Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (April 9, 1916)
Tme Omama Sunday Bee Magazine Page ,j mm tm aWK"& irm. at e a wn. wm a am a a, a 11 & m; to. am a an r jf1. ' i-ia cm mcurm ii bus arm m.L' oa iuw 'Sjft, i r: y-v t :' 1 ft - r ' ; ''V . f .,.( i "V -, ., ' t'. X I - ' ' ' '& f ' - ' r . , , "-..- ' ." ' T . "" ' . . ' . . ; .... ' , 1 . f ' , ' , t( 1 '1 1' ft , - 'h - s As t ",( V ' 1 it if.' ,-'.' -.i ii I Jr'.-.,........, .i'iltJiniii U-X.(-aaJ "lit turned and taw Mar duff there, glaring at him." By George Bernard Shaw ' In Tht APRIL COSMOPOLITAN MAOAZINE. INl pl4nt IIUU book Arnold Dennett talk! shop I and dablU bariuleat loh about technlauo tor the cnUrttloment of literary amateur In a yery acreeable and aucgeatlva manner, aa be baa every rlfbt to do, being ao distinguished ft niaeter of the craft. But when I found the worda, "On reason wby a play 1 eailer to writs tban a noTel" I need bare read no further. I did not want to know "one reaion" for to outraiooua a pteca of noTellit'a bluff. But tb impetua of my reading carried ma on. In spit of tbe abock, and ao I learned tbat tbla one reason la "that play 1s ahorter tban a novel." It la, and ao la the Blbla ahorter than the London Directory. "Excuse the length of my letter," aald rascal, 1 bad bo time to wrtta s ahort one." i Now, I am not going to argua. I neter do. I will Just take one of tba hortest, most Intense and most famous scenns In English dramatlo literature and rewrite It as a chapter of a novel In. the style of my friends Dmni'it and Wells and Oalswortby whan they are too lazy to wrtta plays. It Is tba acene from BhekMpeara's "Macbeth" In the fifth art beginning with the lines "Why ehould I play the Roman fool," and ending with "first crla hold enough 1" MACBETH. A Novel, by Anybody. Tholiasi Chapter. ' He was to fall, after all, then. The day waa going against lilm. Ills men war not really fighting. They bad conveyed to old Blward tbat they were open to an offer of quarter! and the bint bad Dot been lost on tbat ancient campaigner, whose son be bad Just aUlu. What wia the use ct killing? Puncan, Panquo, the Macduff peoplel II had waded through their blood; and bow tuuih better would It col la It It er all a dream and tty were allv and kind to btmT How the martens ere singing! Iianquo, always a bit of a fitol, had been sentimental about the martens. (Iruadi, tbe dear, dead wife whom the Southrons per Itted la calling lady Macbeth, had argued with l'n quo about them, telling blot that their hatilta were In tanturv, an4 IUt they r lnfu4 U small bus Mcli at In' tha raslla, alreaJr luo rti'h la Inaetl life, Hut Puttcau had agreed ilh Huji and tiruaib tath aiiie tjun. the uu!4 nut ll the narteut bmi t ln lim d )u. being eiuWu t.i on-r l'mou s u. tie lu err war. Iet aty te tttouU tt titel she 014 ni no tw ktoie Ufd Ai4 tti ttte uar'n rt tin!ni. einttug, alJl tlRig ba they eie It ti'ie Ui ii, th a tUt at tHe heart, (hat he had trr (t'U tru. h tbe truta eh"t l'o iui. lie e4 r(t Uvr lv l!it that he kt kll 4 aw t.e.aue lie u ! t4 l..iu.i.l Ihtt tile iHnii-rlij eiiould un i.it in real r 'i ti-at tu-ua i h4 in Mintoit it.,fl i tjt U ai4 ta tr at aut tin,e, t'tb-u al ere IMii ri ii.lual nt 4vii.li UU a tUKr-l'T, It I ..i iH.'r(i! M..(h: t I. 'f a HUH '' I .t lot. 4 i 4n eH'HH. It a ! l u.n rwuut 0 il ei 41.4 in .iuiio. 'I te I I .iie l.a eat d tiU fifir I hi pit.iHi en I h ItLl a mil Ml. in 1 r l4 t lui.ot t IM tix iat e4 1 1 1 tvue Uir li . s tt a i iUH ii, .n.ii It ' W tho-e av ttiiui e I'm a . u m. aatukiKg at a h" ' t eiii a .it e ..iiit lie t li-e !? I'mm ! eama-lt it t..u'iie e .. r.4 ,ti. ,l It) U.4 ft.it.),! i VN Ml ttiul, 4 I I I I i .ui;t kiM !( in t - iitiitti ih li.1 l,. t I. 4 a H i l.i U e as, i-vf i-e II ..! I riti !'' ta( ht , (t MH4'. t;ti-tw4 l . 4 ! t( Kit I a i'.t t.l hi ! ' tk I I' i rt I . Il I ,l ti. I " l! iwi .4 iriilf, lie ti4 Ukeu, fr.'Ui el t.t Ui. h. t t t: loo I '"ii mil (hi t-nut li-114 I'l i 'i.f him l.i lk l. Ai I ' l e ti . 4 n.i f fM a U'i e i, a i 'UI4 England's Brilliant Social Philosopher and Playwright Explains in the April Cosmopolitan Magazine How Much Easier It is to Write a Novel Than a Play i IS have don. It seemed all ao useless. You strove and utrove, and killed and killed, and mad Journey e U consult witches; and at tb end of Jt all tba wood plgoon had no mora to say to yon than before; and tb sky ws no bluer, tb cloud no wblter, tb wbtna no yellower. Curs tb sky! Curs th whins! Doubly damn th wood pigeon! Why not mak an end of It, Ilk tb Itoraen fool at Pbl'lpplf He stood bis clsymor on It but on th flag and bent over tb point. Just to lnen on It, and let It go through him; then tba wood pigeon might coo Itself black In tba face: Macbeth would b at rest with Duncan. Where bad b beard about TbillpplT It seemed un- llkoly thst bo could bava loarned Homau history; and yet be found tbat be did know. Do men know everything be for dpath? He shuddered, . Htrange that be, who rather enjoyed killing other people, ehould feel an Intense repug nance to kill himself! Oestdcs, there was an advantage In sul fide that no thrifty Scot would waste. You could kill as many people as you liked first, with out considering th conne quenres. II would, pleas Qod, spit a few more of hie enemlea on tbat sword before bis own turn came. He tosied It Into th air by th point and caught th bllt aa It cam down. II no longer beard tb wood pigeon. And yet, what was that? Had th wood pigeon called blm a hellhound? II turned and saw Macduff there, be tween blm and tb sun, glar ing at blm. If th aua bad been In bis eyes, b could not bav glared. It was clever of blm to coma that way and gat th advantage of th sun, Macduff! Yes, Macduff th man of whom th spirit called up by tb witches had bad blm bewar th man whose wife and child b bad slaughtered. Could he blara him for glaring? Would not any man glare after such an experience? Macduff bad atopped to sharpen his claymore on th flags. II waa squatting down In an attitude which brought his bony knees Into promt nenoe Just below bis kilt, and drawing bis blade to and fro with a barsh, rhythmical grat ing on the granite. By th nitT Instinct of Imitation, Macbeth did th same. His knees were fleshier, and It waa harder tor blm to stoop; but he did It. It waa never aey tor a, king to stoop; but fat will have It ao aometlmea. Now there were two blades icraptng. a Tb birds atopped ONE of th mo.t brilliantly amusing artlclea ever written by Georg Iter, nard Shaw appear In th Cosmopolitan Magasln far April. Mr, gnaw by rewriting a scene of Shskespeare'a Mst beth aeta himself th task of proving how much easier it la to writ a novel than It ia to writ a play. Mr. Hnaw'a delightful eeeay ia reprinted here by courtrey of th Cosmopolitan Magazine. "The Innocent blunder gave him an Impulxe to untimely laughter.1 i - I. , , i , i Jt i n ' ' 1 ' singing, and llxtcncd In astonlehed, suspicious silence. Only Jay laughed. Macbeth beard It. Something stirred In him, and dUtorted bis lp Into a grin. It seemed to him that be suddnnly opened a book that bad alwaye hemi sealed to blm. When Oruach was dying, be bad aiikcd tb doctor for somo phyefc for th mind; and the doctor bad failed blm. Then be bad eukod th porter, becaus h had noticed that th porter, alone among all th men of his acquaintance, was light hearted, and would laugh, even when nobody was being hurt or ridiculed, and snemed to denpis ambition. And tba porter bad told bUn tbat llf Is not so bad If you see tb fun of It, Old Blward bad nailed the porter to tb door that morn ing, because he refused to open It to tb enemy. Did be see th fun of tbat, Macbeth won dered? Yet here, as he squatted be fore Macduff, and tbey both sharpened their blades on tbe flags, a deep senna of some thing laughable In tbe situation touched blm, though, God knows, there ws nothing to In ugh at if the warning witches wera trustworthy. Th splrl had said tbat no man born of woman should barm Macbeth. That seemed pretty conclusive, Hut they bad altio said that b would sot be vanquished until Dlrnem Wood came to Dunslnane. Tbat bImo seemed conclusive; yet the thing had happened; he bad seen tb wood walking. He decided to give Macduff a ;bance. He was tired of killing people named Macduff. He said so. He advlned Macduff to go away. Macduff tried to speak, gulped, and came on. Hla vole was In bis sword. Macbeth was not afraid, though he knew be was not tbe man he bad been. He bad drunk heavily since be bad seized tbe tbrone; the Scots expected that from a king. Out be could fight as well as ever for forty-five seconds; and try to get In bla dirk some where. After all, Macduff was no teetotaler, If one might Judge by bis nose, which was red and swollen. Only, the doubt came; was th redness and th swelling from drink or from weeping over bis slaughtered family? With that thought cam Macduff's first blow a feint, followed by ft vicious thrust at the groin. Macbeth was quick enough to drop his targe and stop the thrust, even while he guarded tho blow did not come. ' , . , t i h" til .y fx" 1 1 "' r 'if it i" ,&, J' "i : ' ; . . , v If ' ' . " - !,'.' ft , m u; .- - . , Kf V 4 . , - ,r . , , f ,ix c ' . ' .' ". -,...'." , , . M ' i -i . V , ft' , l' V : a' "ri .. . '. i11 1 ""H'.-Jk ? ! ' '- ' " ' I, ' 1 i I, ...v,1"!' 'SV "" I. ' ,. , .i . ii , .. . ". V ' i T . . . ' ... "l , ' . , ' " '' " . ' J ' " J ' t f ' iHJ.i--..,'tw9i ii. i v.......J8v.. fc ...if, V,- , .In .1 ilr". inri- "' ... T- -tT'-'' (H- I . ' tfc- 4 I , ' - j ' " ' ' . ,." " , j ill,- . ' 1 """; , JJ ! ..r ,:' ' t ; -ii ' f ' " ' i M4AM. ..... m...M ftA .4 "lit toulj flht 14 firll g mr (or rt flv i(oats, and thrn ) rout.l clinch and Ity get In hU dirk 10m ttheraV "Macduff had etooped to sharpen hla daymor on the flags." That reassured him and took aome of tbe bounce out of Macduff. Ha was equally vucceesful the next time, and the next. He became elated. At lsnt his pride in bis charmed life got tho better of his prudonce. Ha told Macduff that ba was losing hla labor, and told blm wby. Tbe effect was exactly the contrary of what h had antlclpaled. A gleam of eavage delight cam Into Macduff eyes. What lld It mean? Macbeth was not left long In doubt. He stood petrified while a tala poured from Macduff's lips such aa bad nevor before Wanted tho ears of mortal man. It cannot be repeated here thcr Is such a thing as th library censorship. Let It suffice that it was a tal of the rude but efficient obstetric surgery of thosa ancient times, and that It CHtabliahed, beyond all ques tion, the fact that Macduff bad never been born. After that, Macbeth felt that b simply could not fight with him. It was not tbat b was afraid, oven now. Nor waa It that ho was utterly disgusted at tb way th wltchea bad let blm down again. He Just could not bring himself to hack at a man who waa not natural. It waa ilk trying to eat ft cat. H flatly refused further combat. Of coune, Macduff called him coward. Ho did not mind that so much; for he had given bis proofs, and nobody would bellevo Macduff; nor, lndeod, would any reasonable man expect him to fight an unborn adversary. Hut Macduff hinted at unboarablo things. At defoat, disgrace, the pillory, even. A surge of wrath went through Macbeth. He was, abov all things, a country gentleman; and that an other country gentleman should move his timber with out acquiring any rights Infuriated him. He became reckless. Wrnam Wood his wood had been taken to Dunslnane! Waa tbat ft thing be could be ex pected to atand? What though Macduff bad not been properly born? Was It not all the more likely tbat be had a weak constitution and could not stick It out If ho were preeaed hard in tho fight? Anyhow, Macbeth would try. He braced himself, grasped his claymore power fully, thrust bis shield under tho chin of bis ad versary, and cried, "Lay on, Macduff!" He could not have chosen a more unfortunate form of defiance. When the news had come to Macduff of the alaughter of his wife and boy, ho had antonlnhed the messenger by exclaiming: "What! All my pretty chickens and tbelr dam at one fell swoop!" Ac customed from his earliest youth to deal with horses, he know hardly anything of poultry, which was a woman's business. When he used the word "dam," projierly applicable only to a, mare, in referring to a hen, Malcolm, though deeply moved by hln dlHtress, bad a narrow escap from a fit of hysterica; for tbe innocent blunder gave blm an lrupultie to untimely laughter. Tbe story had been repeated; and something of It had com to Macduff ears. He was a hinhly strung man. exquisitely sensitive to ridicule. Hince that time, the slightest allusion to chickens had driven him to transports of fury. At the words, "Lny on!" he eaw red. Macbeth, from the Instant those fatal words passed his lips, had not a dog's chance. In any case, he would not have been ready to meet a sudden attack. All his life he had been subject to a straiiKe discursiveness which sent his mlml wander ing to the landscape, and to the fauna and flora of the district, at the most exciting crises of hi fat. When he meant to tell (iruach that he had ar raiiscd to have llanquo killed, he bad sld to her, In ted, "Light thickens; and the crow make ing to th rooky wood," And hi attention luil raved to the wood pigeon when Mi 'duff's yell of fury ilit his esr. snd, at lh same immieiit. he felt his ('. tewth viose through hi nose and Ms fue's tlitk itrlv through his rltit. When Malcolm arrived, thrr utile lift if Mrt(h but a I'Ue of inline. V. ,n luff ,n ,iuun " I'lirtl will th blm." he aald, and smin-eJ, n itifTlh Me. Ther laid Maehela betide tirin.ti In i;,i i'ilit acre In ti little ihurrhtard if twin nmn. MaImiIiu rreiUl ft hiul.'Hl tointl lltetp. Ii I it i l t.-il , f Ii,, tti(uutl.n of kinfubip; an I Urn e; i.,(,', i u,n,,. vtililrr4, was ul vi ii . i. .1 u. i, ., r .i.aili lu II. hi) tain liitit'fiii It . i I . i h.t 1,44 ".i. .- !4 I'Hli 'su " Km t ir.l are ",' in:!'. I ',...... The wh4 ptn 'i'l ev s'm.ii i'i., . , m. ... !. ii tk l.'irlll t:.ll.klV h , . i It jj l, ( ! t u td judg hi.i, er in ii4 :ii,iii i! . iit-i i lue lfi!r I'.'n i -... vi'i i,i i.i.i a i'4(n; t '.I bl 111 ft . - l in !.! Ii:i.. v. tir Ii. ..kllllry Kit till ..,':) !!' I. i Kl ft ...i. t bUn An I,. l.i 4.' ! i imiiii !. i f iim W.l'f Wvli' Tut; TNrP Tl ! ' i . 4 t ' ! t: i :' I M .e i,4 II:- t .eu h t la !.tf.i n l ' uf l. Hll kt Sm f l..l..g I i .!- Ii I l. f.'l r."U .4 : ll e- p t.l 4 I I I,....' ,l if I ,FtH'4 Ml i HtlH.-.cit l.i (;. !;ri, 1 . ii..tit l i i'i I liil I ll ; HI, ' ll.i,'.,iii,, 'i i i. I Jilt llVe f i. .41 : 4 "i t. t .i t I ' i I r - !-' lit mil Til. u i:ii - l !'' l "! ,;. u in i . i'it- t lew. I t I llUlf , I .l l -'l i l t Hit HkH ! IV i II I f, lm 1. .,l VI .ll - lf ft li'lld I i.l'.rf, I 4 $ -.1 ! k ii l.ni'l Ming A3 I u-i' t l' i,i.ii i i i ,, , , , ,!... t 'tf ' III tk ir C-i-ertsr. Oitt ti'MU ?!. Piimit V s