at the same time touching plot, a correct scenic rendering
of the demonstration and development of emotion, and the feeling of
measure in all that is represented.

(3) Sincerity, _i.e._, that the author should himself keenly feel what
he expresses. Without this condition there can be no work of art, as the
essence of art consists in the contemplation of the work of art being
infected with the author's feeling. If the author does not actually feel
what he expresses, then the recipient can not become infected with the
feeling of the author, does not experience any feeling, and the
production can no longer be classified as a work of art.

The subject of Shakespeare's pieces, as is seen from the demonstrations
of his greatest admirers, is the lowest, most vulgar view of life, which
regards the external elevation of the lords of the world as a genuine
distinction, despises the crowd, _i.e._, the working
classes--repudiates not only all religious, but also all humanitarian,
strivings directed to the betterment of the existing order.

The second condition also, with the exception of the rendering of the
scenes in which the movement of feelings is expressed, is quite absent
in Shakespeare. He does not grasp the natural character of the positions
of his personages, nor the language of the persons represented, nor the
feeling of measure without which no work can be artistic.

The third and most important condition, sincerity, is completely absent
in all Shakespeare's works. In all of them one sees intentional
artifice; one sees that he is not _in earnest_, but that he is playing
with words.

VII

Shakespeare's works do not satisfy the demands of all art, and, besides
this, their tendency is of the lowest and most immoral. What then
signifies the great fame these works have enjoyed for more than a
hundred years?

Many times during my life I have had occasion to argue about Shakespeare
with his admirers, not only with people little sensitive to poetry, but
with those who keenly felt poetic beauty, such as Turgenef, Fet,[3] and
others, and every time I encountered one and the same attitude toward my
objection to the praises of Shakespeare. I was not refuted when I
pointed out Shakespeare's defects; they only condoled with me for my
want of comprehension, and urged upon me the necessity of recognizing
the extraordinary supernatural grandeur of Shakespeare, and they did not
explain to me in what the beauties of Shakespe