THE GREEK FRAMA

Hokitika Guardian, 8 October 1921, Page 4

THE GREEK FRAMA

JiUHll’l DICS. (By Margery Hart). In considering the revived interest — in a limited sense one might almost go so far as to say the revived popular interest in Greek drama —we may claim with pride that much of the credit is due to nu Australian, i speak ot Professor Gilbert .Murray, brother of George Murray, of l’apua, who, by his simple and beautiful translations ot the plays uf Kuripides, “the most human of the poets,” lias brought the enjoyment of them within the reach of us all. ft is not, 1 think, extravagant to claim that Gilbert Murray has at least, done, as much fur Kuripides as Fitzgerald did for Omar Khayyam. Percy Maekayc, America’s foremost playwright, writes of “1 he llaeeha as “this masterpiece of Kuripides and Murray,” and reading tho play one feels the praise is no less than he merits.

Nearly 'J.jdO veins have elapsed sieve Euripides began disluiliing uhmi’s minds with liis questionings. His hfe was passed in tluil brief period destined to lie one ol 'lie vital turning points in the history of civilisation. C!recce had been too busy repelling invaders settling internal dissensions, and generally fighting for its riolit to exist, to have leisure for the arts of pence ; then bad con e a period of euiet and victory to a people a little hardened, restless, and unbalanced, the result of constant lighting—-much the same condition as we have in the world to-dav. Anything might have hnp|iened. The ripening of the greatest intellectual and artistic movement which the world has ever seen was the outcome. For the sheer dramatie suddenness with which so high a tlegree ol artistic perfection was reached there is no parallel in history. Kvcii the Kenaissniiee, that fertile period of glittering achievement, will not hear comparison on these grounds. It is with the drama that we arc concerned at present, and with (, ieeU

drama the names «.!' three men are linked for till time. They arc Aeschylus Sophocles, ami Kuripules. 01 the three it is the spirit of Kunpnles will, which we moderns are most in Dine. In thought he was much further remove.! from Aeschylus am! Sophocles than they were from one another. In their hands the drama, became a fabric of dignity and beauty. It was leit to him Cl humanise it. Our interest in the two former dramatists is at the host an aeadomic one. Dm pulse does not quicken fur those half mystu lion res of Acsehylus, formal and renuite. The chill perfection of Sophocles

compels our admiration bin not our allVction. It is to Euripides we turn for that touch of human warmth and understanding which endures in ad its freshness and vigour to this day. They expressed to perfection the spud and consequently the limitations—ol their time. EURIPIDES A HERE I/.

Euripides wrote for all time: lu's depth of vision and understanding was too great to he hound by chance conventions, and so he was a rebel fiern many of the traditions to which they render so unqiic,tinning a laith. Sophocles has been called the perfect poet, nod perfection of necessity must be a little flavourless. Raphael has boon hailed as the perfect painter, yet consider his hard, unreal atmosphere, Ins swirls of drapery and blocks ol colour i„ carefully-balanced juxtaposition.

I. pared to cover his area- of canvas. Win, Would not prefer the versatility, until, and fidelity m life of Velasquez the first to paint "the mystery ol light as Oml made it.” So we may say that Euripides was the lirst playwright to give us the observed trutb of human nature. His eltaraeleis ni< men and women whose mental pn>-«-esses closely resemble our own. He shows us people and the results ol act ions as they really affect people, and not as our sentiment suggests dial they should do. The diameters ill hi-- pin vs are real men and women, and in fundamentals men and women weie not very different -’AIKI years ago from what they are to-day. History insists upon repeating itsoll, and the same types recur through the ages with almost monotonous Irequeney. The situated is well summed up by the remark of a witty iMondmmn, who says; "Why, pray, was voitr Aleiltiades hut a Winston Churchill without the lints!”

It is necessary to have a certain knowledge of the conditions of life and thought, in (1 recce at that time to realise how far in advance of His age lutripides had travelled. Again and again he defies the accepted conventions, and it is not hard to account tor l*if> nilpopularity simony; lik eon temporal ins , but when we try to explain the misunderstanding which has persisted down to the present day in connection with his name, the matter is a different one. Euripides has sullere.l in two ways. On the one luted, the average person has heen friglitciiixl to tarMe his plays for fear lie would find them above Ids head, while on the other, his lack of pri'cioUMiess has annoyed the critics. When he lias a tiling to say he says it quite simply, in a manner which can easily lie understood. Now. to certain types of mind, nothing is more distressing than intelligibility. They like to seek for hidden! meanings, ami to Hatter tlicit vanity bv some pretence of wisdom not shared by t licit fellows. To them beamy must be expressed in terms of mystery and cso-tt-rism in order to be recognised ; but beatify in its truest form is never remote. The apparent simplicity ol the result achieved mav conceal great artifice, hut never is ii guilty of using mi elaborate technique in order to arrive at obscure '(results. The highest art always appears the most simple and free front affectation. Hilbert Murray, speaking of Euripides as a poet, says:

“He has lived through the ages in an atmosphere of controversy generally • though hy no means always—loved by poets, and despised-hy critics. IiECONSTRUCTED \TI lENS.-

Unfortunately we have lew details ol his life which are really trust worthy. It was not until a couple of centuries after his death that people began to concern themselves with writing biographies, and then iltey were hardly biographies in our acceptance ol the term. We can recoil struct a lairlv accurate picture ol the times in which he lived, and that is a great help; but for the rest we must go direct to his

plays for an understanding of his thoughts and ideals. We can trace through them his aspirations centred in a reconstructed Athens, and the gradual disillusionment, tinged '■ itli bitterness, as one by one lie loinul bis dreams shattered his friends persecuted, and he himself the constant butt of venomous and malicious attacks until, in the winter of bis years, he lett his beloved Athens and sought a voluntary exile among the semi-barbaric hordes of Maoedon, there to write "The Eaoehae,” and to die. In malty ways this last, is the greatest of all ins plays ; it may he that the very wildness of the place finds an echo in Ins writing'. He may even have witnessed stnnmo rites suggestive of those he described so vividly. It is enough for us that he has written a play M compelling magic, the like- of which "< have not ill all literature. Kv-m we feel that in spite of the overcharged atmosphere of clash and s ide it i.i.».have brought some measure ol peace to bis own soul. Happy lie, on tbo weary sea,

Who hath (led the H-mpesi

the haven. Happy whoso hath risen I rev Above his striving.

At any rate, alter all the disappointments and bufferings of faie lie is -till able to write sanely and sweetly nt things which have as much significance for ns to-day as 'Jo I 111 year, ago, learning the culminating point ill these wonderful lines that seem to me to erystalise his whole philosophy: What else is wisdom f What oi man's endeavoiii Or (bid's high grace, -o lovely ami great f To stand from fear set lice, to breathe and wait ; To hold a hand uplifted over hate;

And shall not loveliness he loved for ever r

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