tion is seen: the exaggeration of events, the exaggeration of
emotion, and the exaggeration of effects. One sees at once that he does
not believe in what he says, that it is of no necessity to him, that he
invents the events he describes, and is indifferent to his
characters--that he has conceived them only for the stage and therefore
makes them do and say only what may strike his public; and therefore we
do not believe either in the events, or in the actions, or in the
sufferings of the characters. Nothing demonstrates so clearly the
complete absence of esthetic feeling in Shakespeare as comparison
between him and Homer. The works which we call the works of Homer are
artistic, poetic, original works, lived through by the author or
authors; whereas the works of Shakespeare--borrowed as they are, and,
externally, like mosaics, artificially fitted together piecemeal from
bits invented for the occasion--have nothing whatever in common with art
and poetry.

VI

But, perhaps, the height of Shakespeare's conception of life is such
that, tho he does not satisfy the esthetic demands, he discloses to us a
view of life so new and important for men that, in consideration of its
importance, all his failures as an artist become imperceptible. So,
indeed, say Shakespeare's admirers. Gervinus says distinctly that
besides Shakespeare's significance in the sphere of dramatic poetry in
which, according to his opinion, Shakespeare equals "Homer in the sphere
of Epos, Shakespeare being the very greatest judge of the human soul,
represents a teacher of most indisputable ethical authority and the most
select leader in the world and in life."

In what, then, consists this indisputable authority of the most select
leader in the world and in life? Gervinus devotes the concluding chapter
of his second volume, about fifty pages, to an explanation of this.

The ethical authority of this supreme teacher of life consists in the
following: The starting point of Shakespeare's conception of life, says
Gervinus, is that man is gifted with powers of activity, and therefore,
first of all, according to Gervinus, Shakespeare regarded it as good and
necessary for man that he should act (as if it were possible for a man
not to act):

"Die thatkraeftigen Maenner, Fortinbras, Bolingbroke, Alcibiades, Octavius
spielen hier die gegensaetzlichen Rollen gegen die verschiedenen
thatlosen; nicht ihre Charaktere verdienen ihnen Allen ihr Glueck und
Gedeihe