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diff --git a/16416.txt b/16416.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..548cc5c --- /dev/null +++ b/16416.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6014 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of An Essay Toward a History of Shakespeare in +Norway, by Martin Brown Ruud + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: An Essay Toward a History of Shakespeare in Norway + +Author: Martin Brown Ruud + +Release Date: August 2, 2005 [EBook #16416] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN ESSAY TOWARD A HISTORY OF *** + + + + +Produced by Louise Hope, David Starner and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + The University of Chicago + + + AN ESSAY TOWARD A HISTORY + OF SHAKESPEARE IN + NORWAY + + + A Dissertation + + Submitted to the Faculty + of the Graduate School of Arts and Literature + in Candidacy for the Degree of + Doctor of Philosophy + Department of Germanics and English + by + + MARTIN BROWN RUUD + + + + Reprint from + Scandinavian Studies and Notes + Urbana, Illinois + 1917 + + + + + The Collegiate Press + George Banta Publishing Company + Menasha, Wisconsin + + * * * * * + + +PREFATORY NOTE + +I have attempted in this study to trace the history of Shakespearean +translations, Shakespearean criticism, and the performances of +Shakespeare's plays in Norway. I have not attempted to investigate +Shakespeare's influence on Norwegian literature. To do so would not, +perhaps, be entirely fruitless, but it would constitute a different +kind of work. + +The investigation was made possible by a fellowship from the University +of Chicago and a scholarship from the American-Scandinavian Foundation, +and I am glad to express my gratitude to these bodies for the +opportunities given to me of study in the Scandinavian countries. +I am indebted for special help and encouragement to Dr. C.N. Gould +and Professor J.M. Manly, of the University of Chicago, and to the +authorities of the University library in Kristiania for their unfailing +courtesy. To my wife, who has worked with me throughout, my obligations +are greater than I can express. + +It is my plan to follow this monograph with a second on the history of +Shakespeare in Denmark. + + +M.B.R. + +Minneapolis, Minnesota. +September, 1916. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +Shakespeare Translations In Norway + + +A + +In the years following 1750, there was gathered in the city of Trondhjem +a remarkable group of men: Nils Krog Bredal, composer of the first +Danish opera, John Gunnerus, theologian and biologist, Gerhart Schoning, +rector of the Cathedral School and author of an elaborate history of the +fatherland, and Peter Suhm, whose 14,047 pages on the history of Denmark +testify to a learning, an industry, and a generous devotion to +scholarship which few have rivalled. Bredal was mayor (Borgermester), +Gunnerus was bishop, Schoning was rector, and Suhm was for the moment +merely the husband of a rich and unsympathetic wife. But they were +united in their interest in serious studies, and in 1760, the last +three--somewhat before Bredal's arrival--founded "Videnskabsselkabet i +Trondhjem." A few years later the society received its charter as "Det +Kongelige Videnskabsselskab." + +A little provincial scientific body! Of what moment is it? But in those +days it was of moment. Norway was then and long afterwards the political +and intellectual dependency of Denmark. For three hundred years she had +been governed more or less effectively from Copenhagen, and for two +hundred years Danish had supplanted Norwegian as the language of church +and state, of trade, and of higher social intercourse. The country had +no university; Norwegians were compelled to go to Copenhagen for their +degrees and there loaf about in the anterooms of ministers waiting for +preferment. Videnskabsselskabet was the first tangible evidence of +awakened national life, and we are not surprised to find that it was in +this circle that the demand for a separate Norwegian university was +first authoritatively presented. Again, a little group of periodicals +sprang up in which were discussed, learnedly and pedantically, to be +sure, but with keen intelligence, the questions that were interesting +the great world outside. It is dreary business ploughing through these +solemn, badly printed octavos and quartos. Of a sudden, however, one +comes upon the first, and for thirty-six years the only Norwegian +translation of Shakespeare. + +We find it in _Trondhjems Allehaande_ for October 23, 1782--the third +and last volume. The translator has hit upon Antony's funeral oration +and introduces it with a short note:[1] "The following is taken from +the famous English play _Julius Caesar_ and may be regarded as a +masterpiece. When Julius Caesar was killed, Antonius secured permission +from Brutus and the other conspirators to speak at his funeral. The +people, whose minds were full of the prosperity to come, were satisfied +with Caesar's murder and regarded the murderers as benefactors. Antonius +spoke so as to turn their minds from rejoicing to regret at a great +man's untimely death and so as to justify himself and win the hearts of +the populace. And in what a masterly way Antonius won them! We shall +render, along with the oration, the interjected remarks of the crowd, +inasmuch as they too are evidences of Shakespeare's understanding of +the human soul and his realization of the manner in which the oration +gradually brought about the purpose toward which he aimed:" + + [1. It has been thought best to give such citations for the most + part in translation.] + + Antonius: + Venner, Medborgere, giver mig Gehor, jeg kommer for at jorde Caesars + Legeme, ikke for at rose ham. Det Onde man gjor lever endnu efter + os; det Gode begraves ofte tilligemed vore Been. Saa Vaere det ogsaa + med Caesar. Den aedle Brutus har sagt Eder, Caesar var herskesyg. Var + han det saa var det en svaer Forseelse: og Caesar har ogsaa dyrt + maattet bode derfor. Efter Brutus og de Ovriges Tilladelse--og + Brutus er en hederlig Mand, og det er de alle, lutter hederlige + Maend, kommer jeg hid for at holde Caesars Ligtale. Han var min Ven, + trofast og oprigtig mod mig! dog, Brutus siger, han var herskesyg, + og Brutus er en hederlig Mand. Han har bragt mange Fanger med til + Rom, hvis Losepenge formerede de offentlige Skatter; synes Eder det + herskesygt af Caesar--naar de Arme skreeg, saa graed Caesar--Herskesyge + maate dog vel vaeves af staerkere Stof.--Dog Brutus siger han var + herskesyg; og Brutus er en hederlig Mand. I have alle seet at jeg + paa Pans Fest tre Gange tilbod ham en kongelig Krone, og at han tre + Gange afslog den. Var det herskesygt?--Dog Brutus siger han var + herskesyg, og i Sandhed, han er en hederlig Mand. Jeg taler ikke for + at gjendrive det, som Brutus har sagt; men jeg staar her, for at + sige hvad jeg veed. I alle elskede ham engang, uden Aarsag; hvad for + en Aarsag afholder Eder fra at sorge over ham? O! Fornuft! Du er + flyed hen til de umaelende Baester, og Menneskene have tabt deres + Forstand. Haver Taalmodighed med mig; mit Hjerte er hist i Kisten + hos Caesar, og jeg maa holde inde til det kommer tilbage til mig. + + Den Forste af Folket: + Mig synes der er megen Fornuft i hans Tale. + + Den Anden af Folket: + Naar du ret overveier Sagen, saa er Caesar skeet stor Uret. + + Den Tredje: + Mener I det, godt Folk? Jeg frygter der vil komme slemmere i hans + Sted. + + Den Fjerde: + Har I lagt Maerke til hvad han sagde? Han vilde ikke modtage Kronen, + det er altsaa vist at han ikke var herskesyg. + + Den Forste: + Hvis saa er, vil det komme visse Folk dyrt at staae. + + Den Anden: + Den fromme Mand! Hans Oien er blodrode af Graad. + + Den Tredje: + Der er ingen fortraeffeligere Mand i Rom end Antonius. + + Den Fjerde: + Giver Agt, han begynder igjen at tale. + + Antonius: + Endnu i Gaar havde et Ord af Caesar gjaeldt imod hele Verden, nu + ligger han der, endog den Usleste naegter ham Agtelse. O, I Folk! + var jeg sindet, at ophidse Eders Gemytter til Raserie og Opror, saa + skulde jeg skade Brutus og Kassius, hvilke, som I alle veed, ere + hederlige Maend. Men jeg vil intet Ondt gjore dem: hellere vil jeg + gjore den Dode, mig selv, og Eder Uret, end at jeg skulde volde + slige hederlige Maend Fortraed. Men her er et Pergament med Caesars + Segl: jeg fandt det i hans Kammer; det er hans sidste Villie. Lad + Folket blot hore hans Testament, som jeg, tilgiv mig det, ikke + taenker at oplaese, da skulde de alle gaa hen og kysse den dode Caesars + Saar; og dyppe deres Klaeder i hans hellige Blod; skulde bede om et + Haar af ham til Erindring, og paa deres Dodsdag i deres sidste + Villie taenke paa dette Haar, og testamentere deres Efterkommere + det som en rig Arvedel. + + Den Fjerde: + Vi ville hore Testamentet! Laes det, Marcus Antonius. + + Antonius: + Haver Taalmodighed, mine Venner: jeg tor ikke forelaese det; deter + ikke raadeligt, at I erfare hvor kjaer Caesar havde Eder. I ere ikke + Traee, I ere ikke Stene, I ere Mennesker; og da I ere Mennesker saa + skulde Testamentet, om I horte det, saette Eder i Flamme, det skulde + gjore Eder rasende. Det er godt at I ikke vide, at I ere hans + Arvinger; thi vidste I det, O, hvad vilde der da blive af? + + Den fjerde: + Laes Testamentet; vi ville hore det, Antonius! Du maae laese + Testamentet for os, Caesars Testament! + + Antonius: + Ville i vaere rolige? Ville I bie lidt? Jeg er gaaen for vidt at jeg + har sagt Eder noget derom--jeg frygter jeg fornaermer de hederlige + Maend, som have myrdet Caesar--jeg befrygter det. + + Den Fjerde: + De vare Forraedere!--ha, hederlige Maend! + +The translation continues to the point where the plebeians, roused to +fury by the cunning appeal of Antony, rush out with the cries:[2] + + 2. Pleb: + Go fetch fire! + + 3. Pleb: + Plucke down Benches! + + 2. Pleb: + Plucke down Formes, Windowes, anything. + + [2. _Julius Caesar_. III, 2. 268-70. Variorum Edition Furness. + Phila. 1913.] + +But we have not space for a more extended quotation, and the passage +given is sufficiently representative. + +The faults are obvious. The translator has not ventured to reproduce +Shakespeare's blank verse, nor, indeed, could that be expected. The +Alexandrine had long held sway in Danish poetry. In _Rolf Krage_ (1770), +Ewald had broken with the tradition and written an heroic tragedy in +prose. Unquestionably he had been moved to take this step by the example +of his great model Klopstock in _Bardiete_.[3] It seems equally certain, +however, that he was also inspired by the plays of Shakespeare, and the +songs of Ossian, which came to him in the translations of Wieland.[4] + + [3. Ronning--_Rationalismens Tidsalder_. 11-95.] + + [4. Ewald--_Levnet og meninger_. Ed. Bobe. Kbhn. 1911, p. 166.] + +A few years later, when he had learned English and read Shakespeare +in the original, he wrote _Balders Dod_ in blank verse and +naturalized Shakespeare's metre in Denmark.[5] At any rate, it +is not surprising that this unknown plodder far north in Trondhjem +had not progressed beyond Klopstock and Ewald. But the result of +turning Shakespeare's poetry into the journeyman prose of a foreign +language is necessarily bad. The translation before us amounts to a +paraphrase,--good, respectable Danish untouched by genius. Two +examples will illustrate this. The lines: + + .... Now lies he there, + And none so poor to do him reverence. + + [5. _Ibid._ II, 234-235.] + +are rendered in the thoroughly matter-of-fact words, appropriate for a +letter or a newspaper "story": + + .... Nu ligger han der, + endog den Usleste naegter ham Agtelse. + +Again, + + I have o'ershot myself to tell you of it, + +is translated: + + Jeg er gaaen for vidt at jeg sagde Eder noget derom. + +On the other hand, the translation presents no glaring errors; such +slips as we do find are due rather to ineptitude, an inability to +find the right word, with the result that the writer has contented +himself with an accidental and approximate rendering. For example, +the translator no doubt understood the lines: + + The evil that men do lives after them, + The good is oft interred with their bones. + +but he could hit upon nothing better than: + + Det Onde man gjor _lever endnu efter os_; + det Gode begraves ofte tilligemed vore Been. + +which is both inaccurate and infelicitous. For the line + + He was my friend, faithful and just to me. + +our author has: + + Han var min Ven, trofast og _oprigtig_ mod mig! + +Again: + + Has he, Masters? I fear there will come a worse in his place. + +Translation: + + Mener I det, godt Folk?--etc. + +Despite these faults--and many others could be cited,--it is perfectly +clear that this unknown student of Shakespeare understood his original +and endeavored to reproduce it correctly in good Danish. His very +blunders showed that he tried not to be slavish, and his style, while +not remarkable, is easy and fluent. Apparently, however, his work +attracted no attention. His name is unknown, as are his sources, and +there is not, with one exception, a single reference to him in the later +Shakespeare literature of Denmark and Norway. Not even Rahbek, who was +remarkably well informed in this field, mentions him. Only Foersom,[6] +who let nothing referring to Shakespeare escape him, speaks (in the +notes to Part I of his translation) of a part of Act III of _Julius +Caesar_ in _Trondhjems Allehaande_. That is all. It it not too much to +emphasize, therefore, that we have here the first Danish version of any +part of _Julius Caesar_ as well as the first Norwegian translation of +any part of Shakespeare into what was then the common literary language +of Denmark and Norway.[7] + + [6. _William Shakespeares Tragiske Vaerker--Forste Deel._ Khbn. + 1807. Notes at the back of the volume.] + + [7. By way of background, a bare enumeration of the early Danish + translations of Shakespeare is here given. + + 1777. _Hamlet_. Translated by Johannes Boye. + + 1790. _Macbeth_. Translated by Nils Rosenfeldt. + _Othello_. Translated by Nils Rosenfeldt. + _All's Well that Ends Well_. Translated by Nils Rosenfeldt. + + 1792. _King Lear_. Translated by Nils Rosenfeldt. + _Cymbeline_. Translated by Nils Rosenfeldt. + _The Merchant of Venice_. Translated by Nils Rosenfeldt. + + 1794. _King Lear_. Nahum Tate's stage version. Translated by Hans + Wilhelm Riber. + + 1796. _Two Speeches._--To be or not to be--_(Hamlet.)_ + Is this a dagger--_(Macbeth.)_ + Translated by Malthe Conrad Brun in _Svada_. + + 1800. Act III, Sc. 2 of _Julius Caesar_. Translated by Knut Lyhne + Rahbek in _Minerva_. + + 1801. _Macbeth_. Translated by Levin Sander and K.L. Rahbek. Not + published till 1804. + + 1804. Act V of _Julius Caesar_. Translated by P.F. Foersom in + _Minerva_. + + 1805. Act IV Sc. 3 of _Love's Labour Lost_. Translated by P.F. + Foersom in _Nytaarsgave for Skuespilyndere._ + + 1807. Hamlet's speech to the players. Translated by P.F. Foersom + in _Nytaarsgave for Skuespilyndere_. + + It may be added that in 1807 appeared the first volume of + Foersom's translation of Shakespeare's tragedies, and after 1807 + the history of Shakespeare in Denmark is more complicated. With + these matters I shall deal at length in another study.] + + +B + +It was many years before the anonymous contributor to _Trondhjems +Allehaande_ was to have a follower. From 1782 to 1807 Norwegians were +engaged in accumulating wealth, an occupation, indeed, in which they +were remarkably successful. There was no time to meddle with Shakespeare +in a day when Norwegian shipping and Norwegian products were profitable +as never before. After 1807, when the blundering panic of the British +plunged Denmark and Norway into war on the side of Napoleon, there were +sterner things to think of. It was a sufficiently difficult matter to +get daily bread. But in 1818, when the country had, as yet, scarcely +begun to recover from the agony of the Napoleonic wars, the second +Norwegian translation from Shakespeare appeared.[8] + + [8. _Coriolanus, efter Shakespeare_. Christiania. 1818.] + +The translator of this version of _Coriolanus_ is unknown. Beyond the +bare statement on the title page that the translation is made directly +from Shakespeare and that it is printed and published in Christiania by +Jacob Lehmann, there is no information to be had. Following the title +there is a brief quotation from Dr. Johnson and one from the "Zeitung +fuer die elegante Welt." Again Norway anticipates her sister nation; for +not till the following year did Denmark get her first translation of the +play.[9] + + [9. The first Danish translation of Coriolanus by P.F. Wulff + appeared in 1819.] + +Ewald, Oehlenschlaeger, and Foersom had by this time made the blank verse +of Shakespeare a commonplace in Dano-Norwegian literature. Even the +mediocre could attempt it with reasonable assurance of success. The +_Coriolanus_ of 1818 is fairly correct, but its lumbering verse reveals +plainly that the translator had trouble with his metre. Two or three +examples will illustrate. First, the famous allegory of Menenius:[10] + + _Menenius:_ + I enten maae erkjende at I ere + Heel ondskabsfulde, eller taale, man + For Uforstandighed anklager Eder. + Et snurrigt Eventyr jeg vil fortaelle; + Maaskee I har det hort, men da det tjener + Just til min Hensigt, jeg forsoge vil + Noiagtigen det Eder at forklare. + . . . . . + Jeg Eder det fortaelle skal; med et + Slags Smil, der sig fra Lungen ikke skrev; + Omtrent saaledes--thi I vide maae + Naar jeg kan lade Maven tale, jeg + Den og kan lade smile--stikende + Den svarede hvert misfornoiet Lem + Og hver Rebel, som den misundte al + Sin Indtaegt; Saa misunde I Senatet + Fordi det ikke er det som I ere. + + _Forste Borger_: + Hvorledes. Det var Mavens Svar! Hvorledes? + Og Hovedet, der kongeligt er kronet, + Og Oiet, der er blot Aarvaagenhed; + Og Hjertet, som os giver gode Raad; + Og Tungen, vor Trumpet, vor Stridsmand, Armen, + Og Foden, vores Pragthest, med de flere + Befaestingner, der stotte vor Maskine, + Hvis de nu skulde.... + + _Menenius_: + Nu hvad skulde de?... + Den Karl mig lader ei til Orde komme, + Hvad vil I sigte med det _hvis de skulde?_ + + _Forste Borger_: + Hvis de nu skulde sig betvinge lade + Ved denne Slughals Maven som blot er + En Aflobs-Rende for vort Legeme? + + _Menenius_: + Nu videre! + + _Forste Borger_: + Hvad vilde Maven svare? + Hvis hine Handlende med Klage fremstod? + + _Menenius_: + Hvis I mig skjaenke vil det som I have + Kun lidet af, Taalmodighed, jeg mener, + Jeg Eder Mavens Svar da skal fortaelle. + + _Forste Borger_: + I! Den Fortaelling ret i Langdrag traekker! + + _Menenius_: + Min gode Ven, nu allerforst bemaerke. + Agtvaerdig Mave brugte Overlaeg; + Ei ubetaenksom den sig overiled + Som dens Modstandere; og saa lod Svaret: + I Venner som fra mig ei skilles kan! + Det Sandhed er, at jeg fra forste Haand + Modtager Naeringen som Eder foder, + Og dette i sin Orden er, thi jeg + Et Varelager og et Forraads-Kammer + Jo er for Legemet; men ei I glemme: + Jeg Naeringen igjennem Blodets Floder + Og sender lige hen til Hoffet-Hjertet-- + Til Hjernens Saede; jeg den flyde lader + Igjennem Menneskets meest fine Dele; + Og de meest fast Nerver, som de mindste + Blandt Aarene fra mig modtager hver + Naturlig Kraft, hvormed de leve, og + Endskjondt de ikke alle paa eengang-- + I gode Venner (det var Mavens Ord) + Og maerker dem heel noie.... + + _Forste Borger_: + Det vil vi gjore. + + _Menenius_: + Endskjondt de ikke alle kunde see, + Hvad jeg tilflyde lader hver isaer, + Saa kan jeg dog med gyldigt Dokument + Bevise at jeg overlader dem + Den rene Kjaerne, selv beholder Kliddet. + Hvad siger I dertil? + + _Forste Borger_: + Et svar det var-- + Men nu Andvendelsen! + + _Menenius_: + Senatet er + Den gode Mave: I Rebellerne. + I undersoge blot de Raad det giver + Og alt dets Omhue. Overveier noie + Alt hvad til Statens Velferd monne sigte, + Og da I finde vil, at fra Senatet + Hver offentlig Velgjerning som I nyde + Sit Udspring bar, men ei fra Eder selv-- + Hvad taenker I, som er den store Taae + Her i Forsamlingen? + + [10. _Coriolanus_--Malone's ed. London. 1790. Vol. 7, pp. 148 ff.] + +Aside from the preponderance of feminine endings, which is inevitable +in Scandinavian blank verse, what strikes us most in this translation +is its laboriousness. The language is set on end. Inversion and +transposition are the devices by which the translator has managed to +give Shakespeare in metrically decent lines. The proof of this is so +patent that I need scarcely point out instances. But take the first +seven lines of the quotation. Neither in form nor content is this bad, +yet no one with a feeling for the Danish language can avoid an +exclamation, "forskruet Stil" and "poetiske Stylter." And lines 8-9 +smack unmistakably of _Peder Paars_. In the second place, the translator +often does not attempt to translate at all. He gives merely a +paraphrase. Compare lines 1-3 with the English original; the whole of +the speech of the first citizen, 17-24, 25-27, where the whole implied +idea is fully expressed; 28-30, etc., etc. We might offer almost every +translation of Shakespeare's figures as an example. One more instance. +At times even paraphrase breaks down. Compare + + And through the cranks and offices of man + The strongest and small inferior veins, + Receive from me that natural competency + Whereby they live. + +with our translator's version (lines 50-51) + + jeg den flyde lader + Igjennem Menneskets meest fine Dele. + +This is not even good paraphrase; it is simply bald and helpless +rendering. + +On the other hand, it would be grossly unfair to dismiss it all with +a sneer. The translator has succeeded for the most part in giving the +sense of Shakespeare in smooth and sounding verse, in itself no small +achievement. Rhetoric replaces poetry, it is true, and paraphrase dries +up the freshness and the sparkle of the metaphor. But a Norwegian of +that day who got his first taste of Shakespeare from the translation +before us, would at least feel that here was the power of words, the +music and sonorousness of elevated dramatic poetry. + +One more extract and I am done. It is Coriolanus' outburst of wrath +against the pretensions of the tribunes (III, 1). With all its +imperfections, the translation is almost adequate. + + _Coriolanus_: + Skal! + Patrisier, I aedle, men ei vise! + I hoie Senatorer, som mon mangle + Al Overlaeg, hvi lod I Hydra vaelge + En Tjener som med sit bestemte Skal + --Skjondt blot Uhyrets Taleror og Lyd-- + Ei mangler Mod, at sige at han vil + Forvandle Eders Havstrom til en Sump, + Og som vil gjore Jer Kanal til sin. + Hvis han har Magten, lad Enfoldighed + Da for ham bukke; har han ingen Magt, + Da vaekker Eders Mildhed af sin Dvale, + Den farlig er; hvis I ei mangle Klogskab, + Da handler ei som Daaren; mangler den, + Lad denne ved Jer Side faae en Pude. + Plebeier ere I, hvis Senatorer + De ere, og de ere mindre ei + Naar begge Eders Stemmer sammenblandes + Og naar de kildres meest ved Fornemhed. + De vaelge deres egen Ovrighed, + Og saadan Een, der saette tor sit Skal, + Ja sit gemene Skal mod en Forsamling, + Der mer agtvaerdig er end nogensinde + Man fandt i Graekenland. Ved Jupiter! + Sligt Consulen fornedrer! Og det smerter + Min Sjael at vide, hvor der findes tvende + Autoriteter, ingen af dem storst, + Der kan Forvirring lettelig faae Indpas + I Gabet, som er mellem dem, og haeve + Den ene ved den anden. + + +C + +In 1865, Paul Botten Hansen, best known to the English-speaking world +for his relations with Bjornson and Ibsen, reviewed[11] the eleventh +installment of Lembcke's translation of Shakespeare. The article +does not venture into criticism, but is almost entirely a resume of +Shakespeare translation in Norway and Denmark. It is less well informed +than we should expect, and contains, among several other slips, the +following "...in 1855, Niels Hauge, deceased the following year as +teacher in Kragero, translated _Macbeth_, the first faithful version of +this masterpiece which Dano-Norwegian literature could boast of." Botten +Hansen mentions only one previous Danish or Norwegian version of +Shakespeare--Foersom's adaptation of Schiller's stage version (1816). +He is quite obviously ignorant of Rosenfeldt's translation of 1790; and +the Rahbek-Sanders translation of 1801 seems also to have escaped him, +although Hauge expressly refers to this work in his introduction. Both +of these early attempts are in prose; Foersom's, to be sure, is in blank +verse, but Foersom's _Macbeth_ is not Shakespeare's. Accordingly, it is, +in a sense, true that Hauge in 1855 did give the Dano-Norwegian public +their first taste of an unspoiled _Macbeth_ in the vernacular.[12] + + [11. _Illustreret Nyhedsblad_--1865, p. 96.] + + [12. _Macbeth--Tragedie i fem Akter af William Shakespeare_. + Oversat og fortolket af N. Hauge. Christiania. 1855. Johan Dahl.] + +Hauge tells us that he had interested himself in English literature at +the risk of being called an eccentric. Modern languages then offered no +avenue to preferment, and why, forsooth, did men attend lectures and +take examinations except to gain the means of earning a livelihood? He +justifies his interest, however, by the seriousness and industry with +which Shakespeare is studied in Germany and England. With the founts of +this study he is apparently familiar, and with the influence of +Shakespeare on Lessing, Goethe, and the lesser romanticists. It is +interesting to note, too, that two scholars, well known in widely +different fields, Monrad, the philosopher--for some years a sort of Dr. +Johnson in the literary circles of Christiania--and Unger, the scholarly +editor of many Old Norse texts, assisted him in his work. + +The character of Hauge's work is best seen in his notes. They consist of +a careful defense of every liberty he takes with the text, explanations +of grammatical constructions, and interpretations of debated matters. +For example, he defends the witches on the ground that they symbolize +the power of evil in the human soul. + + Man kan sige at Shakespeare i dem og deres Slaeng har givet de + nytestamentlige Daemoner Kjod og Blod. + +(We may say that Shakespeare in them and their train has endowed the +demons of the New Testament with flesh and blood). Again, he would +change the word _incarnadine_ to _incarnate_ on the ground that _Twelfth +Night V_ offers a similar instance of the corrupt use of _incardinate_ +for _incarnate_. The word occurs, moreover, in English only in this +passage.[13] Again, in his note to Act IV, he points out that the +dialogue in which Malcolm tests the sincerity of Macduff is taken almost +verbatim from Holinshed. "In performing the play," he suggests, "it +should, perhaps, be omitted as it very well may be without injury to the +action since the complication which arises through Malcolm's suspicion +of Macduff is fully and satisfactorily resolved by the appearance of +Rosse." And his note to a passage in Act V is interesting as showing +that, wide and thorough as was Hauge's acquaintance with Shakespearean +criticism, he had, besides, a first-hand knowledge of the minor +Elizabethan dramatists. I give the note in full. "_The way to dusty +death--_ + + Til dette besynderlige Udtryk, kan foruden hvad Knight og Dyce + have at citere, endnu citeres af Fords _Perkin Warbeck_, II, 2, + "I take my leave to travel to my dust." + + [13. This is, of course, incorrect. Cf. Macbeth, Variorum + Edition. Ed. Furness. Phila. 1903, p. 40. Note.] + +Hauge was a careful and conscientious scholar. He knew his field and +worked with the painstaking fidelity of the man who realizes the +difficulty of his task. The translation he gave is of a piece with the +man--faithful, laborious, uninspired. But it is, at least, superior to +Rosenfeldt and Sander, and Hauge justified his work by giving to his +countrymen the best version of _Macbeth_ up to that time. + +Monrad himself reviewed Hauge's _Macbeth_ in a careful and well-informed +article, in _Nordisk Tidsskrift for Videnskab og Literatur_, which I +shall review later. + + +D + +One of the most significant elements in the intellectual life of modern +Norway is the so-called Landsmaal movement. It is probably unnecessary +to say that this movement is an effort on the part of many Norwegians to +substitute for the dominant Dano-Norwegian a new literary language based +on the "best" dialects. This language, commonly called the Landsmaal, +is, at all events in its origin, the creation of one man, Ivar Aasen. +Aasen published the first edition of his grammar in 1848, and the first +edition of his dictionary in 1850. But obviously it was not enough to +provide a grammar and a word-book. The literary powers of the new +language must be developed and disciplined and, accordingly, Aasen +published in 1853 _Prover af Landsmaalet i Norge_. The little volume +contains, besides other material, seven translations from foreign +classics; among these is Romeo's soliloquy in the balcony scene.[14] +(Act II, Sc. 1) This modest essay of Aasen's, then, antedates Hauge's +rendering of _Macbeth_ and constitutes the first bit of Shakespeare +translation in Norway since the _Coriolanus_ of 1818. + + [14. Ivar Aasen--_Skrifter i Samling_--Christiania. 1911, Vol. 11, + p. 165. Reprinted from _Prover af Landsmaalet i Norge, Forste + Udgave_. Kristiania. 1853, p. 114.] + +Aasen knew that Landsmaal was adequate to the expression of the homely +and familiar. But would it do for belles lettres? + + Han laer aat Saar, som aldri kende Saar.-- + Men hyst!--Kvat Ljos er dat dar upp i glaset? + Dat er i Aust, og Julia er Soli. + Sprett, fagre Sol, og tyn dan Maane-Skjegla, + som alt er sjuk og bleik av berre Ovund, + at hennar Taus er fagrar' en ho sjolv. + Ver inkje hennar Taus; dan Ovundsykja, + so sjukleg gron er hennar Jomfru-Klaednad; + d'er berre Narr, som ber han. Sleng han av! + Ja, d'er mi Fru, d'er dan eg held i Hugen; + aa, giv ho hadde vist dat, at ho er dat! + Ho talar, utan Ord. Kvat skal ho med dei? + Ho tala kann med Augom;--eg vil svara. + Eg er for djerv; d'er inkje meg ho ser paa, + d'er tvo av fegste Stjernom dar paa Himlen, + som gekk ei AErend, og fekk hennar Augo + te blinka i sin Stad, til dei kem atter. + Enn um dei var dar sjolve Augo hennar. + Kinn-Ljosken hennar hadde skemt dei Stjernor, + som Dagsljos skemmer Lampen; hennar Augo + hadd' straatt so bjart eit Ljos i Himmels Hogdi, + at Fuglar song og Trudde, dat var Dag. + Sjaa, kor ho hallar Kinni lint paa Handi, + Aa, giv eg var ein Vott paa denne Handi + at eg fekk strjuka Kinni den.--Ho talar.-- + Aa tala meir, Ljos-Engel, med du lyser + so klaart i denne Natti kring mitt Hovud, + som naar dat kem ein utfloygd Himmels Sending + mot Folk, som keika seg og stira beint upp + med undrarsame kvit-snudd' Augo mot han, + naar han skrid um dan seinleg-sigand' Skyi + og sigler yver hoge Himmels Barmen. + +It was no peasant jargon that Aasen had invented; it was a literary +language of great power and beauty with the dignity and fulness of any +other literary medium. But it was new and untried. It had no literature. +Aasen, accordingly, set about creating one. Indeed, much of what he +wrote had no other purpose. What, then, shall we say of the first +appearance of Shakespeare in "Ny Norsk"? + +First, that it was remarkably felicitous. + + Kinn-Ljosken hadde skemt dei Stjernor + som Dagsljos skemmer Lampen, hennar Augo, etc. + +That is no inadequate rendering of: + + Two of the fairest stars in all the Heaven, etc. + +And equally good are the closing lines beginning: + + Aa tala meir, Ljos-Engel med du lyser, etc. + +Foersom is deservedly praised for his translation of the same lines, but +a comparison of the two is not altogether disastrous to Aasen, though, +to be sure, his lines lack some of Foersom's insinuating softness: + + Tal atter, Lysets Engel! thi du straaler + i Natten saa hoiherlig over mig + som en af Nattens vingede Cheruber + for dodeliges himmelvendte Oine, etc. + +But lines like these have an admirable and perfect loveliness: + + naar han skrid um dan seinleg-sigand' Skyi + og sigler yver hoge Himmels Barmen. + +Aasen busied himself for some years with this effort to naturalize his +Landsmaal in all the forms of literature. Apparently this was always +uppermost in his thoughts. We find him trying himself in this sort of +work in the years before and after the publication of _Prover af +Landsmaalet_. In _Skrifter i Samling_ is printed another little fragment +of _Romeo and Juliet_, which the editor, without giving his reasons, +assigns to a date earlier than that of the balcony scene. It is +Mercutio's description of Queen Mab (Act I, Sc. 4). This is decidedly +more successful than the other. The vocabulary of the Norwegian dialects +is rich in words of fairy-lore, and one who knew this word treasure as +Aasen did could render the fancies of Mercutio with something very near +the exuberance of Shakespeare himself: + + No ser eg vel, at ho hev' vore hjaa deg + ho gamle Mabba, Naerkona aat Vettom. + So lita som ein Adelstein i Ringen + paa fremste Fingren paa ein verdug Raadsmann, + ho kjoyrer kring med smaa Soldumbe-Flokar + paa Nasanna aat Folk, dan Tid dei sov. + Hjulspikann' henna er av Konglefoter, + Vognfelden er av Engjesprette-Vengjer, + og Taumann' av den minste Kongleveven. + Av Maanestraalanne paa Vatn er Selen, + og av Sirissebein er Svipeskafted + og Svipesnerten er av Agner smaa. + Skjotskaren er eit nett graakjola My + so stort som Holva av ein liten Mol, + som minste Vaekja krasa kann med Fingren. + Til Vogn ho fekk ei holut Haslenot + av Snikkar Ikorn elder Natemakk, + som altid var Vognmakarann' aat Vettom.[15] + + [15. Ivar Aasen: _Skrifter i Samling_. Christiania. 1911, Vol. I, + p. 166.] + +The translation ends with Mercutio's words: + + And being thus frightened, swears a prayer or two, + And sleeps again. + +In my opinion this is consummately well done--at once accurate and +redolent of poesy; and certainly Aasen would have been justified in +feeling that Landsmaal is equal to Shakespeare's most airy passages. The +slight inaccuracy of one of the lines: + + Av Maanestraalanne paa Vatn er Selen, + +for Shakespeare's: + + The colors of the moonshine's watery beams, + +is of no consequence. The discrepancy was doubtless as obvious to the +translator as it is to us. + +From about the same time we have another Shakespeare fragment from +Aasen's hand. Like the Queen Mab passage, it was not published till +1911.[16] It is scarcely surprising that it is a rendering of Hamlet's +soliloquy: "To be or not to be." This is, of course, a more difficult +undertaking. For the interests that make up the life of the +people--their family and community affairs, their arts and crafts and +folk-lore, the dialects of Norway, like the dialects of any other +country, have a vocabulary amazingly rich and complete.[17] But not all +ideas belong in the realm of the every-day, and the great difficulty of +the Landsmaal movement is precisely this--that it must develop a +"culture language." To a large degree it has already done so. The rest +is largely a matter of time. And surely Ivar Aasen's translation of the +famous soliloquy proved that the task of giving, even to thought as +sophisticated as this, adequate and final expression is not impossible. +The whole is worth giving: + + Te vera elder ei,--d'er da her spyrst um; + um d'er meir heirlegt i sitt Brjost aa tola + kvar Styng og Stoyt av ein hardsokjen Lagnad + eld taka Vaapn imot eit Hav med Harmar, + staa mot og slaa dei veg?--Te doy, te sova, + alt fraa seg gjort,--og i ein Somn te enda + dan Hjarteverk, dei tusend timleg' Stoytar, + som Kjot er Erving til, da var ein Ende + rett storleg ynskjande. Te doy, te sova, + ja sova, kanskje droyma,--au, d'er Knuten. + Fyr' i dan Daudesomn, kva Draum kann koma, + naar mid ha kastat av dei daudleg Bandi, + da kann vel giv' oss Tankar; da er Sakji, + som gjerer Useldom so lang i Livet: + kven vilde tolt slikt Hogg og Haad i Tidi, + slik sterk Manns Urett, stolt Manns Skamlaus Medferd, + slik vanvyrd Elskhugs Harm, slik Rettarloysa, + slikt Embaet's Ovmod, slik Tilbakaspenning, + som tolug, verdug Mann faer av uverdug; + kven vilde da, naar sjolv han kunde loysa + seg med ein nakjen Odd? Kven bar dan Byrda + so sveitt og stynjand i so leid ein Livnad, + naar inkj'an ottast eitkvart etter Dauden, + da uforfarne Land, som ingjen Ferdmann + er komen atter fraa, da viller Viljen, + da laet oss helder ha dan Naud, mid hava, + en fly til onnor Naud, som er oss ukjend. + So gjer Samviskan Slavar av oss alle, + so bi dan fyrste, djerve, bjarte Viljen + skjemd ut med blakke Strik av Ettertankjen + og store Tiltak, som var Merg og Magt i, + maa soleid snu seg um og stroyma ovugt + og tapa Namn av Tiltak. + + [16. _Skrifter i Samling_, I, 168. Kristiania. 1911.] + + [17. Cf. Alf Torp. _Samtiden_, XIX (1908), p. 483.] + +This is a distinctly successful attempt--exact, fluent, poetic. Compare +it with the Danish of Foersom and Lembcke, with the Swedish of Hagberg, +or the new Norwegian "Riksmaal" translation, and Ivar Aasen's early +Landsmaal version holds its own. It keeps the right tone. The dignity of +the original is scarcely marred by a note of the colloquial. Scarcely +marred! For just as many Norwegians are offended by such a phrase as +"Hennar Taus er fagrar' en ho sjolv" in the balcony scene, so many more +will object to the colloquial "Au, d'er Knuten." _Au_ has no place in +dignified verse, and surely it is a most unhappy equivalent for "Ay, +there's the rub." Aasen would have replied that Hamlet's words are +themselves colloquial; but the English conveys no such connotation of +easy speech as does the Landsmaal to a great part of the Norwegian +people. But this is a trifle. The fact remains that Aasen gave a noble +form to Shakespeare's noble verse. + + +E + +For many years the work of Hauge and Aasen stood alone in Norwegian +literature. The reading public was content to go to Denmark, and the +growing Landsmaal literature was concerned with other matters--first of +all, with the task of establishing itself and the even more complicated +problem of finding a form--orthography, syntax, and inflexions which +should command general acceptance. For the Landsmaal of Ivar Aasen was +frankly based on "the best dialects," and by this he meant, of course, +the dialects that best preserved the forms of the Old Norse. These were +the dialects of the west coast and the mountains. To Aasen the speech of +the towns, of the south-east coast and of the great eastern valleys and +uplands was corrupt and vitiated. It seemed foreign, saturated and +spoiled by Danish. There were those, however, who saw farther. If +Landsmaal was to strike root, it must take into account not merely "the +purest dialects" but the speech of the whole country. It could not, for +example, retain forms like "dat," "dan," etc., which were peculiar to +Sondmor, because they happened to be lineal descendants of Old Norse, +nor should it insist on preterites in _ade_ and participles in _ad_ +merely because these forms were found in the sagas. We cannot enter upon +this subject; we can but point out that this movement was born almost +with Landsmaal itself, and that, after Aasen's fragments, the first +Norwegian translation of any part of Shakespeare is a rendering of +Sonnet CXXX in popularized Eastern, as distinguished from Aasen's +literary, aristocratic Western Landsmaal. It is the first translation of +a Shakespearean sonnet on Norwegian soil. The new language was hewing +out new paths. + + Som Soli Augunn' inkje skjin, + og som Koraller inkje Lipunn' glansar, + og snjokvit hev ho inkje Halsen sin, + og Gullhaar inkje Hove hennar kransar, + + Eg baae kvit' og raue Roser ser--, + paa Kinni hennar deira Lit'kje blandast; + og meire fin vel Blomsterangen er, + en den som ut fraa Lipunn' hennar andast. + + Eg hoyrt hev hennar Royst og veit endaa, + at inkje som ein Song dei laeter Ori; + og aldrig hev eg set ein Engel gaa-- + og gjenta mi ser stott eg gaa paa Jori. + + Men ho er storre Lov og AEre vaer + enn pyntedokkane me laana Glansen. + Den reine Hugen seg i alting ter, + og ljost ho smilar under Brurekransen.[18] + + [18. "Ein Sonett etter William Shakespeare." _Fram_--1872.] + +Obviously this is not a sonnet at all. Not only does the translator +ignore Shakespeare's rime scheme, but he sets aside the elementary +definition of a sonnet--a poem of fourteen lines. We have here sixteen +lines and the last two add nothing to the original. The poet, through +lack of skill, has simply run on. He could have ended with line 14 and +then, whatever other criticism might have been passed upon his work, we +should have had at least the sonnet form. The additional lines are in +themselves fairly good poetry but they have no place in what purports to +be translation. The translator signs himself simply "r." Whoever he was, +he had poetic feeling and power of expression. No mere poetaster could +have given lines so exquisite in their imagery, so full of music, and +so happy in their phrasing. This fact in itself makes it a poor +translation, for it is rather a paraphrase with a quality and excellence +all its own. Not a line exactly renders the English. The paraphrase is +never so good as the original but, considered by itself, it is good +poetry. The disillusionment comes only with comparison. On the whole, +this second attempt to put Shakespeare into Landsmaal was distinctly +less successful than the first. As poetry it does not measure up to +Aasen; as translation it is periphrastic, arbitrary, not at all +faithful. + + +F + +The translations which we have thus far considered were mere +fragments--brief soliloquies or a single sonnet, and they were done into +a dialect which was not then and is not now the prevailing literary +language of the country. They were earnest and, in the case of Aasen, +successful attempts to show that Landsmaal was adequate to the most +varied and remote of styles. But many years were to elapse before anyone +attempted the far more difficult task of turning any considerable part +of Shakespeare into "Modern Norwegian." + +Norway still relied, with no apparent sense of humiliation, on the +translations of Shakespeare as they came up from Copenhagen. In 1881, +however, Hartvig Lassen (1824-1897) translated _The Merchant of +Venice_.[19] Lassen matriculated as a student in 1842, and from 1850 +supported himself as a literateur, writing reviews of books and plays +for _Krydseren_ and _Aftenposten_. In 1872 he was appointed Artistic +Censor at the theater, and in that office translated a multitude of +plays from almost every language of Western Europe. His published +translations of Shakespeare are, however, quite unrelated to his +theatrical work. They were done for school use and published by +_Selskabet for Folkeoplysningens Fremme_ (Society for the Promotion +of Popular Education). + + [19. _Kjobmanden i Venedig_--Et Skuespil af William + Shakespeare. Oversat af Hartvig Lassen. Udgivet af Selskabet for + Folkeoplysningens Fremme som andet Tillaegshefte til _Folkevennen_ + for 1881. Kristiania, 1881.] + +To _Kjobmanden i Venedig_ there is no introduction and no notes--merely +a postscript in which the translator declares that he has endeavored +everywhere faithfully to reproduce the peculiar tone of the play and to +preserve the concentration of style which is everywhere characteristic +of Shakespeare. He acknowledges his indebtedness to the Swedish +translation by Hagberg and the German by Schlegel. Inasmuch as this work +was published for wide, general distribution and for reading in the +schools, Lassen cut out the passages which he deemed unsuitable for the +untutored mind. "But," he adds, "with the exception of the last scene of +Act III, which, in its expurgated form, would be too fragmentary (and +which, indeed, does not bear any immediate relation to the action), only +a few isolated passages have been cut. Shakespeare has lost next to +nothing, and a great deal has been gained if I have hereby removed one +ground for the hesitation which most teachers would feel in using the +book in the public schools." In Act III, Scene 5 is omitted entirely, +and obvious passages in other parts of the play. + +It has frequently been said that Lassen did little more than +"norvagicize" Lembcke's Danish renderings. And certainly even the most +cursory reading will show that he had Lembcke at hand. But comparison +will also show that variations from Lembcke are numerous and +considerable. Lassen was a man of letters, a critic, and a good student +of foreign languages, but he was no poet, and his _Merchant of Venice_ +is, generally speaking, much inferior to Lembcke's. Compare, for +example, the exquisite opening of the fifth act: + + + LASSEN + + _Lor_: + Klart skinner Maanen, i en Nat som denne, + da Vinden gled med Lys igjennem Lovet, + og alt var tyst: i slig en Nat forvist + Trojas Murtinder Troilus besteg, + til Graekerlejren, til sin Cressida + udsukkende sin Sjael. + + LEMBCKE + + Klart skinner Maanen, i en Nat som denne, + mens Luftningen saa sagte kyssed Traeet + at knapt det sused, i en saadan Nat + steg Troilus vist up paa Trojas Mur + og sukked ud sin Sjael mod Graekerlejren + der gjemte Cressida. + + + _Jes_: + I slig en Nat + sig Thisbe listed aengstelig, over Duggen + saa Lovens Skygge for hun saa den selv, + og lob forskraekket bort. + + En saadan Nat + gik Thisbe bange trippende paa Duggen + og ojned Lovens Skygge for den selv + og lob forfaerdet bort. + + _Lor_: + I slig en Nat + stod Dido med en Vidjevaand i Haanden + paa vilden strand, og vinked til Kartago + sin elsker hjem igjen. + + En saadan Nat + stod Dido med en Vidjekvist i Haanden + paa vilden Strand og vinkede sin Elsker + tilbage til Carthagos Kyst. + + _Jes_: + I slig en Nat + Medea plukked Galder-Urt for Aeson + hans Ungdom at forny. + + Det var + en saadan Nat, da sankede Medea + de Trolddomsurter der foryngede + den gamle Aeson. + + _Lor_: + + I slig en Nat + stjal Jessica sig fra den rige Jode, + Lob fra Venedig med en lystig Elsker + til Belmont uden Stands. + + Og en saadan Nat + sneg Jessica sig fra den rige Jode + og lob med en Landstryger fra Venedig + herhid til Belmont. + + _Jes_: + + I slig en Nat + svor ung Lorenzo at han elsked hende, + stjal hendes Sjael med mange Troskabslofter + og ikke et var sandt. + + Og en saadan Nat + svor ung Lorenzo hende Kjaerlighed + og stjal med Troskabseder hendes Hjerte + og aldrig en var sand. + + _Lor_: + + I slig en Nat + skjon Jessica, den lille Klaffertunge, + loi paa sin Elsker, og han tilgav hende. + + I slig en Nat + bagtalte just skjon Jessica sin Elsker + ret som en lille Trold, og han tilgav det. + + _Jes_: + + Jeg gad fortalt dig mer om slig en Nat, + hvis jeg ei horte nogen komme--tys! + + Jeg skulde sagtens "overnatte" dig + hvis ingen kom; men tys, jeg horer der + Trin af en Mand. + +Lembcke's version is faithful to the point of slavishness. Compare, +for example, "Jeg skulde sagtens overnatte dig" with "I would outnight +you." Lassen, though never grossly inaccurate, allows himself greater +liberties. Compare lines 2-6 with the original and with Lembcke. In +every case the Danish version is more faithful than the Norwegian. And +more mellifluous. Why Lassen should choose such clumsy and banal lines +as: + + I slig en Nat + Trojas Murtinder Troilus besteg + +when he could have used Lembcke's, is inexplicable except on the +hypothesis that he was eager to prove his own originality. The remainder +of Lorenzo's first speech is scarcely better. It is neither good +translation nor decent verse. + +In 1882 came Lassen's _Julius Caesar_,[20] likewise published as a +supplement to _Folkevennen_ for use in the schools. A short postscript +tells us that the principles which governed in the translation of the +earlier play have governed here also. Lassen specifically declares that +he used Foersom's translation (Copenhagen, 1811) as the basis for the +translation of Antony's oration. A comparison shows that in this scene +Lassen follows Foersom closely--he keeps archaisms which Lembcke +amended. One or two instances: + + _Foersom_: + Seer, her foer Casii Dolk igjennem den; + seer, hvilken Rift den nidske Casca gjorde; + her rammed' den hoitelskte Bruti Dolk, etc. + + _Lembcke_: + Se, her foer Cassius' Dolk igjennem den; + se hvilken Rift den onde Casca gjorde. + Her stodte Brutus den hoitelskede, etc. + + _Lassen_: + Se! her foer Casii Dolk igjennem den; + se hvilken Rift den onde Casca gjorde. + Her rammed den hoielskte Bruti Dolk, etc. + + [20. _Julius Caesar_. Et Skuespil af William Shakespeare. Oversat + af Hartvig Lassen. Udgivet af Selskabet for Folkeoplysningens + Fremme som forste Tillaegshefte til _Folkevennen_ for 1882. + Kristiania, 1882. Grondal og Son.] + +For the rest, a reading of this translation leaves the same impression +as a reading of _The Merchant of Venice_--it is a reasonably good +piece of work but distinctly inferior to Foersom and to Lembcke's +modernization of Foersom. Lassen clearly had Lembcke at hand; he seldom, +however, followed him for more than a line or two. What is more +important is that there are reminiscences of Foersom not only in +the funeral scene, where Lassen himself acknowledges the fact, but +elsewhere. Note a few lines from the quarrel between Brutus and Cassius +(Act IV, Sc. 3) beginning with Cassius' speech: + + Urge me no more, I shall forget myself. + +Foersom (Ed. 1811) has: + + _Cas_: + Tir mig ei mer at jeg ei glemmer mig; + husk Eders Vel--og frist mig ikke mere. + + _Bru_: + Bort, svage Mand! + + _Cas_: + Er dette muligt? + + _Bru_: + Hor mig; jeg vil tale. + Skal jeg for Eders vilde Sind mig boie? + Troer I jeg kyses af en gal Mands Blik? + + _Cas_: + O Guder, Guder! skal jeg taale dette? + + _Bru_: + Ja, meer. Brum saa dette stolte Hierte brister; + Gak, viis den Haeftighed for Eders Traelle, + og faa dem til at skielve. Skal jeg vige, + og foie Eder? Skal jeg staae og boie + mig under Eders Luners Arrighed? + Ved Guderne, I skal nedsvaelge selv + al Eders Galdes Gift, om end I brast; + thi fra i dag af bruger jeg Jer kun + til Moerskab, ja til latter naar I vredes. + +And Lassen has: + +_Cas_: + _Tirr_ mig ei mer; jeg kunde glemme mig. + Taenk paa dit eget Vel, frist mig ei laenger. + + _Bru_: + _Bort, svage Mand_! + + _Cas_: + Er dette muligt? + + _Bru_: + Hor mig, jeg vil tale. + Skal jeg _mig boie_ for din Vredes Nykker? + Og skraemmes, naar en gal Mand glor paa mig? + + _Cas_: + O Guder, Guder! maa jeg taale dette? + + _Bru_: + Dette, ja mer end det. Stamp kun mod Brodden, + ras kun, indtil dit stolte Hjerte brister; + lad dine Slaver se hvor arg du er + og _skjelve_. Jeg--skal jeg tilside smutte? + Jeg gjore Krus for dig? Jeg krumme Ryg + naar det behager dig? Ved Guderne! + Du selv skal _svaelge_ al din _Galdes Gift_, + om saa du brister; thi fra denne Dag + jeg bruger dig til Moro, ja til Latter, + naar du er ilsk. + +The _italicized_ passages show that the influence of Foersom was felt +in more than one scene. It would be easy to give other instances. + +After all this, we need scarcely more than mention Lassen's +_Macbeth_[21] published in 1883. The usual brief note at the end of the +play gives the usual information that, out of regard for the purpose for +which the translation has been made, certain parts of the porter scene +and certain speeches by Malcolm in Act IV, Sc. 3 have been cut. Readers +will have no difficulty in picking them out. + + [21. _Macbeth_. Tragedie af William Shakespeare. Oversat af + H. Lassen. Udgivet af Selskabet for Folkeoplysningens Fremme som + andet Tillaegshefte til _Folkevennen_ for 1883. Kristiania. Grondal + og Son.] + +_Macbeth_ is, like all Lassen's work, dull and prosaic. Like his other +translations from Shakespeare, it has never become popular. The standard +translation in Norway is still the Foersom-Lembcke, a trifle +nationalized with Norwegian words and phrases whenever a new acting +version is to be prepared. And while it is not true that Lassen's +translations are merely norvagicized editions of the Danish, it is true +that they are often so little independent of them that they do not +deserve to supersede the work of Foersom and Lembcke. + + +G + +Norwegian translations of Shakespeare cannot, thus far, be called +distinguished. There is no complete edition either in Riksmaal or +Landsmaal. A few sonnets, a play or two, a scrap of dialogue--Norway +has little Shakespeare translation of her own. Qualitatively, the case +is somewhat better. Several of the renderings we have considered are +extremely creditable, though none of them can be compared with the +best in Danish or Swedish. It is a grateful task, therefore, to call +attention to the translations by Christen Collin. They are not +numerous--only eleven short fragments published as illustrative material +in his school edition (English text) of _The Merchant of Venice_--[22] +but they are of notable quality, and they save the Riksmaal literature +from the reproach of surrendering completely to the Landsmaal the task +of turning Shakespeare into Norwegian. With the exception of a few lines +from _Macbeth_ and _Othello_, the selections are all from _The Merchant +of Venice_. + + [22. _The Merchant of Venice_. Med Indledning og Anmaerkninger ved + Christen Collin. Kristiania. 1902. (This, of course, does not + include the translations of the sonnets referred to below.)] + +A good part of Collin's success must be attributed to his intimate +familiarity with English. The fine nuances of the language do not escape +him, and he can use it not with precision merely but with audacity and +power. Long years of close and sympathetic association with the +literature of England has made English well-nigh a second mother tongue +to this fine and appreciative critic. But he is more than a critic. He +has more than a little of the true poet's insight and the true poet's +gift of song. All this has combined to give us a body of translations +which, for fine felicity, stand unrivalled in Dano-Norwegian. Many of +these have been prepared for lecture purposes and have never been +printed.[23] Only a few have been perpetuated in this text edition of +_The Merchant of Venice_. We shall discuss the edition itself below. +Our concern here is with the translations. We remember Lassen's and +Lembcke's opening of the fifth act. Collin is more successful than his +countryman. + + _Lor_: + Hvor Maanen straaler! I en nat som denne, + da milde vindpust kyssed skovens traer + og alting var saa tyst, i slig en nat + Troilus kanske steg op paa Trojas mure + og stonned ud sin sjael mod Graekerteltene + hvor Cressida laa den nat. + + _Jes_: + I slig en nat + kom Thisbe angstfuldt trippende over duggen,-- + saa lovens skygge, for hun saa den selv, + og lob forskraekket bort. + + _Lor_: + I slig en nat + stod Dido med en vidjekvist i haand + paa havets strand og vinkede AEneas + tilbage til Karthago. + + _Jes_: + I slig en nat + Medea sanked urter som foryngede + den gamle AEsons liv. + + _Lor_: + I slig en nat + stjal Jessica sig fra den rige Jode + med en forfloien elsker fra Venedig + og fandt i Belmont ly. + + _Jes_: + I en saadan nat + svor ung Lorenzo at hun var ham kjaer + og stjal med mange eder hendes hjerte, + men ikke en var sand. + + _Lor_: + I slig en nat + skjon Jessica, den lille heks, bagtalte + sin elsker og han--tilgav hende alt. + + [23. I have seen these translations in the typewritten copies + which Professor Collin distributed among his students.] + +"A translation of this passage," says Collin,[24] "can hardly be more +than an approximation, but its inadequacy will only emphasize the +beauty of the original." Nevertheless we have here more than a feeble +approximation. It is not equal to Shakespeare, but it is good Norwegian +poetry and as faithful as translation can or need be. It is difficult to +refrain from giving Portia's plea for mercy, but I shall give instead +Collin's striking rendering of Shylock's arraignment of Antonio:[25] + + Signor Antonio, mangen en gang og tit + har paa Rialto torv I skjaeldt mig ud + for mine pengelaan og mine renter.... + Jeg bar det med taalmodigt skuldertraek, + for taalmod er jo blit vor stammes merke. + + I kalder mig en vantro, blodgrisk _hund_ + og spytter paa min jodiske gaberdin-- + hvorfor? for brug af hvad der er mit eget! + Nu synes det, I traenger til min hjaelp. + + Nei virkelig? I kommer nu til mig + og siger: Shylock, laan os penge,--I, + som slaengte eders slim hen paa mit skjaeg + og satte foden paa mig, som I spaendte, + en kjoter fra Jer dor, I be'r om penge! + Hvad skal jeg svare vel? Skal jeg 'ke svare: + Har en hund penge? Er det muligt, at + en kjoter har tre tusinde dukater? + Eller skal jeg bukke dybt og i traelletone + med saenket rost og underdanig hvisken + formaele: + "Min herre, I spytted paa mig sidste onsdag, + en anden dag I spaendte mig, en tredje + I kaldte mig en hund; for al den artighed + jeg laaner Jer saa og saa mange penge?" + + [24. Collin, _op. cit._, _Indledning_, XII.] + + [25. Collin, _op. cit._, _Indledning_, XXVI. (_M. of V._, 1-3)] + +It is to be regretted that Collin did not give us Shylock's still more +impassioned outburst to Salarino in Act III. He would have done it well. + +It would be a gracious task to give more of this translator's work. It +is, slight though its quantity, a genuine contribution to the body of +excellent translation literature of the world. I shall quote but one +more passage, a few lines from _Macbeth_.[26] + + "Det tyktes mig som horte jeg en rost; + Sov aldrig mer! Macbeth har myrdet sovnen, + den skyldfri sovn, som loser sorgens floke, + hvert daglivs dod, et bad for modig moie, + balsam for sjaelesaar og alnaturens + den sode efterret,--dog hovednaeringen + ved livets gjaestebud.... + + _Lady Macbeth_: + Hvad er det, du mener? + + _Macbeth_: + "Sov aldrig mer," det skreg til hele huset. + Glarais har myrdet sovnen, derfor Cawdor + skal aldrig mer faa sovn,--Macbeth, + Macbeth skal aldrig mer faa sovn!" + + [26. Collin, _op. cit._, _Indledning_, XXV. _Macbeth_ II, 1.] + + +H + +We have hitherto discussed the Norwegian translations of Shakespeare in +almost exact chronological order. It has been possible to do this +because the plays have either been translated by a single man and issued +close together, as in the case of Hartvig Lassen, or they have appeared +separately from the hands of different translators and at widely +different periods. We come now, however, to a group of translations +which, although the work of different men and published independently +from 1901 to 1912, nevertheless belong together. They are all in +Landsmaal and they represent quite clearly an effort to enrich the +literature of the new dialect with translations from Shakespeare. To do +this successfully would, obviously, be a great gain. The Maalstraevere +would thereby prove the capacity of their tongue for the highest, most +exotic forms of literature. They would give to it, moreover, the +discipline which the translation of foreign classics could not fail to +afford. It was thus a renewal of the missionary spirit of Ivar Aasen. +And behind it all was the defiant feeling that Norwegians should have +Shakespeare in Norwegian, not in Danish or bastard Danish. + +The spirit of these translations is obvious enough from the opening +sentence of Madhus' preface to his translation of _Macbeth_:[27] +"I should hardly have ventured to publish this first attempt at a +Norwegian translation of Shakespeare if competent men had not urged me +to do so." It is frankly declared to be the first Norwegian translation +of Shakespeare. Hauge and Lassen, to say nothing of the translator of +1818, are curtly dismissed from Norwegian literature. They belong to +Denmark. This might be true if it were not for the bland assumption +that nothing is really Norwegian except what is written in the dialect +of a particular group of Norwegians. The fundamental error of the +"Maalstraevere" is the inability to comprehend the simple fact that +language has no natural, instinctive connection with race. An American +born in America of Norwegian parents _may_, if his parents are energetic +and circumstances favorable, learn the tongue of his father and mother, +but his natural speech, the medium he uses easily, his real +mother-tongue, will be English. Will it be contended that this American +has lost anything in spiritual power or linguistic facility? Quite the +contrary. The use of Danish in Norway has had the unfortunate effect of +stirring up a bitter war between the two literary languages or the two +dialects of the same language, but it has imposed no bonds on the +literary or intellectual powers of a large part of the people, for the +simple reason that these people have long used the language as their +own. And because they live in Norway they have made the speech +Norwegian. Despite its Danish origin, Dano-Norwegian is today as truly +Norwegian as any other Norwegian dialect, and in its literary form it +is, in a sense, more Norwegian than the literary Landsmaal, for the +language of Bjornson has grown up gradually on Norwegian soil; the +language of Ivar Aasen is not yet acclimatized. + + [27. William Shakespeare: _Macbeth_. I norsk Umskrift ved Olav + Madhus. Kristiania. 1901. H. Aschehoug & Co.] + +For these reasons it will not do to let Madhus' calm assertion go +unchallenged. The fact is that to a large part of the Norwegian people +Lassen's translations represent merely a slightly Danicized form of +their own language, while to the same people the language of Madhus is +at least as foreign as Swedish. This is not the place for a discussion +of "Sprogstriden." We may give full recognition to Landsmaal without +subscribing to the creed of enthusiasts. And it is still easier to give +credit to the excellence of the Shakespeare translations in Landsmaal +without concerning ourselves with the partisanship of the translator. +What shall we say, then, of the _Macbeth_ of Olav Madhus? + +First, that it is decidedly good. The tragedy of Macbeth is stark, grim, +stern, and the vigorous, resonant Norwegian fits admirably. There is +little opportunity, as in Aasen's selections from _Romeo and Juliet_ for +those unfortunate contrasts between the homespun of the modern dialect +and the exquisite silk and gossamer of the vocabulary of romance of +a "cultured language." Madhus has been successful in rendering into +Landsmaal scenes as different as the witch-scene, the porter-scene +(which Lassen omitted for fear it would contaminate the minds of school +children), the exquisite lines of the King and Banquo on their arrival +at Macbeth's castle, and Macbeth's last, tragic soliloquy when he learns +of the death of his queen. + +Duncan and Banquo arrive at the castle of Macbeth and Duncan speaks +those lovely lines: "This castle has a pleasant seat," etc. Madhus +translates: + + _Duncan_: + Ho hev eit fagert laegje, denne borgi, + og lufti lyar seg og gjer seg smeiki + aat vaare glade sansar. + + _Banquo_: + Sumar-gjesten, + den tempel-kjaere svala, vitnar med, + at himlens ande blakrar smeikin her, + med di at ho so gjerne her vil byggje. + Det finst kje sule eller takskjeggs livd + og ikkje voll hell vigskar, der ei ho + hev hengt si lette seng og barne-vogge. + Der ho mest bur og braeer, hev eg merkt meg, + er lufti herleg. + +This is as light and luminous as possible. Contrast it with the slow, +solemn tempo of the opening of Act I, Sc. 7--Macbeth's "If it were done +when 'tis done," etc. + + Um det var gjort, naar d'er gjort, var det vael, + um det vart snart gjort; kunde loynmordsverke, + stengje og binde alle vonde fylgdir + og, med aa faa hurt honom, naa sitt maal, + so denne eine stoyten som maa til, + vart enden, alt, det siste som det fyrste + i tidi her--den havsens oyr og bode + me sit paa no--,--med live som kjem etter + det fekk daa vaage voni. Men i slikt + vert domen sagd alt her. Blodtankane, + me el, kjem vaksne att og piner oss, + som gav deim liv og fostra deim; og drykken, + som me hev blanda eiter i aat andre, + vert eingong uta miskunn bodin fram + av rettferds hand aat vaare eigne munnar. + +The deep tones of a language born in mountains and along fjords finely +re-echo the dark broodings in Macbeth's soul. + +Or take still another example, the witch-scene in Act IV. It opens in +Madhus' version: + + _Fyrste Heks_: + Tri gong mjava brandut katt. + + _Andre Heks_: + Tri og ein gong bust-svin peip. + + _Tridje Heks_: + Val-ramn skrik. D'er tid, d'er tid. + + _Fyrste Heks_: + Ring um gryta gjeng me tri; + sleng forgiftigt seid--mang i. + Gyrme-gro, som under stein + dagar tredive og ein + sveita eiter, lat og leid, + koke fyrst i vaaro seid. + + _Alle_: + Tvifaldt trael og moda duble; + brand frase, seid buble! + + _Andre Heks_: + Moyrkjot av ein myr-orm kald + so i gryta koke skal. + Odle-augo, skinnveng-haar, + hundetunge, froskelaar, + sleve-brodd, firfisle-svord, + ule-veng og lyngaal-spord + til eit seid som sinn kann rengje + hel-sodd-heitt seg saman mengje! + +This is not only accurate; it is a decidedly successful imitation of the +movement of the original. Madhus has done a first-rate piece of work. +The language of witch-craft is as international as the language of +science. But only a poet can turn it to poetic use. + +Not quite so successful is Macbeth's soliloquy when the death of Lady +Macbeth is announced to him: + + Det skuld'ho drygt med. + Aat slikt eit ord var komi betre stund.-- + "I morgo" og "i morgo" og "i morgo," + slik sig det smaatt fram etter, dag for dag, + til siste ord i livsens sogubok; + og kvart "i gaar" hev daarer vegen lyst + til dust og daude. + +It is difficult to say just where the fault lies, but the thing seems +uncouth, a trifle too colloquial and peasant-like. The fault may be the +translator's, but something must also be charged to his medium. The +passage in Shakespeare is simple but it breathes distinction. The +Landsmaal version is merely colloquial, even banal. One fine line +there is: + + "til siste ord i livsens sogubok." + +But the rest suggests too plainly the limitations of an uncultivated +speech. + +In 1905 came a translation of _The Merchant of Venice_ by Madhus,[28] +and, uniform with it, a little book--_Soga um Kaupmannen i Venetia_ (The +Story of The Merchant of Venice) in which the action of the play is told +in simple prose. In the appendatory notes the translator acknowledges +his obligation to Arne Garborg--"Arne Garborg hev gjort mig framifraa +god hjelp, her som med _Macbeth_. Takk og aere hev han." + + [28. William Shakespeare--_Kaupmannen i Venetia_. Paa Norsk ved + Olav Madhus. Oslo. 1905.] + +What we have said of _Macbeth_ applies with no less force here. The +translation is more than merely creditable--it is distinctly good. And +certainly it is no small feat to have translated Shakespeare in all his +richness and fulness into what was only fifty years ago a rustic and +untrained dialect. It is the best answer possible to the charge often +made against Landsmaal that it is utterly unable to convey the subtle +thought of high and cosmopolitan culture. This was the indictment of +Bjornson,[29] of philologists like Torp,[30] and of a literary critic +like Hjalmar Christensen.[31] The last named speaks repeatedly of the +feebleness of Landsmaal when it swerves from its task of depicting +peasant life. His criticism of the poetry of Ivar Mortensen is one long +variation of this theme--the immaturity of Landsmaal. All of this is +true. A finished literary language, even when its roots go deep into a +spoken language, cannot be created in a day. It must be enriched and +elaborated, and it must gain flexibility from constant and varied use. +It is precisely this apprentice stage that Landsmaal is now in. The +finished "Kultursprache" will come in good time. No one who has read +Garborg will deny that it can convey the subtlest emotions; and Madhus' +translations of Shakespeare are further evidence of its possibilities. + + [29. Bjornson: _Vort Sprog_.] + + [30. Torp. _Samtiden_, Vol. XIX (1908), p. 408.] + + [31. _Vor Literatur_.] + +That Madhus does not measure up to his original will astonish no one +who knows Shakespeare translations in other languages. Even Tieck's +and Schlegel's German, or Hagberg's Swedish, or Foersom's Danish is no +substitute for Shakespeare. Whether or not Madhus measures up to these +is not for me to decide, but I feel very certain that he will not suffer +by comparison with the Danish versions by Wolff, Meisling, Wosemose, or +even Lembcke, or with the Norwegian versions of Hauge and Lassen. The +feeling that one gets in reading Madhus is not that he is uncouth, still +less inaccurate, but that in the presence of great imaginative richness +he becomes cold and barren. We felt it less in the tragedy of _Macbeth_, +where romantic color is absent; we feel it strongly in _The Merchant of +Venice_, where the richness of romance is instinct in every line. The +opening of the play offers a perfect illustration. In answer to +Antonio's complaint "In sooth I know not why I am so sad," etc, Salarino +replies in these stately and sounding lines: + + Your mind is tossing on the ocean; + There, where your argosies, with portly sail,-- + Like signiors and rich burghers of the flood, + Or, as it were, the pageants of the sea,-- + Do overpeer the petty traffickers + That curt'sy to them, do them reverence, + As they fly by them with their woven wings. + +The picture becomes very much less stately in Norwegian folk-speech: + + Paa storehave huskar hugen din, + der dine langferd-skip med staute segl + som hovdingar og herremenn paa sjo + i drusteferd, aa kalle, gagar seg + paa baara millom kraemarskutur smaa', + som nigjer aat deim og som helsar audmjukt + naar dei med vovne vengir framum stryk. + +The last two lines are adequate, but the rest has too much the flavor of +Ole and Peer discussing the fate of their fishing-smacks. Somewhat more +successful is the translation of the opening of Act V, doubtless because +it is simpler, less full of remote and sophisticated imagery. By way of +comparison with Lassen and Collin, it may be interesting to have it at +hand. + + _Lor_: + Ovfagert lyser maanen. Slik ei natt, + daa milde vindar kysste ljuve tre + so lindt at knapt dei susa, slik ei natt + steig Troilus upp paa Troja-murane + og sukka saali si til Greklands telt, + der Kressida laag den natti. + + _Jes_: + Slik ei natt + gjekk Thisbe hugraedd yvi doggvaat voll + og loveskuggen saag fyrr lova kom; + og raedd ho der-fraa romde. + + _Lor_: + Slik ei natt + stod Dido med ein siljutein i hand + paa villan strand og vinka venen sin + tilbake til Kartago. + + _Jes_: + Slik ei natt + Medea trolldoms-urtir fann, til upp + aa yngje gamle AEson. + + _Lor_: + Slik ei natt + stal Jessika seg ut fraa judens hus + og med ein fark til festarmann for av + so langt som hit til Belmont. + + _Jes_: + Slik ei natt + svor ung Lorenso henne elskhugs eid + og hjarta hennar stal med fagre ord + som ikkje aatte sanning. + + _Lor_: + Slik ei natt + leksa ven' Jessika som eit lite troll + upp for sin kjaerst, og han tilgav ho. + + _Jes_: + I natteleik eg heldt nok ut med deg, + um ingin kom; men hyss, eg hoyrer stig. + +But when Madhus turns from such flights of high poetry to low comedy, +his success is complete. It may be a long time before Landsmaal can +successfully render the mighty line of Marlowe, or the manifold music of +Shakespeare, but we should expect it to give with perfect verity the +language of the people. And when we read the scenes in which Lancelot +Gobbo figures, there is no doubt that here Landsmaal is at home. Note, +for example, Act II, Sc. 1: + + "Samvite mitt vil visst ikkje hjelpe meg med aa rome fraa denne + juden, husbond min. Fenden stend her attum olbogen min og segjer til + meg: "Gobbo, Lanselot Gobbo; gode Lanselot, eller gode Gobbo, bruka + leggine; tak hyven; drag din veg." Samvite segjer: "nei, agta deg, + aerlige Gobbo," eller som fyr sagt: "aerlige Lanselot Gobbo, rom + ikkje; set deg mot roming med hael og taa!" Men fenden, den + stormodige, bed meg pakka meg; "fremad mars!" segjer fenden; "legg i + veg!" segjer fenden; "for alt som heilagt er," segjer fenden; "vaaga + paa; drag i veg!" Men samvite heng un halsen paa hjarta mitt og + talar visdom til meg; "min aerlige ven Lanselot, som er son av ein + aerlig mann, eller rettare: av eit aerligt kvende; for skal eg segja + sant, so teva det eit grand svidt av far min; han hadde som ein + attaat-snev; naah; samvite segjer: "du skal ikkje fantegaa." "Du + skal fantegaa," segjer fenden; "nei; ikkje fantegaa," segjer + samvite. "Du samvit," segjer eg, "du raader meg godt." "Du fenden," + segjer eg, "du raader meg godt." Fylgde eg no samvite, so vart eg + verande hjaa juden, som--forlate mi synd--er noko som ein devel; og + romer eg fraa juden, so lyder eg fenden, som--beintfram sagt--er + develen sjolv. Visst og sannt: juden er sjolve develen i karnition; + men etter mitt vit er samvite mit vitlaust, som vil raade meg til aa + verta verande hjaa juden. Fenden gjev meg den venlegaste raadi; eg + tek kuten, fenden; haelane mine stend til din kommando; eg tek kuten." + +This has the genuine ring. The brisk colloquial vocabulary fits +admirably the brilliant sophistry of the argument. And both could come +only from Launcelot Gobbo. For "the simplicity of the folk" is one of +those fictions which romantic closet study has woven around the study of +"the people." + +Of the little re-telling of _The Merchant of Venice_, "Soga um +Kaupmannen i Venetia"[32] which appeared in the same year, nothing need +be said. It is a simple, unpretentious summary of the story with a +certain charm which simplicity and naivete always give. No name appears +on the title-page, but we are probably safe in attributing it to +Madhus, for in the note to _Kaupmannen i Venetia_ we read: "I _Soga um +Kaupmannen i Venetia_ hev ein sjolve forteljingi som stykkji er bygt +paa." + + [32. _Soga um Kaupmannen i Venetia_. Oslo, 1905.] + + +I + +In the year 1903, midway between the publication of Madhus' _Macbeth_ +and the appearance of his _Kaupmannen i Venetia_, there appeared in the +chief literary magazine of the Landsmaal movement, "Syn og Segn," a +translation of the fairy scenes of _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ by Erik +Eggen.[33] This is the sort of material which we should expect Landsmaal +to render well. Oberon and Titania are not greatly different from Nissen +and Alverne in Norwegian fairy tales, and the translator had but to +fancy himself in Alveland to be in the enchanted wood near Athens. The +spirit of the fairy scenes in Shakespeare is akin to the spirit of +Asbjornson's "Huldre-Eventyr." There is in them a community of feeling, +of fancy, of ideas. And whereas Madhus had difficulty with the sunny +romance of Italy, Eggen in the story of Puck found material ready to +hand. The passage translated begins Act II, Sc. 1, and runs through Act +II to Oberon's words immediately before the entrance of Helen and +Demetrius: + + But who comes here? I am invisible; + And I will overhear their conference. + + [33. _Alveliv. Eller Shakespeare's Midsumarnatt Draum_ ved Erik + Eggen. _Syn og Segn_, 1903. No. 3-6, pp. (105-114); 248-259.] + +Then the translator omits everything until Puck re-enters and Oberon +greets him with the words: + + Velkomen, vandrar; hev du blomen der? + (Hast thou the flower there? Welcome, wanderer.) + +Here the translation begins again and goes to the exit of Oberon and the +entrance of Lysander and Hermia. This is all in the first selection in +_Syn og Segn_, No. 3. + +In the sixth number of the same year (1903) the work is continued. The +translation here begins with Puck's words (Act III): + + What hempen homespuns have we swaggering here? + So near the cradle of the fairy queen? + What, a play toward! I'll be an auditor; + An actor, too, if I see cause. + +Then it breaks off again and resumes with the entrance of Puck and +Bottom adorned with an ass's head. Quince's words: "O monstrous! O +strange!" are given and then Puck's speech: "I'll follow you: I'll lead +you about a round." After this there is a break till Bottom's song: + + "The ousel cock, so black of hue," etc. + +And now all proceeds without break to the _Hail_ of the last elf called +in to serve Bottom, but the following speeches between Bottom and the +fairies, Cobweb, Mustardseed and Peaseblossom, are all cut, and the +scene ends with Titania's speech: + + "Come, wait upon him, lead him to my bower," etc. + +Act III, Sc. 2, follows immediately, but the translation ends with the +first line of Oberon's speech to Puck before the entrance of Demetrius +and Hermia: + + "This falls out better than I could devise." + +and resumes with Oberon's words: + + "I'll to my queen and beg her Indian boy," + +and includes (with the omission of the last two lines) Oberon's speech +beginning: + + "But we are spirits of another sort." + +Eggen then jumps to the fourth act and translates Titania's opening +speech. After this there is a break till the entrance of Oberon. The +dialogue between Titania and Oberon is given faithfully, except that +in the speech in which Oberon removes the incantation, all the lines +referring to the wedding of Theseus are omitted; the speeches of Puck, +Oberon, and Titania immediately preceding the entrance of Theseus, +Hippolyta, Egeus, and their train, are rendered. + +From Act V the entire second scene is given. + +Eggen has, then, attempted to give a translation into Norwegian +Landsmaal of the fairy scenes in _A Midsummer Night's Dream_. He has +confined himself severely to his task as thus limited, even cutting out +lines from the middle of speeches when these lines refer to another part +of the action or to another group of characters. What we have is, then, +a fragment, to be defended only as an experiment, and successful in +proportion as it renders single lines, speeches, or songs well. On the +whole, Eggen has been successful. There is a vigor and directness in his +style which, indeed, seem rather Norwegian than Shakespearean, but which +are, nevertheless, entirely convincing. One is scarcely conscious that +it is a translation. And in the lighter, more romantic passages Eggen +has hit the right tone with entire fidelity. His knowledge is sound. His +notes, though exhibiting no special learning, show clearly that he is +abreast of modern scholarship. Whenever his rendering seems daring, he +accompanies it with a note that clearly and briefly sets forth why a +particular word or phrase was chosen. The standard Danish, Norwegian, +and German translations are known to him, and occasionally he borrows +from them. But he knows exactly why he does borrow. His scholarship +and his real poetic power combine to give us a translation of which +Landsmaal literature has every reason to be proud. We need give only +a few passages. I like the rollicking humor of Puck's words: + + Kor torer uhengt kjeltrings pakk daa skvaldre + so naere vogga hennar alvemor? + Kva?--skodespel i gjerdom? Eg vil sjaa paa-- + kann hende spele med, um so eg synest. + +And a little farther on when Bottom, adorned with his ass's head, +returns with Puck, and the simple players flee in terror and Puck +exclaims: + + Eg fylgjer dykk og forer rundt i tunn, + i myr og busk og ormegras og klunger, + og snart eg er ein hest og snart ein hund, + ein gris, ein mannvond bjorn, snart flammetungur, + og kneggjer, goyr og ryler, murrar, brenn, + som hest, hund, gris, bjorn, varme--eitt um senn. + +we give our unqualified admiration to the skill of the translator. Or, +compare Titania's instructions to the faries to serve her Bottom: + + Ver venlege imot og ten den herren! + Dans vaent for augo hans, hopp der han gjeng! + Gjev aprikos og frukt fraa blaabaerlid, + ei korg med druvur, fikjur, morbaer i! + Stel honningsekken bort fraa annsam bi! + Til Nattljos hennar voksbein slit i fleng,-- + kveik deim paa jonsok-onn i buskeheng! + Lys for min ven, naar han vil gaa i seng. + Fraa maala fivreld slit ein fager veng, + og fraa hans augo maaneljose steng. + Hels honom so, og kyss til honom sleng. + + _Fyrste Alven_: + Menneskje. + + _Andre Alven_: + Heil deg! + + _Tridje Alven_: + Heil! + + _Fjerde Alven_: + Heil og sael! + + _Titania_: + Ten honom so! Leid honom til mitt rom! + Eg tykkjer maanen er i augo vaat; + og naar han graet, daa graet kvar litin blom, + og minnest daa ei tilnoydd dygd med graat. + Legg handi paa hans munn! Og stilt far aat! + +It is, however, in his exquisitely delicate rendering of the songs of +this play--certainly one of the most difficult tasks that a translator +can undertake--that Eggen has done his best work. There is more than a +distant echo of the original in this happy translation of Bottom's song: + + Han trostefar med svarte kropp + og nebb som appelsin, + og gjerdesmett med litin topp + og stare med tone fin. + Og finke, sporv og lerke graa + og gauk,--ho, ho![34] han laer, + so tidt han gjev sin naeste smaa; + men aldri svar han faer. + + [34. The translator explains in a note the pun in the original.] + +The marvelous richness of the Norwegian dialects in the vocabulary of +folklore is admirably brought out in the song with which the fairies +sing Titania to sleep:[35] + + _Ein alv_: + Spettut orm med tungur tvo, + kvass bust-igel, krjup kje her! + Ole, staal-orm, fara no, + kom vaar alvemor ei naer! + + _Alle alvene_: + Maaltrost, syng med tone full + du med oss vaart bysselull: + bysse, bysse, bysselull, + ei maa vald, + ei heksegald + faa vaar dronning ottefull; + so god natt og bysselull. + + _Ein annan alv_: + Ingi kongrov vil me sjaa, + langbeint vevekjering, gakk! + Svart tordivel, burt her fraa, + burt med snigil og med makk! + + _Alle alvene_: + Maaltrost, syng med tone full + du med oss vaart bysselull: + bysse, bysse, bysselull, + bysse, bysse, bysselull, + ei maa vald, + ei heksegald + faa vaar dronning ottefull; + so god natt og bysselull. + + [35. Act II, Sc. 2.] + +It is easy to draw upon this fragment for further examples of felicitous +translation. It is scarcely necessary, however. What has been given is +sufficient to show the rare skill of the translator. He is so fortunate +as to possess in a high degree what Bayard Taylor calls "secondary +inspiration," without which the work of a translator becomes a soulless +mass and frequently degenerates into the veriest drivel. Erik Eggen's +_Alveliv_ deserves a place in the same high company with Taylor's +_Faust_. + +Nine years later, in 1912, Eggen returned to the task he had left +unfinished with the fairy scenes in _Syn og Segn_ and gave a complete +translation of _A Midsummer Night's Dream_. In a little prefatory note +he acknowledges his indebtedness to Arne Garborg, who critically +examined the manuscript and gave valuable suggestions and advice. +The introduction itself is a restatement in two pages of the +Shakespeare-Essex-Leicester-Elizabeth story. Shakespeare recalls the +festivities as he saw them in youth when he writes in Act II, Sc. 2: + + thou rememberest + Since once I sat upon a promontory, + And heard a mermaid upon a dolphin's back, etc. + +And it is Elizabeth he has in mind when, in the same scene, we read: + + That very time I saw, but thou could'st not, + Flying between the cold moon and the earth, + Cupid all armed, etc. + +All of this is given by way of background, and it is of little +importance to the general readers what modern Shakespeare scholars +may say of it. + +Eggen has not been content merely to reprint in the complete translation +his earlier work from _Syn og Segn_, but he has made a thoroughgoing +revision.[36] It cannot be said to be altogether happy. Frequently, of +course, a line or phrase is improved or an awkward turn straightened +out, but, as a whole, the first version surpasses the second not in +poetic beauty merely, but in accuracy. Compare, for example, the two +renderings of the opening lines: + + SYN OG SEGN--1903 + + _Nissen_: + Kor no ande! seg, kvar skal du av? + + REVISION OF 1912 + + _Tuften_: + Hallo! Kvar skal du av, du vesle vette? + + _Alven_: + Yver dal, yver fjell, + gjenom vatn, gjenom eld, + yver gras, yver grind, + gjenom klunger so stinn, + yver alt eg smett og kliv + snoggare enn maanen sviv; + eg i gras dei ringar doggar, + der vaar mori dans seg voggar. + + _Alven_: + Yver dal, yver fjell, + gjenom vatn, gjenom eld, + yver gras, yver grind, + gjenom klunger so stinn, + alle stad'r eg smett og kliv + snoggare enn maanen sviv; + eg dogge maa + dei grone straa + som vaar dronning dansar paa. + + Hennar vakt mun symrur vera, + gyllne klaede mun dei bera; + sjaa dei stjernur alvar gav deim! + Derfraa kjem all angen av deim. + Aa sanke dogg--til de eg kom; + ei perle fester eg til kvar ein blom. + Far vel, du ande-styving! Eg maa vekk; + vaar dronning er her ho paa fljugand' flekk. + + Kvart nykelband + er adelsmann, + med ordenar dei glime kann; + kvar blank rubin, + paa bringa skin, + utsender ange fin. + Doggdropar blanke + skal eg sanke, + mange, mange, + dei skal hange + kvar av hennar + adels-mennar + glimande i oyra. + + [36. William Shakespeare--_Jonsok Draumen_--Eit Gamenspel. Paa + Norsk ved Erik Eggen. Oslo, 1912.] + +Now, admitting that + + eg dogge maa + dei grone straa + som vaar dronning dansar paa. + +is a better translation than in the _Syn og Segn_ text--which is +doubtful enough--it is difficult to see what can be the excuse for such +pompous banality as + + Kvart nykelband + er adelsmann, + med ordenar dei glime kann; + +the first version is not above reproach in this respect. It might +fairly be asked: where does Eggen get his authority for + + sjaa dei stjernur alvar gav deim! + +But the lines are not loaded down with imagery which is both misleading +and in bad taste. Eggen should have left his first version unchanged. +Such uninspired prose as: + + kvar blank rubin, + paa bringa skin, + utsender ange fin. + +have to the ears of most Norwegians the atmosphere of the back stairs. +Better the unadorned version of 1903. + +In the passage following, Robin's reply, the revised version is probably +better than the first, though there seems to be little to choose between +them. But in the fairy's next speech the translator has gone quite +beyond his legitimate province, and has improved Shakespeare by a +picture from Norwegian folklore. Following the lines of the original: + + Misleade nightwanderers, laughing at their harm, + +Eggen has added this homelike conception in his translation: + + som og kann draga for til hest og naut, + naar berre du kvar torsdag faer din graut. + +Shakespeare in Elysium must have regretted that he was not born in the +mountains of Norway! + +And when Robin, in the speech that follows, tells of his antics, one +wonders just a little what has been gained by the revision. The same +query is constantly suggested to anyone who compares the two texts. + +Nor do I think that the lyrics have gained by the revision. Just a +single comparison--the lullaby in the two versions. We have given it +above as published in _Syn og Segn_. The following is its revised form: + + _Fyrste alven_: + Spettut orm, bustyvel kvass, + eiter-odle, sleve graa, + fare burt fraa denne plass, + so vaar dronning sova maa! + + _Alle_: + Maaltrost, syng med oss i lund + dronningi i saelan blund: + Byssam, byssam barne, + gryta heng i jarne. + Troll og nykk, + gakk burt med dykk + denne saele skymingsstund! + So god natt! Sov sott i lund! + + _Andre alven_: + Burt, tordivel, kom kje her! + Makk og snigill, burt dykk vinn! + Kongro, far ei onnor ferd, + langt ifraa oss din spune spinn! + + _Alle_: + Maaltrost, syng med oss i lund, etc. + +The first version is not only more literal but, so far as I can judge, +superior in every way--in music and delicacy of phrase. And again, Eggen +has taken it upon himself to patch up Shakespeare with homespun rags +from his native Norwegian parish. It is difficult to say upon what +grounds such tinkerings with the text as: + + Byssam, byssam barne, + gryta, heng i jarne, + +can be defended. + +But we have already devoted too much space to this matter. Save for a +few isolated lines, Eggen might very well have left these scenes as he +gave them to us in 1903. We then ask, "What of the much greater part of +the play now translated for the first time?" Well, no one will dispute +the translator's triumph in this scene:[37] + + _Monsaas_: + Er heile kompanie samla? + + _Varp_: + Det er best du ropar deim upp alle saman, mann for mann, etter + lista. + + _Monsaas_: + Her er ei liste yver namni paa alle deim som me i heile Aten finn + mest hovelege til aa spela i millomstykke vaareses framfyre hertugen + og frua hans paa brudlaupsdagen um kvelden. + + _Varp_: + Du Per Monsaas, lyt fyrst segja kva stykke gjeng ut paa; les so upp + namni paa spelarne, og so--til saki. + + _Monsaas_: + Ja vel. Stykke heiter: "Det grotelege gamanspele um Pyramus og Tisbi + og deira syndlege daude." + + _Varp_: + Verkeleg eit godt stykke arbeid, skal eg segja dykk, og morsamt med. + No, min gode Per Monsaas, ropa upp spelarne etter lista. Godtfolk, + spreid dykk. + + _Monsaas_: + Svara ettersom eg ropar dykk upp. + Nils Varp, vevar? + + _Varp_: + Her! Seg kva for ein rolle eg skal hava, og haldt so fram. + + _Monsaas_: + Du, Nils Varp, er skrivin for Pyramus. + + _Varp_: + Kva er Pyramus for slags kar? Ein elskar eller ein fark? + + _Monsaas_: + Ein elskar som drep seg sjolv paa aegte riddarvis av kjaerleik. + + _Varp_: + Det kjem til aa koste taarur um ein spelar det retteleg. Faer eg + spela det, so lyt nok dei som ser paa, sjaa til kvar dei hev augo + sine; eg skal grote steinen, eg skal jamre so faelt so. For resten, + mi gaave ligg best for ein berserk. Eg skulde spela herr Kules + fraamifra--eller ein rolle, der eg kann klore og bite og slaa all + ting i mol og mas: + Og sprikk det fjell + med toresmell, + daa sunder fell + kvar port so sterk. + Stig Fobus fram + bak skyatram, + daa sprikk med skam + alt gygere-herk. + Det der laag no hogt det. Nemn so resten av spelarane. Dette var + rase til herr Kules, berserk-ras; ein elskar er meir klagande. + + [37. Act II, Sc. 2.] + +There can be no doubt about the genuineness of this. It catches the +spirit of the original and communicates it irresistibly to the reader. +When Bottom (Varp) says "Kva er Pyramus for slags kar?" or when he +threatens, "Eg skal grote steinen, eg skal jamre so faelt so," one who +has something of Norwegian "Sprachgefuehl" will exclaim that this is +exactly what it should be. It is not the language of Norwegian +artisans--they do not speak Landsmaal. But neither is the language of +Shakespeare's craftsmen the genuine spoken language of Elizabethan +craftsmen. The important thing is that the tone is right. And this +feeling of a right tone is still further satisfied in the rehearsal +scene (III, Sc. 1). Certain slight liberties do not diminish our +pleasure. The reminiscence of _Richard III_ in Bottom's, "A calendar, a +calendar, looke in the Almanack, finde out moonshine," translated "Ei +almanakke, ei almanakke, mit kongerike for ei almanakke," seems, +however, a labored piece of business. One line, too, has been added to +this speech which is a gratuitous invention of the translator, or +rather, taken from the curious malaprop speech of the laboring classes; +"Det er rett, Per Monsaas; sjaa millom aspektarane!" There can be no +objection to an interpolation like this if the translation does not aim +to be scholarly and definitive, but merely an effort to bring a foreign +classic home to the masses. And this is, obviously, Eggen's purpose. +Personally I do not think, therefore, that there is any objection to a +slight freedom like this. But it has no place at all in the fairies' +lullaby. + +When we move to the circle of the high-place lovers or the court, +I cannot feel that the Landsmaal is quite so convincing. There is +something appallingly clumsy, labored, hard, in this speech of Hermia's: + + Min eigin gut, + eg sver ved beste bogen Amor hev, + ved beste pili hans, med odd av gull, + ved duvune, dei reine og dei kvite + som flyg paa tun hjaa fagre Afrodite, + ved det som knyter mannehjarto saman, + ved det som foder kjaerlerks fryd og gaman, + ved baale, der seg dronning Dido brende, + daa seg AEneas trulaus fraa ho vende, + ved kvar den eid som falske menn hev svori-- + langt fleir enn kvinnelippur fram hev bori, + at paa den staden du hev nemnt for meg, + der skal i morgo natt eg mote deg. + +In spite of the translator's obvious effort to put fire into the +passage, his failure is all too evident. Even the ornament of these +lines--to which there is nothing to correspond in the original--only +makes the poetry more forcibly feeble: + + ved duvune, dei reine og dei kvite + som flyg paa tun hjaa fagre Afrodite, + +Shakespeare says quite simply: + + By the simplicity of Venus Doves, + +and to anyone but a Landsmaal fanatic it seems ridiculous to have +Theseus tell Hermia: "Demetrius er so gild ein kar som nokon." +"Demetrius is a worthy gentleman," says Shakespeare and this has +"the grand Manner." But to a cultivated Norwegian the translation is +"Bauernsprache," such as a local magnate might use in forcing a suitor +on his daughter. + +All of which goes back to the present condition of Landsmaal. It has +little flexibility, little inward grace. It is not a finished literary +language. But, despite its archaisms, Landsmaal is a living language and +it has, therefore, unlike the Karathevusa of Greece, the possibility of +growth. The translations of Madhus and Aasen and Eggen have made notable +contributions to this development. They are worthy of all praise. Their +weaknesses are the result of conditions which time will change. + + +J + +One might be tempted to believe from the foregoing that the +propagandists of "Maalet" had completely monopolized the noble task of +making Shakespeare accessible in the vernacular. And this is almost +true. But the reason is not far to seek. Aside from the fact that in +Norway, as elsewhere, Shakespeare is read mainly by cultivated people, +among whom a sound reading knowledge of English is general, we have +further to remember that the Foersom-Lembcke version has become standard +in Norway and no real need has been felt of a separate Norwegian version +in the dominant literary language. In Landsmaal the case is different. +This dialect must be trained to "Literaturfaehigkeit." It is not so much +that Norway must have her own Shakespeare as that Landsmaal must be put +to use in every type of literature. The results of this missionary +spirit we have seen. + +One of the few translations of Shakespeare that have been made into +Riksmaal appeared in 1912, _Hamlet_, by C.H. Blom. As an experiment it +is worthy of respect, but as a piece of literature it is not to be taken +seriously. Like Lassen's work, it is honest, faithful, and utterly +uninspired. + +The opening scene of _Hamlet_ is no mean test of a translator's +ability--this quick, tense scene, one of the finest in dramatic +literature. Foersom did it with conspicuous success. Blom has reduced +it to the following prosy stuff: + + _Bernardo_: + Hvem der? + + _Francisco_: + Nei, svar mig forst; gjor holdt og sig hvem der! + + _Ber_: + Vor konge laenge leve! + + _Fra_: + De, Bernardo? + + _Ber_: + Ja vel. + + _Fra_: + De kommer jo paa klokkeslaget. + + _Ber_: + Ja, den slog tolv nu. Gaa til ro, Francisco. + + _Fra_: + Tak for De loser av. Her er saa surt, og jeg er dodsens traet. + + _Ber_: + Har du hat rolig vagt? + + _Fra_: + En mus har ei + sig rort. + + _Ber_: + Nu vel, god nat. + Hvis du Marcellus og Horatio ser, + som skal ha vakt med mig, bed dem sig skynde. + + _Fra_: + Jeg horer dem vist nu. Holdt hoi! Hvem der. + (Horatio og Marcellus kommer.) + + _Horatio_: + Kun landets venner. + + _Marcellus_: + Danekongens folk! + + _Fra_: + God nat, sov godt! + + _Mar_: + Godnat, du bra soldat! + Hvem har lost av? + + _Fra_: + Bernardo staar paa post. + God nat igjen. (Gaar.) + +It requires little knowledge of Norwegian to dismiss this as dull +and insipid prose, a part of which has accidentally been turned into +mechanical blank verse. Moreover, the work is marked throughout by +inconsistency and carelessness in details. For instance the king begins +(p. 7) by addressing Laertes: + + Hvad melder _De_ mig om _Dem_ selv, Laertes? + +and two lines below: + + Hvad kan _du_ be mig om? + +It might be a mere slip that the translator in one line uses the formal +_De_ and in another the familiar _du_, but the same inconsistency occurs +again and again throughout the volume. In itself a trifle, it indicates +clearly enough the careless, slipshod manner of work--and an utter lack +of a sense of humor, for no one with a spark of humor would use the +modern, essentially German _De_ in a Norwegian translation of +Shakespeare. If a formal form must be used it should, as a matter +of course, be _I_. + +Nor is the translation itself so accurate as it should be. For example, +what does it mean when Marcellus tells Bernardo that he had implored +Horatio "at vogte paa minutterne inat" (to watch over the minutes this +night)? Again, in the King's speech to Hamlet (Act I, Sc. 2) the phrase +"bend you to remain" is rendered by the categorical "se til at bli +herhjemme," which is at least misleading. Little inaccuracies of this +sort are not infrequent. + +But, after all, a translator with a new variorum and a wealth of +critical material at hand cannot go far wrong in point of mere +translation. The chief indictment to be made against Blom's translation +is its prosiness, its prosy, involved sentences, its banality. What in +Shakespeare is easy and mellifluous often becomes in Blom so vague that +its meaning has to be discovered by a reference to the original. + +We gave, some pages back, Ivar Aasen's translation of Hamlet's +soliloquy. The interesting thing about that translation is not only that +it is the first one in Norwegian but that it was made into a new dialect +by the creator of that dialect himself. When we look back and consider +what Aasen had to do--first, make a literary medium, and then pour into +the still rigid and inelastic forms of that language the subtlest +thinking of a great world literature--we gain a new respect for his +genius. Fifty years later Blom tried his hand at the same soliloquy. He +was working in an old and tried literary medium--Dano-Norwegian. But he +was unequal to the task: + + At vaere eller ikke vaere, det + problemet er: Om det er storre av + en sjael at taale skjaebnens pil og slynge + end ta til vaaben mot et hav av plager + og ende dem i kamp? At do,--at sove, + ei mer; og tro, at ved en sovn vi ender + vor hjerteve og livets tusen stot, + som kjod er arving til--det maal for livet + maa onskes inderlig. At do,--at sove-- + at sove!--Kanske dromme! Der er knuten; + for hvad i dodsens sovn vi monne dromme, + naar livets laenke vi har viklet av, + det holder os igjen; det er det hensyn, + som gir vor jammer her saa langt et liv' etc. + + +K + +Much more interesting than Blom's attempt, and much more significant, +is a translation and working over of _As You Like It_ which appeared +in November of the same year. The circumstances under which this +translation were made are interesting. Fru Johanne Dybwad, one of the +"stars" at the National Theater was completing her twenty-fifth year +of service on the stage, and the theater wished to commemorate the event +in a manner worthy of the actress. For the gala performance, Herman +Wildenvey, a poet of the young Norway, made a new translation and +adaptation of _As You Like It_.[38] And no choice could have been more +felicitous. Fru Dybwad had scored her greatest success as Puck; the life +and sparkle and jollity of that mischievous wight seemed like a poetic +glorification of her own character. It might be expected, then, that she +would triumph in the role of Rosalind. + + [38: _As You Like It_, eller _Livet i Skogen_. Dramatisk Skuespil + av William Shakespeare. Oversat og bearbeidet for Nationaltheatret + av Herman Wildenvey. Kristiania og Kobenhavn. 1912.] + +Then came the problem of a stage version. A simple cutting of Lembcke +seemed inappropriate to this intensely modern woman. There was danger, +too, that Lembcke's faithful Danish would hang heavy on the light and +sparkling Norwegian. Herman Wildenvey undertook to prepare an acting +version that should fit the actress and the occasion. The result is the +text before us. For the songs and intermissions, Johan Halvorsen, +Kapelmester of the theater, composed new music and the theater provided +a magnificent staging. The tremendous stage-success of Wildenvey's _As +You Like It_ belongs rather to stage history, and for the present we +shall confine ourselves to the translation itself. + +First, what of the cutting? In a short introduction the translator has +given an apologia for his procedure. It is worth quoting at some length. +"To adapt a piece of literature is, as a rule, not especially +commendable. And now, I who should be the last to do it, have become the +first in this country to attempt anything of the sort with Shakespeare. + +"I will not defend myself by saying that most of Shakespeare's plays +require some sort of adaptation to the modern stage if they are to be +played at all. But, as a matter of fact, I have done little adapting. I +have dusted some of the speeches, maltreated others, and finally cut out +a few which would have sputtered out of the mouths of the actors like +fringes of an old tapestry. But, above all, I have tried to reproduce +the imperishable woodland spirit, the fresh breath of out-of-doors which +permeates this play." + +Wildenvey then states that in his cuttings he has followed the edition +of the British Empire Shakespeare Society. But the performance in +Kristiania has demanded more, "and my adaptation could not be so +wonderfully ideal. _As You Like It_ is, probably more than any other of +Shakespeare's plays, a jest and only in part a play. Through the title +he has given his work, he has given me the right to make my own +arrangement which is accordingly, yours truly _As You Like It_." + +But the most cursory examination will show that this is more than a mere +"cutting." In the first place, the five acts have been cut to four and +scenes widely separated, have often been brought together. In this way +unnecessary scene-shifts have been avoided. But the action has been kept +intact and only two characters have been eliminated: Jacques de Bois, +whose speeches have been given to Le Beau, and Hymen, whose role has +been given to Celia. Two or three speeches have been shifted. But to a +reader unacquainted with Shakespeare all this would pass unnoticed, as +would also, doubtless, the serious cutting and the free translation. + +A brief sketch of Wildenvey's arrangement will be of service. + +[Transcriber's Note: +The summary is given here exactly as it appears in Ruud's text. Note +in particular Wildenvey's I, 2, and Shakespeare's II, 1.] + + Act I, Sc. 1. + + An open place on the road to Sir Oliver's house. + + The scene opens with a short, exceedingly free rendering of + Orlando's speech and runs on to the end of Scene 1 in Shakespeare. + + Act I, Sc. 2. + + Outside of Duke Frederik's Palace. + + Begins with I, 2 and goes to I, 3. Then follows without change of + scene, I, 3. and, following that, 1, 3. + + Act II. + + In Wildenvey this is all one scene. + + Opens with a rhapsodical conversation between the banished duke and + Amiens on the glories of nature and the joys of out-door life. It is + fully in Shakespeare's tone, but Wildenvey's own invention. After + this the scene continues with II, 1. The first lord's speech in + Wildenvey, however, is merely a free adaptation of the original, and + the later speech of the first lord, describing Jacques' reveries on + the hunt, is put into the mouth of Jacques himself. A few entirely + new speeches follow and the company goes out upon the hunt. + + There is then a slight pause, but no scene division, and Shakespeare's + II, 4 follows. This is succeeded again without a break, by II, 5, II, + 6, and II, 7 (the opening of II, 7 to the entrance of Jacques, is + omitted altogether) to the end of the act. + + Act III. + + This act has two scenes. + + Sc. 1. In Duke Frederik's palace. It opens with II, I and then + follows III, 1. + + Sc. 2. In the Forest of Arden. Evening. + + Begins with III, 2. Then follows III, 4, III, 5, IV, 1. + + Act IV. + + Wildenvey's last act (IV) opens with Shakespeare's IV, 2 and + continues: IV, 3, V, 1, V, 2, V, 3, V, 4. + +A study of this scheme shows that Wildenvey has done no great violence +to the fable nor to the characters. His shifts and changes are sensible +enough. In the treatment of the text, however, he has had no scruples. +Shakespeare is mercilessly cut and mangled. + +The ways in which this is done are many. A favorite device is to break +up long speeches into dialogue. To make this possible he has to put +speeches of his own invention into the mouths of other characters. The +opening of the play gives an excellent illustration. In Wildenvey we +read: + + _Orlando_: (kommer ind med tjeneren Adam) + Nu kan du likesaa godt faa vite hvordan alle mine bedroveligheter + begynder, Adam! Min salig far testamenterte mig nogen fattige tusen + kroner og paala uttrykkelig min bror at gi mig en standsmaessig + opdragelse. Men se hvordan han opfylder sin broderpligt mot mig! + Han lar min bror Jacques studere, og rygtet melder om hans store + fremgang. Men mig underholder han hjemme, det vil si, han holder mig + hjemme uten at underholde mig. For man kan da vel ikke kalde det at + underholde en adelsmand som ellers regnes for at staldfore en okse! + + _Adam_: + Det er synd om Eder, herre, I som er min gamle herres bedste son! + Men jeg tjener Eders bror, og er alene tjener... + + _Orl_: + Her hos ham har jeg ikke kunnet laegge mig til noget andet end vaekst, + og det kan jeg vaere ham likesaa forbunden for som hans husdyr hist + og her. Formodentlig er det det jeg har arvet av min fars aand som + gjor opror mot denne behandling. Jeg har ingen utsigt til nogen + forandring til det bedre, men hvad der end haender, vil jeg ikke + taale det laenger. + +Orlando's speech, we see, has been broken up into two, and between the +two new speeches has been interpolated a speech by Adam which does not +occur in the original. The same trick is resorted to repeatedly. Note, +for instance, Jacques first speech on the deer (Act II, 7) and Oliver's +long speech in IV, 3. The purpose of this is plain enough--to enliven +the dialogue and speed up the action. Whether or not it is a legitimate +way of handling Shakespeare is another matter. + +More serious than this is Wildenvey's trick of adding whole series of +speeches. We have noted in our survey of the "bearbeidelse" that the +second act opens with a dialogue between the Duke and Amiens which is a +gratuitous addition of Wildenvey's. It is suggested by the original, +but departs from it radically both in form and content. + + Den Landflygtige Hertug (kommer ut fra en grotte i skogen) + Vaer hilset, dag, som laegges til de andre + av mine mange motgangs dage. + Vaer hilset nu, naar solen atter stempler + sit gyldne segl paa jordens stolte pande. + Vaer hilset, morgen, med din nye rigdom, + med dug og duft fra alle traer og blomster. + Glade, blanke fugleoines perler + blinker alt av sol som duggens draaper, + hilser mig som herre og som ven. (En fugl flyver op over hans hode.) + Ei, lille sangerskjelm, godt ord igjen? + + _Amiens_: + (hertugens ven, kommer likeledes ut av hulen). + Godmorgen, ven og broder i eksilet. + + _Hertugen_: + Godmorgen, Amiens, du glade sanger! + Du er vel enig i at slik en morgen + i skogen her med al dens liv og lek + er fuld erstatning for den pragt vi tapte, + ja mer end hoffets smigergyldne falskhet? + + _Amiens_: + Det ligner litt paa selve Edens have, + og traer og dyr og andre forekomster + betragter os som Adamer, kanhaende. + + _Hertugen_: + Din spog er vel en saadan sanger vaerd. + Du mener med at her er alting herlig, + sommer, vinter, vaar og hosttid veksler. + Solen skinner, vind og veiret driver. + Vinterblaasten blaaser op og biter + og fortaeller uden sminket smiger + hvem vi er, og hvor vi os befinder. + Ja, livet her er ei ly for verdens ondskap, + er stolt og frit og fuldt av rike glaeder: + hver graasten synes god og kirkeklok, + hvert redetrae er jo en sangers slot, + og alt er skjont, og alt er saare godt. + + _Amiens_: + Du er en godt benaadet oversaetter, + naar du kan tolke skjaebnens harske talesaet + i slike sterke, stemningsfulde ord... + + (En hofmand, derefter Jacques og tjenere kommer.) + + _Hertugen_: + Godmorgen, venner--vel, saa skal vi jage + paa vildtet her, de vakre, dumme borgere + av denne ode og forlate stad... + + _Jacques_: + Det er synd at sondre deres vakre lemmer + med pile-odd. + + _Amiens_: + Det samme sier du altid, + du er for melankolsk og bitter, Jacques. + +A careful comparison of the translation with the original will reveal +certain verbal resemblances, notably in the duke's speech: + + Din spok er vel en saadan sanger vaerd, etc. + +But, even allowing for that, it is a rephrasing rather than a +translation. The stage action, too, is changed. Notice that Jacques +appears in the scene, and that in the episode immediately following, the +second part of the first lord's speech is put into Jacques' mouth. In +other words, he is made to caricature himself! + +This is Wildenvey's attitude throughout. To take still another example. +Act IV, 2 begins in the English with a brief dialogue in prose between +Jacques and the two lords. In Wildenvey this is changed to a rhymed +dialogue in iambic tetrameters between Jacques and Amiens. In like +manner, the blank verse dialogue between Silvius and Phebe (Silvius and +Pippa) is in Norwegian rendered, or rather paraphrased, in iambic verse +rhyming regularly abab. + +Occasionally meanings are read into the play which not only do not +belong in Shakespeare but which are ridiculously out of place. As an +illustration, note the dialogue between Orlando and Rosalind in II, 2 +(Original, III, 2). Orlando remarks: "Your accent is something finer +than could be purchased in so remote a dwelling." Wildenvey renders +this: "Eders sprog er mer elevert end man skulde vente i disse vilde +trakter. De taler ikke Landsmaal." Probably no one would be deceived by +this gratuitous satire on the Landsmaal, but, obviously, it has no place +in what pretends to be a translation. The one justification for it is +that Shakespeare himself could not have resisted so neat a word-play. + +Wildenvey's version, therefore, can only be characterized as needlessly +free. For the text as such he has absolutely no regard. But for the fact +that he has kept the fable and, for the most part, the characters, +intact, we should characterize it as a belated specimen of Sille Beyer's +notorious Shakespeare "bearbeidelser" in Denmark. But Wildenvey does not +take Sille Beyer's liberties with the dramatis personae and he has, +moreover, what she utterly lacked--poetic genius. + +For that is the redeeming feature of _Livet i Skogen_--it does not +translate Shakespeare but it makes him live. The delighted audience +which sat night after night in Christiania and Copenhagen and drank in +the loveliness of Wildenvey's verse and Halvorsen's music cared little +whether the lines that came over the footlights were philologically an +accurate translation or not. They were enchanted by Norwegian verse and +moved to unfeigned delight by the cleverness of the prose. If Wildenvey +did not succeed in translating _As You Like It_--one cannot believe that +he ever intended to,--he did succeed in reproducing something of "its +imperishable woodland spirit, its fresh breath of out-of-doors." + +We have already quoted the opening of Act II. It is not Shakespeare but +it is good poetry in itself. And the immortal scene between Touchstone +and Corin in III, 2 (Shak. III, 2), in which Touchstone clearly proves +that the shepherd is damned, is a capital piece of work. The following +fragment must serve as an example: + + _Touchstone_: + Har du vaeret ved hoffet, hyrde? + + _Korin_: + Visselig ikke. + + _Touch_: + Da er du evig fordomt. + + _Korin_: + Det haaber jeg da ikke. + + _Touch_: + Visselig, da er du fordomt som en sviske. + + _Korin_: + Fordi jeg ikke har vaeret ved hoffet? Hvad mener I? + + _Touch_: + Hvis du ikke har vaeret ved hoffet, saa har du aldrig set gode seder, + og hvis du ikke har set gode seder, saa maa dine seder vaere slette, + og slette seder er synd, og syndens sold er dod og fordommelse. Du + er i en betaenkelig tilstand, hyrde! + +And the mocking verses all rhyming in _in-ind_ in III, 3 (Shak. III, 2): +"From the East to western Ind," etc., are given with marvelous +cleverness: + + Fra ost til vest er ei at finde + en aedelsten som Rosalinde. + Al verden om paa alle vinde + skal rygtet gaa om Rosalinde. + Hvor har en maler nogensinde + et kunstverk skapt som Rosalinde? + Al anden deilighet maa svinde + av tanken bort--for Rosalinde. + +Or Touchstone's parody: + + Hjorten skriker efter hinde, + skrik da efter Rosalinde, + kat vil katte gjerne finde, + hvem vil finde Rosalinde. + Vinterklaer er tit for tynde, + det er ogsaa Rosalinde. + Notten sot har surhamshinde, + slik en nott er Rosalinde. + Den som ros' med torn vil finde, + finder den--og Rosalinde. + +With even greater felicity Wildenvey has rendered the songs of the play. +His verses are not, in any strict sense, translations, but they have a +life and movement which, perhaps, interpret the original more fully than +any translation could interpret it. What freshness and sparkle in "Under +the Greenwood Tree!" I give only the first stanza: + + Under de gronne traer + hvem vil mig mote der? + Hvem vil en tone slaa + frit mot det blide blaa? + Kom hit og herhen, hit og herhen, + kom, kjaere ven, + her skal du se, + traer skal du se, + sommer og herlig veir skal du se. + +Or what could be better than the exhilirating text of "Blow, blow, thou +winter wind," as Wildenvey has given it? Again only the first stanza: + + Blaas, blaas du barske vind, + trolose venners sind + synes os mere raa. + Bar du dig end saa sint, + bet du dog ei saa blindt, + pustet du ogsaa paa. + Heiho! Syng heiho! i vor skog under lovet. + Alt venskap er vammelt, al elskov er tovet, + men her under lovet + er ingen bedrovet. + +_Livet i Skogen_, then, must not be read as a translation of _As You +Like It_, but is immensely worth reading for its own sake. Schiller +recast and rewrote _Macbeth_ in somewhat the same way, but Schiller's +_Macbeth_, condemned by its absurd porter-scene, is today nothing +more than a literary curiosity. I firmly believe that Wildenvey's +"bearbeidelse" deserves a better fate. It gave new life to the +Shakespeare tradition on the Norwegian stage, and is in itself, +a genuine contribution to the literature of Norway. + + +SUMMARY + +If we look over the field of Norwegian translation of Shakespeare, +the impression we get is not one to inspire awe. The translations are +neither numerous nor important. There is nothing to be compared with the +German of Tieck and Schlegel the Danish of Foersom, or the Swedish of +Hagberg. + +But the reason is obvious. Down to 1814 Norway was politically and +culturally a dependency of Denmark. Copenhagen was the seat of +government, of literature, and of polite life. To Copenhagen cultivated +Norwegians looked for their models and their ideals. When Shakespeare +made his first appearance in the Danish literary world--Denmark and +Norway--it was, of course, in pure Danish garb. Boye, Rosenfeldt, +and Foersom gave to their contemporaries more or less satisfactory +translations of Shakespeare, and Norwegians were content to accept the +Danish versions. In one or two instances they made experiments of their +own. An unknown man of letters translated a scene from _Julius Caesar_ +in 1782, and in 1818 appeared a translation of _Coriolanus_. But there +is little that is typically Norwegian about either of these--a word or a +phrase here and there. For the rest, they are written in pure Danish, +and but for the title-page, no one could tell whether they were +published in Copenhagen or Christiania and Trondhjem. + +In the meantime Foersom had begun his admirable Danish translations, +and the work stopped in Norway. The building of a nation and literary +interests of another character absorbed the attention of the cultivated +world. Hauge's translation of _Macbeth_ is not significant, nor are +those of Lassen thirty years later. A scholar could, of course, easily +show that they are Norwegian, but that is all. They never succeeded in +displacing Foersom-Lembcke. + +More important are the Landsmaal translations beginning with Ivar +Aasen's in 1853. They are interesting because they mark one of the most +important events in modern Norwegian culture--the language struggle. +Ivar Aasen set out to demonstrate that "maalet" could be used in +literature of every sort, and the same purpose, though in greatly +tempered form, is to be detected in every Landsmaal translation since. +Certainly in their outward aim they have succeeded. And, despite the +handicap of working in a language new, rough, and untried, they have +given to their countrymen translations of parts of Shakespeare which +are, at least, as good as those in "Riksmaal." + +Herman Wildenvey stands alone. His work is neither a translation nor +a mere paraphrase; it is a reformulating of Shakespeare into a new work +of art. He has accomplished a feat worth performing, but it cannot be +called translating Shakespeare. It must be judged as an independent +work. + +Whether Norway is always to go to Denmark for her standard Shakespeare, +or whether she is to have one of her own is, as yet, a question +impossible to answer. A pure Landsmaal translation cannot satisfy, and +many Norwegians refuse to recognize the Riksmaal as Norwegian at all. In +the far, impenetrable future the language question may settle itself, +and when that happy day comes, but not before, we may look with some +confidence for a "standard" Shakespeare in a literary garb which all +Norwegians will recognize as their own. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +Shakespeare Criticism In Norway + + +The history of Shakespearean translation in Norway cannot, by any +stretch of the imagination, be called distinguished. It is not, however, +wholly lacking in interesting details. In like manner the history of +Shakespearean criticism, though it contains no great names and no +fascinating chapters, is not wholly without appeal and significance. We +shall, then, in the following, consider this division of our subject. + +Our first bit of Shakespearean criticism is the little introductory note +which the anonymous translator of the scenes from _Julius Caesar_ put at +the head of his translation in _Trondhjems Allehaande_ for October 23, +1782. And even this is a mere statement that the passage in the original +"may be regarded as a masterpiece," and that the writer purposes to +render not merely Antony's eloquent appeal but also the interspersed +ejaculations of the crowd, "since these, too, are evidence of +Shakespeare's understanding of the human soul and of his realization +of the manner in which the oration gradually brought about the result +toward which Antony aimed." + +This is not profound criticism, to be sure, but it shows clearly that +this litterateur in far-away Trondhjem had a definite, if not a very new +and original, estimate of Shakespeare. It is significant that there is +no hint of apology, of that tone which is so common in Shakespearean +criticism of the day--Shakespeare was a great poet, but his genius was +wild and untamed. This unknown Norwegian, apparently, had been struck +only by the verity of the scene, and in that simplicity showed himself a +better critic of Shakespeare than many more famous men. Whoever he was, +his name is lost to us now. He deserves better than to be forgotten, +but it seems that he was forgotten very early. Foersom refers to him +casually, as we have seen, but Rahbek does not mention him.[1] Many +years later Paul Botten Hansen, one of the best equipped bookmen that +Norway has produced, wrote a brief review of Lembcke's translation. In +the course of this he enumerates the Dano-Norwegian translations known +to him. There is not a word about his countryman in Trondhjem.[2] + + [1. "Shakespeareana i Danmark"--_Dansk Minerva_, 1816 (III) + pp. 151 ff.] + + [2. _Illustreret Nyhedsblad_, 1865, pp. 96 ff.] + +After this solitary landmark, a long time passed before we again find +evidence of Shakespearean studies in Norway. The isolated translation +of _Coriolanus_ from 1818 shows us that Shakespeare was read, carefully +and critically read, but no one turned his attention to criticism or +scholarly investigation. Indeed, I have searched Norwegian periodical +literature in vain for any allusion to Shakespeare between 1782 and +1827. Finally, in the latter year _Den Norske Husven_ adorns its +title-page with a motto from Shakespeare. _Christiania Aftenbladet_ +for July 19, 1828, reprints Carl Bagger's clever poem on Shakespeare's +reputed love-affair with "Fanny," an adventure which got him into +trouble and gave rise to the bon-mot, "William the Conqueror ruled +before Richard III." The poem was reprinted from _Kjoebenhavns Flyvende +Post_ (1828); we shall speak of it again in connection with our study of +Shakespeare in Denmark. + +After this there is another break. Not even a reference to Shakespeare +occurs in the hundreds of periodicals I have examined, until the long +silence is broken by a short, fourth-hand article on Shakespeare's life +in _Skilling Magazinet_ for Sept. 23, 1843. The same magazine gives a +similar popular account in its issue for Sept. 4, 1844. Indeed, several +such articles and sketches may be found in popular periodicals of the +years following. + +In 1855, however, appeared Niels Hauge's afore mentioned translation of +_Macbeth_, and shortly afterward Professor Monrad, who, according to +Hauge himself, had at least given him valuable counsel in his work, +wrote a review in _Nordisk Tidsskrift for Videnskab og Literatur_.[3] +Monrad was a pedant, stiff and inflexible, but he was a man of good +sense, and when he was dealing with acknowledged masterpieces he could +be depended upon to say the conventional things well. + + [3. See Vol. III (1855), pp. 378 ff.] + +He begins by saying that if any author deserves translation it +is Shakespeare, for in him the whole poetic, romantic ideal of +Protestantism finds expression. He is the Luther of poetry, though +between Luther and Shakespeare there is all the difference between +religious zeal and the quiet contemplation of the beautiful. Both belong +to the whole world, Shakespeare because his characters, humor, art, +reflections, are universal in their validity and their appeal. Wherever +he is read he becomes the spokesman against narrowness, dogmatism, and +intolerance. To translate Shakespeare, he points out, is difficult +because of the archaic language, the obscure allusions, and the intense +originality of the expression. Shakespeare, indeed, is as much the +creator as the user of his mother-tongue. The one translation of +_Macbeth_ in existence, Foersom's, is good, but it is only in part +Shakespeare, and the times require something more adequate and +"something more distinctly our own." Monrad feels that this should +not be altogether impossible "when we consider the intimate relations +between England and Norway, and the further coincidence that the +Norwegian language today is in the same state of flux and transition, +as was Elizabethan English." All translations at present, he continues, +can be but experiments, and should aim primarily at a faithful rendering +of the text. Monrad calls attention to the fact--in which he was, of +course, mistaken--that this is the first translation of the original +_Macbeth_ into Dano-Norwegian or into Danish. It is a work of undoubted +merit, though here and there a little stiff and hazy, "but Shakespeare +is not easily clarified." The humorous passages, thinks the reviewer, +are a severe test of a translator's powers and this test Hauge has met +with conspicuous success. Also he has aquitted himself well in the +difficult matter of putting Shakespeare's meter into Norwegian. + +The last two pages are taken up with a detailed study of single +passages. The only serious error Monrad has noticed is the following: In +Act II, 3 one of the murderers calls out "A light! A light!" Regarding +this passage Monrad remarks: "It is certainly a mistake to have the +second murderer call out, "Bring a light here!" (Lys hid!) The murderer +does not demand a light, but he detects a shimmer from Banquo's +approaching torch." The rest of the section is devoted to mere trifles. + +This is the sort of review which we should expect from an intelligent +and well-informed man. Monrad was not a scholar, nor even a man of +delicate and penetrating reactions. But he had sound sense and perfect +self-assurance, which made him something of a Samuel Johnson in the +little provincial Kristiania of his day. At any rate, he was the only +one who took the trouble to review Hauge's translation, and even he was +doubtless led to the task because of his personal interest in the +translator. If we may judge from the stir it made in periodical +literature, _Macbeth_ fell dead from the press. + +The tercentenary of Shakespeare's birth (1864) aroused a certain +interest in Norway, and little notes and articles are not infrequent +in the newspapers and periodicals about that time. _Illustreret +Nyhedsblad_[4] has a short, popular article on Stratford-on-Avon. It +contains the usual Shakespeare apocrypha--the Sir Thomas Lucy story, the +story of the apple tree under which Shakespeare and his companions slept +off the effects of too much Bedford ale--and all the rest of it. It +makes no pretense of being anything but an interesting hodge-podge +for popular consumption. The next year, 1864, the same periodical +published[5] on the traditional day of Shakespeare's birth a rather long +and suggestive article on the English drama before Shakespeare. If this +article had been original, it might have had a certain significance, +but, unfortunately, it is taken from the German of Bodenstedt. The +only significant thing about it is the line following the title: "Til +Erindring paa Trehundredsaarsdagen efter Shakespeares Foedsel, d. 23 +April, 1563." + + [4. Vol. XII (1863), pp. 199 ff.] + + [5. Vol. XIII (1864), pp. 65 ff.] + +More interesting than this, however, are the verses written by the then +highly esteemed poet, Andreas Munch, and published in his own magazine, +_For Hjemmet_,[6] in April, 1864. Munch rarely rises above mediocrity +and his tribute to the bard of Avon is the very essence of it. +He begins: + + I disse Dage gaar et vaeldigt Navn + Fra Mund til Mund, fra Kyst til Kyst rundt Jorden-- + Det straaler festligt over fjernest Havn, + Og klinger selv igjennem Krigens Torden, + Det slutter alle Folk i Aandens Favn, + Og er et Eenheds Tegn i Striden vorden-- + I Stjerneskrift det staaer paa Tidens Bue, + Og leder Slaegterne med Hjertelue. + + [6. Vol. V, p. 572.] + +and, after four more stanzas, he concludes: + + Hos os har ingen ydre Fest betegnet + Vort Folks Tribut til denne store Mand. + Er vi af Hav og Fjelde saa omhegnet, + At ei hans Straaler traenge til os kan? + Nei,--Nordisk var hans Aand og netop egnet + Til at opfattes af vort Norden-Land, + Og mer maaske end selv vi tro og taenke, + Har Shakespeare brudt for os en fremmed Laenke. + +One has a feeling that Munch awoke one morning, discovered from his +calendar that Shakespeare's birthday was approaching, and ground out +this poem to fill space in _Hjemmet_. But his intentions are good. No +one can quarrel with the content. And when all is said, he probably +expressed, with a fair degree of accuracy, the feeling of his time. +It remains but to note a detail or two. First, that the poet, even in +dealing with Shakespeare, found it necessary to draw upon the prevailing +"Skandinavisme" and label Shakespeare "Nordisk"; second, the accidental +truth of the closing couplet. If we could interpret this as referring +to Wergeland, who _did_ break the chains of foreign bondage, and gave +Norway a place in the literature of the world, we should have the first +reference to an interesting fact in Norwegian literary history. But +doubtless we have no right to credit Munch with any such acumen. The +couplet was put into the poem merely because it sounded well. + +More important than this effusion of bad verse from the poet of fashion +was a little article which Paul Botten Hansen wrote in _Illustreret +Nyhedsblad_[7] in 1865. Botten Hansen had a fine literary appreciation +and a profound knowledge of books. The effort, therefore, to give +Denmark and Norway a complete translation of Shakespeare was sure to +meet with his sympathy. In 1861 Lembcke began his revision of Foersom's +work, and, although it must have come up to Norway from Copenhagen +almost immediately, no allusion to it is found in periodical literature +till Botten Hansen wrote his review of Part (Hefte) XI. This part +contains _King John_. The reviewer, however, does not enter upon any +criticism of the play or of the translation; he gives merely a short +account of Shakespearean translation in the two countries before +Lembcke. Apparently the notice is written without special research, for +it is far from complete, but it gives, at any rate, the best outline of +the subject which we have had up to the present. Save for a few lines of +praise for Foersom and a word for Hauge, "who gave the first accurate +translation of this masterpiece (_Macbeth_) of which Dano-Norwegian +literature can boast before 1861," the review is simply a loosely +connected string of titles. Toward the close Botten Hansen writes: +"When to these plays (the standard Danish translations) we add (certain +others, which are given), we believe that we have enumerated all the +Danish translations of Shakespeare." This investigation has shown, +however, that there are serious gaps in the list. Botten Hansen calls +Foersom's the first Danish translation of Shakespeare. It is curious +that he should have overlooked Johannes Boye's _Hamlet_ of 1777, or +Rosenfeldt's translation of six plays (1790-1792). It is less strange +that he did not know Sander and Rahbek's translation of the unaltered +_Macbeth_ of 1801--which preceded Hauge by half a century--for this was +buried in Sander's lectures. Nor is he greatly to be blamed for his +ignorance of the numerous Shakespearean fragments which the student may +find tucked away in Danish reviews, from M.C. Brun's _Svada_ (1796) and +on. Botten Hansen took his task very lightly. If he had read Foersom's +notes to his translation he would have found a clue of interest to him +as a Norwegian. For Foersom specifically refers to a translation of a +scene from _Julius Caesar_ in _Trondhjems Allehaande_. + + [7. Vol. XIV, p. 96.] + +Lembcke's revision, which is the occasion of the article, is greeted +with approval and encouragement. There is no need for Norwegians to go +about preparing an independent translation. Quite the contrary. The +article closes: "Whether or not Lembcke has the strength and endurance +for such a gigantic task, time alone will tell. At any rate, it is the +duty of the public to encourage the undertaking and make possible its +completion." + +We come now to the most interesting chapter in the history of +Shakespeare in Norway. This is a performance of _A Midsummer Night's +Dream_ under the direction of Bjornstjerne Bjornson at Christiania +Theater, April 17, 1865. The story belongs rather to the history of +Shakespeare on the Norwegian stage, but the documents of the affair are +contributions to Shakespearean criticism and must, accordingly, be +discussed here. Bjornson's fiery reply to his critics of April 28 +is especially valuable as an analysis of his own attitude toward +Shakespeare. + +Bjornson became director of Christiania Theater in January, 1865, and +the first important performance under his direction was _A Midsummer +Night's Dream_ (Skjaersommernatsdroemmen) in Oehlenschlaeger's translation, +with music by Mendelssohn.[8] Bjornson had strained the resources +of the theater to the utmost to give the performance distinction. +But the success was doubtful. _Aftenposten_ found it tiresome, and +_Morgenbladet_, in two long articles, tore it to shreds.[9] It is +worth while to review the controversy in some detail. + + [8. Blanc. _Christianias Theaters Historie_, p. 196.] + + [9. April 26-27, 1865.] + +The reviewer begins by saying that the play is so well known that it +is needless to give an account of it. "But what is the meaning," he +exclaims, "of this bold and poetic mixture of clowns and fairies, of +mythology, and superstition, of high and low, of the earthly and +the supernatural? And the scene is neither Athens nor Greece, but +Shakespeare's own England; it is his own time and his own spirit." We +are transported to an English grove in early summer with birds, flowers, +soft breezes, and cooling shadows. What wonder that a man coming in from +the hunt or the society of men should fill such a place with fairies and +lovely ladies and people it with sighs, and passions, and stories? And +all this has been brought together by a poet's fine feeling. This it is +which separates the play from so many others of its kind now so common +and often so well presented. Here a master's spirit pervades all, unites +all in lovely romance. Other plays are mere displays of scenery and +costume by comparison. Even the sport of the clowns throws the whole +into stronger relief. + +Now, how should such a play be given? Obviously, by actors of the first +order and with costumes and scenery the most splendid. This goes without +saying, for the play is intended quite as much to be seen as to be +heard. To do it justice, the performance must bring out some of the +splendor and the fantasy with which it was conceived. As we read +_A Midsummer Night's Dream_ it is easy to imagine the glorious +succession of splendid scenes, but on the stage the characters become +flesh and blood with fixed limitations, and the illusion is easily lost +unless every agency is used to carry it out. Hence the need of lights, +of rich costumes, splendid backgrounds, music, rhythm. + +The play opens in an apparently uninhabited wood. Suddenly all comes +to life--gay, full, romantic life. This is the scene to which we are +transported. "It is a grave question," continues the reviewer, "if it is +possible for the average audience to attain the full illusion which the +play demands, and with which, in reading, we have no difficulty. One +thing is certain, the audience was under no illusion. Some, those who do +not pretend to learning or taste, wondered what it was all about. Only +when the lion moved his tail, or the ass wriggled his ears were they at +all interested. Others were frankly amused from first to last, no less +at Hermia's and Helen's quarrel than at the antics of the clowns. Still +others, the cultivated minority, were simply indifferent." + +The truth is that the performance was stiff and cold. Not for an instant +did it suggest the full and passionate life which is the theme and the +background of the play. Nor is this strange. _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ +is plainly beyond the powers of our theatre. Individual scenes were well +done, but the whole was a cheerless piece of business. + +The next day the same writer continues his analysis. He points out that +the secret of the play is the curious interweaving of the real world +with the supernatural. Forget this but for a moment, and the piece +becomes an impossible monstrosity without motivation or meaning. +Shakespeare preserves this unity in duality. The two worlds seem to meet +and fuse, each giving something of itself to the other. But this unity +was absent from the performance. The actors did not even know their +lines, and thus the spell was broken. The verse must flow from the lips +in a limpid stream, especially in a fairy play; the words must never +seem a burden. But even this elementary rule was ignored in our +performance. And the ballet of the fairies was so bad that it might +better have been omitted. Puck should not have been given by a woman, +but by a boy as he was in Shakespeare's day. Only the clown scenes +were unqualifiedly good, "as we might expect," concludes the reviewer +sarcastically. + +The article closes with a parting shot at the costuming and the scenery. +Not a little of it was inherited from "Orpheus in the Lower World." Are +we so poor as that? Better wait, and for the present, give something +which demands less of the theatre. The critic grants that the +presentation may prove profitable but, on the whole, Bjornson must +feel that he has assisted at the mutilation of a master. + +Bjornson did not permit this attack to go unchallenged. He was not the +man to suffer in silence, and in this case he could not be silent. His +directorate was an experiment, and there were those in Christiania +who were determined to make it unsuccessful. It was his duty to set +malicious criticism right. He did so in _Aftenbladet_[10] in an article +which not only answered a bit of ephemeral criticism but which remains +to this day an almost perfect example of Bjornson's polemical +prose--fresh, vigorous, genuinely eloquent, with a marvelous fusing +of power and fancy. + + [10. April 28. Reprinted in Bjornson's _Taler og Skrifter_. + Udgivet af C. Collin og H. Eitrem. Kristiania. 1912. Vol. I, + pp. 263-270.] + +He begins with an analysis of the play: The play is called a dream. But +wherein lies the dream? 'Why,' we are told, 'in the fact that fairies +sport, that honest citizens, with and without asses' heads, put on a +comedy, that lovers pursue each other in the moonlight.' But where is +the law in all this? If the play is without law (Lov = organic unity), +it is without validity. + +But it does have artistic validity. The dream is more than a fantasy. +The same experiences come to all of us. "The play takes place, now in +your life, now in mine. A young man happily engaged or happily married +dreams one night that this is all a delusion. He must be engaged to, he +must marry another. The image of the 'chosen one' hovers before him, but +he can not quite visualize it, and he marries with a bad conscience. +Then he awakens and thanks God that it is all a bad dream (Lysander). Or +a youth is tired of her whom he adored for a time. He even begins to +flirt with another. And then one fine night he dreams that he worships +the very woman he loathes, that he implores her, weeps for her, fights +for her (Demetrius). Or a young girl, or a young wife, who loves and is +loved dreams, that her beloved is fleeing from her. When she follows him +with tears and petitions, he lifts his hand against her. She pursues +him, calls to him to stop, but she cannot reach him. She feels all the +agony of death till she falls back in a calm, dreamless sleep. Or she +dreams that the lover she cannot get comes to her in a wood and tells +her that he really does love her, that her eyes are lovelier than the +stars, her hands whiter than the snow on Taurus. But other visions come, +more confusing. Another, whom she has never given a thought, comes and +tells her the same story. His protestations are even more glowing--and +it all turns to contention and sorrow, idle pursuit and strife, till her +powers fail (Helena). + +"This is the dream chain of the lovers. The poet causes the man to dream +that he is unfaithful, or that he is enamored of one whom he does not +love. And he makes the woman dream that she is deserted or that she is +happy with one whom she cannot get. And together these dreams tell us: +watch your thoughts, watch your passions, you, walking in perfect +confidence at the side of your beloved. They (the thoughts and passions) +may bring forth a flower called 'love in idleness'--a flower which +changes before you are aware of it. The dream gives us reality reversed, +but reversed in such a way that there is always the possibility that it +may, in an unguarded moment, take veritable shape. + +"And this dream of the lovers is given a paradoxical counterpart. A +respectable, fat citizen dreams one night that he is to experience the +great triumph of his life. He is to be presented before the duke's +throne as the greatest of heroes. He dreams that he cannot get dressed, +that he cannot get his head attended to, because, as a matter of fact, +his head is not his own excellent head, but the head of an ass with long +ears, a snout, and hair that itches. 'This is exactly like a fairy tale +of my youth,' he dreams. And indeed, it is a dream! The mountain opens, +the captive princess comes forth and leads him in, and he rests his head +in her lap all strewn with blossoms. The lovely trolls come and scratch +his head and music sounds from the rocks. It is characteristic of +Shakespeare that the lovers do not dream fairy tales of their childhood. +Higher culture has given them deeper passions, more intense personal +relations; in dreams they but continue the life of waking. But the good +weaver who lives thoroughly content in his own self-satisfaction and in +the esteem of his neighbors, who has never reflected upon anything that +has happened to him, but has received each day's blessings as they have +come--this man sees, the moment he lays his head on the pillow, the +fairies and the fairy queen. To him the whole circle of childhood +fantasy reveals itself; nothing is changed, nothing but this absurd +ass's head which he wears, and this curious longing for dry, sweet hay. + +"This is the dream and the action of the play. Superficially, all this +magic is set in motion by the fairies; Theseus and his train, with whom +come hunting horn and hunting talk and processional--are, in reality, +the incarnation of the festival. And the comedy at the close is added by +way of counterpiece to the light, delicate fancies of the dream. It is +the thoughts we have thought, the painfully-wrought products of the +waking mind, given in a sparkle of mocking laughter against the +background of nightly visions. See the play over and over again. Do +not study it with Bottom's ass's head, and do not be so blase that you +reject the performance because it does not command the latest electrical +effects." + +Bjornson then proceeds to discuss the staging. He admits by implication +that the machinery and the properties are not so elaborate as they +sometimes are in England, but points out that the equipment of +Christiania Theater is fully up to that which, until a short time +before, was considered entirely adequate in the great cities of Europe. +And is machinery so important? The cutting of the play used at this +performance was originally made by Tieck for the court theater at +Potsdam. From Germany it was brought to Stockholm, and later to +Christiania. "The spirit of Tieck pervades this adaptation. It is easy +and natural. The spoken word has abundant opportunity to make itself +felt, and is neither overwhelmed by theater tricks nor set aside by +machinery. Tieck, who understood stage machinery perfectly, gave it free +play where, as in modern operas, machinery is everything. The same is +true of Mendelssohn. His music yields reverently to the spoken word. It +merely accompanies the play like a new fairy who strews a strain or two +across the stage before his companions enter, and lends them wings by +which they may again disappear. Only when the words and the characters +who utter them have gone, does the music brood over the forest like a +mist of reminiscence, in which our imagination may once more synthesize +the picture of what has gone before." + +Tieck's adaptation is still the standard one. Englishmen often stage +Shakespeare's romantic plays more elaborately. They even show us a ship +at sea in _The Tempest_. But Shakespeare has fled England; they are left +with their properties, out of which the spirit of Shakespeare will not +rise. It is significant that the most distinguished dramaturg of +Germany, Dingelstedt, planned a few years before to go to London with +some of the best actors in Germany to teach Englishmen how to play +Shakespeare once more. + +Bjornson closes this general discussion of scenery and properties +with a word about the supreme importance of imagination to the playgoer. +"I cannot refrain from saying that the imagination that delights in the +familiar is stronger and healthier than that which loses itself in +longings for the impossible. To visualize on the basis of a few and +simple suggestions--that is to possess imagination; to allow the images +to dissolve and dissipate--that is to have no imagination at all. Every +allusion has a definite relation to the familiar, and if our playgoers +cannot, after all that has been given here for years, feel the least +illusion in the presence of the properties in _A Midsummer Night's +Dream_, then it simply means that bad critics have broken the spell." +Why should Norwegians require an elaborate wood-scene to be transported +to the living woods? A boulevardier of Paris, indeed, might have need of +it, but not a Norwegian with the great forests at his very doors. And +what real illusion is there in a waterfall tumbling over a painted +curtain, or a ship tossing about on rollers? Does not such apparatus +rather destroy the illusion? "The new inventions of stage mechanicians +are far from being under such perfect control that they do not often +ruin art. We are in a period of transition. Why should we here, who are +obliged to wait a long time for what is admittedly satisfactory, commit +all the blunders which mark the way to acknowledged perfection?" + +It would probably be difficult to find definite and tangible evidence +of Shakespeare's influence in Bjornson's work, and we are, therefore, +doubly glad to have his own eloquent acknowledgement of his debt +to Shakespeare. The closing passus of Bjornson's article deserves +quotation for this reason alone. Unfortunately I cannot convey its warm, +illuminating style: "Of all the poetry I have ever read, Shakespeare's +_A Midsummer Night's Dream_ has, unquestionably, had the greatest +influence upon me. It is his most delicate and most imaginative work, +appealing quite as much through its intellectual significance as through +its noble, humane spirit. I read it first in Eiksdal when I was writing +_Arne_, and I felt rebuked for the gloomy feelings under the spell of +which that book was written. But I took the lesson to heart: I felt +that I had in my soul something that could produce a play with a +little of the fancy and joy of _A Midsummer Night's Dream_--and I made +resolutions. But the conditions under which a worker in art lives in +Norway are hard, and all we say or promise avails nothing. But this I +know: I am closer to the ideal of this play now than then, I have a +fuller capacity for joy and a greater power to protect my joy and keep +it inviolate. And if, after all, I never succeed in writing such a play, +it means that circumstances have conquered, and that I have not achieved +what I have ever sought to achieve. + +"And one longs to present a play which has been a guiding star to +oneself. I knew perfectly well that a public fresh from _Orpheus_ would +not at once respond, but I felt assured that response would come in +time. As soon, therefore, as I had become acclimated as director and +knew something of the resources of the theater, I made the venture. This +is not a play to be given toward the end; it is too valuable as a means +of gaining that which is to be the end--for the players and for the +audience. So far as the actors are concerned, our exertions have been +profitable. The play might doubtless be better presented--we shall +give it better next year--but, all in all, we are making progress. +You may call this naivete, poetic innocence, or obstinacy and +arrogance--whatever it is, this play is of great moment to me, for it +is the link which binds me to my public, it is my appeal to the public. +If the public does not care to be led whither this leads, then I am not +the proper guide. If people wish to get me out of the theater, they may +attack me here. Here I am vulnerable." + +In _Morgenbladet_ for May 1st the reviewer made a sharp reply. He +insists again that the local theater is not equal to _A Midsummer +Night's Dream_. But it is not strange that Bjornson will not admit his +own failure. His eloquent tribute to the play and all that it has meant +to him has, moreover, nothing to do with the question. All that he says +may be true, but certainly such facts ought to be the very thing to +deter him from giving Shakespeare into the hands of untrained actors. +For if Bjornson feels that the play was adequately presented, then we +are at a loss to understand how he has been able to produce original +work of unquestionable merit. One is forced to believe that he is hiding +a failure behind his own name and fame. After all, concludes the writer, +the director has no right to make this a personal matter. Criticism +has no right to turn aside for injured feelings, and all Bjornson's +declarations about the passions of the hour have nothing to do with +the case. + +This ended the discussion. At this day, of course, one cannot pass +judgment, and there is no reason why we should. The two things which +stand out are Bjornson's protest against spectacular productions of +Shakespeare's plays, and his ardent, almost passionate tribute to him +as the poet whose influence had been greatest in his life. + +And then there is a long silence. Norwegian periodicals--there is not +to this day a book on Shakespeare by a Norwegian--contain not a single +contribution to Shakespearean criticism till 1880, when a church paper, +_Luthersk Ugeskrift_[11] published an article which proved beyond cavil +that Shakespeare is good and safe reading for Lutheran Christians. +The writer admits that Shakespeare probably had several irregular +love-affairs both before and after marriage, but as he grew older his +heart turned to the comforts of religion, and in his epitaph he commends +his soul to God, his body to the dust. Shakespeare's extreme objectivity +makes snap judgments unsafe. We cannot always be sure that his +characters voice his own thoughts and judgments, but, on the other hand, +we have no right to assume that they never do. The tragedies especially +afford a safe basis for judgment, for in them characterization is of the +greatest importance. No great character was ever created which did not +spring from the poet's own soul. In Shakespeare's characters sin, lust, +cruelty, are always punished; sympathy, love, kindness are everywhere +glorified. The writer illustrates his meaning with copious quotations. + + [11. Vol. VII, pp. 1-12.] + +Apparently the good Lutheran who wrote this article felt troubled about +the splendor which Shakespeare throws about the Catholic Church. But +this is no evidence, he thinks, of any special sympathy for it. Many +Protestants have been attracted by the pomp and circumstance of the +Catholic Church, and they have been none the worse Protestants for that. +The writer had the good sense not to make Shakespeare a Lutheran but, +for the rest, the article is a typical example of the sort of criticism +that has made Shakespeare everything from a pious Catholic to a champion +of atheistic democracy. If, however, the readers of _Luthersk Ugeskrift_ +were led to read Shakespeare after being assured that they might do so +safely, the article served a useful purpose. + +Eight years later the distinguished litterateur and critic, Just Bing, +wrote in _Vidar_[12], one of the best periodicals that Norway has ever +had, a brief character study of Ophelia, which, though it contains +nothing original, stands considerably higher as literary criticism than +anything we have yet considered, with the sole exception of Bjornson's +article in _Aftenbladet_, twenty-three years earlier. + + [12. 1880, pp. 61-71.] + +Bing begins by defining two kinds of writers. First, those whose power +is their keen observation. They see things accurately and they secure +their effects by recording just what they see. Second, those writers +who do not merely see external phenomena with the external eye, but +who, through a miraculous intuition, go deeper into the soul of man. +Moliere is the classical example of the first type; Shakespeare of the +second. To him a chance utterance reveals feelings, passions, whole +lives--though he probably never developed the consequences of a chance +remark to their logical conclusion without first applying to them close +and searching rational processes. But it is clear that if a critic is to +analyze a character of Shakespeare's, he must not be content merely to +observe. He must feel with it, live with it. He must do so with special +sympathy in the case of Ophelia. + +The common characteristic of Shakespeare's women is their devotion to +the man of their choice and their confidence that this choice is wise +and happy. The tragedy of Ophelia lies in the fact that outward evidence +is constantly shocking that faith. Laertes, in his worldly-wise fashion, +first warns her. She cries out from a broken heart though she promises +to heed the warning. Then comes Polonius with his cunning wisdom. But +Ophelia's faith is still unshaken. She promises her father, however, to +be careful, and her caution, in turn, arouses the suspicion of Hamlet. +Even after his wild outburst against her he still loves her. He begs her +to believe in him and to remember him in her prayers. But suspicion goes +on. Ophelia is caught between devotion and duty, and the grim events +that crowd upon her plunge her to sweet, tragic death. Nothing could be +more revealing than our last glimpse of her. Shakespeare's intuitive +knowledge of the soul was sure. The determining fact of her life was her +love for Hamlet: it is significant that when we see her insane not a +mention of it crosses her lips. + +Hamlet and Ophelia are the delicate victims of a tragic necessity. They +are undone because they lose confidence in those to whom they cling with +all the abandon of deep, spiritual souls. Hamlet is at last aroused to +desperation; Ophelia is helplessly crushed. She is the finest woman +of Shakespeare's imagination, and perhaps for that reason the most +difficult to understand and the one least often appreciated. + +The next chapter in Norwegian Shakespeareana is a dull, unprofitable +one--a series of articles on the Baconian theory appearing irregularly +in the monthly magazine, _Kringsjaa_. The first article appeared in the +second volume (1894) and is merely a review of a strong pro-Bacon +outburst in the American _Arena_. It is not worth criticising. Similar +articles appeared in _Kringsjaa_ in 1895, the material this time being +taken from the _Deutsche Revue_. It is the old ghost, the cipher in the +first folio, though not Ignatius Donnelly's cryptogram. Finally, in +1898, a new editor, Chr. Brinckmann, printed[13] a crushing reply to all +these cryptogram fantasies. And that is all that was ever published in +Norway on a foolish controversy. + + [13. _Kringsjaa_. Vol. XII, pp. 777 ff. The article upon which + this reply was based was from the _Quarterly Review_.] + +It is a relief to turn from puerilities of this sort to Theodor +Caspari's article in _For Kirke og Kultur_ (1895)[14]--_Grunddrag ved +den Shakespeareske Digtning, i saerlig Jevnfoerelse med Ibsens senere +Digtning_. + + [14. Vol. I, pp. 38 ff.] + +This article must be read with caution, partly because its analysis +of the Elizabethan age is conventional, and therefore superficial, and +partly because it represents a direction of thought which eyed the later +work of Ibsen and Bjornson with distrust. These men had rejected the +faith of their fathers, and the books that came from them were signs of +the apostasy. But _For Kirke og Kultur_ has been marked from its first +number by ability, conspicuous fairness, and a large catholicity, which +give it an honorable place among church journals. And not even a +fanatical admirer of Ibsen will deny that there is more than a grain of +truth in the indictment which the writer of this article brings against +him. + +The central idea is the large, general objectivity of Shakespeare's +plays as contrasted with the narrow, selfish subjectivity of Ibsen's. +The difference bottoms in the difference between the age of Elizabeth +and our own. Those were days of full, pulsing, untrammeled life. Men +lived big, physical lives. They had few scruples and no nerves. +Full-blooded passions, not petty problems of pathological psychology, +were the things that interested poets and dramatists. They saw life +fully and they saw it whole. So with Shakespeare. His characters are +big, well-rounded men; they are not laboratory specimens. They live in +the real Elizabethan world, not in the hothouse of the poet's brain. It +is of no consequence that violence is done to "local color." Shakespeare +beheld all the world and all ages through the lens of his own time and +country, but because the men he saw were actual, living beings, the +characters he gives us, be they mythological figures, Romans, Greeks, +Italians, or Englishmen, have universal validity. He went to Italy for +his greatest love-story. That gave him the right atmosphere. It is +significant that Ibsen once thought it necessary to seek a suggestive +background for one of his greatest characters. He went to Finmarken for +Rebecca West. + +Shakespeare's characters speak in loud, emphatic tones and they give +utterance to clear, emphatic thoughts. There is no "twilight zone" in +their thinking. Ibsen's men and women, like the children at Rosmersholm, +never speak aloud; they merely whimper or they whisper the polite +innuendos of the drawing room. The difference lies largely in the +difference of the age. But Ibsen is more decadent than his age. There +are great ideas in our time too, but Ibsen does not see them. He sees +only the "thought." Contrast with this Shakespeare's colossal scale. +He is "loud-voiced" but he is also "many-voiced." Ibsen speaks in a +salon voice and always in one key. And the remarkable thing is that +Shakespeare, in spite of his complicated plots, is always clear. The +main lines of the action stand out boldly. There is always speed and +movement--a speed and movement directly caused by powerful feelings. He +makes his readers think on a bigger scale than does Ibsen. His passions +are sounder because they are larger and more expansive. + +Shakespeare is the dramatist of our average life; Ibsen, the poet of +the rare exception. To Shakespeare's problems there is always an answer; +underneath his storms there is peace, not merely filth and doubt. There +is even a sense of a greater power--calm and immovable as history +itself. Ibsen's plays are nervous, hectic, and unbelieving. In the words +of Rosmer: "Since there is no judge over us, we must hold a judgment day +for ourselves." Contrast this with Hamlet's soliloquy. And, finally, +one feels sure in Shakespeare that the play means something. It has a +beginning and an end. "What shall we say of plays like Ibsen's, in which +Act I and Act II give no clue to Act III, and where both question and +answer are hurled at us in the same speech?" + +In the same year, 1895, Georg Brandes published in _Samtiden_,[15] at +that time issued in Bergen, two articles on _Shakespeare's Work in his +Period of Gloom_ (Shakespeare i hans Digtnings morke Periode) which +embody in compact form that thesis since elaborated in his big work. +Shakespeare's tragedies were the outcome of a deep pessimism that had +grown for years and culminated when he was about forty. He was tired of +the vice, the hollowness, the ungratefulness, of life. The immediate +cause must remain unknown, but the fact of his melancholy seems clear +enough. His comedy days were over and he began to portray a side of life +which he had hitherto kept hidden. _Julius Caesar_ marks the transition. +In Brutus we are reminded that high-mindedness in the presence of a +practical situation often fails, and that practical mistakes are often +as fatal as moral ones. From Brutus, Shakespeare came to Hamlet, a +character in transition from fine youth, full of illusions, to a manhood +whose faith is broken by the hard facts of the world. This is distinctly +autobiographical. _Hamlet_ and Sonnet 66 are of one piece. Shakespeare +was disillusioned. Add to this his struggle against his enemy, +Puritanism, and a growing conviction that the miseries of life bottom +in ignorance, and the reason for his growing pessimism becomes clear. +From Hamlet, whom the world crushes, to Macbeth, who faces it with its +own weapons, yet is haunted and terrified by what he does, the step is +easy. He knew Macbeth as he knew Hamlet. + + [15. Vol. VI, pp. 49 ff.] + +The scheming Iago, too, he must have known, for he has portrayed +him with matchless art. "But _Othello_ was a mere monograph; _Lear_ +is a cosmic picture. Shakespeare turns from _Othello_ to _Lear_ in +consequence of the necessity which the poet feels to supplement and +round out his beginning." _Othello_ is noble chamber music; _Lear_ is a +symphony played by a gigantic orchestra. It is the noblest of all the +tragedies, for in it are all the storm and tumult of life, all that +was struggling and raging in his own soul. We may feel sure that +the ingratitude he had met with is reflected in Goneril and Regan. +Undoubtedly, in the same way, the poet had met the lovely Cleopatra +and knew what it was to be ensnared by her. + +Brandes, as has often been pointed out, did not invent this theory +of Shakespeare's psychology but he elaborated it with a skill and +persuasiveness which carried the uncritical away. + +In his second article Brandes continues his analysis of Shakespeare's +pessimism. In the period of the great tragedies there can be no doubt +that Shakespeare was profoundly pessimistic. There was abundant reason +for it. The age of Elizabeth was an age of glorious sacrifices, but it +was also an age of shameless hypocrisy, of cruel and unjust punishments, +of downright oppression. Even the casual observer might well grow sick +at heart. A nature so finely balanced as Shakespeare's suffered a +thousandfold. Hence this contempt for life which showed only corruption +and injustice. Cressida and Cleopatra are sick with sin and evil; the +men are mere fools and brawlers. + +There is, moreover, a feeling that he is being set aside for younger +men. We find clear expression of this in _All's Well That Ends Well_, +in _Troilus and Cressida_. There is, too, in _Troilus and Cressida_ +a speech which shows the transition to the mood of _Coriolanus_, an +aristocratic contempt for the mass of mankind. This is the famous speech +in which Ulysses explains the necessity of social distinctions. Note +in this connection Casca's contemptuous reference to the plebeians, +Cleopatra's fear of being shown to the mob. Out of this feeling grew +_Coriolanus_. The great patrician lives on the heights, and will not +hear of bending to the crowd. The contempt of Coriolanus grew to the +storming rage of Timon. When Coriolanus meets with ingratitude, he takes +up arms; Timon is too supremely indifferent to do even this. + +Thus Shakespeare's pessimism grew from grief over the power of evil +(Othello) and misery over life's sorrows, to bitter hatred (Timon). +And when he had raged to the uttermost, something of the resignation +of old age came to him. We have the evidence of this in his last works. +Perhaps, as in the case of his own heroes, a woman saved him. Brandes +feels that the evolution of Shakespeare as a dramatist is to be traced +in his women. We have first the domineering scold, reminding him +possibly of his own domestic relations (Lady Macbeth); second, the +witty, handsome women (Portia, Rosalind); third, the simple, naive women +(Ophelia, Desdemona); fourth, the frankly sensuous women (Cleopatra, +Cressida); and, finally, the young woman viewed with all an old man's +joy (Miranda). Again his genius exercises his spell. Then, like +Prospero, he casts his magician's staff into the sea. + +In 1896 Brandes published his great work on Shakespeare. It arrested +attention immediately in every country of the world. Never had a book so +fascinating, so brilliant, so wonderfully suggestive, been written on +Shakespeare. The literati were captivated. But alas, scholars were not. +They admitted that Brandes had written an interesting book, that he had +accumulated immense stores of information and given to these sapless +materials a new life and a new attractiveness. But they pointed out that +not only did his work contain gross positive errors, but it consisted, +from first to last, of a tissue of speculations which, however +ingenious, had no foundation in fact and no place in cool-headed +criticism.[16] Theodor Bierfreund, one of the most brilliant Shakespeare +scholars in Denmark, almost immediately attacked Brandes in a long +article in the Norwegian periodical _Samtiden_.[17] + + [16. Cf. Vilhelm Moller in _Nordisk Tidskrift foer Vetenskap, Konst + och Industri_. 1896, pp. 501-519.] + + [17. _Samtiden_, 1896. (VII), pp. 382 ff.] + +He acknowledges the great merits of the work. It is an enormously rich +compilation of Shakespeare material gathered from the four corners of +the earth and illuminated by the genius of a great writer. He gives the +fullest recognition to Brandes' miraculous skill in analyzing characters +and making them live before our eyes. But he warns us that Brandes is no +critical student of source materials, and that we must be on our guard +in accepting his conclusions. It is not so certain that the sonnets mean +all that Brandes would have them mean, and it is certain that we must +be cautious in inferring too much from _Troilus and Cressida_ and +_Pericles_ for, in the opinion of the reviewer, Shakespeare probably had +little or nothing to do with them. He then sketches briefly his theory +that these plays cannot be Shakespeare's, a theory which he later +elaborated in his admirably written monograph, _Shakespeare og hans +Kunst_.[18] This, however, belongs to the study of Shakespearean +criticism in Denmark. + + [18. Copenhagen, 1898.] + +So far as I have been able to find, Bierfreund's review was the only one +published in Norway immediately after the publication of Brandes' work, +but in 1899, S. Brettville Jensen took up the matter again in _For Kirke +og Kultur_[19] and, in 1901, Christen Collin vigorously assailed in +_Samtiden_ that elaborate and fanciful theory of the sonnets which plays +so great a part in Brandes' study of Shakespeare. + + [19. Vol. VI (1899), pp. 400 ff.] + +Brettville Jensen praises Brandes highly. He is always interesting, in +harmony with his age, and in rapport with his reader. "But his book is a +fantasy palace, supported by columns as lovely as they are hollow and +insecure, and hovering in rainbow mists between earth and sky." Brandes +has rare skill in presenting hypotheses as facts. He has attempted to +reconstruct the life of Shakespeare from his works. Now this is a mode +of criticism which may yield valuable results, but clearly it must be +used with great care. Shakespeare knew the whole of life, but how he +came to know it is another matter. Brandes thinks he has found the +secret. Back of every play and every character there is a personal +experience. But this is rating genius altogether too cheap. One must +concede something to the imagination and the creative ability of the +poet. To relate everything in Shakespeare's dramas to the experiences +of Shakespeare the man, is both fanciful and uncritical. + +The same objection naturally holds regarding the meaning of the sonnets +which Brandes has made his own. Here we must bear in mind the fact that +much of the language in the sonnets is purely conventional. We should +have a difficult time indeed determining just how much is biographical +and how much belongs to the stock in trade of Elizabethan sonneteers. +Brettville Jensen points out that if the sonnets are the expression of +grief at the loss of his beloved, it is a queer contradiction that +Sonnet 144, which voices his most poignant sorrow, should date from +1599, the year, according to Brandes, when Shakespeare's comedy period +began! + +It is doubtless true that the plays and even the sonnets mark great +periods in the life of the poet, but we may be sure that the relation +between experience and literary creation was not so literal as Brandes +would have us believe. The change from mood to mood, from play to play, +was gradual, and it never destroyed Shakespeare's poise and sanity. We +shall not judge Shakespeare rightly if we believe that personal feeling +rather than artistic truth shaped his work. + +Two years later Collin, a critic of fine insight and appreciation, wrote +in _Samtiden_[20] an article on the sonnets of Shakespeare. He begins by +picturing Shakespeare's surprise if he could rise from his grave in the +little church at Stratford and look upon the pompous and rather naive +bust, and hear the strange tongues of the thousands of pilgrims at his +shrine. Even greater would be his surprise if he could examine the +ponderous tomes in the Shakespeare Memorial Library at Birmingham which +have been written to explain him and his work. And if any of these +volumes could interest him at all it would doubtless be those in which +ingenious critics have attempted to discover the poet in the plays and +the poems. Collin then gives a brief survey of modern Shakespearean +criticism--Furnivall, Dowden, Brandl, Boas, ten Brink, and, more +recently, Sidney, Lee, Brandes, and Bierfreund. An important object of +the study of these men has been to fix the chronology of the plays. They +seldom fully agree. Sidney Lee and the Danish critic, Bierfreund, do not +accept the usual theory that the eight tragedies from _Julius Caesar_ to +_Coriolanus_ reflect a period of gloom and pessimism. In their opinion +psychological criticism has, in this instance, proved a dismal failure. + + [20. Vol. XII, pp. 61 ff.] + +The battle has raged with particular violence about the sonnets. +Most scholars assume that we have in them a direct presentation +(fremstilling) of a definite period in the life of the poet. And by +placing this period directly before the creation of _Hamlet_, Brandes +has succeeded in making the relations to the "dark lady" a crisis in +Shakespeare's life. The story, which, as Brandes tells it, has a +remarkable similarity to an ultra-modern naturalistic novel, becomes +even more piquant since Brandes knows the name of the lady, nay, even of +the faithless friend. All this information Brandes has, of course, taken +from Thomas Tyler's introduction to the Irving edition of the sonnets +(1890), but his passion for the familiar anecdote has led him to +embellish it with immense enthusiasm and circumstantiality. + +The hypothesis, however, is essentially weak. Collin disagrees +absolutely with Lee that the sonnets are purely conventional, without +the slightest biographical value. Mr. Lee has weakened his case by +admitting that "key-sonnet" No. 144 is autobiographical. Now, if this +be true, then one must assume that the sonnets set forth Shakespeare's +relations to a real man and a real woman. But the most convincing +argument against the Herbert-Fitton theory lies in the chronology. It is +certain that the sonnet fashion was at its height immediately after the +publication of Sidney's sequence in 1591, and it seems equally certain +that it had fallen off by 1598. This chronology is rendered probable +by two facts about Shakespeare's work. First, Shakespeare employs the +sonnet in dialogue in _Two Gentlemen of Verona_ and in _Romeo and +Juliet_. These plays belong to the early nineties. Second, the moods +of the sonnets exactly correspond, on the one hand, to the exuberant +sensuality of _Venus and Adonis_, on the other, to the restraint of the +_Lucrece_. + +An even safer basis for determining the chronology of the sonnets Collin +finds in the group in which the poet laments his poverty and his outcast +state. If the sonnets are autobiographical--and Collin agrees with +Brandes that they are--then this group (26, 29, 30, 31, 37, 49, 66, +71-75, 99, 110-112, 116, 119, 120, 123, and 124) must refer to a time +when the poet was wretched, poor, and obscure. And in this case, the +sonnets cannot be placed at 1598-99, when Shakespeare was neither poor +nor despised, a time in which, according to Brandes, he wrote his gayest +comedies. + +It seems clear from all this that the sonnets cannot be placed so late +as 1598-1600. They do not fit the facts of Shakespeare's life at this +time. But they do fit the years from 1591 to 1594, and especially the +years of the plague, 1592-3, when the theaters were generally closed, +and Shakespeare no doubt had to battle for a mere existence. In 1594 +Shakespeare's position became more secure. He gained the favor of +Southampton and dedicated the _Rape of Lucrece_ to him. + +Collin develops at this point with a good deal of fullness his +theory that the motifs of the sonnets recur in _Venus and Adonis_ +and _Lucrece_--in _Venus and Adonis_, a certain crass naturalism; +in _Lucrece_ a high and spiritual morality. In the sonnets the same +antithesis is found. Compare Sonnet 116--in praise of friendship--with +129, in which is pictured the tyranny and the treachery of sensual love. +These two forces, sensual love and platonic friendship, were mighty +cultural influences during Shakespeare's apprentice years and the young +poet shows plainly that he was moved by both. + +If all this be true, then the Herbert-Fitton theory falls to the ground, +for in 1597 Herbert was only seventeen. But unquestionably the sonnets +are autobiographical. They reveal with a poignant power Shakespeare's +sympathy, his unique ability to enter into another personality, his +capacity of imaginative expansion to include the lives of others. +Compare the noble sonnet 112, which Collin translates: + + Din kjaerlighed og medynk daekker til + det ar, som sladderen paa min pande trykket. + Lad andre tro og sige, hvad de vil,-- + du kjaerlig mine feil med fortrin smykket. + + Du er mit verdensalt, og fra din mund + jeg henter al min skam og al min aere. + For andre er jeg dod fra denne stund, + og de for mig som skygger blot skal vaere. + + I avgrunds dyp jeg al bekymring kaster! + for andres rost min horesans er slov. + Hvadenten de mig roser eller laster, + jeg som en hugorm er og vorder dov. + + Saa helt du fylder ut min sjael herinde, + at hele verden synes at forsvinde. + +At this point the article in _Samtiden_ closes. Collin promises to give +in a later number, a metrical translation of a number of significant +sonnets. The promised renderings, however, never appeared. Thirteen +years later, in 1914, the author, in a most interesting and illuminating +book, _Det Geniale Menneske_,[21] a study of "genius" and its relation +to civilization, reprinted his essay in _Samtiden_ and supplemented it +with three short chapters. In the first of these he endeavors to show +that in the sonnets Shakespeare gives expression to two distinct +tendencies of the Renaissance--the tendency toward a loose and +unregulated gratification of the senses, and the tendency toward an +elevated and platonic conception of friendship. Shakespeare sought in +both of these a compensation for his own disastrous love affair and +marriage. But the healing that either could give was at best transitory. +There remained to him as a poet of genius one resource. He could gratify +his own burning desire for a pure and unselfish love by living in his +mighty imagination the lives of his characters. "He who in his yearning +for the highest joys of love had been compelled to abandon hope, found +a joy mingled with pain, in giving of his life to lovers in whom the +longing of William Shakespeare lives for all time. + +"He has loved and been loved. It was he whom Sylvia, Hermia, Titania, +Portia, Juliet, Beatrice, Rosalind, Viola, and Olivia loved,--and +Ophelia, Desdemona, Hermione and Miranda." + + [21. Chr. Collin, Christiania. 1914. H. Aschehoug & Co.] + +In the second chapter Collin argues, as he had done in his essay on +_Hamlet_[22] that Shakespeare's great tragedies voice no pessimism, but +the stern purpose to strengthen himself and his contemporaries against +the evils and vices of Jacobean England--that period of moral and +intellectual disintegration which followed the intense life of the +Elizabethan age. Shakespeare battles against the ills of society as the +Greek dramatists had done, by showing sin and wickedness as destroyers +of life, and once this is done, by firing mankind to resistance against +the forces of ruin and decay. "To hold the mirror up to nature," that +men may see the devastation which evil and vice bring about in the +social body. And to do this he does not, like some modern writers, shun +moralizing. He warns against sensual excess in Adam's speech in _As You +Like It_, II, 3: + + Let me be your servant; + Though I look old, yet am I strong and lusty; + For in my youth I never did apply + Hot and rebellious liquors in my blood; + Nor did not with unbashful forehead woo + The means of weakness and debility; + + [22. See pp. 71 ff. below.] + +Or, compare the violent outburst against drunkenness in _Hamlet_ Act 1, +Sc. 4, and the stern warning against the same vice in _Othello_, where, +indeed, Cassius' weakness for strong drink is the immediate occasion of +the tragic complication. In like manner, Shakespeare moralizes against +lawless love in the _Merry Wives_, in _Troilus and Cressida_, in +_Hamlet_, in _Lear_. + +On the other hand, Shakespeare never allows artistic scruples to +stand in the way of exalting simple, domestic virtues. Simple conjugal +fidelity is one of the glories of Hamlet's illustrious father and of the +stern, old Roman, Coriolanus; the young prince, Malcolm, is as chaste +and innocent as the young barbarians of whom Tacitus tells. + +In a final section, Collin connects this view of Hamlet which he has +developed in his essay on _Hamlet_ and the Sonnets, with the theory of +human civilization which his book so suggestively advances. + +The great tragedies from _Hamlet_ to _Timon of Athens_ are not +autobiographical in the sense that they are reflections of Shakespeare's +own concrete experience. They are not the record of a bitter personal +pessimism. In the years when they were written Shakespeare was contented +and prosperous. He restored the fortunes of his family and he was hailed +as a master of English without a peer. It is therefore a priori quite +unlikely that the tragic atmosphere of this period should go back +to purely personal disappointments. The case is more likely this: +Shakespeare had grown in power of sympathy with his fellows and his +time. He had become sensitive to the needs and sorrows of the society +about him. He could put himself in the place of those who are sick in +mind and heart. And in consequence of this he could preach to this +generation the simple gospel of right living and show to them the +psychic weakness whence comes all human sorrow. + +And through this expansion of his ethical consciousness what had +he gained? Not merely a fine insight as in _Macbeth_, _Antony and +Cleopatra_, and _Coriolanus_, an insight which enables him to treat with +comprehending sympathy even great criminals and traitors, but a high +serenity and steady poise which enables him to write the romances of his +last years--_Cymbeline_, _A Winter's Tale_, and _The Tempest_. He had +come to feel that human life, after all, with its storms, is a little +thing, a dream and a fata morgana, which soon must give place to a +permanent reality: + + We are such stuff + As dreams are made of, and our little life + Is rounded with a sleep. + +In 1904 Collin wrote in _Nordisk Tidskrift foer Vetenskap, Konst och +Industri_[23] a most suggestive article on Hamlet. He again dismisses +the widely accepted theory of a period of gloom and increasing pessimism +as baseless. The long line of tragedies cannot be used to prove this. +They are the expression of a great poet's desire to strengthen mankind +in the battle of life. + + [23: This article is reprinted in _Det Geniale Menneske_ above + referred to. It forms the second of a group of essays in which + Collin analyzes the work of Shakespeare as the finest example of + the true contribution of genius to the progress and culture of + the race. Preceding the study of _Hamlet_ is a chapter called + _The Shakespearean Controversy_, and following it is a study of + Shakespeare the Man. This is in three parts, the first of which + is a reprint of an article in _Samtiden_ (1901). + + In _Det Geniale Menneske_ Collin defines civilization as that + higher state which the human race has attained by means of + "psychic organs"--superior to the physical organs. The psychic + organs have been created by the human intellect and they are + controlled by the intellect. Had man been dependent upon the + physical organs solely, he would have remained an animal. His + psychic organs have enabled him to create instruments, tangible, + such as tools and machines; intangible, such as works of art. + These are psychic organs and with their aid man has become a + civilized being. + + The psychic organs are the creation of the man of genius. To + create such organs is his function. The characteristics, then, + of the genius are an immense capacity for sympathy and an immense + surplus of power; sympathy, that he may know the needs of mankind; + power, that he may fashion those great organs of life by which the + race may live and grow. + + In the various chapters of his book, Collin analyzes in an + illuminating way the life and work of Wergeland, Ibsen, and + Bjornson as typical men of genius whose expansive sympathy gave + them insight and understanding and whose indefatigable energy + wrought in the light of their insight mighty psychic organs of + cultural progress. + + He comes then to Shakespeare as the genius par excellence. The + chapter on the _Shakespearean Controversy_ gives first a survey + of the development of modern scientific literary criticism from + Herder to Taine and Saint Beuve. He goes on to detail the + application of this method to the plays and sonnets of + Shakespeare. Furnivall, Spalding, and Brandes have attempted to + trace the genesis and the chronology of the plays. They would have + us believe that the series of tragedies--_Hamlet_, _Macbeth_, + _Othello_, _Lear_, _Antony and Cleopatra_, _Troilus and Cressida_, + _Coriolanus_, and _Timon_ are the records of an increasing + bitterness and pessimism. Brandes and Frank Harris, following + Thomas Tyler have, on the basis of the sonnets, constructed a + fascinating, but quite fantastic romance. + + Vagaries such as these have caused some critics, such as Sidney + Lee and Bierfreund, to declare that it is impossible on the basis + of the plays to penetrate to Shakespeare the man. His work is + too purely objective. Collin is not willing to admit this. He + maintains that the scientific biographical method of criticism + is fundamentally sound. But it must be rationally applied. The + sequence which Brandes has set up is quite impossible. Goswin + Konig, in 1888, applying the metrical tests, fixed the order as + follows: _Hamlet_, _Troilus and Cressida_, _Measure for Measure_, + _Othello_, _Timon_, and _Lear_, and, in another group, _Macbeth_, + _Antony and Cleopatra_, and _Coriolanus_. These results are + confirmed by Bradley in his _Shakespearean Tragedy_. + + Collin accepts this chronology. A careful study of the plays in + this order shows a striking community of ethical purpose between + the plays of each group. In the plays of the first group, the poet + assails with all his mighty wrath what to him seems the basest of + all wickedness, treachery. It is characteristic of these plays + that none of the villains attains the dignity of a great tragic + hero. They are without a virtue to redeem their faults. + Shakespeare's conception of the good and evil in these plays + approaches a medieval dualism. In the plays of the second group + the case is altered. There is no longer a crude dualism in the + interpretation of life. Shakespeare has entered into the soul of + Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, of Antony and Cleopatra, of Coriolanus, + and he has found underneath all that is weak and sinful and + diseased, a certain nobility and grandeur. He can feel with the + regicides in Macbeth; he no longer exposes and scourges; he + understands and sympathizes. The clouds of gloom and wrath have + cleared away, and Shakespeare has achieved a serenity and a fine + poise. + + It follows, then, that the theory of a growing pessimism is + untenable. We must seek a new line of evolution.] + +We need dwell but little on Collin's sketch of the "Vorgeschichte" +of _Hamlet_, for it contributes nothing that is new. _Hamlet_ was a +characteristic "revenge tragedy" like the "Spanish Tragedy" and a whole +host of others which had grown up in England under the influence, direct +and indirect, of Seneca. He points out in a very illuminating way how +admirably the "tragedy of blood" fitted the times. Nothing is more +characteristic of the renaissance than an intense joy in living. But +exactly as the appetite for mere existence became keen, the tragedy of +death gained in power. The most passionate joy instinctively calls up +the most terrible sorrow. There is a sort of morbid caution here--a +feeling that in the moment of happiness it is well to harden oneself +against the terrible reaction to come. Conversely, the contemplation of +suffering intensifies the joys of the moment. At all events, in such a +time, emotions become stronger, colors are brighter, and contrasts are +more violent. The "tragedy of blood," therefore, was more than a learned +imitation. Its sound and fury met the need of men who lived and died +intensely. + +The primitive _Hamlet_ was such a play. Shakespeare took over, doubtless +with little change, both fable and characters, but he gave to both a new +spiritual content. Hamlet's revenge gained a new significance. It is no +longer a fight against the murderer of his father, but a battle against +"a world out of joint." No wonder that a simple duty of blood revenge +becomes a task beyond his powers. He sees the world as a mass of +faithlessness, and the weight of it crushes him and makes him sick at +heart. This is the tragedy of Hamlet--his will is paralyzed and, with +it, his passion for revenge. He fights a double battle, against his +uncle and against himself. The conviction that Shakespeare, and not his +predecessor, has given this turn to the tragedy is sustained by the +other plays of the same period, _Lear_ and _Timon of Athens_. They +exhibit three different stages of the same disease, a disease in which +man's natural love of fighting is turned against himself. + +Collin denies that the tragedy of Hamlet is that of a contemplative soul +who is called upon to solve great practical problems. What right have we +to assume that Hamlet is a weak, excessively reflective nature? Hamlet +is strong and regal, capable of great, concrete attainments. But he can +do nothing except by violent and eccentric starts; his will is paralyzed +by a fatal sickness. He suffers from a disease not so uncommon in modern +literature--the tendency to see things in the darkest light. Is it far +from the pessimism of Hamlet to the pessimism of Schopenhauer and +Tolstoi? Great souls like Byron and Heine and Ibsen have seen life as +Hamlet saw it, and they have struggled as he did, "like wounded warriors +against the miseries of the times." + +But from this we must not assume that Shakespeare himself was +pessimistic. To him Hamlet's state of mind was pathological. One might +as well say that he was a murderer because he wrote _Macbeth_, a +misogynist because he created characters like Isabella and Ophelia, a +wife murderer because he wrote _Othello_, or a suicide because he wrote +_Timon of Athens_ as to say that he was a pessimist because he wrote +_Hamlet_--the tragedy of an irresolute avenger. This interpretation +is contradicted by the very play itself. "At Hamlet's side is the +thoroughly healthy Horatio, almost a standard by which his abnormality +may be measured. At Lear's side stand Cordelia and Kent, faithful +and sound to the core. If the hater of mankind, Timon, had written +a play about a rich man who was betrayed by his friends, he would +unquestionably have portrayed even the servants as scoundrels. But +Shakespeare never presented his characters as all black. Pathological +states of mind are not presented as normal." + +Collin admits, nevertheless, that there may be something +autobiographical in the great tragedies. Undoubtedly Shakespeare felt +that there was an iron discipline in beholding a great tragedy. To live +it over in the soul tempered it, gave it firmness and resolution, and it +is not impossible that the sympathetic, high-strung Shakespeare needed +just such discipline. But we must not forget the element of play. +All art is, in a sense, a game with images and feelings and human +utterances. "In all this century-old discussion about the subtlety of +Hamlet's character critics have forgotten that a piece of literature is, +first of all, a festive sport with clear pictures, finely organized +emotions, and eloquent words uttered in moments of deep feeling." The +poet who remembers this will use his work to drive from the earth +something of its gloom and melancholy. He will strengthen himself +that he may strengthen others. + +I have tried to give an adequate synopsis of Collin's article but, in +addition to the difficulties of translating the language, there are the +difficulties, infinitely greater, of putting into definite words all +that the Norwegian hints at and suggests. It is not high praise to say +that Collin has written the most notable piece of Shakespeare criticism +in Norway; indeed, nothing better has been written either in Norway or +Denmark. + +The study of Shakespeare in Norway was not, as the foregoing shows, +extensive or profound, but there were many Norwegian scholars who had +at least considerable information about things Shakespearean. No great +piece of research is to be recorded, but the stimulating criticism of +Caspari, Collin, Just Bing, and Bjornson is worth reading to this day. + +The same comment may be made on two other contributions--Wiesener's +_Almindelig Indledning til Shakespeare_ (General Introduction to +Shakespeare), published as an introduction to his school edition of +_The Merchant of Venice_,[24] and Collin's _Indledning_ to his edition +of the same play. Both are frankly compilations, but both are admirably +organized, admirably written, and full of a personal enthusiasm which +gives the old, sometimes hackneyed facts a new interest. + + [24. _Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice. Med Anmaerkninger og + Indledning_. Udgivet af G. Wiesener. Kristiania, 1880.] + +Wiesener's edition was published in 1880 in Christiania. The text is +that of the Cambridge edition with a few necessary cuttings to adapt it +for school reading. His introduction covers fifty-two closely printed +pages and gives, within these limits, an exceedingly detailed account of +the English drama, the Elizabethan stage, Shakespeare's life and work, +and a careful study of _The Merchant of Venice_ itself. The editor does +not pretend to originality; he has simply tried to bring together well +ascertained facts and to present them in the simplest, clearest fashion +possible. But the _Indledning_ is to-day, thirty-five years after it was +written, fully up to the standard of the best annotated school editions +in this country or in England. It is, of course, a little dry and +schematic; that could hardly be avoided in an attempt to compress such a +vast amount of information into such a small compass, but, for the most +part, the details are so clear and vivid that their mass rather +heightens than blurs the picture. + +From the fact that nothing in this introduction is original, it is +hardly necessary to criticise it at length; all that may be demanded +is a short survey of the contents. The whole consists of two great +divisions, a general introduction to Shakespeare and a special +introduction to _The Merchant of Venice_. The first division is, in +turn, subdivided into seven heads: 1. _The Pre-Shakespearean Drama_. +2. _The Life of Shakespeare_. 3. _Shakespeare's Works--Order and +Chronology_. 4. _Shakespeare as a Dramatist_. 5. _Shakespeare's +Versification_. 6. _The Text of Shakespeare_. 7. _The Theatres of +Shakespeare's Time_. This introduction fills thirty-nine pages and +presents an exceedingly useful compendium for the student and the +general reader. The short introduction to the play itself discusses +briefly the texts, the sources, the characters, Shakespeare's relation +to his material and, finally, the meaning of the play. The last section +is, however, a translation from Taine and not Wiesener's at all. + +The text itself is provided with elaborate notes of the usual text-book +sort. In addition to these there is, at the back, an admirable series +of notes on the language of Shakespeare. Wiesener explains in simple, +compact fashion some of the differences between Elizabethan and modern +English and traces these phenomena back to their origins in Anglo-Saxon +and Middle English. Inadequate as they are, these linguistic notes +cannot be too highly praised for the conviction of which they bear +evidence--that a complete knowledge of Shakespeare without a knowledge +of his language is impossible. To the student of that day these notes +must have been a revelation. + +The second text edition of a Shakespearean play in Norway was Collin's +_The Merchant of Venice_.[25] His introduction covers much the same +ground as Wiesener's, but he offers no sketch of the Elizabethan drama, +of Shakespeare's life, or of his development as a dramatic artist. On +the other hand, his critical analysis of the play is fuller and, instead +of a mere summary, he gives an elaborate exposition of Shakespeare's +versification. + + [25. _The Merchant of Venice_. Med Indledning og Anmaerkninger ved + Chr. Collin. Kristiania. 1902.] + +Collin is a critic of rare insight. Accordingly, although he says +nothing new in his discussion of the purport and content of the play, +he makes the old story live anew. He images Shakespeare in the midst of +his materials--how he found them, how he gave them life and being. The +section on Shakespeare's language is not so solid and scientific as +Wiesener's, but his discussion of Shakespeare's versification is +both longer and more valuable than Wiesener's fragmentary essay, and +Shakespeare's relation to his sources is treated much more suggestively. + +He points out, first of all, that in Shakespeare's "classical" plays the +characters of high rank commonly use verse and those of low rank, prose. +This is, however, not a law. The real principle of the interchange of +prose and verse is in the emotions to be conveyed. Where these are +tense, passionate, exalted, they are communicated in verse; where they +are ordinary, commonplace, they are expressed in prose. This rule will +hold both for characters of high station and for the most humble. In Act +I, for example, Portia speaks in prose to her maid "obviously because +Shakespeare would lower the pitch and reduce the suspense. In the +following scene, the conversation between Shylock and Bassanio begins in +prose. But as soon as Antonio appears, Shylock's emotions are roused to +their highest pitch, and his speech turns naturally to verse--even +though he is alone and his speech an aside. A storm of passions sets +his mind and speech in rhythmic motion. And from that point on, the +conversations of Shylock, Bassanio, and Antonio are in verse. In short, +rhythmic speech when there is a transition to strong, more dramatic +feeling." + +The use of prose or verse depends, then, on the kind and depth of +feeling rather than on the characters. "In Act II Launcelot Gobbo and +his father are the only ones who employ prose. All the others speak in +verse--even the servant who tells of Bassanio's arrival. Not only that, +but he speaks in splendid verse even though he is merely announcing a +messenger:" + + "Yet have I not seen + So likely an ambassador of love," etc. + +Again, in _Lear_, the servant who protests against Cornwall's cruelty to +Gloster, nameless though he is, speaks in noble and stately lines: + + Hold your hand, my lord; + I've served you ever since I was a child; + But better service have I never done you + Than now to bid you hold. + +When the dramatic feeling warrants it, the humblest rise to the highest +poetry. The renaissance was an age of deeper, mightier feelings than +our own, and this intense life speaks in verse, for only thus can it +adequately express itself. + +All this is romantic enough. But it is to be doubted if the men of the +renaissance were so different from us that they felt an instinctive need +of bursting into song. The causes of the efflorescence of Elizabethan +dramatic poetry are not, I think, to be sought in such subtleties as +these. + +Collin further insists that the only way to understand Shakespeare's +versification is to understand his situations and his characters. Rules +avail little. If we do not _feel_ the meaning of the music, we shall +never understand the meaning of the verse. Shakespeare's variations from +the normal blank verse are to be interpreted from this point of view. +Hence what the metricists call "irregularities" are not irregularities +at all. Collin examines the more important of these irregularities and +tries to account for them. + +1. Short broken lines as in I, 1-5: _I am to learn._ Antonio completes +this line by a shrug of the shoulders or a gesture. "It would be +remarkable," concludes Collin, "if there were no interruptions or pauses +even though the characters speak in verse." Another example of this +breaking of the line for dramatic purposes is found in I, 3-123 where +Shylock suddenly stops after "say this" as if to draw breath and arrange +his features. (Sic!) + +2. A verse may be abnormally long and contain six feet. This is +frequently accidental, but in _M of V_ it is used at least once +deliberately--in the oracular inscriptions on the caskets: + + "Who chooseth me shall gain what men desire." + "Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves." + "Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he has." + +Collin explains that putting these formulas into Alexandrines gives them +a stiffness and formality appropriate to their purpose. + +3. Frequently one or two light syllables are added to the close of the +verse: + + Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster. + +or + + Sleep when he wakes and creep into the jaundice. + +Again, in III, 2-214 we have two unstressed syllables: + + But who comes here? Lorenzo and his infidel? + +"Shakespeare uses this unaccented gliding ending more in his later works +to give an easier more unconstrained movement." + +4. Occasionally a syllable is lacking, and the foot seems to halt as in +V, 1-17: + + As far as Belmont. In such a night, etc. + +Here a syllable is lacking in the third foot. But artistically this is +no defect. We cannot ask that Jessica and Lorenzo always have the right +word at hand. The defective line simply means a pause and, therefore, +instead of being a blemish, is exactly right. + +5. On the other hand, there is often an extra light syllable before the +caesura. (I, 1-48): + + Because you are not merry; and 'twere as easy, etc. + +This extra syllable before the pause gives the effect of a slight +retardation. It was another device to make the verse easy and +unconstrained. + +6. Though the prevailing verse is iambic pentameter, we rarely find +more than three or four real accents. The iambic movement is constantly +broken and compelled to fight its way through. This gives an added +delight, since the ear, attuned to the iambic beat, readily recognizes +it when it recurs. The presence of a trochee is no blemish, but a +relief: + + Vailing her high tops higher than her ribs. (I, 1-28) + +This inverted stress occurs frequently in Norwegian poetry. Wergeland +was a master of it and used it with great effect, for instance, in his +poem to Ludvig Daa beginning: + + Med doden i mit hjerte, + og smilet om min mund,-- + +All this gives to Shakespeare's verse a marvellous flexibility and +power. Nor are these devices all that the poet had at his disposal. We +frequently find three syllables to the foot, giving the line a certain +fluidity which a translator only rarely can reproduce. Finally, a +further difficulty in translating Shakespeare lies in the richness of +the English language in words of one syllable. What literature can rival +the grace and smoothness of: + + In sooth I know not why I am so sad. + +Ten monosyllables in succession! It is enough to drive a translator to +despair. Or take: + + To be or not to be, that is the question. + +To summarize, no other language can rival English in dramatic dialogue +in verse, and this is notably true of Shakespeare's English, where the +word order is frequently simpler and more elastic than it is in modern +English. + +Two reviews of Collin quickly appeared in a pedagogical magazine, _Den +Hoeiere Skole_. The first of them,[26] by Ivar Alnaes, is a brief, rather +perfunctory review. He points out that _The Merchant of Venice_ is +especially adapted to reading in the gymnasium, for it is unified in +structure, the characters are clearly presented, the language is not +difficult, and the picture is worth while historically. Collin has, +therefore, done a great service in making the play available for +teaching purposes. Alnaes warmly praises the introduction; it is +clear, full, interesting, and marked throughout by a tone of genuine +appreciation. But right here lies its weakness. It is not always easy +to distinguish ascertained facts from Collin's imaginative combinations. +Every page, however, gives evidence of the editor's endeavor to give to +the student fresh, stimulating impressions, and new, revealing points of +view. This is a great merit and throws a cloak over many eccentricities +of language. + + [26. Vol. 5 (1903), pp. 51 ff.] + +But Collin was not to escape so easily. In the same volume Dr. +August Western[27] wrote a severe criticism of Collin's treatment +of Shakespeare's versification. + + [27. _Ibid._ pp. 142 ff.] + +He agrees, as a matter of course, that Shakespeare is a master of +versification, but he does not believe that Collin has proved it. That +blank verse is the natural speech of the chief characters or of the +minor characters under emotional stress, that prose is _usually_ used by +minor characters or by important characters under no emotional strain +is, in Dr. Western's opinion, all wrong. Nor is prose per se more +restful than poetry. And is not Shylock more emotional in his scene +(I, 3) than any of the characters in the casket scene immediately +following (II, 1)? According to Collin, then, I, 3 should be in verse +and II, 1 in prose! Equally absurd is the theory that Shakespeare's +characters speak in verse because their natures demand it. Does Shylock +go contrary to nature in III, 1? There is no psychological reason for +Verse in Shakespeare. He wrote as he did because convention prescribed +it. The same is true of Goethe and Schiller, of Bjornson and Ibsen in +their earlier plays. Shakespeare's lapses into prose are, moreover, easy +to explain. There must always be something to amuse the gallery. Act +III, 1 must be so understood, for though Shakespeare was undoubtedly +moved, the effect of the scene was comic. The same is true of the +dialogue between Portia and Nerissa in Act I, and of all the scenes +in which Launcelot Gobbo appears. + +Western admits, however, that much of the prose in Shakespeare cannot +be so explained; for example, the opening scenes in _Lear_ and _The +Tempest_. And this brings up another point, i.e., Collin's supposition +that Shakespeare's texts as we have them are exactly as he wrote them. +When the line halts, Collin simply finds proof of the poet's fine ear! +The truth probably is that Shakespeare had a good ear and that he always +wrote good lines, but that he took no pains to see that these lines were +correctly printed. Take, for example, such a line as: + + As far as Belmont. + In such a night + +This would, if written by anyone else, always be considered bad, and Dr. +Western does not believe that Collin's theory of the pauses will hold. +The pause plays no part in verse. A line consists of a fixed number +of _heard_ syllables. Collin would say that a line like I, 1-73: + + I will not fail you, + +is filled out with a bow and a swinging of the hat. Then why are the +lines just before it, in which Salarino and Salario take leave of each +other, not defective? Indeed, how can we be sure that much of what +passes for "Shakespeare's versification" is not based on printers' +errors? In the folio of 1623 there are long passages printed in prose +which, after closer study, we must believe were written in verse--the +opening of _Lear_ and _The Tempest_. Often, too, it is plain that +the beginnings and endings of lines have been run together. Take the +passage: + + _Sal_: + Why, then you are in love. + + _Ant_: + Fie, fie! + + _Sal_: + Not in love neither? Then let us say you are sad-- + +The first line is one foot short, the second one foot too long. This +Collin would call a stroke of genius; each _fie_ is a complete foot, +and the line is complete! But what if the line were printed thus: + + _Sal_: + Why, then you are in love. + + _Ant_: + Fie, fie! + + _Sal_: + Not in + Love neither? Then let us say you are sad. + +or possibly: + + Love neither? Then let's say that you are sad. + +Another possible printer's error is found in I, 3-116: + + With bated breath and whispering humbleness + Say this; + Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last. + +Are we here to imagine a pause of four feet? And what are we to do with +the first folio which has + + Say this; Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last. + +all in one line? Perhaps some printer chose between the two. At any +rate, Collin's theory will not hold. In the schools, of course, one +cannot be a text critic but, on the other hand, one must not praise in +Shakespeare what may be the tricks of the printer's devil. The text is +not always faultless. + +Finally, Dr. Western objects to the statement that the difficulty in +translating Shakespeare lies in the great number of monosyllables and +gives + + In sooth, I know not why I am so sad + +as proof. Ten monosyllables in one line! But this is not impossible in +Norwegian: + + For sand, jeg ved ei, hvi jeg er saa trist-- + +It is not easy to translate Shakespeare, but the difficulty goes deeper +than his richness in words of one syllable. + +With the greater part of Dr. Western's article everyone will agree. It +is doubtful if any case could be made out for the division of prose and +verse based on psychology. Shakespeare probably wrote his plays in verse +for the same reason that Goethe and Schiller and Oehlenschlaeger did. It +was the fashion. And how difficult it is to break with fashion or with +old tradition, the history of Ibsen's transition from poetry to prose +shows. It is equally certain that in Collin's _Introduction_ it is +difficult to distinguish ascertained facts from brilliant speculation. +But it is not easy to agree with Dr. Western that Collin's explanation +of the "pause" is a tissue of fancy. + +In the first place, no one denies that the printers have at times +played havoc with Shakespeare's text. Van Dam and Stoffel, to whose book +Western refers and whose suggestions are directly responsible for this +article, have shown this clearly enough. But when Dr. Western argues +that because printers have corrupted the text in some places, they must +be held accountable for every defective short line, we answer, it does +not follow. In the second place, why should not a pause play a part in +prosody as well as in music? Recall Tennyson's verse: + + Break, break, break, + On thy cold, grey stones, o sea! + +where no one feels that the first line is defective. Of course the +answer is that in Tennyson no accented syllable is lacking. But it is +difficult to understand what difference this makes. When the reader has +finished pronouncing _Belmont_ there _must_ be a moment's hesitation +before Lorenzo breaks in with: + + In such a night + +and this pause may have metrical value. The only judge of verse, after +all, is the hearer, and, in my opinion, Collin is right when he points +out the value of the slight metrical pause between the bits of repartee. +Whether Shakespeare counted the syllables beforehand or not, is another +matter. In the third place, Collin did not quote in support of his +theory the preposterous lines which Dr. Western uses against him. Collin +does quote I, 1-5: + + I am to learn. + +and I, 1-73: + + I will not fail you + +is a close parallel, but Collin probably would not insist that his +theory accounts for every case. As to Dr. Western's other example of +good meter spoiled by corrupt texts, Collin would, no doubt, admit +the possibility of the proposed emendations. It would not alter his +contention that a pause in the line, like a pause in music, is not +necessarily void, but may be very significant indeed. + +The array of Shakespearean critics in Norway, as we said at the +beginning, is not imposing. Nor are their contributions important. +But they show, at least, a sound acquaintance with Shakespeare and +Shakespeareana, and some of them, like the articles of Just Bing, +Brettville Jensen, Christen Collin, and August Western, are interesting +and illuminating. Bjornson's article in _Aftenbladet_ is not merely +suggestive as Shakespearean criticism, but it throws valuable light +on Bjornson himself and his literary development. When we come to the +dramatic criticism of Shakespeare's plays, we shall find renewed +evidence of a wide and intelligent knowledge of Shakespeare in Norway. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +Performances Of Shakespeare's Plays In Norway + +_Christiania_ + + +The first public theater in Christiania was opened by the Swedish +actor, Johan Peter Stroemberg, on January 30, 1827, but no Shakespeare +production was put on during his short and troubled administration. +Not quite two years later this strictly private undertaking became a +semi-public one under the immediate direction of J.K. Boecher, and at +the close of the season 1829-30, Boecher gave by way of epilogue to +the year, two performances including scenes from Holberg's _Melampe_, +Shakespeare's _Hamlet_, and Oehlenschlaeger's _Aladdin_. The Danish actor +Berg played Hamlet, but we have no further details of the performance. +We may be sure, however, that of the two translations available, Boye's +and Foersom's, the latter was used. _Hamlet_, or a part of it, was thus +given for the first time in Norway nearly seventeen years after Foersom +himself had brought it upon the stage in Denmark.[1] + + [1. Blanc: _Christianias Theaters Historie_, p. 51.] + +More than fourteen years were to elapse before the theater took +up Shakespeare in earnest. On July 28, 1844, the first complete +Shakespearean play was given. This was _Macbeth_ in Foersom's version +of Schiller's "bearbeitung," which we shall take up in our studies of +Shakespeare in Denmark.[2] No reviews of it are to be found in the +newspapers of the time, not even an announcement. This, however, does +not prove that the event was unnoticed, for the press of that day was +a naive one. Extensive reviews were unknown; the most that the public +expected was a notice. + + [2. Blanc does not refer to this performance in his _Historie_. + But this and all other data of performances from 1844 to 1899 are + taken from his "Fortegnelse over alle dramatiske Arbeider, som + siden Kristiania Offentlige Theaters Aabning, den 30. Januar 1827, + har vaert opfort af dets Personale indtil 15 Juni 1899." The work + is unpublished. Ms 4to, No. 940 in the University Library, + Christiania.] + +We are equally ignorant of the fate of _Othello_, performed the next +season, being given for the first time on January 3, 1845. Wulff's +Danish translation was used. Blanc says in his _Historie_[3] that +Desdemona and Iago were highly praised, but that the play as a whole +was greatly beyond the powers of the theater. + + [3. See p. 94, note 1.] + +Nearly eight years later, November 11, 1852, _Romeo and Juliet_ in +Foersom's translation received its Norwegian premiere. The acting +version used was that made for the Royal Theater in Copenhagen by A.E. +Boye in 1828.[4] _Christiania Posten_[5] reports a packed house and a +tremendous enthusiasm. Romeo (by Wiehe) and Juliet (by Jomfru Svendsen) +revealed careful study and complete understanding. The reviewer in +_Morgenbladet_[6] begins with the little essay on Shakespeare so common +at the time; "Everyone knows with what colors the immortal Shakespeare +depicts human passions. In _Othello_, jealousy; in _Hamlet_, despair; +in _Romeo and Juliet_, love, are sung in tones which penetrate to the +depths of the soul. Against the background of bitter feud, the love of +Romeo and Juliet stands out victorious and beneficent. Even if we cannot +comprehend this passion, we can, at least, feel the ennobling power of +the story." Both of the leading parts are warmly praised. Of Wiehe the +reviewer says: "Der var et Liv af Varme hos ham i fuldt Maal, og den +graendselose Fortvivlelse blev gjengivet med en naesten forfaerdelig +Troskab." + + [4. See Aumont og Collin: _Det Danske Nationalteater_. V Afsnit, + pp. 118 ff.] + + [5. _Christiania Posten_. November 15, 1845.] + + [6. _Morgenbladet_. November 15, 1845.] + +The same season (Dec. 11, 1852) the theater also presented _As You +Like It_ in the Danish version by Sille Beyer. The performance of two +Shakespearean plays within a year may rightly be called an ambitious +undertaking for a small theatre without a cent of subsidy. _Christiania +Posten_ says: "It is a real kindness to the public to make it acquainted +with these old masterpieces. One feels refreshed, as though coming +out of a bath, after a plunge into their boundless, pure poetry. The +marvellous thing about this comedy (_As You Like It_) is its wonderful, +spontaneous freshness, and its freedom from all sentimentality and +emotional nonsense." The acting, says the critic, was admirable, but +its high quality must, in a measure, be attributed to the sympathy and +enthusiasm of the audience. Wiehe is praised for his interpretation of +Orlando and Jomfru Svendsen for her Rosalind.[7] Apparently none of the +reviewers noticed that Sille Beyer had turned Shakespeare upside down. +Her version was given for the last time on Sept. 25, 1878, and in this +connection an interesting discussion sprang up in the press. + + [7. _Christiania Posten_. Dec. 12, 1852.] + +The play was presented by student actors, and the performance +was therefore less finished than it would have been under other +circumstances. _Aftenposten_ was doubtless right when it criticised the +director for entrusting so great a play to unpractised hands, assuming +that Shakespeare should be played at all. "For our part, we do not +believe the time far distant when Shakespeare will cease to be a +regular part of the repertoire."[8] To this statement a contributor in +_Aftenposten_ for Sept. 28 objected. He admits that Shakespeare wrote +his plays for a stage different from our own, that the ease with which +Elizabethan scenery was shifted gave his plays a form that makes them +difficult to play today. Too often at a modern presentation we feel that +we are seeing a succession of scenes rather than unified, organic drama. +But, after all, the main thing is the substance--"the weighty content, +and this will most certainly secure for them for a long time to come a +place in the repertoire of the theater of the Germanic world. So long +as we admit that in the delineation of character, in the presentation +of noble figures, and in the mastery of dialogue, Shakespeare is +unexcelled, so long we must admit that Shakespeare has a place on the +modern stage." + + [8. _Aftenposten_. Sept. 21, 1878.] + +Where did _Aftenposten_'s reviewer get the idea that Shakespeare's plays +are not adapted to the modern stage? Was it from Charles Lamb? At any +rate, it is certain that he anticipated a movement that has led to many +devices both in the English-speaking countries and in Germany to +reproduce the stage conditions under which Shakespeare's plays were +performed during his own life. + +Of the next Shakespearean piece to be performed in Christiania, +_All's Well That Ends Well_, there is but the briefest mention in +the newspapers. We know that it was given in the curiously perverted +arrangement by Sille Beyer and was presented twelve times from January +15, 1854 to May 23, 1869. On that day a new version based on Lembcke's +translation was used, and in this form the play was given eight times +the following seasons. Since January 24, 1882, it has not been performed +in Norway.[9] + + [9. See Blanc's _Fortegnelse_. p. 93.] + +At the beginning of the next season, October 29, 1854, _Much Ado About +Nothing_ was introduced to Kristiania theater-goers under the title +_Blind Alarm_. The translation was by Carl Borgaard, director of the +theater. But here, too, contemporary documents leave us in the dark. +There is merely a brief announcement in the newspapers. Blanc informs +us that Jomfru Svendsen played Hero, and Wiehe, Benedict.[10] + + [10. See Blanc's _Fortegnelse_. p. 93.] + +After _Blind Alarm_ Shakespeare disappears from the repertoire for +nearly four years. A version of _The Taming of the Shrew_ under the +title _Hun Maa Taemmes_ was given on March 28, 1858, but with no great +success. Most of the papers ignored it. _Aftenbladet_ merely announced +that it had been given.[11] + + [11. _Aftenbladet_. March 22, 1858.] + +_Viola_, Sille Beyer's adaptation of _Twelfth Night_ was presented at +Christiania Theater on November 20, 1860, the eighth of Shakespeare's +plays to be presented in Norway, and again not merely in a Danish text +but in a version made for the Copenhagen Theater. + +Neither the critics nor the public were exacting. The press hailed +_Viola_ as a tremendous relief from the frothy stuff with which +theater-goers had been sickened for a season or two. "The theater +finally justified its existence," says _Morgenbladet_,[12] "by a +performance of one of Shakespeare's plays. Viola was beautifully done." +The writer then explains in conventional fashion the meaning of the +English title and goes on--"But since the celebration of _Twelfth Night_ +could interest only the English, the Germans have "bearbeidet" the play +and centered the interest around Viola. We have adopted this version." +He approves of Sille Beyer's cutting, though he admits that much is lost +of the breadth and overwhelming romantic fulness that mark the original. +But this he thinks is compensated for by greater intelligibility and the +resulting dramatic effect. "Men hvad Stykket ved saadan Forandring, +Beklippelse, og Udeladelse saaatsige taber af sin Fylde idet ikke alt +det Leende, Sorglose og Romantiske vandre saa ligeberettiget side om +side igjennem Stykket, mens det Ovrige samler sig om Viola, det opveies +ved den storre Forstaaelighed for vort Publikum og denne mere afrundede +sceniske Virkning, Stykket ved Bearbeidelsen har faaet." As the piece is +arranged now, Viola and her brother are not on the stage at the same +time until Act V. Both roles may therefore be played by Jomfru Svendsen. +The critic is captivated by her acting of the double role, and +Jorgensen's Malvolio and Johannes Brun's Sir Andrew Aguecheek share +with her the glory of a thoroughly successful performance. + + [12. November 23, 1860.] + +Sille Beyer's _Viola_ was given twelve times. From the thirteenth +performance, January 21, 1890, _Twelfth Night_ was given in a new form +based on Lembcke's translation. + +A thorough search through the newspaper files fails to reveal even a +slight notice of _The Merchant of Venice_ (Kjobmanden i Venedig) played +for the first time on Sept. 17, 1861. Rahbek's translation was used, and +this continued to be the standard until 1874, when, beginning with the +eighth performance, it was replaced by Lembcke's. + +We come, then, to _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ (Skjaersommernatsdrommen) +played in Oehlenschlaeger's translation under Bjornson's direction on +April 17, 1865. The play was given ten times from that date till +May 27, 1866. In spite of this unusual run it appears to have been only +moderately successful, and when Bjornson dropped it in the spring of +1866, it was to disappear from the repertoire for thirty-seven years. +On January 15, 1903, it was revived by Bjornson's son, Bjorn Bjornson. +This time, however, it was called _Midsommernatsdroemmen_, and the acting +version was based on Lembcke's translation. In this new shape it has +been played twenty-seven times up to January, 1913. + +The interesting polemic which Bjornson's production occasioned has +already been discussed at some length. This may be added, however: +A play which, according to the poet's confession, influenced his life as +this one did, has played an important part in Norwegian literature. The +influence may be intangible. It is none the less real. + +More popular than any of the plays which had thus far been presented in +Norway was _A Winter's Tale_, performed at Christiania Theater for the +first time on May 4, 1866. The version used had, however, but a faint +resemblance to the original. It was a Danish revision of Dingelstedt's +_Ein Wintermaerchen_. I shall discuss this Holst-Dingelstedt text in +another place. At this point it is enough to say that Shakespeare is +highly diluted. It seems, nevertheless, to have been successful, for +between the date of its premiere and March 21, 1893, when it was given +for the last time, it received fifty-seven performances, easily breaking +all records for Shakespearean plays at the old theater. And at the new +National Theater, where it has never been given, no Shakespearean play, +with the exception of _The Taming of the Shrew_ has approached its +record. + +_Aftenbladet_[13] in its preliminary review said: "Although this is +not one of Shakespeare's greatest plays, it is well worth putting on, +especially in the form which Dingelstedt has given to it. It was +received with the greatest enthusiasm." But _Aftenbladet's_ promised +critical review never appeared. + + [13. May 5, 1866.] + +More interesting and more important than most of the performances +which we have thus far considered is that of _Henry IV_ in 1867, while +Bjornson was still director. To his desire to give Johannes Brun an +opportunity for the display of his genius in the greatest of comic roles +we owe this version of the play. Bjornson obviously could not give both +parts, and he chose to combine cuttings from the two into a single play +with Falstaff as the central figure. The translation used was Lembcke's +and the text was only slightly norvagicized. + +Bjornson's original prompt book is not now available. In 1910, however, +H. Wiers Jensen, a playwright associated with the National Theater, +shortened and slightly adapted the version for a revival of the play, +which had not been seen in Kristiania since February 8, 1885. We may +assume that in all essentials the prompt book of 1910 reproduces that of +1867. + +In this _Kong Henrik IV_ the action opens with I Henry IV, II-4, and Act +I consists of this scene freely cut and equally freely handled in the +distribution of speeches. The opening of the scene, for example, is cut +away entirely and replaced by a brief account of the robbery put naively +into the mouth of Poins. The opening of Act II is entirely new. Since +all the historical scenes of Act I of the original have been omitted, it +becomes necessary to give the audience some notion of the background. +This is done in a few lines in which the King tells of the revolt of +the nobles and of his own difficult situation. Then follows the king's +speech from Part I, Act III, Sc. 2: + + Lords, give us leave; the prince of Wales and I + must have some conference... + +and what follows is the remainder of the scene with many cuttings. Sir +Walter Blunt does not appear. His role is taken by Warwick. + +Act II, Sc. 2 of Bjornson's text follows Part I, Act III, Sc. 3 closely. + +Act III, Sc. 1 corresponds with Part I, Act III, Sc. 1 to the point +where Lady Mortimer and Lady Percy enter. This episode is cut and the +scene resumes with the entrance of the messenger in Part I, Act IV, +Sc. 1, line 14. This scene is then followed in outline to the end. + +Act III, Sc. 2 begins with Part I, Act IV, Sc. 3 from the entrance of +Falstaff, and follows it to the end of the scene. To this is added most +of Scene 4, but there is little left of the original action. Only the +Falstaff episodes are retained intact. + +The last act (IV) is a wonderful composite. Scene 1 corresponds closely +to Part II, Act III, Sc. 4, but it is, as usual, severely cut. Scene 2 +reverts back to Part II, Act III, Sc. 2 and is based on this scene to +line 246, after which it is free handling of Part II, Act V, Sc. 3. +Scene 3 is based on Part II, Act V, Sc. 5. + +A careful reading of Bjornson's text with the above as a guide will +show that this collection of episodes, chaotic as it seems, makes no +ineffective play. With a genius--and a genius Johannes Brun was--as +Falstaff, one can imagine that the piece went brilliantly. The press +received it favorably, though the reviewers were much too critical to +allow Bjornson's mangling of the text to go unrebuked. + +_Aftenbladet_ has a careful review.[14] The writer admits that in our +day it requires courage and labor to put on one of Shakespeare's +historical plays, for they were written for a stage radically different +from ours. In the Elizabethan times the immense scale of these +"histories" presented no difficulties. On a modern stage the mere +bulk makes a faithful rendition impossible. And the moment one starts +tampering with Shakespeare, trouble begins. No two adapters will agree +as to what or how to cut. Moreover, it may well be questioned whether +any such cutting as that made for the theater here would be tolerated in +any other country with a higher and older Shakespeare "Kultur." The +attempt to fuse the two parts of _Henry IV_ would be impossible in a +country with higher standards. "Our theater can, however, venture +undisturbed to combine these two comprehensive series of scenes into +one which shall not require more time than each one of them singly--a +venture, to be sure, which is not wholly without precedent in foreign +countries. It is clear that the result cannot give an adequate notion of +Shakespeare's 'histories' in all their richness of content, but it does, +perhaps, give to the theater a series of worth-while problems to work +out, the importance of which should not be underestimated. The attempt, +too, has made our theater-goers familiar with Shakespeare's greatest +comic character, apparently to their immense delight. Added to all this +is the fact that the acting was uniformly excellent." + + [14. February 18, 1867.] + +But by what right is the play called Henry IV? Practically nothing is +left of the historical setting, and the spectator is at a loss to know +just what the whole thing is about. Certainly the whole emphasis is +shifted, for the king, instead of being an important character is +overshadowed by Prince Hal. The Falstaff scenes, on the other hand, are +left almost in their original fulness, and thus constitute a much more +important part of the play than they do in the original. The article +closes with a glowing tribute to Johannes Brun as Falstaff. + +_Morgenbladet_[15] goes into greater detail. The reviewer seems to think +that Shakespeare had some deep purpose in dividing the material into two +parts--he wished to have room to develop the character of Prince Henry. +"Accordingly, in the first part he gives us the early stages of Prince +Hal's growth, beginning with the Prince of Wales as a sort of superior +rake and tracing the development of his better qualities. In Part II we +see the complete assertion of his spiritual and intellectual powers." +The writer overlooks the fact that what Shakespeare was writing first of +all--or rather, what he was revising--was a chronicle. If he required +more than five acts to give the history of Henry IV he could use ten and +call it two plays. If, in so doing, he gave admirable characterization, +it was something inherent in his own genius, not in the materials with +which he was working. + + [15. February 17, 1867.] + +The history, says the reviewer, and the Falstaff scenes are the +background for the study of the Prince, each one serving a distinct +purpose. But here the history has been made meaningless and the Falstaff +episodes have been put in the foreground. He points out that balance, +proportion, and perspective are all lost by this. Yet, granting that +such revolutionizing of a masterpiece is ever allowable, it must be +admitted that Bjornson has done it with considerable skill. Bjornson's +purpose is clear enough. He knew that Johannes Brun as Falstaff would +score a triumph, and this success for his theater he was determined to +secure. The same motive was back of the version which Stjernstrom put on +in Stockholm, and there can be little doubt that his success suggested +the idea to Bjornson. The nature of the cutting reveals the purpose at +every step. For instance, the scene in which the Gadskill robbery is +made clear, is cut entirely. We thus lose the first glimpse of the +sterner and manlier side of the royal reveller. In fact, if Bjornson had +been frank he would have called his play _Falstaff--based on certain +scenes from Shakespeare's Henry IV, Parts I and II_. + +Yet, though much has been lost, much of what remains is excellent. +Brun's Falstaff almost reconciles us to the sacrifice. Long may he live +and delight us with it! It is one of his most superb creations. The cast +as a whole is warmly praised. It is interesting to note that at the +close of the review the critic suggests that the text be revised with +Hagberg's Swedish translation at hand, for Lembcke's Danish contains +many words unusual or even unfamiliar in Norwegian. + +_Henry IV_ remained popular in Norway, although from February 8, +1885 to February 10, 1910 it was not given in Kristiania. When, in 1910, +it was revived with Lovaas as Falstaff, the reception given it by the +press was about what it had been a quarter of a century before. +_Aftenposten_'s[16] comment is characteristic: "The play is turned +upside down. The comic sub-plot with Falstaff as central figure is +brought forward to the exclusion of all the rest. More than this, what +is retained is shamelessly altered." Much more scathing is a short +review by Christian Elster in the magazine _Kringsjaa_.[17] The play, +he declares, has obviously been given to help out the box office by +speculating in the popularity of Falstaff. "There is no unity, no +coherence, no consistency in the delineation of characters, and even +from the comic scenes the spirit has fled."[17] + + [16. _Aftenposten_. February 25, 1910.] + + [17. _Kringsjaa_ XV, III (1910), p. 173.] + +To all this it may be replied that the public was right when it +accepted Falstaff for what he was regardless of the violence done to the +original. The Norwegian public cared little about the wars, little even +about the king and the prince; but people will tell one today of those +glorious evenings when they sat in the theater and revelled in Johannes +Brun as the big, elephantine knight. + +In the spring of 1813, Foersom himself brought out _Hamlet_ on the +Danish stage. Nearly sixty years were to pass before this play was put +on in Norway, March 4, 1870. + +The press was not lavish in its praise. _Dagbladet_[18] remarks +that though the performance was not what it ought to have been, the +audience followed it from first to last with undivided attention. +_Aftenbladet_[19] has a long and interesting review. Most of it is +given over to a criticism of Isaachson's Hamlet. First of all, says +the reviewer, Isaachson labors under the delusion that every line is +cryptic, embodying a secret. This leads him to forget the volume of the +part and to invent all sorts of fanciful interpretations for details. +Thus he loses the unity of the character. Things are hurried through to +a conclusion and the fine transitions are lost. For example, "Oh, that +this too, too solid flesh would melt" is started well, but the speech at +once gains in clearness and decision until one wonders at the close why +such a Hamlet does not act at once with promptness and vigor. There are, +to be sure, occasional excellences, but they do not conceal the fact +that, as a whole, Isaachson does not understand Hamlet. + + [18. March 5, 1870.] + + [19. March 8, 1870.] + +Since its first performance _Hamlet_ has been given often in +Norway--twenty-eight times at the old Christiania Theater, and (from +October 31, 1907) seventeen times at the new National Theater. Its +revival in 1907, after an intermission of twenty-four years, was a +complete success, although _Morgenbladet_[20] complained that the +performance lacked light and inspiration. The house was full and the +audience appreciative. + + [20. November 1, 1907.] + +_Aftenposten_[21] found the production admirable. Christensen's Hamlet +was a stroke of genius. "Han er voxet i og med Rollen; han har traengt +sig ind i den danske Prins' dybeste Individualitet." And of the revival +the paper says: "The performance shows that a national theater can solve +difficult problems when the effort is made with sympathy, joy, and +devotion to art." + + [21. November 1, 1907.] + +In my judgment no theater could have given a better caste for +_The Merry Wives of Windsor_ than that with which Christiania Theater +was provided. All the actors were artists of distinction; and it is +not strange, therefore, that the first performance was a huge success. +_Aftenposten_[22] declares that Brun's Falstaff was a revelation. +_Morgenbladet_[23] says that the play was done only moderately well. +Brun as Falstaff was, however, "especially amusing." _Aftenbladet_[24] +is more generous. "_The Merry Wives of Windsor_ has been awaited with a +good deal of interest. Next to the curiosity about the play itself, the +chief attraction has been Brun as Falstaff. And though Falstaff as lover +gives no such opportunities as Falstaff, the mock hero, Brun makes a +notable role out of it because he knows how to seize upon and bring out +all there is in it." + + [22. May 15, 1873.] + + [23. May 15, 1873.] + + [24. May 15, 1873.] + +Johannes Brun's Falstaff is a classic to this day on the Norwegian +stage. In _Illustreret Tidende_ for July 12, 1874, K.A. Winterhjelm has +a short appreciation of his work. "Johannes Brun has, as nearly as we +can estimate, played something like three hundred roles at Christiania +Theater. Many of them, to be sure, are minor parts--but there remains +a goodly number of important ones, from the clown in the farce to the +chief parts in the great comedies. Merely to enumerate his great +successes would carry us far afield. We recall in passing that he +has given us Falstaff both in _Henry IV_ and in _The Merry Wives of +Windsor_, Bottom in _A Midsummer Night's Dream_, and Autolycus in +_A Winter's Tale_. Perhaps he lacks something of the nobleman we feel +that he should be in _Henry IV_, but aside from this petty criticism, +what a wondrous comic character Brun has given us!" + +As to the success of _Coriolanus_, the sixteenth of Shakespeare's plays +to be put on in Kristiania, neither the newspapers nor the magazines +give us any clew. If we may believe a little puff in _Aftenposten_ for +January 20, 1874, the staging was to be magnificent. _Coriolanus_ was +played in a translation by Hartvig Lassen for the first time on January +21, 1874. After thirteen performances it was withdrawn on January 10, +1876, and has not been since presented. + +In 1877, _Richard III_ was brought on the boards for the first time, but +apparently the occasion was not considered significant, for there is +scarcely a notice of it. The public seemed surfeited with Shakespeare, +although the average had been less than one Shakespearean play a season. +At all events, it was ten years before the theater put on a new +one--_Julius Caesar_, on March 22, 1888. It had the unheard of +distinction of being acted sixteen times in one month, from the premiere +night to April 22. Yet the papers passed it by with indifference. Most +of them gave it merely a notice, and the promised review in +_Aftenposten_ never appeared. + +_Julius Caesar_ is the last new play to be presented at Christiania +Theater or at the National Theater, which replaced the old Christiania +Theater in 1899. From October, 1899 to January, 1913 the National +Theater has presented eight Shakespearean plays, but every one of +them has been a revival of plays previously presented. + + +_Bergen_ + +Up to a few years ago, the only theater of consequence in Norway, +outside of the capital, was at Bergen. In many respects the history of +the theater at Bergen is more interesting than that of the theater at +Christiania. Established in 1850, while Christiania Theater was still +largely Danish, to foster Norwegian dramatic art, it is associated with +the greatest names in Norwegian art and letters. The theater owes its +origin mainly to Ole Bull; Henrik Ibsen was official playwright from +1851 to 1857, and Bjornson was director from 1857 to 1859. For a dozen +years or more "Den Nationale Scene i Bergen" led a precarious existence +and finally closed its doors in 1863. In 1876 the theater was reopened. +During the first period only two Shakespearean plays were +given--_Twelfth Night_ and _As You Like It_. + +_As You Like It_ in Stille Beyer's version was played twice during the +season 1855-56, on September 30 and October 3. The press is silent about +the performances, but doubtless we may accept Blanc's statement that the +task was too severe for the Bergen theater.[25] + + [25. Norges Forste Nationale Scene. Kristiania. 1884, p. 206.] + +Rather more successful were the two performances of _Twelfth Night_ in +a stage version adapted from the German of Deinhardstein. The celebrated +Laura Svendsen played the double role of Sebastian-Viola with +conspicuous success.[26] + + [26. _Ibid._, p. 304.] + +_The Merchant of Venice_ was given for the first time on October 9, +1878, two years after the reopening of the theater. _Bergens +Tidende_[27] calls the production "a creditable piece of amateur +theatricals," insisting in a review of some length that the young +theater cannot measure up to the demands which a play of Shakespeare's +makes. _Bergensposten_ is less severe. Though far from faultless, the +presentation was creditable, in some details excellent. But, quite apart +from its absolute merits, there is great satisfaction in seeing the +theater undertake plays that are worth while.[28] Both papers agree +that the audience was large and enthusiastic. + + [27. _Bergens Tidende_, October 10, 1878.] + + [28. _Bergensposten_, October 11, 1878.] + +The next season _A Winter's Tale_ was given in H.P. Holst's +translation and adaptation of Dingelstedt's German acting version +_Ein Wintermaerchen_. The press greeted it enthusiastically. _Bergens +Tidende_[29] says: "_A Winter's Tale_ was performed at our theater +yesterday in a manner that won the enthusiastic applause of a large +gathering. The principal actors were called before the curtain again and +again. It is greatly to the credit of any theater to give a Shakespeare +drama, and all the more so when it can do it in a form as artistically +perfect as was yesterday's presentation." + + [29. April 20, 1880. Cf. also _Bergensposten_, April 21, 1880.] + +Concerning _Othello_, third in order in the Shakespearean repertoire in +Bergen, the reviews of the first performance, November 13, 1881, are +conflicting. _Bergens Tidende_[30] is all praise. It has no hesitation +in pronouncing Johannesen's Iago a masterpiece. _Bergensposten_[31] +calls the performance passable but utterly damns Johannesen--"nothing +short of a colossal blunder." Hr. Johannesen is commended to the easily +accessible commentaries of Taine and Genee, and to Hamlet's speech to +the players. Desdemona and Cassio are dismissed in much the same +fashion. + + [30. November 14, 1881.] + + [31. November 15, 1881.] + +A few days later, November 18, _Bergensposten_ reviewed the performance +again and was glad to note a great improvement. + +_Bergens Addressecontoirs Efterretninger_[32] agrees with +_Bergensposten_ in its estimate of Johannesen. "He gives us only the +villain in Iago, not the cunning Ensign who deceives so many." But +Desdemona was thoroughly satisfying. + + [32. November 15, 1881.] + +Whatever may have been its initial success, _Othello_ did not last. It +was given four times during the season 1881-2, but was then dropped and +has never since been taken up. + +Three different groups of _Hamlet_ performances have been given in +Bergen. In September, 1883, the Ophelia scenes from Act IV were given; +the complete play, however, was not given till November 28, 1886. The +press,[33] for once, was unanimous in declaring the production a +success. It is interesting that an untried actor at his debut was +entrusted with the role. But, to judge from the press comments, Hr. +Lochen more than justified the confidence in him. His interpretation of +the subtlest character in Shakespeare was thoroughly satisfying.[34] + + [33. Cf. _Bergens Tidende_, November 29, 1886; _Bergens + Aftenblad_, November 29, 1886; _Bergensposten_, December 2, 1886.] + + [34. Cf. _Bergens Tidende_, November 30, 1886; _Bergens + Aftenblad_, November 29, 1886; _Bergensposten_, December 1, 1886.] + +Finally, it should be noted that a Swedish travelling company under the +direction of the well-known August Lindberg played _Hamlet_ in Bergen on +November 5, 1895. + +It is apparent, from the tone of the press comment that a Shakespearean +production was regarded as a serious undertaking. The theater approached +the task hesitatingly, and the newspapers always qualify their praise or +their blame with some apologetic remark about "the limited resources of +our theater." This explains the long gaps between new productions, five +years between _Othello_ (1881) and the complete _Hamlet_ (1886); five +years likewise between _Hamlet_ and _King Henry IV_. + +_Henry IV_ in Bjornson's stage cutting promised at first to establish +itself. Its first performance was greeted by a crowded house, and +enthusiasm ran high. The press questions the right of the play to the +title of _Henry IV_, since it is a collection of scenes grouped about +Prince Hal and Falstaff. But aside from this purely objective criticism +the comment is favorable.[35] + + [35. Cf. _Bergens Tidende_, March 2, 1891; _Bergens Aftenblad_, + March 2, 1891.] + +With the second performance (March 4, 1891) comes a change. _Bergens +Tidende_ remarks that it is a common experience that a second +performance is not so successful as the first. Certainly this was true +in the case of _Henry IV_. The life and sparkle were gone, and the +sallies of Falstaff awakened no such infectious laughter as they had a +few evenings before.[36] There was no applause from the crowded house, +and the coolness of the audience reacted upon the players--all in +violent contrast to the first performance. The reviewer in _Aftenbladet_ +predicts that the production will have no very long life.[37] He was +right. It was given once more, on March 6. Since then the theater-goers +of Bergen have not seen it on their own stage. + + [36. Cf. March 5, 1891.] + + [37. Cf. March 5, 1891.] + +Sille Beyer's _Viola_ (which, in turn, is an adaptation of the German of +Deinhardstein) had been played twice at the old Bergen Theater, July 17 +and 18, 1861. It was now (Oct. 9, 1892) revived in a new cutting based +on Lembcke's Danish translation. _Bergens Aftenblad_ declares that the +cutting was reckless and the staging almost beggarly. The presentation +itself hardly rose above the mediocre.[38] _Bergens Tidende_, on the +other hand, reports that the performance was an entire success. The +caste was unexpectedly strong; the costumes and scenery splendid. The +audience was appreciative and there was generous applause.[39] + + [38. October 10, 1892.] + + [39. October 10 and 13, 1892.] + +The last new play to find a place on the repertoire at Bergen is _Romeo +and Juliet_. This was performed four times in May, 1897. Like _Henry +IV_, it promised to be a great success, but it survived only four +performances. _Bergens Tidende_[40] gives a careful, well-written +analysis of the play and of the presentation. The reviewer gives full +credit for the beauty of the staging and the excellence of the acting, +but criticises the censor sharply for the unskillful cutting, and the +stage manager for the long, tiresome waits. _Bergens Aftenblad_[41] +praises the performance almost without reserve. + + [40. May 15, 1897.] + + [41. May 15, 1897.] + +And the last chapter in the history of Shakespeare's dramas in Bergen +is a revival of _A Winter's Tale_ in the season 1902-3. The theater had +done its utmost to give a spendid and worthy setting, and great care was +given to the rehearsals. The result was a performance which, for beauty, +symmetry, and artistic unity ranks among the very best that have ever +been seen at the theater. The press was unanimous in its cordial +recognition.[42] The play was given no less than nine times during +October, 1902. Since then Shakespeare has not been given at _Den +Nationale Scene i Bergen_. + + [42. See _Bergens Aftenblad_ for October 6-9, 1902; _Bergens + Tidende_, October 6, 1902.] + + + + +APPENDIX + +Register Of Shakespearean Performances In Norway + + +_Kristiania_ + +I. Christiania Theater. + +The following record is an excerpt of all the data relating to +Shakespeare in T. Blanc: _Fortegnelse over alle dramatiske Arbeider, som +siden Kristiania Theaters offentlige Aabning den 30 Januar, 1827, har +vaeret opforte paa samme af dets Personale indtil 15 Juni 1899_. This +_Fortegnelse_ is still unpublished. The MS. is quarto No. 940 in the +University Library, Kristiania. + +1. Blind Alarm. Skuespil i fem Akter af Shakespeare. (Original Title: +_Much Ado About Nothing_). Translated by Carl Borgaard, from the +nineteenth performance, May 18, 1878, under the title _Stor Staahei +for Ingenting_, Oct. 29, 1854, May 26, 1878. 18 times. + +2. Coriolanus. Sorgespil i 5 Akter af Shakespeare, bearbeidet for Scenen +af H. Lassen. Jan. 21, 1874--Jan. 10, 1876. 13 times. + +3. De Muntre Koner i Windsor. Lystspil i 5 Akter af Shakespeare. +(Adapted for the stage by H. Lassen.) May 14, 1873, Nov. 8, 1876. +12 times. + +4. En Skjaersommernatsdrom. Eventyrkomedie i 5 Akter af W. Shakespeare. +(Original Title: _A Midsummer Night's Dream_.) Translated by +Oehlenschlaeger. Music by Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. April 17, 1865, May 27, +1866. 10 times. + +5. Et Vintereventyr. Romantisk Skuespil i 5 Akter. Adapted from +Shakespeare's _A Winter's Tale_ and Dinglestedt's _Ein Wintermaerchen_ +by H.P. Holst. Music by Flotow. May 4, 1866, March 21, 1893. 57 times. + +6. Hamlet. Tragedie i 5 Akter af W. Shakespeare. Translated by Foersom +and Lembcke. March 4, 1870, April 27, 1883. 28 times. + +7. Hun Maa Taemmes. Lystspil i 4 Akter. Adapted from Shakespeare's +_Taming of the Shrew_. March 21, 1858, April 12, 1881. 28 times. + +8. Julius Caesar. Tragedie i 5 Akter af William Shakespeare. Translated +by H. Lassen. March 22, 1887, April 22, 1887. 16 times. + +9. Kjobmanden i Venedig. Skuespil i 5 Akter af Shakespeare. Adapted for +the stage from Rahbek's translation. From the eighth performance (Oct. +14, 1874) probably in a new translation by Lembcke. Sept. 17, 1861, +June 12, 1882. 23 times. + +10. Kong Henrik Den Fjerde. Skuespil i 5 Akter af W. Shakespeare. +Adapted by Bjornstjerne Bjornson from _King Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2_ +in Lembcke's translation. Feb. 12, 1867, Feb. 8, 1885. 17 times. + +11. Kong Richard III. Tragedie i 5 Akter af W. Shakespeare. Translated +by Lembcke. May 27, 1877, March 10, 1891. 26 times. + +12. Kongens Laege. Romantisk Lystspil i 5 Akter efter Shakespeares +_All's Well That Ends Well_. Adapted by Sille Beyer. From the thirteenth +performance (May 23, 1869) given under the title _Naar Enden er god er +Alting godt_ in a new translation by Edvard Lembcke. Jan. 5, 1854, Jan. +24, 1882. 20 times. + +13. Livet i Skoven. Romantisk Lystspil i 4 Akter efter Shakespeares +_As You Like It_. Adapted by Sille Beyer. Dec. 9, 1852, Sept. 25, 1878. +19 times. + +14. Macbeth. Tragedie i 5 Akter af W. Shakespeare. Schiller's version +translated by Peter Foersom. Music by Weyse. July 28, 1844, Jan. 6, +1896. 37 times. + +15. Othello, Moren af Venedig. Tragedie i 5 Akter af Shakespeare. +Translated by P.L. Wulff. Jan. 3, 1845, March 10, 1872. 10 times. + +16. Romeo og Julie. Tragedie i 5 Akter af W. Shakespeare. Translated by +P. Foersom and A.E. Boye. From the sixth performance (April 4, 1880) +probably in a new translation by Lembcke. Nov. 11, 1852, July 12, 1899. +42 times. + +17. Viola. Lystspil i 5 Akter efter Shakespeare's _Twelfth Night_. +Translated and adapted by Sille Beyer. From the thirteenth performance +(Jan. 21, 1890) under the title _Helligtrekongersaften, eller hvad man +vil_. (In Lembcke's translation with music by Catherinus Elling.) Nov. +20, 1860, May 31, 1891. 30 times. + + +II. Nationaltheatret. + +The record of the Shakespearean performances at Nationaltheatret has +been compiled from the summary of performances given in the decade +1899-1909 contained in _Beretning om Nationaltheatrets Virksomhed i +Aaret 1909-1910_. Kristiania, 1910. The record of performances +subsequent to 1910, as well as the date of the first performances of +all plays, has been found in the Journal of the theater. + +1. Helligtrekongersaften. (Twelfth Night). Oct. 5, 1899. 10 times. + +2. Trold Kan Taemmes. (The Taming of the Shrew.) Dec. 26, 1900. 35 times. + +3. En Sommernats Droem. (A Midsummer Night's Dream) Jan. 15, 1903. +20 times. + +4. Kjoebmanden i Venedig. (The Merchant of Venice) Sept. 5, 1906. +20 times. + +5. Hamlet. Oct. 31, 1907. 17 times. + +6. Othello. Oct. 22, 1908. 12 times. + +7. Henry IV. Feb. 10, 1910. 10 times. + +8. As You Like It. Nov. 7, 1912. This play was still being given when +the investigation ceased. Ten performances had been given. + + +_Bergen_ + +I. The First Theater in Bergen (1850-1863) + +The information relating to Shakespeare at the old theater is gathered +from T. Blanc: _Norges forste nationale Scene. Bergen 1850-1863. Et +Bidrag til den norske dramatiske Kunsts Historie. Kristiania, 1884_. + +1. Livet I Skoven. Romantisk Skuespil i 4 Akter efter Shakespeares +_As You Like It_. Adapted by Sille Beyer. Sept. 30 and Oct. 9, 1855. +2 times. + +2. Viola. Lystspil i 5 Akter efter Deinhardsteins Bearbeidelse af +Shakespeares _What You Will_. Adapted by Sille Beyer. July 17 and 18, +1861. 2 times. + + +II. The New Theater at Bergen (1876) + +The following data have been communicated to me by Hr. Christian Landal, +of the theater at Bergen. They have been compiled from the _Journal +(Spillejournal)_ of the theater. + +1. Kjoebmanden i Venedig (The Merchant of Venice) Oct. 9, 11, 13, 1878. +Friday, June 18, 1880, the Shylock scenes, with Emil Paulsen (of the +Royal Theater in Copenhagen) as guest. 4 times. + +2. Et Vintereventyr. (A Winter's Tale) April 19, 21, 25, 26, 28, 1880; +May 9, 1880; Nov. 28, 29, 1889; Oct. 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 13, 15, 17, 20, +1902. 18 times. + +3. Othello. Nov. 13, 16, 18, 28, 1881. 4 times. + +4. Hamlet. Nov. 28 and 29; Dec. 1, 5, 19, 1886. The Ophelia scenes from +Act 4 with Ida Falberg Kiachas as guest. Sept. 12, 14, 16, 21, 1883. +Guest performance by August Lindberg and his Swedish company. Nov. 15, +1895. 10 times. + +5. Helligtrekongersaften. (_Twelfth Night_) in Lembcke's translation. +Oct. 9, 12, 14, 16, 1892; April 23, 1893 in Stavanger. 5 times. + +6. Romeo og Julie. May 12, 16, 19, 27, 1897. 4 times. + + +SUMMARY + +There have been played in Christiania seventeen plays of Shakespeare's +with a total of 540 performances. In Bergen seven Shakespearean plays +have been played with a total of 49 performances. + + + * * * * * + +[Errors and Anomalies Noted by Transcriber: + +English: + +_passim_ + Oehlenschlaeger/Oehlenschlaeger + _variant spellings in original_ + +p. 6n. + after 1807 the history of Shakespeare in Denmark is more complicated + _original has_ Denkmark + +p. 9 + It is Coriolanus' outburst of wrath against the pretensions of the + tribunes (III, 1) + _original has_ 111-1 + +p. 15 + even to thought as sophisticated as this + _original has_ sophiscated + +p. 32 + And when we read the scenes in which Lancelot Gobbo figures... + _spelling as in original_ + +p. 36 + Titania's instructions to the fairies + _original has_ faries + +p. 39 + though there seems to be little to choose between them + _original has_ thought here + +p. 43 + the Foersom-Lembcke version has become standard + _original has_ Forsom-Lembcke + +p. 50 + notably in the duke's speech + _original has_ notaby + (Silvius and Pippa) + _original has_ anid + +p. 51 + dialogue between Orlando and Rosalind in II, 2 + _so in original_ + +p. 57 + Also he has acquitted himself well + _original has_ aquitted + +p. 68 + nothing to do with the case. + _original has_ ...with case. + +p. 69 + Moliere + _original has_ Moliere + +p. 80 + Cassius' weakness for strong drink + _so in original_ + +p. 81n. + The Shakespearean Controversy + _original has_ Shakespeareen + +p. 82n. + and Bierfreund, to declare + _original has_ ...Bierfreund to, declare + +p. 86 + He images Shakespeare + _so in original_: imagines? + +p. 88 + in I, 3-123 where Shylock suddenly stops after "say this" + _original has_ I-3-1.3 + (Sic!) + _so in original_ + Occasionally a syllable is lacking + _original has_ Occassionally + +p. 89 + Vailing her high tops higher than her ribs. (I, 1-28) + _original has_ I-1-28 + +p. 95nn. + See p. 94, note 1. + _original has_ p. 85, note 1 + November 15, 1845 (_twice_) + _date and year as in original_ + +p. 97n. + March 22, 1858. + _date as in original_ + +p. 98 + This may be added, however: A play which, according to the... + _original has_ + This may be according added, however: A play which, to the... + +p. 98 + As the piece is arranged now, Viola and her brother + _original has_ now Viola, and + +p. 102, 103 + in the magazine _Kringsjaa_.[17] .... the spirit has fled."[17] + _duplicate footnote reference in original_ + +p. 103n. + November 1, 1907. + _original has_ 1917 + +p. 104 + no theater could have given a better caste + _spelling as in original_ + +p. 107 + commentaries of Taine and Genee + _original has_ Genee + +p. 108 + The caste was unexpectedly strong + _spelling as in original_ + + +Danish and Norwegian: + +p. 2 + hvad for en Aarsag afholder + _original has_ an Aarsag + Mig synes der er megen Fornuft + _original has_ Meg synes... + +p. 3 + Du maae laese Testamentet for os, Caesars Testament! + _original has_ Caesars Testamment + +p. 7 + Maaskee I har det hort, men da de + _original has_ Maaskee i har... + Slags Smil, der sig fra Lungen ikke skrev + _original has_ Smill + +p. 8 + Endskjondt de ikke alle kunde see + _original has_ ...ikke all kunne... + +p. 10 + Der mer agtvaerdig er end nogensinde + _original has_ ...en nogensinde + +p. 11 + endnu citeres af Fords _Perkin Warbeck_, II, 2 + _original has_ 11, 2 + +p. 13 + Kinn-Ljosken hadde skemt dei Stjernor (_second occurrence_) + _original has_ Sternor + +p. 17 + og aldrig hev eg set ein Engel gaa + _original has_ en Engel + og gjenta mi ser stott eg gaa paa Jori + _original has_ Jorl + +p. 19 + Trojas Murtinder Troilus besteg, + _original has_ trojas + +p. 20 + de Trolddomsurter der foryngede / den gamle Aeson + _original has_ + ...de Troldomsurter der foryngede den / gamle Aeson + Lob fra Venedig med en lystig Elsker + _original has_ er lystig Elsker + hvis jeg ei horte nogen komme--tys! + _original has_ komm-/tys at line break + +p. 22 + Brum saa dette stolte Hierte brister; + _original has_ brist er + +p. 33 + han hadde som ein attaat-snev; + _original has_ altaat-snev + +p. 33 + "Du fenden," segjer eg, "du raader meg godt." + _original has_ "Du fenden, segjer eg... _missing close quote_ + +p. 33 + "I _Soga um Kaupmannen i Venetia_ + _original has_ I, Soga um... + +p. 34 + Velkomen, vandrar; hev du blomen der? + _original has_ Velkomon + This is all in the first selection in _Syn og Segn_, No. 3. + _original has_ Syn og segn + +p. 36 + _Fjerde Alven_: + _original has_ Fjorde + Til Nattljos hennar voksbein slit i fleng + _original has_ slitt + +p. 37 + so god natt og bysselull (_first occurrence_) + _original has_ byselul + faa vaar dronning ottefull (_first occurrence_) + _original has_ ottefulls + faa vaar dronning ottefull (_second occurrence_) + _original has_ otteful + +p. 41 + _Monsaas_: + Her er ei liste... + _original has_ Monsaas + +p. 42 + langt fleir enn kvinnelippur fram hev bori + _original has_ fler + +p. 44 + _Bernardo_: + _original has_ Bernado + +p. 94n. + "Fortegnelse over alle dramatiske Arbeider..." + _original has_ over all + +p. 97 + saaatsige taber af sin Fylde + _not an error_ (saa at sige) + +p. 107 + Bergens Addressecontoirs Efterretninger + _spelling as in original_ + +p. 110 + har vaeret opforte paa samme + _original has_ varet opforte + +p. 110 + bearbeidet for Scenen af H. Lassen + _original has_ bearbeidet for / for Scenen _at line break_ + +p. 111 + efter Shakespeares _All's Well That Ends Well_ + _original has_ after Shakespeare's... + +p. 111, 112 (twice) + Romeo og Julie. + _normal Dano-Norse form of name_ + +p. 112 + Deinhardsteins Bearbeidelse af Shakespeares _What You Will_ + _original has_ Shakespeare's ] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of An Essay Toward a History of +Shakespeare in Norway, by Martin Brown Ruud + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN ESSAY TOWARD A HISTORY OF *** + +***** This file should be named 16416.txt or 16416.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/4/1/16416/ + +Produced by Louise Hope, David Starner and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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