.
There are good stories of our own day--pathetic, humourous,
entertaining, powerful--in which the element of romantic love is
altogether subordinate, or even imperceptible. THE RISE OF SILAS
LAPHAM does not owe its deep interest to the engagement of the very
charming young people who enliven it. MADAME DELPHINE and OLE
'STRACTED are perfect stories of their kind. I would not barter THE
JUNGLE BOOKS for a hundred of THE BRUSHWOOD BOY.
The truth is that love, considered merely as the preference of one
person for another of the opposite sex, is not "the greatest thing
in the world." It becomes great only when it leads on, as it often
does, to heroism and self-sacrifice and fidelity. Its chief value
for art (the interpreter) lies not in itself, but in its quickening
relation to the other elements of life. It must be seen and shown
in its due proportion, and in harmony with the broader landscape.
Do you believe that in all the world there is only one woman
specially created for each man, and that the order of the universe
will be hopelessly askew unless these two needles find each other in
the haystack? You believe it for yourself, perhaps; but do you
believe it for Tom Johnson? You remember what a terrific
disturbance he made in the summer of 189-, at Bar Harbor, about
Ellinor Brown, and how he ran away with her in September. You have
also seen them together (occasionally) at Lenox and Newport, since
their marriage. Are you honestly of the opinion that if Tom had not
married Ellinor, these two young lives would have been a total
wreck?
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