how he has been able to produce original
work of unquestionable merit. One is forced to believe that he is hiding
a failure behind his own name and fame. After all, concludes the writer,
the director has no right to make this a personal matter. Criticism
has no right to turn aside for injured feelings, and all Bjornson's
declarations about the passions of the hour have nothing to do with
the case.

This ended the discussion. At this day, of course, one cannot pass
judgment, and there is no reason why we should. The two things which
stand out are Bjornson's protest against spectacular productions of
Shakespeare's plays, and his ardent, almost passionate tribute to him
as the poet whose influence had been greatest in his life.

And then there is a long silence. Norwegian periodicals--there is not
to this day a book on Shakespeare by a Norwegian--contain not a single
contribution to Shakespearean criticism till 1880, when a church paper,
_Luthersk Ugeskrift_[11] published an article which proved beyond cavil
that Shakespeare is good and safe reading for Lutheran Christians.
The writer admits that Shakespeare probably had several irregular
love-affairs both before and after marriage, but as he grew older his
heart turned to the comforts of religion, and in his epitaph he commends
his soul to God, his body to the dust. Shakespeare's extreme objectivity
makes snap judgments unsafe. We cannot always be sure that his
characters voice his own thoughts and judgments, but, on the other hand,
we have no right to assume that they never do. The tragedies especially
afford a safe basis for judgment, for in them characterization is of the
greatest importance. No great character was ever created which did not
spring from the poet's own soul. In Shakespeare's characters sin, lust,
cruelty, are always punished; sympathy, love, kindness are everywhere
glorified. The writer illustrates his meaning with copious quotations.

[11. Vol. VII, pp. 1-12.]

Apparently the good Lutheran who wrote this article felt troubled about
the splendor which Shakespeare throws about the Catholic Church. But
this is no evidence, he thinks, of any special sympathy for it. Many
Protestants have been attracted by the pomp and circumstance of the
Catholic Church, and they have been none the worse Protestants for that.
The writer had the good sense not to make Shakespeare a Lutheran but,
for the rest, the article is a typical example of the sort of criticism