The Riddle of the River by Catherine Shaw Read Free Book Online

actress tothe skies,’ said Kathleen sharply. Ernest crimsoned.
    â€˜Is she playing Hermia or Helena?’ enquired Arthur smoothly.
    â€˜Neither; she’s booked for Titania on the programme. She couldn’t be Hermia, as she’s blonde, nor Helena, as she’s rather small. You should go, really. There’ll be a matinée tomorrow, even though it
is
Sunday – these bohemians don’t respect anything any more! What time did you mean to leave for home?’
    â€˜Oh, our plans for tomorrow are not firm yet,’ said Arthur. ‘Shall we, Vanessa? What do you think? We can go to a matinée and still arrive home before the children are in bed.’
    â€˜I’d love to,’ I said, putting my hand on his. ‘It will be quite a psychological leap, won’t it, from Pinero to Shakespeare.’
    â€˜Interestingly enough, it won’t be as much of one as it might if it were any other play,’ observed Arthur, irresistibly entering his stride. ‘We were saying before that Shakespeare did not deal with such seemingly artificial questions as respectability and social strictures in his tragedies, being concerned with much more powerful human driving forces—’
    â€˜Like ambition—’
    â€˜Like jealousy—’
    â€˜Like passion—’
    â€˜Yes, all that. Shakespeare expresses the fundamental drives that define the
human
condition, not only the
social
condition. Yet those social questions make their appearance as well. Often, in fact – especially in the comedies.’
    â€˜Do you think so?’ asked Kathleen. ‘I never thought of the comedies that way. They always seem to be delving into stories of awful complications due to mix-ups, misidentifications, and confusions.’
    â€˜Yes, but think how often he creates those mixed-up situations by raising questions about one’s ‘‘place in society”,’ persisted Arthur. ‘Think of all the girls dressing as boys, the women who fall in love with young men who are actually other women, the various comical punishments endured by those who would infringe the sacred rules of marriage – Falstaff, Katharina, Titania also for that matter.’
    â€˜I guess,’ I said slowly, ‘that the point is that the questions which concern Pinero also concerned Shakespeare, but what Pinero sees as tragic, Shakespeare saw as the stuff of comedy. He actually perceived all the rules people make to keep every person in his own little box as funny, and even funnier the mishaps that occur when the prisoners attempt to escape.’
    â€˜Oh, he knew what he was doing,’ said Arthur. ‘It’s no accident that our sympathies always lie with the shrew rather than the tamer, with Falstaff rather than the merry wives.’
    â€˜It’s much less dramatic put that way,’ remarked Kathleen, ‘one loses that exciting feeling of being surrounded by
bad
people whom one mustn’t know, but who live secret, sinful lives.’
    â€˜Yes, Shakespeare’s characters are allowed to flow in and out of naughtiness,’ said Ernest. ‘But that was another century. It’s not so easy any more. Or perhaps it was difficult even in his time, in reality.’
    â€˜So you think that Pinero is representing reality?’
    â€˜Well, as it is now; today’s reality. Yes, I think so. Perhaps it was a little exaggerated to make Mrs Tanqueray commit suicide, but the description of her social isolation was accurate enough, I would say, and it’s understandable that such a situation can lead to despair.’
    â€˜I believe you have a point,’ said Arthur with a shade of surprise in his voice. ‘We tend to be thankful for the times we live in; we tend to assume they are better than those that came before. But our society must be horrendously more difficult than it used to be, for some.’
    Â 
    This conversation was still floating