Show HY WOMAN RULES IN PLAYS FLAYS She Has Changed With ih the tho Times From the the theS Submissive Heroine of Old aid By Alfred Sutro tit leM t 1912 by the Press Publishing 1 m c Co tho N New w York World tI E B question has lI been en pu put t to m me by is la tho the modern modem play always alway oat always about a woman In words oord h why does docs the dramatist e his hla Interest tr try to focus the tho theof r ton of or his public upon woman and andIn In non only In n lila his relation to her r J in Is sl simple because because He man has since KInce Ince reached Cached hla fullest develop develop- and nd become static whereas wom- wom I a upon pen an entirely ly now t t. t tIter her existence acct u ugh uh 4 tho centuries lee women In InQ I In Q literature no nuver vcr arl varied d They were passionate they were lovers the they were cruel or merciful the they were adOrable ador adorable rallIe r- r able allIe suffering wives or jealous ty tyrannical tyrannical ty- ty but mistresses but thoy revolved around tho male malo and aud had their existence only in relation to him Ophelia Opheila and md Dc Desdemona demonn Francesca da and Charlotte Charlotto Dumas Flis' Flis heroines us as of and Thackeray they they hey only could lovo love the they I Idill did dill nothing but lo love Ibsen carne cuine me along aloni I and gave guve the new typo Nora Sora Helmers Gabler and Mrs Alving Thomen Thumen The Tho men wore furious draped themselves In their togas an and cried Sho Shocking But the tho old Scandinavian i know linow now that these were women who had always alwa's existed anI only had hail been Inarticulate gad and that the they were now finding a voice And for all aU the tho clamor of oC the male his hitS favorite heroine ceased to be bo a presentation of ot life and became a mere stage convention conven conven- tion Then followed the reign of oC the nou- nou woman who was WIlS truly no more than woman groping her hor WU way Man Ian had in tho meanwhile grudgingly accorded her education education education-education education on practical lines linea that rea really 11 taught something and nd in lIer own strange and Incomprehensible ra fashion she became better bettar educated ed- ed c ed educated than he and tho the neurotic woman was put on the shelf with the Amelias and to mako malo room for the thereal thereal real one And the tho dramatist his years and breaks his heart tr trying Ing to depict her I say a she Is 18 better educated than tho the male and I belle believe this to bo be tru true Sho hn has not mans man's man concentration or his hili in- in the she will not be a great r at en on- or build towerinG tou palaces Pierce Isthmuses or conquer the tho air But sho she has his a a. spiritual aldo eldo that man has not not and this spiritual sl side o absorbs tho the hl higher knowledge the deeper truths as a plant drinks In la air The wild dreams ms she sho dreamed In tho the past as she sewed her her- tapestries or 01 waited aped on her lord lord these these wild dreams that none ever ocr heard of ot have o acquired a logical basis baals to today and no less daringly than un- un h she sho spreads tho banner bannor of or revolt And nd nd If men r refuse tuso to sec see it fluttering in the tho wind If they thoy regard It merely as a matter for tor Jest or In indulgent ul- ul gent out smile smile smile-havo havo vo we not heard of ot Mrs Partington ton who tried with a a. mop to keep back the Ute Atlantic For Jor a L revolution of ot a a. a kind there Is undoubtedly before us liS Man Ian has hitherto hith hith- erto ert imposed his Ideal upon woman tho Ideal of at the wife and mother It happened happened hap hap- to b be possibly natures nature's Ideal too possibly too possibly with varin variations t lon tad And the tho years cars back to tho the earliest tIme have havo st cn generations genera genera- of OC women peacefully and uncomplainingly bearing their burden burdon It Is not wifehood or or motherhood against which the tho modern woman rebels but she the Is b to clamor for tor n n. mate mato mo o provider provid provid- 1 who shall be more than a o me er cr of or tle tho wherewithal to live 11 sho she Is 19 that he insistent for tor qu qualities In 10 him strive o to possess s or floes does not always alwaY possess st st. SaInt Simon speaks ns na placidly placid placid- ly of ot the tho daughters condemned from fromI I theIr heir childhood ho d ItO to the convent COll as any ordinary man man t today 1 toa will win speak neak of or his liin But Dut the tha unmarried unmarried 1 ried woman beginning t to ask what law Jaw human df divine compels 11 her r to wither on ii And rid frightened man can cnn only tako take refuge refugo behind text text- books It Is la for tot these reasons briefly and Imperfectly stated that modern woman appeals so so powerfully po to tho the writer of ot plays plas For he Is necessarily a man manof manof of ut leisure and an observer rind and rn n adoring ador ador- orIng or- or ing log tho women as ol e every good dramatist dramatist dramatist drama drama- should he Is hi at least sympathetic and respectful Above all It ft is their Intense variety arlet that charms and se seduces seduces se- se se- se duces him There Thero Is only one ono hero but thero thelo arc are a hundred heroines there Is the tho eternal husband but the wife Ite changes chang like the tho flowers OS that follow follow tollow fol tol- fol- fol low each ach other in spring Nor does 1100 hor her most recent nt development de rob her herot of ot a n particle of oC her charm Trio Tho days s 's sot of ot the blue stockings ore are long past tho the talented woman of our time Ume Is no whit whit leas less attractive than her more fr olous sister whom problems vex not And tho the dramatist like a n war correspondent corre corre- spon hastens to tho the and and even exposes exposes himself at times to bo ho riddled with bUllets though bullets though these may como from his brethren of ot the pros who have havo mistakenly believed hIm biro to tobe tobo tobo bo be an enemy Ho Ile takes no sides stiles but strives merely ly to record what ho sees secs thanking his stars stan meanwhile that ho lives o In n. n when he need not devote devoto himself olt again and again to studies of ot tho the everlasting triangle or oror of or strong men building up obstacles that they thoy may triumphantly batter balter down but down but ma may lot his fancy fanc play lay around women who In their struggle to obtain what they thoy believe to bo be their due remain as J th they thoy ever have havo bc been n nand and will be tho the mo most t t of ur all |