Romeo's which Shakespeare has worked out with such strictly logical sequence and coherence, the Shakespeare-mender proceeds to improve the catastrophe after the following sagacious manner. We have shown how and why Shakespeare, true to the leading spirit of his drama, has arranged everything so as to obviate as much as possible the physical repulsiveness of the act of suicide: Here's to my love! O true apothecary, But the amended play, in contempt of Shakespeare, and of Romeo's "true" and well-bribed apothecary, makes Romeo say, after taking the poison which he expects to kill him instantly, Eyes, look your last; Arms, take your last embrace, &c., till he ends with Soft-she breathes, and stirs ! And now we are actually called upon to believe, that he forgets all at once the purpose and the act which have absorbed his faculties for the last twelve hours. Quoth Garrick's poisoned Romeo : She speaks-she lives-and we shall still be bless'd!— And call thee back, my soul, to life and love! [Raises her, and brings her forward in his arms. Shakespeare, we have seen, poor simple man! makes Juliet awake refreshed and self-possessed as the Friar had promised her she should— Thou shalt awake as from a pleasant sleep,— and so, accordingly, her first words are:- O comfortable friar, where is my lord? I do remember well where I should be, But Garrick's Juliet improved is in no such haste either to find out where she is, or to recognize her husband. Shakespeare had foolishly imagined that his reviving heroine's first thought would be of Romeo-but the excellent David (bless his discriminating soul!) makes his Juliet think first of Paris: Jul. Where am I?-Defend me, powers! Bless me! how cold it is!—Who's there? Thy husband; Rom. Jul. Why do you force me so?-I'll ne'er consent.- Rom. Romeo is thy husband-I am that Romeo- Shall break our bonds, or tear thee from my heart! Garrick's Juliet now begins to come a little to herself, and then we have the following happily and tastefully imagined scene: Jul. I know that voice-its magic sweetness wakes Each circumstance.-Oh, my lord, my husband [Going to embrace him. Dost thou avoid me, Romeo? Let me touch Or I shall faint.-Support me.— Rom. Oh, I cannot I have no strength-but want thy feeble aid. Cruel poison! Jul. Poison!-what means my lord?-thy trembling voice, Pale lips and swimming eyes-Death's in thy face! Rom. It is indeed-I struggle with him now; The transports that I felt, To hear thee speak, and see thy opening eyes, KK Fate brought me to this place, to take a last, Jul. [He falls. And did I wake for this? Rom. My powers are blasted; "Twixt death and love I'm torn, I am distracted; But death's strongest.-And must I leave thee, Juliet? Jul. Thou rav'st !-lean on my breast. Rom. Fathers have flinty hearts-no tears can melt 'em— Rom. She is my wife-our hearts are twin'd together ;Capulet, forbear;—Paris, [rises again] loose your hold ; — Pull not our heart-strings thus ;-they crack-they break.Oh, Juliet! Juliet! [Falls and dies.-Juliet faints on Romeo's body. The greater part of this improvement demands no comment, after we have so fully considered Shakespeare's own treatment of the matter. But it may be well to point out the especial absurdity of the concluding sentences, in which Romeo is made to exclaim against "fathers" and against "Paris." Romeo himself, we have seen, has a peculiarly tender father; and Shakespeare has studiously kept him ignorant, both of Capulet's brutality to Juliet, and of Paris's impertinence, in order that, in Romeo's final scene, no harsher feeling might interfere to disturb those harmonizing sentiments of love and pity in the hero's breast which so exquisitely soften the tragic interest of his parting moments. In like manner, compare Shakespeare's representation of Juliet's deportment on reviving,- -so remote from resentment against the Friar, whom she knows to deserve it so little,-or even against that Fortune of whom she is really the victim, -with Garrick's improved version of it, after he has actually made the Friar arrive behind his appointed time : Jul. (Lying on the neck of Romeo). Who's there? Is guilty of this lamentable chance! Jul. Here he is still, and I will hold him fast; Friar L. Patience, lady! Jul. O thou cursed friar!-Patience i Talk'st thou of patience to a wretch like me? Friar L. O fatal error !-Rise, thou fair distress'd, Come thou not near me Jul. [Draws a dagger. And then, as if to remove the last chance of bringing back our apprehensions in any degree towards the dignity of Shakespeare's own conception, the religiously solemn closing scene of explanation, admonition, repentance, and reconcilement, is utterly suppressed! And that same David Garrick could deal in such a manner with a masterpiece of William Shakespeare! Truly, while considering this, one is tempted almost to pardon his friend Johnson's rather unfriendly remark, and believe that in reality "Punch" could have "no feelings." -But then, the British public still complacently tolerates, on the scene, this perversion of the most harmoniously pathetic of tragedies into little better than a vulgar melodrama, half puerile, half disgusting. -Ay, there is, now-a-days, the greater marvel, and the greater disgrace! The constant reaction, for good or for evil, of the state of our Shakespearian acting upon that of our Shakespearian criticism, and upon the intelligence of our Shakespearian reading, we have distinctly indicated on a former occasion,* and may find an occasion to demonstrate more particularly. Meanwhile, if Shakespeare be fated for some time longer to undergo theatrical perversion, it would be some consolation to us, at least, if childishness might cease to be superadded. Let The Family Shakespeare' be used with all possible diligence in the school-room, and the Nursery Shakespeare † in the nursery; but, in See page 197, of this volume. +Lamb's Tales,' for instance. the name of British common sense, and manliness, and womanhood, let them be banished quickly and for ever from our adult criticism and our full-grown stage. On a The more, however, that our Shakespearian stage is degraded on the whole, the more we are bound to render all possible honour to any instance of a better spirit arising by its native energy, under such unfavourable auspices, upon that stage itself. former occasion* we have pointed out, in relation to another great heroine of Shakespeare's, the laudable courage with which our most genuine Shakespearian performer has disregarded, in her expression of that and other characters, all vulgar theatrical tradition. Her personation of Juliet affords a yet more striking example of the same nature. The circumstances which for the last two years have closed against Shakespeare the doors of our "great national theatres," compel us to refer the reader, for collateral testimony on this point, to the journals of Scotland, Ireland, and France, especially those of Edinburgh and Paris.† That great central portion of this heroine's part which extends from the balcony scene to that of the sleepingdraught, having suffered least from the hands of the improver, affords most scope for the actress to shew in what degree she is qualified to understand and to embody the poet's conception and developement of the character. In Miss Helen Faucit's impersonation, those passages where the passion ebbs and flows with gentle undulation,-as in the courtship, the marriage, and the parting scenes,-have an inexpressible charm, in their delicate frankness, their elegant simplicity, and * See pages 27 to 35, of this volume. + See, especially, 'Le Messager,' 20th Jan., and 'The Scotsman,' 26th April, 1845. It is interesting to trace how thoroughly the Edinburgh critic, and the Parisian (M. Edouard Thierry), looking from such different points of view, concur in characterising that union of sweetness with dignity, and of gentleness with energy, which so peculiarly marks this enthusiastic artist as a Shakespearian performer. "Cette grâce si fine, si spirituelle ensemble et si naïve," is, for example, the phrase in which M. Thierry very happily defines the particular character of her gracefulness. |