College of St Marys of the Springs - Yearbook (Columbus, OH)

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ww . guy: pup: Q twig I time . guyz g guy: , NHC . :Wig . Brutus, though perhaps blindly, is led to the commission of a grievous wrong and finally meets his doom through hearkening to the counsel of an unworthy friend. The next form of imperfect friendship, presented is the suspicious. An excellent and enduring example of the ,untrusting friend is given in that sweetest of Shakespeare's comedies, The Winter's Tale. Here Leontes, the king of Sicily, furnishes the type. He suspects first his wife, then Polixenes, who has been his unseparable companion from youth. In the beginning of the drama we see Leontes in all the vigor and strength of manhood and we hold him as an exemplar to humanity, as the ideal husband, but when he entertains unjust suspicions of his consort Hermione and his loyal friend, he begins to lose in favor and by his jealous and distrustful nature he drags himself down almost too low to rise. Had he only trusted and loved as did his wife and friend, how very different would their lives have been! But when sus- picion has once effected an entrance into the mind, it is seldom that the one in fault realizes his blindness and injustice, until too late. Thus we see how very much better it would be to form no friendship at all, if it cannot be void of groundless and unreasonable suspicion. But behind these travesties of friendship vainly has been striving to appear the one and only friendship of the world-the true. Search where we may, nowhere can we find so true a type of the thoroughly loyal friend as in Antonio The Merchant of Venice. Here, the love that binds a man to one in particularamong his fellows, has its most beautiful exemplifi- cation, for Antonio was the truest, most loyal and self-sacrificing of friends. It was for Bas- sanio that he staked his life, and it was for Bassanio that he would have given it willingly and without a pang. No artful cunning, no self interest, no suspicions, prompted this free offering. No, nothing, nothing but the true and honest friendship felt by Antonio for his cherished com- panion motived this almost super-human act. Antonio shows, in the following lines, his deep love for Bassanio. Give me your hand, Bassanio: fare you welll Grieve not that I am fallen to this for you, For herein Fortune shows herself most kind Than is her custom: it is still her use To let the wretched man out live his wealth, To view with hollow eyes and wrinkled brow An age of poverty: for which lingering penance Of such misery doth she cut me off. Commend me to your honorable wife: Tell her the process of Antonio's end: Say how I loved you, speak me fair in death, And when the tale is told bid her be judge Whether Bassanio had not once a love. Repent but you that you shall love your friend: And he repents not that he pays your debt: For if the J ew do cut but deep enough, I'll pay it presently with all my heart. Thus has Shakespeare given us friendship in its every guise. p He has shown us the wiles and the punishment of the false friend, the end destined for those who think only of self, the heart aches and wretchedness of those who are suspicious and the true and priceless worth of those who are loyal. HELEN K. Dl'I'I'OE., 'l3. 10

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Wu will ww Q wwf , :wig . :swf 1 swf 5 :swf 1 N045 f the Gamut of Friendship N perusing the Shakespearean drama that which strikes the mind most forciby is the poet's ability to depict and interpret vividly 'X'X'W7f Wfm and accurately every phase of human life. Always a master, he is nowhere more markedly so than in dealing with man in that l noblest of relations-friendship. Shakespeare has treated friendship in its every guise and has left nothing untouched that . , would show us its beauty, sweetness and power when true, and 5- : ,, , iz? , ,, :A rf' and its danger when perverted. Thus at times the friendship is ska'-fsewfffif' .1 f 1 d ' ' ' - h T epgrgkgi, T presente as a se, I esignmg, cunning, at ot ers. as mercenary, T s BA? T self absorbed, self interested, or again as suspicious, doubting, distrustful. Then on the other hand, he has sympathetically dis- closed it in its true light, with all its channing attributes and has shown us how and when the loyal friendship is found and used. If we take the friendship presented in Cymbeline, we have an excellent example of the false type. Here to some extent the unworthy friendship is manifested in the queen's actions towards Posthumus and lmogeng yet more fully is the perfidious friend exploited in the per- son of lachimo. Keenly, cunningly he wove his web entangling Posthumus firmly within its silken threads. Posthumus not being of a doubting nature did not at all suspect the stranger, with whom he had entered into intimate relations, to be plotting against him Yet, this cun- ning friend after receiving in token of confidence the diamond, given as a pledge by Imogen to Posthumus, departed, secretly planning within his heart some unjust method of entrapping Imogen, the wife of Posthumus Iachimo led Posthumus to believe that he wished to place as implicit faith in womankind as did lmogen's husband, while his design was in reality to sever the bonds that held Pos- thumus so strongly to his consort and to destroy the husband's faith in human friendship and love. This design he craftily fulfilled. By bribing the attendants at the home of Cymbeline, lmogen's father, he gained what he wished, an entrance to the house, an interview with Imo- gen and the assistance of several of the servants to help him in his project. After thoroughly examining the sleeping apartments of Imogen and taking from her arm the bracelet, given to her by Posthumus, he returns to the husband and under the guise of deep friendship, adduc- ing his apparent proofs of her infidelity, he expresses his .seeming sympathy and offered words of advice. Yet, after all, what did his plotting, scheming and crafty cunning gain for him? As is generally the case, at first, success: but designing amlty having no foundation at all to support it, failed when the goal was almost attained and the coveted prize almost within its grasp. This is ever the grand finale of false friendship. Not far removed from false friendship. is the mercenary type. This devotion with all its feigned interest and assumed regard Shakespeare' has plainly unveiled Jin his tragedy, Julius Caesar, in the attitude of Caius Cassius to Brutus. The two men are friends throughout the play, but we feel that the affection of Brutus .is wholly sincere, while that of Cassius is largely assumed. Cassius needs Brutus, needs his influence with the people, his re- putation for honor and uprightness, to give weight to the COHSPIFHCY aSaiHSf Caesar and Sets about to win him over by flattery and protestations of esteem. I-Ie' succeeds only too well. 9 , nfl his

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ww 1 ,wg f wg i .wg If r-we f wg t :wg :wg s W5 If l the Ease Hgainst malvolio - Ji? -fff VER since the beginning of the world, God has iven to some people the power of winning friends by their mega personality. 1. 7-LM They are pleasant, cheerful, sympathetic, making it almost im- possible for one not to like them, often even in spite of palpable faults and failings. Then on the other hand, there are persons of sterling virtuewho do not possess this magnetic attraction, but are afflicted with disagreeable peculiarities and have a faculty K X Q 1 of arousing antipathy 'in the breasts of .their fellow mortals. X ' Those belonging to this second class it is asserted, are often misjudged, and both in literature and in life. do not receive their just deserts. But after all, are these disagreeable qualities as a rule inseparable from personality? Are they not in nine cases out of ten under the control of the will? l A character much discussed in this connection is Malvolio in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Those who champion his cause urge that on account of his unattractive manner- isms, he has been misjudged by the public and unfairly dealt with by the poet himselfg that he is honest and trustworthy, upright and religious, and zealous in the performance of duty: that he meets with nothing but vexation and humiliation, and is the only character of the play not made happy in the end. Now how far is all this true? Is not Malvolio himself re- sponsible for his unlovely character and consequently for his misfortunes? Let us see what is to be said in support of such a view. One of the first things we have against Malvolio is his astounding ignorance of the wo- manly nature. If he had shown a little sense in this regard, he would have escaped any amount of trouble. To think that the Lady Olivia could love him was sheer madness on his part, nothing more. Even if, for some unaccountable reason, she had done so, she was too much the greatlady to lower her position to marry a steward, let alone one of her own paid servants. l , Again if Malvolio had truly loved Olivia, loved her for her sweetness and goodness and because he could not help himself. we might fmglve hlmv but to Want to marry ber for her money, there is no name for himl True an effort has been made to exonerate him from this charge. but he did, in fact, thirst for wealth,-lf Was bla Clllaf alms alWaYS Uppermost in his mind. He longed for power and position. That he did not really care for Olivia is revealed in his soliloquies whem he Plans his life after hls drea'Ped'Qf marriage with her: there is no mentign of anything but spending her money .and dommeermg over her household. This domineering Spirit is indeed one gf his most odious traits. l-le manifests it all through the play, and as for religious feeling... lie has. none. He is harsh and repellent and never loses an opportunity of showing that lie is a trifle better than most people. True Christianity teaches charity and meekness of heart. n I . l-le is iealous' too, and we get a delightful impression of his manly OJ character in that little incident where he tries to ridicule Feste, the clown, and show-off before the Lady. Well the Lady soon tells him what she thinkS Of hlm when She Says! . Oh you are sicli of self-love, Malvolio, and taste Wltll a dlafempafed aPPetlfC-H 11 ' tw., . ,,N .l ra ' T TJAT