Littleton College - Chatterbox Yearbook (Littleton, NC)

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THE CHATTERBOX. 241 It is very evident that all the processes of education are dependent upon memory, for as our memories are developed and strengthened the mental horizon grovvs broader and the thinking faculties are put in action. If one were to take a course in Shakespeare simply for the character study, the time would be Well spent. There is the character of Brutus who is so patriotic that he thought it was his duty to stab Caesar. He gives his own character in: H I would not, Cassius, yet I love him well, But wherefore do you hold me here so long? What is it that ye would impart to me? If it be aught toward the general good, Set honor in one eye, and death in the other, And I will look on both indiiferentlyg For, let the gods so speed me as I love The name of honor more than I fear death. Shakespeare portrays Brutus as unselish and without envy. One might think that Brutus Was working from purely selfish motives, yet he had higher ideals, it was for the good of the state, he conscientiously believed. Then the lovable, the lovely character of Cordelia. There may be found in her all the virtues that vvomanhood may call hers, thoroughly un- selfish, genuinely true, as is proved by her fidelity to her father although he has turned her out from the protection of his home. Shakespeare has shown his master mind by putting in contrast to this beautiful character the base, mean, degraded characters of Goneril and Regan. NVl1en we study the character of Lady Macbeth, With the strength of will that kept the courage of Macbeth up to the point of action, We Wonder how the man who created Midsummer Night's Dreamf' With all its spirits and fairies, could have created a Macbeth. No one can ind two characters any more alike in Shakespeare than in real life. While We are studying Shakespeare the characters are so true to human nature We

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240 THE CHATTERBOX. tion to them, and so Shakespeare calls our attention to these forces in diverse ways through his Works. All the passions of the human soul are brought out in Shakespeare and We are made to think of these passions in human life. Then, too, there is a mental development in concentration of thought, for a certain degree of concentration is absolutely necessary to grasp the idea, or to interpret the literature of Shakespeare as it should be to get the highest, deepest and broadest meaning. There is mental growth involved in memorizing some of the finest passages as, for illustration, the oration from 'trlulius Cacsarn by Mark Antony at Cmsar's funeral, beginning- Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears, I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him, The evils that men do lives after them, The good is oft interred with their bones, So let it be with Caesar. - and it is unnecessary to finish the quotation, for the Whole of Mark Antony's speech is familiar to all students of Shakespeare. Another quotation that is Worth memorizing for the thought contained as Well as for the mental develop- ment is- Sweet are the uses of adversity, Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head: And this our life, exempt from public haunt, Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything. or to give one other: Good name in man or woman, dear my lord Is the immediate jewel of their soul: Who steals my purse steals trash, 'tis something, nothing, 'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands, But he who iilches from me my good name Robs me of that which not enriches him, And makes me poor indeed.

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242 THE CHATTERBOX. seem to be moving in the Hood of excitement or standing off' just enough to see all that is going on and yet not be involved in the commotion. All this reality of character teaches us how many kinds of nature we may have to deal with after- we have passed out from our Colleges to meet the world, for human nature still has its passions to be battled with. There is an inestimable value to be put on the study of Shakespeare from the viewpoint of Shakespeare as an ethical teacher. The moral side of man's life is portrayed as dis- tinct from the physical, even from the intellectual. Some one has said, t4The physical is the material or visible, the intellect is of the reason, the aesthetic of the imagination, the moral of the consciencef' This is plainly shown through all the characters of Shakespeare. His people mean some- thing, they are not put in just to fill up a gap, but they are for a purpose. All the physical is made a. means to subserve a higher end. 'fThe reason Ends in the perfect good its highest end and beauty reaches its perfection in moral char- acters may well be applied in Shakesp-eare. In all of Shakespearels works never is man shown other than as a free moral agent. Every man, they say, knows in himself that he is free, he knows himself as possessing the power of choice, of choosing one from two or more ob-jects or ways which may be before his mind. So in the case of Macbeth: he was free to choose, and he chooses evil so gradually and his downfall is so gradual at first that it is scarcely percepti- ble, but just as surely as his downfall came, there was a time when he was free to choose. Macbeth who violated the obli- gation placed by his conscinece, knew in himself that he might have fulfilled the obligation and done right. In the case of King Lear in this power of contrary choice which is implied in the exercise of the will in its relation to right and wrong, is found the basis of moral responsibility and the