Scituate High School - Chimes Yearbook (Scituate, MA)

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THE CHIMES 19 IF CAESAR MET SHAKESPEARE Doris Overland, ' 34 (This scene is halfway between London and Rome. Shakespeare enters carrying a pen and scroll. Caesar en- ters with attendants. He starts angrily toward Shakes- peare, who looks up from his scroll in mild surprise.) Caesar : Here you ! You ' re the fellow I want ! Shakespeare : Leave me ! I am deep in meditation. Ah yes ! ' ' Romeo says to Juliet — Caesar: (with a sneer) Writing another one of your best sellers ? Shakespeare: (indignantly) I beg your pardon! I caught a whit of sarcasm in your voice. Caesar : Sarcasm and more too ! Shakespeare: Who are you? Caesar : Do you hear, gods on Mount Olympus ? There is a man who does not know Caesar when he meets him face to face. Shakespeare : Ah yes ! I wrote a play on a Roman Emperor. Ah, yes, Caesar was the name. He did not impress me much in some ways, but I saw that his life ha d dramatic value. Caesar: Have I, Julius Caesar, nothing to say about how my life should be written? Should a person of high birth have his vices and virtues open to the derision of the common people? Shakespeare : But, of course, I thought you were dead. Caesar: Ha! I surprised you; didn ' t I? I am con- stant as the northern star. Shakespeare : Kindly refrain from cpioting my plays. You do not appreciate them. Caesar : Quote you ? Ah no ! As a child I have stood before proud parents and cried, ' T am constant as the northern star. In school when confronted by a problem whose solution was very difficult, I would cry out, ' T am constant as the northern star. Before the Senate filled with those old in body and older in reasoning, I cried out, ' T am constant as the northern star. All through Rome they cried out, Caesar is constant as the northern star! Lo! he is that constant ! I have always said, and shall always

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18 THE CHIMES features were fine and his skin was fair. His face seemed to glow witli an inner radiance, and his eyes were very bright bhie. Tie was dressed in the style of the nineteenth century, and his shirt was open at the neck, giving him a boyish look. Suddenly the ugly red plush train seats, the dirty smoky windows and the other passengers disappeared. Catherine and the young man were seated alone on the grass beneath a tall Eucalyptus tree, looking out over the hills that sloped down to a small lake. The sun was an orange ball in tjie western sky; its light falling on the wild poppies seemed to enflame the hillsides. The two watched the pageant of the setting sun breathlessly, and when the sky was blue and gray in the twilight and a cool autumn breeze stirred the poppies gently, Catherine said, Oh, Shelley, if only I could leave a part of as much beauty in the woVld when I die as the sun leaves on the horizon Avhen it disappears in the evening. Shelley smiled and said, You can. You can have and give beauty. YouVe a part of that that you see, and you can enter where it is, wdiere you see it in the sky — for you know the way. Shelley, we can go into the sunset? We can? Oh, come. Catherine ' s eyes were big- She threw her head back and laughed. Shelley, the west wind is here; see the — ' Leaves are driven like ghosts From an enchanter fleeing. Oh, wild west wind ' The conductor looked at Catherine and said, I guess she ' s asleep. Well, asleep or not, ' ' shrilled the fat lady, this is our section and she ' ll have to move. The boy with the freckles, evidently the fat lady ' s son, said, Xaw, she ' s bugs. He tapped his head significantly. Catherine looked up, suddenly wide awake. But not potato bugs, she said triumphantly. A Senior

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20 THE CHIMES say, am constant as the northern star. for ' ' I AM con- stant as the northern star. Shakespeare : I concede that point to you- You are ' ' constant as the northern star, but, man, the whole world knows that only Shakespeare could have written that clever line. Moreover, the whole world knows that your Gallic Wars is stupid literature without one wdiit of humor or tragedy in it. Caesar : Oh, so you ' re jealous ! There aren ' t many peo- ple in the world that don ' t know that all Gaul is divided into three parts. Shakespeare : Gaul is not divided into three parts. In fact there is no Gaul. Caesar : Oh really, most brilliant master of the pen I Then I guess that the commander of all Gaul doesn ' t know anything about Gaul — eh? Shakespeare : You are decidedly behind the times. Caesar : I want to know why you wrote a play w ' ith the mighty Caesar in it and killed him off in the third act. Man, you are a writer, but you do not know how to handle a plot when you try to bring Caesar in. His very name breathes courage, and it should fill the pages to the very end — Caesar, Caesar, Caesar, always Caesar. Shakespeare : What ego ! Caesar : Caesar first, last, and always ! You put in a lifeleiss puppet; that is the Caesar who made the world a Roman world. A curse on your pen ! You senseless crea- ture, you could not be stirred by the stupendous victories and the greatness of Caesar. No! You glorify Brutus, the traitor, the slayer. Ah, it is Brutus this and Bru- tus that. Brutus is supposed to be honorable. Caesar is ambitious. Surely, he is ambitious and proud of it! I tell you, you blockhead, the pages should be full of Caesar — Caesar ! ! For two cookies such as good Calpurnia makes I would strike you to the ground and stride over you as though you were the dust on the wayside. What have you to say to that? Shakespeare: (mildly) I am speechless. Caesar: I walk across the stage. I am a sick sort of