The languages of Western Europe were in a very crude, imperfect condition. If we except the Italian, the medium through which Dante and Petrarch worked, no living language at the time was sufficiently flexible or polished for the best grades of literary art. For example, in English, the plays of Shakespeare could not have been written before his time, even if the genius to produce them had previously existed. A second reason is the lack of training on the part of the monks. They had not the best models before them, or at least did not use them to advantage. In their dramatic works there is little trace of classic training. It is also urged that in the case of the miracle plays the monks did not wish to depart from the simplicity of the Biblical narrative; whereas the morality or allegorical plays could be only lengthy dialogues at best; no room existing for character creation or subtlety of plot. But however it may be explained, whether on the ground of lack of medium or genius or training or unsuitableness of material, it cannot be urged that Christianity antagonized the drama. The very existence of the miracle. and morality plays is proof of the very opposite attitude. Although not a high grade of art, miracle and morality plays accomplished the purpose for which they were written; they taught religious truth, and the very highest standard of morality. And these religious and ethical lessons were of supreme value to the multitude, even though they were not enforced by all the subtlety and charm of dramatic art.

The Ethics of the Modern Drama.- It is generally admitted that the modern drama represents neither a high grade of art nor a high standard of morality. Zangwill, the English critic.. says of the modern play that it consists of drivel and devil. The criticism is just, for all our representative authors of dramatic literature seem to be afflicted with moral degeneracy. Some examples: Henry Ibsen, representing Scandinavian lit

erature; he has written some thirty dramas, most of which are unfit for reading or presentation on the stage; the vilest are Love's Comedy, the Doll House, and the Lady from the Sea. A few of his expurgated plays have been well received in England and America, on account of their literary merit. In his dramas, Ibsen aims at destroying the marriage bond, and giving unrestrained liberty to all the natural passions. Like Ibsen, Tolstoi has corrupted Russian literature. His novels as soon as written, are dramatized, not only in Russia, but throughout the English speaking world, where he enjoys a large and unsavory reputation. As an example of his ethical standard, the Kreutzer Sonata was forbidden to pass through the United States mails, but the English translators and publishers managed to dispose of half a million copies. His latest work, The Resurrection, was hissed from the London stage, recast, and played in New York City. Tolstoi, like Ibsen, is a pure pagan in morals, believes in no restraint. His recent excommunication from the Greek Church happened more on account of his ethical than his religious teaching. Herman Sudermann, the leading living German dramatist, belongs to the same category as Ibsen and Tolstoi. His chief plays, the End of Sodom, Home, and a Question of Honor, were prohibited by the German Government on account of their immorality. These plays were welcomed in Paris, and Sudermann is acting as playwright for Sara Bernhardt, supplying a new drama every year. He is a prolific writer, a dramatic genius, but he has used his pen to degrade the modern stage.

The Outlook. From an ethical standpoint, we may hope for better things, at least in the English-speaking world where there has always been a healthy reaction from stage disease and corruption. Already our playwrights show signs of returning moral sanity. The public is beginning to demand a higher standard, and the playwrights respond, as a matter of

course.

CHAPTER XLVIII

THE DRAMA (CONTINUED)

REPRESENTATIVE AUTHORS

The Drama of Job.- The authorship of this drama is still an unsettled question in Old Testament criticism. Jewish tradition, as expressed in the Talmud, assigns it to Moses a view in which some modern critics concur. Modern scholarship can fix neither the date nor the authorship, although from internal evidence it is clear that the drama was written some time between the seventh and fourth centuries before Christ. In matter, if not in form, Job may be regarded as one of the oldest specimens of dramatic literature.

Criticism by William Davidson.-" The Poem of 'Job' so remarkable for imaginative power and literary skill, was unquestionably intended to set forth theological doctrine - God, man, evil, good, suffering, nope, destiny. The thesis of the book is that suffering in the present life is not precisely proportioned to ill desert. On the contrary, the righteous suffer; yet the drama teaches that God is, and God is good. Job's attitude throughout is that of the man who is trying to understand God, not denying His existence or mocking at His rule. Job teaches us, first of all, that the drama of our earthly life has a significance which earth does not exhaust. Secondly, the government of the Most High contemplates issues which are beyond us. Thirdly, it may be necessary to prove disinterested goodness to men, angels and devils. This drama of human suffering teaches that pain may be a privilege rather than a punishment; that the loftiest spirits may have to pass through it as a trial of their loyalty rather than a chastisement for their transgressions; and that in such cases it behooves them to bear, as the Lord's chosen ones,

the burden and the mystery of life, as pregnant with a deeper significance hereafter to be made known.”

Literary Form.- A majority of writers agree in calling Job a drama, although Milton refers to it as an epic with a dramatic setting. On this point Driver writes as follows: "It is of the nature of a drama not yet emancipated from the lyric element. It may be termed a dramatic poem, for its principal parts are constructed in the form of a dialogue, and the action which it represents passes through the successive stages of entanglement, development and solution. The action is, however, largely internal and mental, the successive scenes exhibiting the varying moods of a great soul struggling with the mystery of fate, rather than trying external situations. The constructive imagination of the writer is conspicuous throughout; it reveals itself in the bold conceptions, the free, flowing outlines of the whole poem; also in the wealth, variety and finish of its detailed imagery. Only a close study of the book can give an idea of the richness and multitude of its metaphors, the concentrated vigor of its phraseology, its depth of human feeling, its portraiture of life and the expressiveness of the descriptions of external nature."

Criticism by Professor Moulton.-" The dominant impression is that of a magnificent drama. No element of dramatic effect is wanting the great ash-mound is the stage- the crowd of spectators resemble the Greek chorus- the changes of the sky are a fitting dramatic background. Interest in character abounds - Eliphoz, Jophar and Bildad are distinct creations. But the essence of the drama lies in the action. The whole world of literature hardly contains a more remarkable piece of dramatic movement than the changes of position taken by Job in the course of the dialogue with the Friends. To dramatic effect, however, must be added epic; the description of the Heavenly Court is epical; also in the mode in which Heaven deals with Job the seeming conspiracy of earth and heaven, which robs Job of all his possessions. The lyric element is also present, as

for example in the Curse - the elegy of a Broken Heart. As to the central idea of the dialogue, it is a philosophical discussion dramatized. The subject discussed is the mystery of human suffering and its bearing upon the righteous government of the world. Each section of the drama is the representation of a different philosophical attitude to this question."

Eschylus. He was a native of Attica, born in the year 525 B. C., and died in Sicily, 456 B. C. He took part in the great battles of the Persian War, having been wounded at Marathon. Afterward he gave his attention to the drama. He is called the "Father of Greek Tragedy." More than sixty dramas were written by him; seven are extant; of these, the best are the Persæ, Seven Against Thebes, Prometheus Vinctus, and the Orestean Trilogy.

Criticism by William Ward.-" The classic period of the Greek drama includes Eschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. These are the names of its three great masters; in the progress of their art there is an unbroken continuity. Eschylus had fought against those Persians whose rout he celebrated with patriotic pride in the "Persæ." He was trained in the Eleusinian mysteries, and was a passionate upholder of the institution most intimately associated with the primitive political traditions of the past the Areopagus. He had been born in the generation after Solon, to whose maxims he fondly clung; he must have belonged to that anti-democratical party which favored the Spartan alliance, and it was the Warian development of Hellenic life and the philosophical system based upon it with which his religious and moral convictions were imbued. Thus, even upon the generation which succeeded him, the chivalrous spirit and diction of his poetry, and the unapproached sublimity of his dramatic imagination, fell, as it falls upon later posterity, like the note of a mightier age."

Criticism by A. E. Haigh.-" Æschylus, if we consider the variety and significance of the work which he accomplished, appears to have been one of the greatest poetic geniuses that the