“We shall find that the leisure-class artist is frequently permitted this kind of criticism. He has his friends among the ruling class, he comes to think of himself as belonging; so he has a right to find fault. You know how it is with Mrs. Ogi; she will say things about her own family--they are ignorant, they are arrogant, they are this and that. But it is the part of discretion for her husband to remain silent at such times. Mrs. Ogi will entertain the company with tales about the absent-mindedness and general absurdity of her own husband; but it will be the part of discretion for the company to dissent gently from such ridicule.” “If you stay married to me long enough,” says Mrs. Ogi, “you will know enough about human nature to be able to write a novel. But now we are talking about Shakespeare. Aren’t you ahead of the time in expecting him to have revolutionary feelings?” “Not at all. There was plenty of revolt, both political and social, in Shakespeare’s day; there had been two centuries of social protest before he was born. John Ball, the rebel priest, had been hanged and quartered for asking the dangerous question: ‘When Adam delved and Eve span Who then was the gentleman?’ “So, if Shakespeare had wanted to cast in his lot with the poor he had his opportunity. But there was nothing of that sort in him. He was a brilliant youth who had come up to London, poor and friendless, to become intimate with noble earls and wealthy gentlemen, to dedicate his poems and sonnets to them, and have his plays produced by their licensed companies. If they proved faithless, if they insulted and humiliated a man of genius, if their brilliant ladies and dashing maids of honor intrigued with him and then betrayed him--he would fly into a rage and write plays of almost insane fury, such as ‘Timon of Athens’ and ‘King Lear,’ or pictures of grim and somber cruelty such as ‘Measure for Measure.’ But when these plays failed, he would learn his lesson and go back to writing romantic dreams, pretty fairy stories like ‘A Winter’s Tale’ and ‘The Tempest.’ In these latter we find the wistful sadness of the old man who has learned that life is not the beautiful thing it ought to be, but who sighs in vain for an all-powerful magician to come and set it right. Again, you see, the ‘good man’ theory; while the social classes whose destiny it is to abolish parasitism are the object of Shakespeare’s haughty and aristocratic sneers.” “Ah, now!” says Mrs. Ogi. “That’s the part of the story you’re saving for a climax!” CHAPTER XXXVI COMIC RELIEF