| Show SHAW ii MALTREATS EMOTIONS IN PLAY h. h Man and Superman Has HasGood HasGood Good Comedy But Very Bad Philosophy POISONOUS DISTINCTIONS Differences Between nl Right ht antI and Wrong rone S Mode nan Dangerous rou Says Dr Paden 1 Man nn and Superman Bernard Dernard Shaws Shaw's pin pIa play was the Hw subject of or a review at the hands of or Rev W. W M M. Paden at the thc First Presbyterian 4 church last nl night ht Dr Paden spoke In lii part as follows 1 Man Jan an and Superman a Comedy and a Philosophy h by Bernard Shaw Is good oo 1 comedy arid and 1 ba bad philosophy It reminds one ono of ot a Fourth of or July coleS cele cole S bration It Is full tull of fireworks FirewOrks Fireworks Fire Fire- w works have their place perhaps ii In our national life Most people get In Innocent Innocent Innocent In- In enjoyment out of oC them though the they get on the nerves of some of ot us 1 older folk and usually kill a few t score children or citizens and ami wound V I ii u thousand or two more I Imagine however that Mr Shaws Shaw's plays 1108 may 1110 not be so tl deadly lad I At any rate h he lie lieS S evidently means to sting us to thought and action rather than to shed our lifes life's blood He Is a and andS andriot not riot a mata matador or S S Slums Slum's Mysterious Mission r Un Under ordinary circumstances perhaps per per- haps It would not be fair to hold a u playwright pla responsible for endeavoring endeavor endeavor- ing log to do anybody 1 either harm or good goodby goodby goodby by his pIa play save sa as killing time lime mn may maybe be ba bad 1 or good somewhat according t to circumstances or amusement mo may mayS maybe mayhe be he ba bad or goo good somewhat according S to tho the place pineo It has hns In In the life of oC ther the tho r I person amused But Mr Shaw will vili o have nothing to do tin with the lie theory theor of tr q art for arts art's sake sike ke or Amusement for Cor Cori i amusements amusement's sake e. e that his conscience Is He lie declares t the he genuine pulpit article It annoys annos y me me tays ays he to see fee people comfortable comfortable comfort comfort- able when the they ought to be uncomfortable uncomfortable and I Insist on making making- them think In order to lo bring them to conviction con eon j of sin Whatever other play- play t wrIters or novelists ma may sa say Shaw cannot claim when we find false teach'S teachings teach teach- S 'S ings In or between his lines that he heS S i- i did not put It there with sith a 0 didactic purpose He is Js not a photographer I but thit a propagandist S. S Teachings is so s. s Distinction S One of or the most poisonous as well 5 1 as the most Insidious tendencies of oC S 1 f this playwright pla Is la the way his teachings teachings teach teach- j ings break breal down tho the distinctions between between be be- twe tween n right an and As we rend read rl the Revolutionists Revolutionist Handbook we re recall recall recall re- re call the sneering question of or Pilate S What Is truth The question sug sug- S by this handbook Is however a a- deeper one for tor we ma may ask In real earnest as we read It What hat Is right What Is wrong How ilou can wo we distinguish dis di- between them The sum of l Its maxims maxima seem seems to be The Golden II h Rule Is that there are arc no golden goldenS 1 rules S 4 f Of ot Ot course there thero Is a reason for much of Shaws Shaw's lighthearted satire Ji There Is such a thing as being the S mere slave of laws and conventions There Is ah also some ome reason for Mr h of ot sentimentalism o S' S Shaw to make light S romanticism and extra a t gance A lot of of's good vitality goes to A. A waste aste In useless emotion Such feelIng feel- feel t Ing or emotion if It does not lead leall to toS iL S a action Is demoralizing It may lea lead 1 to WL wrong action and so be worse i S When hen an emotion or feeling arises f f. f cannot cannot be sure of or Its ethical 1 value until as Phillips Brooks once re- re marked ed Ho lie has asked aske of or Its Ils parent- parent t age and Us Its offspring Of or what was your feeling born What kind of ot acL ac- ac L' L lion did It beget 4 Maltreats Emotions T Mr Shaw certainly goes to the ox'S cx- cx J S 'S treno In his Is I maltreatment of the emo- emo tl Ions ns In loing to so EO however he overemphasizes over over- emphasizes t the value of the Intellect r There Thee Is re really reuBy lY nothing more moral S In knowing than han han there Is in feeling S unless the knowledge or 0 Intelligence b be hurried In into info o acton action Professor James has ma made mado e a clear statement of the real truth The willing wiling department department depart depart- ment df Of our nat nature re dominates both the con conceiving or knowing department ind and tho the feeling feeling department department or in plainer English perception an and 1 feelIng feel feel- Ing lug are only there for behaviors behavior's sake the perils of oC We Ye have suggested peris mere nere Such peril is sure ure there are strong ten tendencies toward foward pride arrogance ce or- or Irreverence Irever- Irever once ence ence was the apo apostle le of arrogant and contempt for the average man Mr 1 Shaw some some- times Ines lles fa flashes up Into a sort ort of oC understudy understudy under- under study of or his master This Thi is notably O 0 trUe true tue of his hs ga gay Irreverence Not ot that I think him to be a wholly Irreverent i man lana but hut he does at play fast fasl 1 with most that we wo revere V I and loose that There here is such a a thing as Is Intellectual Im ira pride Such pride e morality S Mi p r lv h. n of or w Character is a matter mater o of ot motive What motives are uppermost In Mr play pIa Philosophy He suggests suggests fUg fUg- sug sug- wo two driving wh wheels els as niost most Imp Important Im ira- p to him hini Man like th the other othe Is driven to action acton l by the thc instinct of ot self preservation and the instinct of oC sex These find expressionS expression In In thrift p property et etc on n the one S hand han and in n marriage children and the home on t the c other He satirizes all these products Yet Mr Ir Sh w Ws W's s al big medicine Is what he calls life Instinct This life forc force isto Is Isto force or sex lo i force forc inhuman In Inhuman him the dominant resident t to the human human nature which Is animal anImal This ts for hi his attacks on the tho more human products of this instinct Home says he Is I the girls girl's prison an and the woman s I workhouse When the tho superman I c children will be cre cared for tor b by bythe bythe emerges wJ the community In h healthful and uniform uni 1 form conditions anti and we shall arrive at what he calls cals the tho happy time when wier w n lt the continuity of at society no longer de depends r upon the thc nursery What Is In this sex Instinct that h On thi vital e of or the race race S. S Ono mj must st not be brutal brutal but one I is reminded of suggestion ton that with such Huch a n. n theory of or le life the chief end nd of ot man Is to eat cat sleep play n fight ht V and rot rot At Al any rate rote Mr I and hates Shaw despises over beliefs over an all Ideals and l idealism al 5 He pins his whole faith to a sort tori rt 5 of or personally conducted outworking of ot natural history This means that ho hc makes his appeal for motive to the tho 4 4 instincts of f man as a more mere rational f animal animal- Instead of ot exploiting the difference tilt dif p. p ference there Is 11 between the tho man and m the ape apo ho he exploits exploIt the similarities The nutrition he ho thinks of or is all ni for tor forthe forthe the mortal tho Immortal does not s seem beom om arisen above above ills his hori S zon Thc se instinct which ho thinks 9 pf is that transient tiling thing which dies r I with wih the body an and not that eternal thing which may go on forever a s a-s love Men Ion talk of or the new ways wars the new nc thought thou ht the new life force the he comIng corning comIng com com- corn com Ing man tho the superman and overman und and the very sery blazing way o ot of truth and life 1 Itself elf I. I It I docs one goo goolo good to lo rest on the larger larer experience an and philosophy of St SI- St Paul Paul Paul-a a philosophy which Is also a practical day over re religion re- re ligion and an Inspiration to practical day overy-day eve day y-day da morality moral I 1 teach leach you th thy O cl overman nan says fays for Cor man I is Eve something to be bo surpassed Ernest Elest Renan could coull have havE pointed him to the tho overman he needed 1 For says say he whatever may bo he the unlocked unhooked for Cor phenomena of oC tho the future Jesus wit not bo be surpassed 1 |
