The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll Volume VIII Part 43

By this act it was provided that its provisions should not apply to professional actors, artists, lecturers or singers, in regard to persons employed strictly as personal or domestic servants.

The object now in view is so to amend the law that its provision shall apply to all actors except stars.

_Question_. In this connection there has been so much said about the art of acting--what is your idea as to that art?

_Answer_. Above all things in acting, there must be proportion.

There are no miracles in art or nature. All that is done--every inflection and gesture--must be in perfect harmony with the circ.u.mstances. Sensationalism is based on deformity, and bears the same relation to proportion that caricature does to likeness.

The stream that flows even with its banks, making the meadows green, delights us ever; the one that overflows surprises for a moment.

But we do not want a succession of floods.

In acting there must be natural growth, not sudden climax. The atmosphere of the situation, the relation sustained to others, should produce the emotions. Nothing should be strained. Beneath domes there should be buildings, and buildings should have foundations.

There must be growth. There should be the bud, the leaf, the flower, in natural sequence. There must be no leap from naked branches to the perfect fruit.

Most actors depend on climax--they save themselves for the supreme explosion. The scene opens with a slow match and ends when the spark reaches the dynamite. So, most authors fill the first act with contradictions and the last with explanations. Plots and counter-plots, violence and vehemence, perfect saints and perfect villains--that is to say, monsters, impelled by improbable motives, meet upon the stage, where they are pushed and pulled for the sake of the situation, and where everything is so managed that the fire reaches the powder and the explosion is the climax.

There is neither time, nor climate, nor soil, in which the emotions and intentions may grow. No land is plowed, no seed is sowed, no rain falls, no light glows--the events are all orphans.

No one would enjoy a sudden sunset--we want the clouds of gold that float in the azure sea. No one would enjoy a sudden sunrise--we are in love with the morning star, with the dawn that modestly heralds the day and draws aside, with timid hands, the curtains of the night. In other words, we want sequence, proportion, logic, beauty.

There are several actors in this country who are in perfect accord with nature--who appear to make no effort--whose acting seems to give them joy and rest. We do well what we do easily. It is a great mistake to exhaust yourself, instead of the subject. All great actors "fill the stage" because they hold the situation.

You see them and nothing else.

_Question_. Speaking of American actors, Colonel, I believe you are greatly interested in the playing of Miss Marlowe, and have given your opinion of her as Parthenia; what do you think of her Julia and Viola?

_Answer_. A little while ago I saw Miss Marlowe as Julia, in "The Hunchback." We must remember the limitations of the play. Nothing can excel the simplicity, the joyous content of the first scene.

Nothing could be more natural than the excitement produced by the idea of leaving what you feel to be simple and yet good, for what you think is magnificent, brilliant and intoxicating. It is only in youth that we are willing to make this exchange. One does not see so clearly in the morning of life when the sun s.h.i.+nes in his eyes. In the afternoon, when the sun is behind him, he sees better --he is no longer dazzled. In old age we are not only willing, but anxious, to exchange wealth and fame and glory and magnificence, for simplicity. All the palaces are nothing compared with our little cabin, and all the flowers of the world are naught to the wild rose that climbs and blossoms by the lowly window of content.

Happiness dwells in the valleys with the shadows.

The moment Julia is brought in contact with wealth, she longs for the simple--for the true love of one true man. Wealth and station are mockeries. These feelings, these emotions, Miss Marlowe rendered not only with look and voice and gesture, but with every pose of her body; and when a.s.sured that her nuptials with the Earl could be avoided, the only question in her mind was as to the absolute preservation of her honor--not simply in fact, but in appearance, so that even hatred could not see a speck upon the s.h.i.+ning s.h.i.+eld of her perfect truth. In this scene she was perfect--everything was forgotten except the desire to be absolutely true.

So in the scene with Master Walter, when he upbraids her for forgetting that she is about to meet her father, when excusing her forgetfulness on the ground that he has been to her a father.

Nothing could exceed the delicacy and tenderness of this pa.s.sage.

Every att.i.tude expressed love, gentleness, and a devotion even unto death. One felt that there could be no love left for the father she expected to meet--Master Walter had it all.

A greater Julia was never on the stage--one in whom so much pa.s.sion mingled with so much purity. Miss Marlowe never "o'ersteps the modesty of nature." She maintains proportion. The river of her art flows even with the banks.

In Viola, we must remember the character--a girl just rescued from the sea--disguised as a boy--employed by the Duke, whom she instantly loves--sent as his messenger to woo another for him--Olivia enamored of the messenger--forced to a duel--mistaken for her brother by the Captain, and her brother taken for herself by Olivia--and yet, in the midst of these complications and disguises, she remains a pure and perfect girl--these circ.u.mstances having no more real effect upon her pa.s.sionate and subtle self than clouds on stars.

When Malvolio follows and returns the ring the whole truth flashes upon her. She is in love with Orsino--this she knows. Olivia, she believes, is in love with her. The edge of the situation, the dawn of this entanglement, excites her mirth. In this scene she becomes charming--an impersonation of Spring. Her laughter is as natural and musical as the song of a brook. So, in the scene with Olivia in which she cries, "Make me a willow cabin at your gate!"

she is the embodiment of grace, and her voice is as musical as the words, and as rich in tone as they are in thought.

In the duel with Sir Andrew she shows the difference between the delicacy of woman and the cowardice of man. She does the little that she can, not for her own sake, but for the sake of her disguise --she feels that she owes something to her clothes.

But I have said enough about this actress to give you an idea of one who is destined to stand first in her profession.

We will now come back to the real question. I am in favor of protecting the American actor. I regard the theatre as the civilizer of man. All the arts united upon the stage, and the genius of the race has been lavished on this mimic world.

--_New York Star_, December 23, 1888.

LIBERALS AND LIBERALISM.

_Question_. What do you think of the prospects of Liberalism in this country?

_Answer_. The prospects of Liberalism are precisely the same as the prospects of civilization--that is to say, of progress. As the people become educated, they become liberal. Bigotry is the provincialism of the mind. Men are bigoted who are not acquainted with the thoughts of others. They have been taught one thing, and have been made to believe that their little mental horizon is the circ.u.mference of all knowledge. The bigot lives in an ignorant village, surrounded by ignorant neighbors. This is the honest bigot. The dishonest bigot may know better, but he remains a bigot because his salary depends upon it. A bigot is like a country that has had no commerce with any other. He imagines that in his little head there is everything of value. When a man becomes an intellectual explorer, an intellectual traveler, he begins to widen, to grow liberal. He finds that the ideas of others are as good as and often better than his own. The habits and customs of other people throw light on his own, and by this light he is enabled to discover at least some of his own mistakes. Now the world has become acquainted.

A few years ago, a man knew something of the doctrines of his own church. Now he knows the creeds of others, and not only so, but he has examined to some extent the religions of other nations. He finds in other creeds all the excellencies that are in his own, and most of the mistakes. In this way he learns that all creeds have been produced by men, and that their differences have been accounted for by race, climate, heredity--that is to say, by a difference in circ.u.mstances. So we now know that the cause of Liberalism is the cause of civilization. Unless the race is to be a failure, the cause of Liberalism must succeed. Consequently, I have the same faith in that cause that I have in the human race.

_Question_. Where are the most Liberals, and in what section of the country is the best work for Liberalism being done?

_Answer_. The most Liberals are in the most intelligent section of the United States. Where people think the most, there you will find the most Liberals; where people think the least, you will find the most bigots. Bigotry is produced by feeling--Liberalism by thinking--that is to say, the one is a prejudice, the other a principle. Every geologist, every astronomer, every scientist, is doing a n.o.ble work for Liberalism. Every man who finds a fact, and demonstrates it, is doing work for the cause. All the literature of our time that is worth reading is on the liberal side. All the fiction that really interests the human mind is with us. No one cares to read the old theological works. Essays written by professors of theological colleges are regarded, even by Christians, with a kind of charitable contempt. When any demonstration of science is attacked by a creed, or a pa.s.sage of Scripture, all the intelligent smile. For these reasons I think that the best work for Liberalism is being done where the best work for science is being done--where the best work for man is being accomplished. Every legislator that a.s.sists in the repeal of theological laws is doing a great work for Liberalism.

_Question_. In your opinion, what relation do Liberalism and Prohibition bear to each other?

_Answer_. I do not think they have anything to do with each other.

They have nothing in common except this: The Prohibitionists, I presume, are endeavoring to do what they can for temperance; so all intelligent Liberals are doing what they can for the cause of temperance. The Prohibitionist endeavors to accomplish his object by legislation--the Liberalist by education, by civilization, by example, by persuasion. The method of the Liberalist is good, that of the Prohibitionist chimerical and fanatical.

_Question_. Do you think that Liberals should undertake a reform in the marriage and divorce laws and relations?

_Answer_. I think that Liberals should do all in their power to induce people to regard marriage and divorce in a sensible light, and without the slightest reference to any theological ideas. They should use their influence to the end that marriage shall be considered as a contract--the highest and holiest that men and women can make. And they should also use their influence to have the laws of divorce based on this fundamental idea,--that marriage is a contract. All should be done that can be done by law to uphold the sacredness of this relation. All should be done that can be done to impress upon the minds of all men and all women their duty to discharge all the obligations of the marriage contract faithfully and cheerfully. I do not believe that it is to the interest of the State or of the Nation, that people should be compelled to live together who hate each other, or that a woman should be bound to a man who has been false and who refuses to fulfill the contract of marriage. I do not believe that any man should call upon the police, or upon the creeds, or upon the church, to compel his wife to remain under his roof, or to compel a woman against her will to become the mother of his children. In other words, Liberals should endeavor to civilize mankind, and when men and women are civilized, the marriage question, and the divorce question, will be settled.

_Question_. Should Liberals vote on Liberal issues?

_Answer_. I think that, other things being anywhere near equal, Liberals should vote for men who believe in liberty, men who believe in giving to others the rights they claim for themselves--that is to say, for civilized men, for men of some breadth of mind. Liberals should do what they can to do away with all the theological absurdities.

_Question_. Can, or ought, the Liberals and Spiritualists to unite?

_Answer_. All people should unite where they have objects in common. They can vote together, and act together, without believing the same on all points. A Liberal is not necessarily a Spiritualist, and a Spiritualist is not necessarily a Liberal. If Spiritualists wish to liberalize the Government, certainly Liberals would be glad of their a.s.sistance, and if Spiritualists take any step in the direction of freedom, the Liberals should stand by them to that extent.

_Question_. Which is the more dangerous to American inst.i.tutions --the National Reform a.s.sociation (G.o.d-in-the-Const.i.tution party) or the Roman Catholic Church?

_Answer_. The a.s.sociation and the Catholic Church are dangerous according to their power. The Catholic Church has far more power than the Reform a.s.sociation, and is consequently far more dangerous.

The G.o.d-in-the-Const.i.tution a.s.sociation is weak, fanatical, stupid, and absurd. What G.o.d are we to have in the Const.i.tution? Whose G.o.d? If we should agree to-morrow to put G.o.d in the Const.i.tution, the question would then be: Which G.o.d? On that question, the religious world would fall out. In that direction there is no danger. But the Roman Catholic Church is the enemy of intellectual liberty. It is the enemy of investigation. It is the enemy of free schools. That church always has been, always will be, the enemy of freedom. It works in the dark. When in a minority it is humility itself--when in power it is the impersonation of arrogance.

In weakness it crawls--in power it stands erect, and compels its victims to fall upon their faces. The most dangerous inst.i.tution in this world, so far as the intellectual liberty of man is concerned, is the Roman Catholic Church. Next to that is the Protestant Church.

_Question_. What is your opinion of the Christian religion and the Christian Church?

_Answer_. My opinion upon this subject is certainly well known.

The Christian Church is founded upon miracles--that is to say, upon impossibilities. Of course, there is a great deal that is good in the creeds of the churches, and in the sermons delivered by its ministers; but mixed with this good is much that is evil. My princ.i.p.al objection to orthodox religion is the dogma of eternal pain. Nothing can be more infamously absurd. All civilized men should denounce it--all women should regard it with a kind of shuddering abhorrence.

--_Secular Thought_, Toronto, Canada, 1888.

POPE LEO XIII.