Thus the Theatre, technically6 so called, is but one of the lesser7 spheres of the dramatic art. The tragedies and comedies coldly elaborated there are often tame and poor to those enacted8 with the flaming passions of life itself in parlors10 and kitchens, in palace and hut and street. Every one of us is essentially11 an actor, the setting of his performance furnished independently of his will wherever he goes, all his schemes included and borne on in a divine plan deeper than he dreams. Our own organism is the primary theatre, the proscenia of brain and heart teeming12 with dramas which link our being and destiny with those of all other actors from the beginning to the end of the world. Every spot in which man meets his fellow-men is a secondary theatre, arrayed with its scenery of circumstances, where each has his
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rôle and all the characters and parts interplay upon one another with mixtures of truth and deceit, skill and awkwardness, aspiration13 and despair. One of the chief differences is that some get behind the scenes and sharply understand a little of what is going on, while most take their parts blindly, ignorant of what either themselves or others are about, alternately before the foot-lights and back of the drop. And, meanwhile, what is the blue, glittering wilderness14 of infinitude itself but the theatre fitted up by God, with its doors of birth and death and its curtains of day and night, for the training of the total company of living creatures with which He has stocked it, from animalcule to archangel? The Manager has assigned in the evolution of the universal plot their just rôles to all the performers, with incessant15 transmigrations of drudge16 and star, lackey17 and hero, sultan and beggar, while the years move on and the generations pass and return, the whole space of the stage being crowded as thickly with shifting masks and disguises as a sunbeam is with motes18.
All place being thus theatrical19, and all conscious existence thus having something dramatic, it is quite obvious how inadequate20 must be their appreciation21 of the art of acting22 who recognize its offices only in the play-house. The play-house is merely the scene of its purposed and deliberate exhibition as a professional art. In its different kinds, with its different degrees of consciousness and complexity24, as a matter of instinct and culture it is practised everywhere. Freeing our minds from prejudices on the one side, and from indifference25 on the other, let us, then, approach the subject with an earnest effort to learn the truth and to see what its lessons are.
The history of the drama, in the usual accounts given of it, is traced back to Thespis, Susarion, and others, in Greece, about six centuries before Christ. But this has reference only to the most detached and consummate26 form of the art. In order really to understand its derivative27 basis, its ingredients, its numerous applications and the moral rank and value of its several uses, we must go much farther back, and study its gradual ascent28. We must, indeed, not only go beyond the polished states of civilization, but even beyond the first appearance of man himself on the scene of this world. For the rudiments29 of the dramatic art, the simple germs afterwards combined and developed in human
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nature with higher additions, are manifested in the lower animals. The naked foundations, the raw materials, of the art of acting are shown in all gregarious30 creatures, and portions of them even in solitary31 creatures. They are the crude instincts of intelligence, imagination, and sympathy. Creatures who are made alike have the same inner states of consciousness when they are under the same outer conditions. They also reveal these inner states by the same outer signs, namely, attitudes, movements, colors, cries, nervous relaxations32 or contractions33. Seeing in another creature the signals of a certain state which has always in their own experience been the accompaniment and cause of these same signals, they interpret the signals accordingly, and enter into the same state themselves by sympathy, the signals by a reversal of impulse reacting to cause the state which they primarily denoted. Thus panics spread through a swarm34 of birds, an army of wild horses, or a flock of sheep. Thus the leader of a herd35 of buffaloes37 coming on the track of hunters or in sight of a grizzly38 bear is terrified by the danger and starts off on a run in another direction. The stiffened39 tail, erected40 ears, glaring eyes, expanded nostrils41, impetuous plunge42, communicate the instinctive43 intelligence and feeling through these signs from the nearest members of the herd to those farther off, with extreme rapidity, and soon the entire multitude is in one sympathetic state of alarm and flight. The perception of danger by the leader awakened44 the feeling of fear and led to the movement of escape. Those who had not these states of themselves caught their signs and assumed their substance from the one who had. Thus all are reinforced and saved by one.
There are animals and insects which on being touched, or being approached by a superior enemy, instantly assume the attitude and appearance of death. They recognize their peril46, and seek to elude47 notice by a motionless condition which simulates death. They thus pretend to be other than they are, for the purpose of preserving the power to remain what they are. The ruby-throated humming-bird of Canada, if captured, feigns49 death by shutting its eyes and keeping quite still, then making a vigorous effort to escape. Some birds by false pretences51 of agitation52 lure53 the trapper away from the neighborhood of their nest. Cats constantly feign48 sleep to further their design of catching54 birds or
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mice. This shows not only a dramatic gift, but also a clear purpose in the use of it.
This playing 'possum is a dramatic artifice55 very prevalent even in the lower regions of the animal kingdom. If it be thought that a bug56 cannot possibly know so much, the reply is, Perhaps the bug itself does not, but the presence of God, the creative and guardian57 Spirit of nature, the collective experience of the total ancestry58 of the bug organized in its nervous system, does know it; and it is this automatic reason that plays the cunning game. A bear has been known to frequent the bank of a stream where fishes were wont59 to come to the surface and feed on the falling fruit of an overhanging tree, to splash the water with his paw in imitation of the dropping fruit, and when the fish appeared, seize and devour60 it! This neat little drama implies on the part of the bear an imaginative conception of the different personages and scenes in the situation, in advance, and then a deliberate representation of his ideas in action. It would be the same thing as human art if the bear could of its own impulse repeat the whole serial61 action under other circumstances, as, for example, before a group of bears off in the woods. This he cannot do; and thus is the animal drama differenced from the human drama, instinct separated from art.
A great many animals are known to imitate the cries or motions of the creatures they prey62 on, in order to allure63 them within seizing-distance. For the sake of gaining some end they pretend to be what they are not, and to entertain feelings and designs quite different from their real ones. Certainly this is to be a hypocrite, an actor, in the deepest sense of guile64. The mocking-bird has the faculty65 of mimicking66 the notes of all kinds of birds with marvellous accuracy and ease. It takes great pleasure in practising the gift, calling various kinds of timid songsters around it, and then with a malicious68 delight pouring on their ears the screams of their enemies and scattering69 them in the wildest terror. By this exercise of the dramatic art the mocking-bird refreshes, varies, magnifies, the play of its own life. In like manner, and with the same result, kittens, dogs, lions, play games with one another, represent mimic67 battles, pretend to be angry, to strike and bite, doing it all in a gentle manner, softened71 down from the deadly earnestness of reality.
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The aim and use of those crude elements or germs of the drama which appear in the lower animal world would seem, therefore, to be the enabling them to escape their pursuers, to seize their prey, to vary and enlarge their lives by that gregarious interchange and consolidation72 which is a mutual73 giving and taking of inner states through outer signs. It is transmitted instinct, fitted to its ends and acting within fixed74 limits, dependent for the most part on outward stimuli75.
Mounting from animals to men, we discover the earliest developments of the dramatic art among the rudest tribes of savages77. The prevalence and exercise of the faculty of dramatization among the principal tribes of barbarians78 in all parts of the world are equally striking and extensive. It is one of the most prized and powerful portions of their experience, and one of the first to impress the travellers who visit them. It has three distinct provinces. The first is their own actual lives, whose most exciting incidents, most salient features, they repeat in mimic representation. Dressed in appropriate costumes, they celebrate with counterfeit80 performances the Planting Festival, the Harvest Festival, and other important events connected with the phenomena81 of the year. They also dramatize with intense vividness and vigor50 the experience of war,—the following of the trail of the enemy, the ambush82, the surprise, the struggle, the scalping of the slain83, the burning of the village, the gathering84 of the booty, the return home, and the triumphant85 reception. This is not confined to the North American Indians. The Dyaks of Borneo, the New Zealanders, the Patagonians, the Khonds of Asia, the Negroes of Africa, and scores of other peoples, have similar rites86, besides numerous additional ones less distinctively87 dramatic, covering the ceremonies of hunting, fishing, marriage, birth, and death.
The second department of the drama among barbarians is their impersonations of animals, their picturesque88 and terrible representation of the passions and habits of reptiles89, birds, and beasts. Morgan, in his History of the Iroquois, gives a list of some forty dances in which they acted out to the life stories based on their own experience and on that of the creatures beneath them. But we owe to Catlin some of the most graphic90 descriptions of the drama among the North American savages.
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In the Eagle Dance, the braves dress themselves as eagles, in plumes91, feathers, beaks92, talons93; and they shriek94, whistle, sail, swoop95, in exact imitation of them. In the Wolf Dance, they go on all-fours, yelp96, snarl97, bark, and fill up the wolfish programme to the very letter. In the Buffalo36 Dance, they each wear a buffalo mask, consisting of the face, horns, and skin of a buffalo, and mimic, in ludicrous burlesque98, the sounds and motions of that unwieldy creature. And so with bears, foxes, beavers99, hawks100, and the rest of the fauna101 most familiar to them. In these performances they reproduce with frenzied102 truth and force the most ferocious103 and deadly traits of their prototypes, and often, among the savages of Fiji and South Africa, the drama ends half drowned in blood. In Dahomey, where the Serpent is worshipped, the votary104 crawls on his belly105 as a snake and licks the dust before his idol106, and sometimes becomes crazy with the permanent possession of his part. The barbaric mind finds intense excitement and enjoyment107 in these plays, hideous108 as they seem to us. They break up the weary monotony of his life, and introduce the relish109 of games and novelty and variety. They give him, what he so greatly craves110, mental amusement with physical passion and exertion111. They are his almost only antidote112 for the bane of stagnation113.
On the other hand, great evils result from them. They never work upward to reflect higher forms of character and life for redemptive imitation, but downward, in the impersonating of creatures whose inferiority either inflames114 the boastful and reckless self-complacency of the actors, or else by its reflex influences takes possession of their consciousness and animalizes them, degrading them to the level of the brutes116 they portray117. Secondly118, the reception of the idea of the beast, snake or vulture which they represent, their furious mimicry119 of it, the spasmodic, rhythmical120, long-continued movements they make in accordance with it, tend to subject the brain to the automatic spinal121 and ganglionic centres below, and thus furnish the conditions and initiate122 the stages of all sorts of insanity123. Much of the persistent124 degradation125 and ferocity of the barbaric world is to be traced to this cause.
Nor is this the only evil; for, in the third place, when the savage76 mind, after such a training, affects to penetrate126 the invisible
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world and come back to report and portray the supernatural beings who exercise authority there, it naturally takes its impulsive127 cue, its ideal stamp, from the nervous centres under the inspiration of which it acts. Those centres being possessed128 by the influences of serpents, wolves, lust129, hate, and murder, of course the spirits and gods reflected will be fiends, incongruous mixtures of beast and man, devilish monsters. Then the worship of these reacts to deepen the besotted superstition130 and terror, the nightmare carnival131 of the brain, out of which it originally sprang. And so the process goes on, in a doomed132 circle of hopelessness. The time and faculty devoted133 by the soothsayers and medicine-men who compose the priestly caste in savagedom to the tricking out of their devil-gods and their mummery of magic,—the time and faculty given by their followers134 to the enactment135 of their obsessed136 ritual,—if directed to the creation and imitative reproduction of superior types of human character and experience, would soon lift them out of the barbaric state in which they have so long grovelled137. And it is a very impressive fact that every instance revealed in history of a savage people rising into civilization is accompanied by the tradition of some illustrious stranger from afar, or some divinely-inspired genius emerging among themselves, who has originated the rôle of a new style of man, thrown it out before them for dramatic assimilation, and so impressed it on them as to secure its general copying among them. This has, thus far in history, been the divine plan for lifting the multitude: the appearance of a single inspired superior whose characteristics the inferiors look up to with loving reverence138 and put on for the transformation139 of their own personalities140 into the likeness141 of his. That is the dynamic essence of Christianity itself.
The next step in this survey of the psychological history of the dramatic art whereby we are essaying to unfold its purport142 and its final definition, leads us from barbaric life to the private homes of the most cultivated classes of civilized143 society. The higher we go in the scale of social wealth and rank, the larger provisions we shall find made for gratifying the dramatic instincts of children, till we come to the nursery of the baby prince, who has his miniature parks of cannon144 and whole regiments145 of lead soldiers, and the baby princess, who has a constant succession of dolls of
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all grades, costumes, and ages. The little warrior146 animates147 his soldiers and their officers with such ideas and passions as he has in himself or as he can get glimpses of from his elders or from books, creates rôles for them, and puts them through their paces and fortunes with such variety and succession as he can contrive148. And so his nursery is a theatre, and he is at once author, manager, actors, supernumeraries, spectators, and all. Likewise the young girl dresses up her dolls, takes them to church, to balls, undresses them, puts them to sleep, weds149 them, celebrates their funeral, in a word, transfuses150 all her own life, real and imaginative, into them, and so reactingly multiplies herself and her experience, and peoples the otherwise tedious vacancy151 of childhood with vital and passionate152 processions, pathetically prefiguring all the tragedy and comedy that are actually to follow. A Bengal newspaper, giving an account of a curious marriage-procession through the streets of Dacca, says, "In Indian households dolls play a far more important part than they do in England, for all the perfection to which we have attained153 in the art of making, clothing, and lodging154 them. Indian dolls are not remarkable155 for beauty or close resemblance to human models; but in bedecking them no expense is spared. They have a room to themselves, and seem to enjoy as much attention as live children do elsewhere. Feasts and garden-parties are given in their honor. The death of a doll involves a great show of mourning, and the marriage of one is a public event. In the present instance two dolls belonging to the daughters of the wealthiest Hindus in Dacca were led out at the head of a solemn procession, to the delight of the bystanders. After the wedding ceremony the parents of the girls who had thus disposed of their puppets laid out a few thousand rupees in feasting their friends and caste-folk, as well as the neighboring poor."
As children grow older and become school-boys and school-girls, this faculty and impulse do not cease to act, but, developed still further, instead of imparting fancied life and action to inanimate toys, lead them to imitative performances of their own, causing them to group themselves together for the representation of games, and of the historic scenes, social events, or fictitious156 stories which have most impressed and pleased their imaginations.
The point of interest demanding attention at this stage of our
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inquiry is how to discriminate157 clearly between the drama of the savage and the drama of the child. The dramatization of the savage is mimetic, a putting on from without of the disguise, the postures158, sounds, motions, of the animal he impersonates. He imitates the outer signs of the animal; and these often in return produce in him the corresponding states of consciousness. But the dramatization of the child is creative, a projection159 from within of his own thoughts and emotions into the counterfeit toys he personifies, and a consequent heightening of his own sense of life by an imagination of its being imparted and sympathetically taken up and shared. With the barbarian79 the primary movement of action is from without inward; with the child it is from within outward. There it is the interpretative assumption by the actor of the signs of states in another; here it is the direct transference by sympathetic imagination of the states of the actor to another. That is the raw drama of the senses, this the initial drama of the soul.
We must pause here, before passing to the next head, to make a brief exposition of another department and application of the dramatic power of man, a department intermediate between the examples already given and those which are to come. Its peculiarity161 is that it combines in one, with certain original features of its own, the barbaric and the childish drama. The creation of Fables162 is the strongest delight of the dramatizing literary faculty in its first movements. Its workings are to be traced in the ingenuous164 oral treasures preserved among tribes who have no written language, as well as in the most beloved vernacular165 writings current among the populace in civilized countries. Fables are short compositions designed to teach moral truths, or to impress moral truisms, by representing beasts, birds, reptiles, insects, trees, flowers, or other objects, as endowed with the faculties166 of men, retaining their own forms but acting and talking as men, exemplifying the virtues168 and vices170 of men in characteristic deeds, followed by their proper consequences. In the degrading barbarian drama the actors admit into themselves the lower creatures whom they represent, putting on the skins, movements, cries, of the crocodiles, hyenas171, or boa-constrictors the ideas of whom they take into their brains. In the naïve child drama the little performers project the ideas of themselves into the dolls
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and toys they personify and move. But in the fable163 drama these two processes are joined, with a mere23 inversion172 of the subjects of the first; for in fables the actors, in place of being, as in the plays of savages, the assumed souls of animals and the disguised bodies of men, are the disguised souls of men in the assumed forms and costumes of animals. The one is an actual representation of animals by men for free sport; the other is an imaginary representation of men by animals for the inculcation of lessons, as, for example, in the well-known instance of the Wolf and the Lamb. The author of a fable puts his own human nature into the humbler creatures whom he dramatizes, with a deliberate conscious thought, a creative exercise of the reflective faculty at the second remove, quite unlike the instinctive and half-believing action of the child who straddles a stick pretending that it is a horse. He has a clear didactic purpose in addition to the sportive impulse of fancy. This picturing of human nature and its experiences in the living framework of the lower world yields the keenest pleasure to all who have not outgrown173 it; and no one ought ever to outgrow174 it. He outgrows175 it only by the gradual hardening of his heart and fancy, the immovable stolidity176 of his faculties in their fixed ruts and crusts. It is the favorite literature of the childhood of the world. It is filled with quaint177 wisdom, raciness, and droll178 burlesque, as is abundantly to be seen in the traditions of the Hottentots, the Esquimaux, the Africans, and other barbaric nations. And in the classic compositions of Pilpai the Persian, Lokman the Arab, Æsop the Greek, Phædrus the Roman, La Fontaine the Frenchman, and other masters, it constitutes, with its innocent gayety, its malicious mischief179, its delicious wit and humor, its cutting satire180 and caricature, one of the most exquisite181 portions of cosmopolitan182 literature.
Hardly any other conception has given the people so much pleasure as that Beast-Epic, or picture of human life in the vizards and scenery of animal life, which, under the title of "Reynard the Fox," circulated through Europe for centuries,—a sort of secular183 and democratic Bible, read in palaces, quoted in universities, thumbed by toilsmen, delighted in by all, old and young, high and low, learned and illiterate185. There the society and life of the Middle Age are reflected with grotesque186 truth and mirth, grim irony187, sardonic188 grins, comic insight, laughter
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and tragedy, not without many touches of poetry and prophecy. There are Noble the Lion, Isegrim the Wolf, Reynard the Fox, Chanticleer the Cock, Bruin the Bear, Lampe the Hare, Hinze the Cat, and the rest, each one representing enigmatically some class or order in the human life of the romantic but cruel Feudal189 World. The poet, with a sly joy, unfolds his pictures of wolves tonsured190 as monks191, foxes travelling as pilgrims to shrines192 and to Rome, cocks pleading as lawyers at the judgment-bar. He asserts the moral standard of the plebeian193 instincts against the conventional ecclesiastic194 and civil codes, and rectifies195 his own wrongs as without rank, power, or wealth, but gifted with genius and spirit, against the kings, barons196, priests, and soldiers, by portraying197 the uniform final success of the reckless, good-for-nothing, but inexhaustibly bright, shifty, and fascinating Reynard. The representative types of the strong, cruel, stupid men of prerogative198 and routine are made to serve as foils for the scholar and actor, with his spiritual flexibility199, elusive200 swiftness of resource, inner detachment and readiness.
The attractiveness of fables is fourfold. First, the charm of all exercises of the dramatic art, namely, the incessant playing of human nature with its elementary experiences in and out of all sorts of masks and disguises of changing persons and situations. Second, the congruous mixture in them of the most extravagant201 impossibilities and absurdities202 with the plainest facts and truths; the union of sober realities of reason and nature with incredible forms, giving fresh shocks of wit and humor. Third, the constant sense of superiority and consequent elated complacency felt by the human auditor203 or reader over the animal impersonators of his nature, with the ludicrous contrasts and suggestions they awaken45 at every turn. Fourth, the interest and authority of the moral lessons, truisms though these may be, which they so vividly204 bring out.
One cannot refrain from adding, in this connection, that there is a further form of the dramatic inhabitation of our humbler brethren the brutes, by kind and generous men, an example newly offered to notice by the officers and friends of our Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. These gentlemen, by a divine extension of their sympathy, quite in the spirit of the blessed Master who in his parables205 immortalized the hen, the sparrow,
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the raven206, the ox, and the ass9, transport themselves into the situation of the poor dumb creatures who are so often abused, feel and speak for them, and try to remedy their wrongs and to secure them their rights. They are spreading abroad a disposition207 and habit of kindness which will not stop with the first field of its application, but will extend to include in a finer and vaster embrace the whole world of childhood, and all the weak, degraded, and suffering classes of men. This development of sympathy is one of surprising beauty and promise. It tends to do for us what the doctrine208 of the transmigration of souls has done for the Hindoos,—affiliate us with the entire series of living beings in tender sentiment and mystery, as members of one family, under one law of destiny. It will indeed redeem209 the whole world of humanity if it shall be applied210 consistently to all as it was expressed by the famous Rarey in the practical principle he applied to the taming of unruly horses, namely: Free them from the spirit of opposition211, and fill them with the spirit of obedient trust, by showing them how groundless is fear and how futile212 is resistance. The truth of God in the love of men will one day end crime, cruelty, terror, and misery213. O blessed vision, how far away art thou?
The dramatic art, based on the science of human nature in the revelation of its inner states through outer signs, is the exercise of that power whereby man can indefinitely multiply his personality and life, by identifying himself with others, or others with himself, by divesting214 himself of himself and entering into the characters, situations, and experiences of those whom he beholds215 or reads of or creatively imagines. This definition elevates the art, in its pure practice, high above the reach of cavil216; for its central principle is the essence of that disinterested217 sympathy and vicarious atonement whose culmination218 on Calvary have deified the Christ.
Let us trace a little the rise and nature of this power from a point of view somewhat different from the one in which we have already considered it.
The life of a peach-tree, a rose-bush, or a squash-vine is rigidly219 determined220 for it in advance by the seed from which it springs and the soil and climate in which it grows. Its life is simply the sum of actions and reactions between the forces in
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itself and the forces in its environment; and this sum of dynamic relations is fixed fatally by its organic structure. To a degree the same is true of the life of a weasel, a pig, a horse, or an eagle; but this with two modifications221, two elements of greatening freedom and variety. First, in connection with the consciousness and the power of locomotion222 which distinguish the animal from the vegetable, it can change its environment, from cliff to cave, from village to desert, from field to shore, from hill to valley, or from a temperate223 zone to a tropical, thus securing a large mass of changes in its surrounding conditions, resulting in a correspondent diversity or increase in that sum of actions and reactions which composes its life. Second, the gregarious nature of animals enables them likewise, to some extent, to supplement one another, to exchange states of consciousness and unite their experience. Crows hold consultations224 and caw with mutual intelligibility225. A flock of wild geese understand the honk226 of their leader, and obey every signal perfectly227. Bees converse228, build, hunt, wage war, and carry on their little monarchical229 republic with amazing cunning and consent.
But this associative alteration230, enhancement, and interchange of life receive an almost incredible development when we ascend231 to man. His nature and destiny too, the fact that he is a man, not a tree or a brute115 or an angel or a god, are determined for him by his parentage. This hereditary232 descent decides his general character and status, and also many details of special faculty and tendency. But in him all this coexists with an immense freedom and power of foreign assimilation. He can change and modify the conditions of his habitat in a thousand particulars where the lower animals can do so in one. By free education, drill, and habit, he can likewise indefinitely modify his reactions on the same outer conditions. But far above all this in rank and reach is his ability to perfect his character by the characters of others, to make the most direct and copious233 levying234 on the experiences of his fellow-men. He has not only the organic inheritance of his ancestry and the traditional treasure of his country and people to work with, but, furthermore, in history, science, and literature he has the keys to the conscious wealth of all men in all lands and times.
The outward universe in which we live is one and the same in
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common to all men. But the inner representation of this, the sum of all that he has experienced and knows of it, is different with every man. Now, it is with the revelation, the discovery, seizure235, and exhibition of this peculiar160 inner or ideal world of each individual that the dramatic art in its practice in actual life is concerned. The business of most persons seems to be rather to conceal236 and hold back, to falsify and distort their inner states, than to reveal and impart them. Their arts are disguise, imposture237, and deception238, rather than sincerity239, sympathy, and frankness. But the practical science of the drama puts all the secrets in our power, and enables us to add to our own inner world or conscious personal kosmos the related inner worlds of others, almost without hindrance240 or limit.
A philosopher like Hegel, a scientist like Humboldt, a poet like Rückert, deeply read in all literatures and trained to the facile reproduction of every mode of thought and action, traverses all races and ages, deciphering their symbols, reading their passions, royally reaping their experimental conquests, thus virtually enlarging his own soul to the dimensions of collective humanity and enriching himself with its accumulated possessions. The first condition of truly profound and vital acting is to have the knowledge, the liberty, the spiritual energy and skill, to solve this inner side of the problem by reconstructing in the mind and heart the modes of character, passion, and conduct which are to be represented. They must be mastered and made one's own before they can be intelligently exhibited. It is the part of a charlatan241 to content himself with merely detecting and imitating the outer signs. He is potentially the richest and freest man who is most capable of assuming and subsidizing all other men. He is virtually the king and owner of the world, though without crown or sceptre, while many a titular242 king has nothing but these external insignia. The greatest actor is the one who is the most perfect master of all the signs of the inner states of men, and can in his own person exhibit those signs with the most vivid power. He must have, to be completely equipped for his work, a mind and a body whose parallel faculties and organs are energetic and harmonic, every muscle of the one so liberated243 and elastic244, every power of the other so freed and connected, that they can act either singly or in varied245 combination with others
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or with the whole, with easy precision and vigor. The absence of prejudices and strictures, contracting ignorance and hate, and the presence of disinterested wisdom and openness, a trained intuitive sensibility, will put all states of all souls in his possession by spontaneous interpretation246 of their signals. Such an actor, perfected in his own being and crowned with the trophies247 of human culture in every department, is fitted to pass through all the grades and ranges of society, reflecting everything, subjected to nothing, the sovereign of mankind, the top of the world.
And now we are prepared to advance to the heart of our theme and show the place of the drama in its full development in adult civilized society, where all sorts of acting are not only diffused248 through the daily life of the community, but also separated in a distinct profession and supplied with a brilliant home. The drama, in its finished literary and histrionic sense, is seen when a story, instead of being merely described in forms, words, or colors,—as by sculpture, narrative249, and painting,—is exhibited by fit personages in living action with all the appropriate accessories of looks, attitudes, tones, articulations, gestures, and deeds. The end of this imitative, reproductive, and creative exhibition is, as has already been said, to enable the spectator to transpose himself out of himself into others, assimilating them to himself or himself to them, thus unlimitedly251 exchanging his personality and its conscious contents. In this sense the dramatic faculty is universal, and its exercise, in an unsystematic way, incessant. What other people do in a bungling252 and piecemeal253 manner, without clear purpose or method, the professional actor does with full consciousness and system, and exhibits for the pleasure and edification of the observers. Everybody, from infancy254 to old age, with such pliancy255 of fancy, resources of reason, wealth of sympathy, as he can command, is always observing other people, studying, judging, approving, copying, or condemning256 and avoiding. All that is wanting to regulate and complete the art is, as Schlegel has said, to draw the mimic elements and fragments clear off from real life, and confront real life with them collectively in one mass. This is the sphere and office of the Theatre, whose very business it is to hold up the mirror to nature and humanity, that all styles of character and conduct may be seen in their proper quality and their true rank, teaching the spectators
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what to despise, what to admire, what to shun257, what to imitate or reproduce for the perfecting of their own characters and conduct.
There are in the exhibited drama three provinces or directions, the lower, the intermediate, and the higher, or Comedy, Melodrama258, and Tragedy. In the lower drama, inferior types of men and manners are exhibited for the various purposes of amusement, ridicule259, satire, correction. The direction of the moral and social faculties of the spectators towards the persons and actions they contemplate260 is downward from their own or the social mental standards of virtue167, propriety261, and grace to the real exemplifications before them, the descending262 movement which accompanies their perception of the incongruity263 awakening264 laughter or tendencies to laughter, scorn or tendencies to scorn, with a reflex of complacency in themselves. Comedy teaches, so far as it ventures to teach at all and does not content itself with mere entertainment, by the principle of opposition and contrast, showing what not to do and how not to do it, suggesting grace by awkwardness, hinting refinement265 by vulgarity, setting off beauty and dignity by ugliness and triviality. This, as every one must see, is a varied, effective, and fruitful mode of direct instruction as well as of indirect and unpurposed educational moulding. No one can well be thoroughly266 familiar with the genteel comedy of the theatres and remain a boor267. Such a familiarity is of itself a sort of social education.
In the higher drama, or Tragedy, the superior social types, lords, ladies, geniuses, kings, and the nobler styles of character, heroes, martyrs269, saints, are represented, to awaken admiration270 and reverence, to stir emulous and aspiring271 desires. Pity, love, and awe272, the profoundest passions and capacities of the soul, are moved and expanded. The mysteries of fate and providence273 are shadowed forth274, and the most insoluble problems of morality and religion indirectly275 agitated276. Transcendent degrees of power, virtue, success, and glory, or failure and suffering, are indicated; and all our upward-looking faculties are put on the stretch, with the result of assimilating more or less of the forms of being and experience on which they sympathizingly gaze aloft. Here we are taught, sometimes with a distinct aim, oftener by an unpurposed, contagious277 kindling278 of suggested thought and feeling,
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innumerable lessons pertaining279 to human nature and experience, the varieties of character and conduct, the limits and retributions of virtue and vice169, the extremes of hope and despair, the portentous280 question of death, the omnipresent laws of God. How much one shall be affected281 and changed, inspired and aided, by all this, depends on his docility282 and earnestness in front of it, his plasticity under it. But it is plain that it can scarcely be repeated and continued without important effects on all who are not dolts283.
The intermediate, or Melodrama, mixed of the other two and presented on the ever-varying level between comic lowness and tragic284 height, brings forward a medley285 of characters, greater and lesser, good, bad, and indifferent, portraying life not truly as it is in fact, but exaggeratedly, in heterogeneous286 combination, so set off in extravagant relief and depression, emphasis of lights and shades, as to give it a more than natural attraction for the senses. Without taxing any faculties in the audience, it piques287 the curiosity of all by turns, and exercises and refreshes them with its rapid changes and its glaring effects, which provide strong sensations yet with small exaction288 on the mind. Any explicit289 instruction it contains is incidental, since its real business is to serve as a spiritual alterative290 directed to the soul through the senses, to beguile291 heavy thoughts and cares, to entertain and rest weary faculties with fresh objects, and fill idle hours with pleasurable amusement. All this is certainly legitimate292, needed, and useful, although it may be abused by the employment of illegitimate means, and thus perverted293 into an injury. But every good thing is likewise capable of perversion294, and ought to be judged by its true intent, not by its aberrations295.
Furthermore, it is to be said—and it is an important truth which should in no wise be overlooked—that even when the play is petty and worthless in plot, full of absurdities as many of our gaudy296 modern pantomimes and spectacles are, and pernicious in its exhibitions of nudity, impure297 postures, and prurient298 accessories,—even then a twofold good may be derived299 from the show, in addition to the mere recreative diversion and pleasure yielded. First, the sight of the superb power, grace, and skill of the trained performers, disciplined and perfected to the highest point of energy, self-possession, and easy and joyous300 readiness for the execution of their functions, is a charming and edifying301
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sight. It is the display of models of human nature developed to an extreme degree of strength, beauty, and flexibility,—a display which tends to mould the eyes of the spectators, and through their eyes to affect their souls and to exert educational influence on future generations. Every spectator should be kindled302 by the sight to secure for himself, for the highest fulfilment of life under the eyes of God, the exemplary development which these performers have so laboriously303 won for the mere purpose of exhibition and pay. The sacrifice and toil184 they have devoted for the sake of applause, should we not be willing to devote for the sake of entering on our full heritage in the universe?
Second, the melodrama, by its artistic groupings, colors, and movements, its scenic304 processions, its magic pictures, its orderly evolution of romantic adventures, the multiform interplaying of the characters and fortunes of its actors upon one another, draws our attention from ourselves, enlists305 our feelings in the fates of others, and thus exercising our faculties, disciplines, purifies, and emancipates306 them, making them readier and more competent for whatever exigencies307 we may be called on to meet. This great good and use of the dramatic art, its moral essence, is afforded to the profiting beholder308 by almost every theatrical representation, namely, that, in showing life concentrated and intensified309, it holds up for imitation the instructive spectacle, in its trained actors, of men passing from themselves into the personalities and situations of others, mutually appropriating one another's traits and experiences, supplementing themselves with one another. This varied practice of reason, imagination, and sympathy in assuming inner states and their outer signs is the most effective culture and drill there is for freeing human nature from the slavery of routine, and perfecting its entrance on that heritage of unlimited250 sympathetic fellowships which will at last realize the hydrostatic paradox310 in morals, and make one man commensurate with all humanity. A drop balances an ocean by its dynamic translation and interplay with all the drops!
Whatever dissent311 or qualification may be made by some to the foregoing view, there will scarcely be any hesitation312 or difference of opinion when we turn from the representation of bad characters or neutral characters, the vile313 and the insignificant314, to the grandest forms of the drama, where we encounter the most
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pathetic and brilliant impersonations of ideal excellence,—those patterns of loveliness and heroism315 with which the Stage abounds316 in its pictures of stainless317 and queenly women, fearless and kingly men. The natural influence of weeping over the misfortunes and wrongs or worshipping the virtues of a saintly sufferer, who resists not, complains not, resents not, but bears all with angelic patience, sweetness, and fortitude318, is to soften70 and expand the heart and cultivate the tenderest graces of human nature. The natural influence of tracing the indomitable enterprise, valor319, disinterestedness320, and perseverance321 of a great genius, an illustrious patriot322 or martyr268, thrilling with the deepest admiration at his virtues, is to foster in the susceptible323 breast burning aspirations324 after kindred worth and distinction. This tendency may be neutralized325 or prevented, but it is the natural influence, by which alone it is fair to judge the best specimens326 of the drama. And he who should undertake to estimate the total influence of the Stage in the model characters it has held up as ideals for honor and imitation, would have a task not less difficult than genial327.
While War and Work, with the rehearsing discipline they exact, occupy and ravage328 the fairest fields and promises of Human Life, and create Weariness, Crime, Lust, and Death, as the horrid329 Reapers330 who tread close in their steps, the Theatre—one bright home of Freedom, Art, and Beauty, planted in a paradisal place—is prophetic of the time to come when Love and Leisure shall have room to people the redeemed331 world with their fair and sweet offspring, Play and Joy.
In the mean time, while the spirit of doubt, banter332, and insincerity is so rife,—while we meet on every hand that arid333, cynical334, and contemptuous temper which thrives on mockery and badinage335, fosters an insolent336 complacency and laughter by degrading superior persons and subjects in parodies337 and lampoons,—while our young men and women are infested338 with a boastful conceit339 of superiority to all sentiment and enthusiasm, and even our rising authors are so disenchanted, so knowing, that persiflage340 and the ridicule of illusion and devotion are their highest tests of experience and power,—under such conditions, surely we shall all agree that the ideal revelations, the impassioned music and eloquence341, the free elevation342 above commonplace, the por
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trayals of ingenuous faith and energy, that still linger on the Stage, are to be held precious. Amidst so much formality and hypocrisy343, it is a boon344 to have a great actor break into us through the crust of custom and startle our noblest powers into life.
The actor, in laboring345 to fit himself for the highest walk in his profession, studies all forms of human nature and experience, discriminates346 their ranks and worth, sees what is congruous and becoming, or the contrary, and reproduces their powers in himself by the practice of putting on their states and showing their signals. This done disinterestedly347, with a sovereign eye to duty and the Divine Will, is the way for every one to educate himself towards that personal perfection the pursuit of which is his supreme348 business on earth. He thus learns to assume and absorb the ascending349 ideals that brighten the pathway to heaven. Herein the dramatic art becomes glorified350 into identity with religion.
The lowest range of the histrionic inhabitations of the soul is obsession351, where the man is insanely held by some inferior or evil spirit, as when Nebuchadnezzar went out and ate grass, like an ox. The next grade is sympathetic domination, where the idea of another being is so vividly seated in the imagination of a person that for the time it makes him its involuntary agent. The intermediate or neutral level, half-way from the lowest to the highest, is the region of voluntary assumption, or acting properly so called, where the player by his own free intelligence and will reproduces or imitates foreign characters. Then there is the ascent into inspiration, where loftier influences or spirits than are native to the impersonator take possession of him, enhancing his powers, animating352 and guiding him beyond his own knowledge or volition353. And lastly, there is the supreme height of divine incarnation, where some deity354 stoops into the cloud of mortality, or the infinite God in varying degrees deigns355 to inflesh and enshrine himself in man. Christendom owns one unapproachable and incomparable example in its august Founder356. But in India, Egypt, Greece, were mystic men, who, too wise and grand to be thought lunatics, have claimed to be of a lineage divine and dateless. This is a realm for silence. But every unique, whether Gautama or Jesus, is only the transcending357 culmination of a rule that rises through levels below. Either great men have played the rôles of incarnate358 gods or descending gods have assumed the rôles of men on earth.
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1
analyzes
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| v.分析( analyze的第三人称单数 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析 | |
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diversified
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| adj.多样化的，多种经营的v.使多样化，多样化( diversify的过去式和过去分词 )；进入新的商业领域 | |
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artistic
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| adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的 | |
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piquancy
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| n.辛辣，辣味，痛快 | |
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enchanting
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| a.讨人喜欢的 | |
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technically
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| adv.专门地，技术上地 | |
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lesser
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| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
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enacted
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| 制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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parlors
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| 客厅( parlor的名词复数 )； 起居室； （旅馆中的）休息室； （通常用来构成合成词）店 | |
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essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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teeming
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| adj.丰富的v.充满( teem的现在分词 )；到处都是；（指水、雨等）暴降；倾注 | |
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aspiration
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| n.志向，志趣抱负；渴望；(语)送气音；吸出 | |
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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incessant
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| adj.不停的，连续的 | |
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drudge
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| n.劳碌的人；v.做苦工，操劳 | |
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lackey
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| n.侍从；跟班 | |
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motes
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| n.尘埃( mote的名词复数 )；斑点 | |
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theatrical
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| adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的 | |
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inadequate
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| adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的 | |
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appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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complexity
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| n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物 | |
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indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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consummate
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| adj.完美的；v.成婚；使完美 [反]baffle | |
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derivative
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| n.派(衍)生物；adj.非独创性的，模仿他人的 | |
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ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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rudiments
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| n.基础知识，入门 | |
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gregarious
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| adj.群居的，喜好群居的 | |
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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32
relaxations
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| n.消遣( relaxation的名词复数 )；松懈；松弛；放松 | |
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contractions
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| n.收缩( contraction的名词复数 )；缩减；缩略词；（分娩时）子宫收缩 | |
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34
swarm
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| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
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herd
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| n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起 | |
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buffalo
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| n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛 | |
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buffaloes
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| n.水牛（分非洲水牛和亚洲水牛两种）( buffalo的名词复数 )；（南非或北美的）野牛；威胁；恐吓 | |
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38
grizzly
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| adj.略为灰色的，呈灰色的；n.灰色大熊 | |
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stiffened
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| 加强的 | |
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40
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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41
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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42
plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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43
instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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44
awakened
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| v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到 | |
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45
awaken
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| vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起 | |
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46
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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47
elude
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| v.躲避，困惑 | |
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48
feign
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| vt.假装，佯作 | |
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49
feigns
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| 假装，伪装( feign的第三人称单数 )； 捏造（借口、理由等） | |
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50
vigor
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| n.活力，精力，元气 | |
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51
pretences
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| n.假装( pretence的名词复数 )；作假；自命；自称 | |
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52
agitation
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| n.搅动；搅拌；鼓动，煽动 | |
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53
lure
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| n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引 | |
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54
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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55
artifice
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| n.妙计，高明的手段；狡诈，诡计 | |
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56
bug
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| n.虫子；故障；窃听器；vt.纠缠；装窃听器 | |
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57
guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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58
ancestry
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| n.祖先，家世 | |
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59
wont
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| adj.习惯于；v.习惯；n.习惯 | |
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60
devour
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| v.吞没；贪婪地注视或谛听，贪读；使着迷 | |
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serial
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| n.连本影片，连本电视节目；adj.连续的 | |
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prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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63
allure
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| n.诱惑力，魅力；vt.诱惑，引诱，吸引 | |
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64
guile
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| n.诈术 | |
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65
faculty
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| n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员 | |
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66
mimicking
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| v.（尤指为了逗乐而）模仿( mimic的现在分词 )；酷似 | |
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67
mimic
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| v.模仿，戏弄；n.模仿他人言行的人 | |
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68
malicious
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| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
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69
scattering
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| n.[物]散射；散乱，分散；在媒介质中的散播adj.散乱的；分散在不同范围的；广泛扩散的；（选票）数量分散的v.散射(scatter的ing形式)；散布；驱散 | |
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70
soften
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| v.(使)变柔软；(使)变柔和 | |
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71
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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72
consolidation
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| n.合并,巩固 | |
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73
mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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74
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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75
stimuli
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| n.刺激（物） | |
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76
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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78
barbarians
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| n.野蛮人( barbarian的名词复数 )；外国人；粗野的人；无教养的人 | |
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79
barbarian
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| n.野蛮人；adj.野蛮(人)的；未开化的 | |
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80
counterfeit
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| vt.伪造，仿造；adj.伪造的，假冒的 | |
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81
phenomena
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| n.现象 | |
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82
ambush
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| n.埋伏(地点)；伏兵；v.埋伏；伏击 | |
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83
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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84
gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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85
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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86
rites
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| 仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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87
distinctively
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| adv.特殊地，区别地 | |
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88
picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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89
reptiles
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| n.爬行动物，爬虫( reptile的名词复数 ) | |
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90
graphic
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| adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的 | |
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91
plumes
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| 羽毛( plume的名词复数 )； 羽毛饰； 羽毛状物； 升上空中的羽状物 | |
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92
beaks
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| n.鸟嘴( beak的名词复数 )；鹰钩嘴；尖鼻子；掌权者 | |
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93
talons
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| n.（尤指猛禽的）爪( talon的名词复数 )；（如爪般的）手指；爪状物；锁簧尖状突出部 | |
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94
shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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95
swoop
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| n.俯冲，攫取；v.抓取，突然袭击 | |
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96
yelp
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| vi.狗吠 | |
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97
snarl
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| v.吼叫，怒骂，纠缠，混乱；n.混乱，缠结，咆哮 | |
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98
burlesque
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| v.嘲弄，戏仿；n.嘲弄，取笑，滑稽模仿 | |
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99
beavers
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| 海狸( beaver的名词复数 )； 海狸皮毛； 棕灰色； 拼命工作的人 | |
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100
hawks
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| 鹰( hawk的名词复数 )； 鹰派人物，主战派人物 | |
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101
fauna
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| n.(一个地区或时代的)所有动物，动物区系 | |
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102
frenzied
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| a.激怒的；疯狂的 | |
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103
ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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104
votary
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| n.崇拜者；爱好者；adj.誓约的，立誓任圣职的 | |
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105
belly
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| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
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106
idol
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| n.偶像，红人，宠儿 | |
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107
enjoyment
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| n.乐趣；享有；享用 | |
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108
hideous
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|
| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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109
relish
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|
| n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味 | |
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110
craves
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| 渴望，热望( crave的第三人称单数 )； 恳求，请求 | |
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111
exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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112
antidote
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| n.解毒药，解毒剂 | |
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113
stagnation
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| n. 停滞 | |
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114
inflames
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| v.（使）变红，发怒，过热( inflame的第三人称单数 ) | |
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115
brute
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| n.野兽，兽性 | |
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116
brutes
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| 兽( brute的名词复数 )； 畜生； 残酷无情的人； 兽性 | |
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117
portray
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| v.描写，描述；画(人物、景象等) | |
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118
secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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119
mimicry
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| n.（生物）拟态，模仿 | |
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120
rhythmical
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| adj.有节奏的，有韵律的 | |
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121
spinal
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| adj.针的，尖刺的，尖刺状突起的；adj.脊骨的，脊髓的 | |
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122
initiate
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| vt.开始，创始，发动；启蒙，使入门；引入 | |
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123
insanity
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| n.疯狂，精神错乱；极端的愚蠢，荒唐 | |
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124
persistent
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| adj.坚持不懈的，执意的；持续的 | |
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125
degradation
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| n.降级；低落；退化；陵削；降解；衰变 | |
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126
penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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127
impulsive
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| adj.冲动的，刺激的；有推动力的 | |
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128
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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129
lust
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| n.性(淫)欲；渴(欲)望；vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
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130
superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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131
carnival
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| n.嘉年华会，狂欢，狂欢节，巡回表演 | |
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132
doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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133
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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134
followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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135
enactment
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| n.演出，担任…角色；制订，通过 | |
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136
obsessed
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| adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的 | |
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137
grovelled
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| v.卑躬屈节，奴颜婢膝( grovel的过去式和过去分词 )；趴 | |
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138
reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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139
transformation
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| n.变化；改造；转变 | |
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140
personalities
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| n. 诽谤，（对某人容貌、性格等所进行的）人身攻击； 人身攻击；人格, 个性, 名人( personality的名词复数 ) | |
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141
likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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142
purport
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| n.意义，要旨，大要；v.意味著，做为...要旨，要领是... | |
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143
civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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144
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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145
regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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146
warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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147
animates
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| v.使有生气( animate的第三人称单数 )；驱动；使栩栩如生地动作；赋予…以生命 | |
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148
contrive
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| vt.谋划，策划；设法做到；设计，想出 | |
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149
weds
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| v.嫁，娶，（与…）结婚( wed的第三人称单数 ) | |
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150
transfuses
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| v.输（血或别的液体）( transfuse的第三人称单数 )；渗透；使…被灌输或传达 | |
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151
vacancy
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| n.（旅馆的）空位，空房，（职务的）空缺 | |
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152
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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153
attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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154
lodging
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| n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍 | |
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155
remarkable
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|
| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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156
fictitious
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|
| adj.虚构的，假设的；空头的 | |
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157
discriminate
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| v.区别，辨别，区分；有区别地对待 | |
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158
postures
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| 姿势( posture的名词复数 )； 看法； 态度； 立场 | |
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159
projection
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| n.发射，计划，突出部分 | |
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160
peculiar
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|
| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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161
peculiarity
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| n.独特性，特色；特殊的东西；怪癖 | |
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162
fables
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| n.寓言( fable的名词复数 )；神话，传说 | |
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163
fable
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| n.寓言；童话；神话 | |
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164
ingenuous
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| adj.纯朴的，单纯的；天真的；坦率的 | |
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165
vernacular
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|
| adj.地方的，用地方语写成的；n.白话；行话；本国语；动植物的俗名 | |
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166
faculties
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| n.能力( faculty的名词复数 )；全体教职员；技巧；院 | |
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167
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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168
virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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169
vice
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| n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的 | |
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170
vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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171
hyenas
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| n.鬣狗( hyena的名词复数 ) | |
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172
inversion
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| n.反向，倒转，倒置 | |
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173
outgrown
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| 长[发展] 得超过（某物）的范围( outgrow的过去分词 )； 长[发展]得不能再要（某物）； 长得比…快； 生长速度超过 | |
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174
outgrow
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| vt.长大得使…不再适用；成长得不再要 | |
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175
outgrows
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| 长[发展] 得超过（某物）的范围( outgrow的第三人称单数 )； 长[发展]得不能再要（某物）； 长得比…快； 生长速度超过 | |
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176
stolidity
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| n.迟钝，感觉麻木 | |
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177
quaint
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| adj.古雅的，离奇有趣的，奇怪的 | |
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178
droll
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| adj.古怪的，好笑的 | |
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179
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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180
satire
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| n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品 | |
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181
exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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182
cosmopolitan
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| adj.世界性的，全世界的，四海为家的，全球的 | |
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183
secular
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| n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的 | |
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184
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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185
illiterate
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| adj.文盲的；无知的；n.文盲 | |
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186
grotesque
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| adj.怪诞的，丑陋的；n.怪诞的图案，怪人（物） | |
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187
irony
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| n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄 | |
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188
sardonic
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| adj.嘲笑的，冷笑的，讥讽的 | |
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189
feudal
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| adj.封建的，封地的，领地的 | |
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190
tonsured
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| v.剃( tonsure的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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191
monks
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| n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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192
shrines
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| 圣地，圣坛，神圣场所( shrine的名词复数 ) | |
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193
plebeian
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| adj.粗俗的；平民的；n.平民；庶民 | |
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194
ecclesiastic
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| n.教士，基督教会；adj.神职者的，牧师的，教会的 | |
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195
rectifies
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| 改正，矫正( rectify的第三人称单数 )； 精馏 | |
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196
barons
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| 男爵( baron的名词复数 )； 巨头； 大王； 大亨 | |
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197
portraying
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| v.画像( portray的现在分词 )；描述；描绘；描画 | |
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198
prerogative
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| n.特权 | |
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199
flexibility
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| n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性 | |
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200
elusive
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| adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的 | |
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201
extravagant
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|
| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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202
absurdities
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| n.极端无理性( absurdity的名词复数 )；荒谬；谬论；荒谬的行为 | |
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203
auditor
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| n.审计员，旁听着 | |
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204
vividly
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| adv.清楚地，鲜明地，生动地 | |
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205
parables
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| n.（圣经中的）寓言故事( parable的名词复数 ) | |
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206
raven
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| n.渡鸟，乌鸦；adj.乌亮的 | |
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207
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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208
doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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209
redeem
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| v.买回，赎回，挽回，恢复，履行（诺言等） | |
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210
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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211
opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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212
futile
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| adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的 | |
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213
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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214
divesting
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| v.剥夺( divest的现在分词 )；脱去（衣服）；2。从…取去…；1。（给某人）脱衣服 | |
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215
beholds
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| v.看，注视( behold的第三人称单数 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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216
cavil
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| v.挑毛病，吹毛求疵 | |
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217
disinterested
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| adj.不关心的，不感兴趣的 | |
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218
culmination
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| n.顶点；最高潮 | |
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219
rigidly
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| adv.刻板地，僵化地 | |
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220
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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221
modifications
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| n.缓和( modification的名词复数 )；限制；更改；改变 | |
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222
locomotion
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| n.运动，移动 | |
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223
temperate
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| adj.温和的，温带的，自我克制的，不过分的 | |
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224
consultations
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| n.磋商（会议）( consultation的名词复数 )；商讨会；协商会；查找 | |
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225
intelligibility
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| n.可理解性，可理解的事物 | |
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226
honk
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| n.雁叫声，汽车喇叭声 | |
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227
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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228
converse
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| vi.谈话，谈天，闲聊；adv.相反的，相反 | |
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229
monarchical
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| adj. 国王的，帝王的，君主的，拥护君主制的 =monarchic | |
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230
alteration
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| n.变更，改变；蚀变 | |
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231
ascend
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| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
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232
hereditary
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| adj.遗传的，遗传性的，可继承的，世袭的 | |
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233
copious
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| adj.丰富的，大量的 | |
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234
levying
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| 征（兵）( levy的现在分词 )； 索取； 发动（战争）； 征税 | |
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235
seizure
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| n.没收；占有；抵押 | |
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236
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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237
imposture
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| n.冒名顶替，欺骗 | |
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238
deception
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| n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计 | |
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239
sincerity
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| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
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240
hindrance
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| n.妨碍，障碍 | |
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241
charlatan
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| n.骗子；江湖医生；假内行 | |
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242
titular
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| adj.名义上的，有名无实的；n.只有名义（或头衔）的人 | |
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243
liberated
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| a.无拘束的，放纵的 | |
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244
elastic
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| n.橡皮圈，松紧带；adj.有弹性的；灵活的 | |
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245
varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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246
interpretation
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| n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理 | |
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247
trophies
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| n.（为竞赛获胜者颁发的）奖品( trophy的名词复数 )；奖杯；（尤指狩猎或战争中获得的）纪念品；（用于比赛或赛跑名称）奖 | |
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248
diffused
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| 散布的，普及的，扩散的 | |
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249
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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250
unlimited
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| adj.无限的，不受控制的，无条件的 | |
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251
unlimitedly
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| 无限地，无例外地 | |
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252
bungling
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|
| adj.笨拙的，粗劣的v.搞糟，完不成( bungle的现在分词 )；笨手笨脚地做；失败；完不成 | |
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253
piecemeal
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| adj.零碎的；n.片，块；adv.逐渐地；v.弄成碎块 | |
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254
infancy
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| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
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255
pliancy
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| n.柔软，柔顺 | |
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256
condemning
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|
| v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的现在分词 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地 | |
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257
shun
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| vt.避开，回避，避免 | |
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258
melodrama
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| n.音乐剧；情节剧 | |
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259
ridicule
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| v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄 | |
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260
contemplate
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| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
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261
propriety
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| n.正当行为；正当；适当 | |
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262
descending
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|
| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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263
incongruity
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|
| n.不协调，不一致 | |
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264
awakening
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|
| n.觉醒，醒悟 adj.觉醒中的；唤醒的 | |
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265
refinement
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|
| n.文雅；高尚；精美；精制；精炼 | |
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266
thoroughly
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|
| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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267
boor
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| n.举止粗野的人；乡下佬 | |
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268
martyr
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|
| n.烈士，殉难者；vt.杀害，折磨，牺牲 | |
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269
martyrs
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|
| n.martyr的复数形式；烈士( martyr的名词复数 )；殉道者；殉教者；乞怜者（向人诉苦以博取同情） | |
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270
admiration
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|
| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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271
aspiring
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|
| adj.有志气的；有抱负的；高耸的v.渴望；追求 | |
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272
awe
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| n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧 | |
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273
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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274
forth
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|
| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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275
indirectly
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|
| adv.间接地，不直接了当地 | |
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276
agitated
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|
| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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277
contagious
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|
| adj.传染性的，有感染力的 | |
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278
kindling
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|
| n. 点火, 可燃物 动词kindle的现在分词形式 | |
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279
pertaining
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| 与…有关系的，附属…的，为…固有的(to) | |
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280
portentous
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|
| adj.不祥的，可怕的，装腔作势的 | |
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281
affected
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|
| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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282
docility
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|
| n.容易教，易驾驶，驯服 | |
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283
dolts
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|
| n.笨蛋，傻瓜( dolt的名词复数 ) | |
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284
tragic
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|
| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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285
medley
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| n.混合 | |
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286
heterogeneous
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|
| adj.庞杂的；异类的 | |
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287
piques
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| v.伤害…的自尊心( pique的第三人称单数 )；激起（好奇心） | |
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288
exaction
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| n.强求，强征；杂税 | |
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289
explicit
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|
| adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的 | |
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290
alterative
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|
| adj.（趋于）改变的，变质的，使体质逐渐康复的n.变质剂，体质改善疗法 | |
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291
beguile
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| vt.欺骗，消遣 | |
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292
legitimate
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|
| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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293
perverted
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| adj.不正当的v.滥用( pervert的过去式和过去分词 )；腐蚀；败坏；使堕落 | |
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294
perversion
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| n.曲解；堕落；反常 | |
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295
aberrations
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|
| n.偏差( aberration的名词复数 )；差错；脱离常规；心理失常 | |
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296
gaudy
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|
| adj.华而不实的；俗丽的 | |
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297
impure
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| adj.不纯净的，不洁的；不道德的，下流的 | |
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298
prurient
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| adj.好色的，淫乱的 | |
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299
derived
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|
| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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300
joyous
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|
| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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301
edifying
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|
| adj.有教训意味的，教训性的，有益的v.开导，启发( edify的现在分词 ) | |
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302
kindled
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| （使某物）燃烧，着火( kindle的过去式和过去分词 )； 激起（感情等）； 发亮，放光 | |
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303
laboriously
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| adv.艰苦地；费力地；辛勤地；（文体等）佶屈聱牙地 | |
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304
scenic
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| adj.自然景色的，景色优美的 | |
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305
enlists
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| v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的第三人称单数 )；获得（帮助或支持） | |
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306
emancipates
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| vt.解放（emancipate的第三人称单数形式） | |
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307
exigencies
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| n.急切需要 | |
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308
beholder
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| n.观看者，旁观者 | |
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309
intensified
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| v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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310
paradox
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| n.似乎矛盾却正确的说法；自相矛盾的人(物) | |
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311
dissent
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| n./v.不同意，持异议 | |
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312
hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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313
vile
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| adj.卑鄙的，可耻的，邪恶的；坏透的 | |
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314
insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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315
heroism
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| n.大无畏精神，英勇 | |
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316
abounds
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| v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的第三人称单数 ) | |
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317
stainless
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| adj.无瑕疵的，不锈的 | |
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318
fortitude
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| n.坚忍不拔；刚毅 | |
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319
valor
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| n.勇气，英勇 | |
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320
disinterestedness
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321
perseverance
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| n.坚持不懈，不屈不挠 | |
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322
patriot
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| n.爱国者，爱国主义者 | |
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323
susceptible
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| adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的 | |
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324
aspirations
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| 强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音 | |
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325
neutralized
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| v.使失效( neutralize的过去式和过去分词 )；抵消；中和；使（一个国家）中立化 | |
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326
specimens
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| n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人 | |
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327
genial
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| adj.亲切的，和蔼的，愉快的，脾气好的 | |
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328
ravage
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| vt.使...荒废，破坏...；n.破坏，掠夺，荒废 | |
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329
horrid
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| adj.可怕的；令人惊恐的；恐怖的；极讨厌的 | |
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330
reapers
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| n.收割者，收获者( reaper的名词复数 )；收割机 | |
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331
redeemed
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|
| adj. 可赎回的，可救赎的 动词redeem的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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332
banter
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|
| n.嘲弄，戏谑；v.取笑，逗弄，开玩笑 | |
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333
arid
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| adj.干旱的；(土地)贫瘠的 | |
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334
cynical
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| adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的 | |
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335
badinage
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| n.开玩笑，打趣 | |
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336
insolent
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| adj.傲慢的，无理的 | |
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337
parodies
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| n.拙劣的模仿( parody的名词复数 )；恶搞；滑稽的模仿诗文；表面上模仿得笨拙但充满了机智用来嘲弄别人作品的作品v.滑稽地模仿，拙劣地模仿( parody的第三人称单数 ) | |
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338
infested
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| adj.为患的，大批滋生的（常与with搭配）v.害虫、野兽大批出没于( infest的过去式和过去分词 )；遍布于 | |
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339
conceit
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| n.自负，自高自大 | |
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340
persiflage
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| n.戏弄；挖苦 | |
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341
eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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342
elevation
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| n.高度；海拔；高地；上升；提高 | |
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343
hypocrisy
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| n.伪善，虚伪 | |
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344
boon
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| n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠 | |
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345
laboring
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| n.劳动，操劳v.努力争取(for)( labor的现在分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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346
discriminates
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| 分别，辨别，区分( discriminate的第三人称单数 )； 歧视，有差别地对待 | |
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347
disinterestedly
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348
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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349
ascending
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| adj.上升的，向上的 | |
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350
glorified
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| 美其名的，变荣耀的 | |
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351
obsession
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| n.困扰，无法摆脱的思想(或情感) | |
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352
animating
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| v.使有生气( animate的现在分词 )；驱动；使栩栩如生地动作；赋予…以生命 | |
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353
volition
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| n.意志；决意 | |
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354
deity
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| n.神，神性；被奉若神明的人(或物) | |
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355
deigns
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| v.屈尊，俯就( deign的第三人称单数 ) | |
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356
Founder
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| n.创始者，缔造者 | |
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357
transcending
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| 超出或超越（经验、信念、描写能力等）的范围( transcend的现在分词 )； 优于或胜过… | |
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358
incarnate
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| adj.化身的，人体化的，肉色的 | |
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