^ . . \ m, " 1 W^ DATE DUE I^ESErtVE FALL Z aHw^SfciSj^ i. THE T. F. ( Professor of the Romar 1 ^,^-^'^.3,^ ^, 198^ The Charafter of Viftor Hugo's ''Ruy Bias" JAMES D. BRUNER, Ph.D. Professor in the Uni'versity of North Carolha Cornell University Library PQ 2289.R8B89 Character of Victor Hugo;?. . IRuy.Blas;;,, /„ , 3 1 924 027 302 854 THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF SEWANEE TENNESSEE WW Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924027302854 The Charafter of Viftor Hugo's "Ruy Bias" By JAMES D. BRUNER, Ph.D. Professor in the Uni'versity of North Carolina Reprinted from The Sewanee Review for July, 1906 THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF SEWANEE TENNESSEE THE CHARACTER OF VICTOR HUGO'S "RUY BLAS." The character of Ruy Bias is one difficult of interpretation.' To many critics the brilliant, ambitious lackey-minister seems as puzzling as the young, dreamy Danish prince was to the court at Elsinore. Doumic says he is entirely too silly. Brunetiere considers his conduct at times as improbable and inexplicable. Marzials goes so far as to "express disbelief in him altogether." A careful analysis of the character of Ruy Bias,' the details of which are given in the subsequent paragraphs of this paper, re- veals the fact that he is withal a \\Q.ro par excellence of the roman- tic ideals in literature. Before proceeding to this analysis, it is only fair to the auth^ or to allow him to state his own purpose in creating such a char- acter. In his preface to "Ruy Bias," Hugo declares that the hero represents the struggling and aspiring people who have the future but not the present. The people for whom Ruy Bias stands are orphans, poor, intelligent, and strong; placed very low, and aspiring very high; having upon their backs the marks of servitude and in their hearts the premeditations of genjus. Ruy Bias is, therefore, to be considered as the symbol of a rising people struggling towards the light, and the type of an ambi- tious, longing, dreamy parvenu. Hugo's method of portraying a dramatic character .is to select a central idea, a logical formula, or a social antithesis, and then make Jiis character conform to this. The wicked Lucrezia Bor- gia has a true mother's heart. Into the deformed, scheming Triboulet he puts the affection of a father. The thoughts and actions of the bandit Hernani are worthy of a king. Gomez, ' For the canons of interpretation to be observed in the study of a dra- matic character, see my articles on " The Characters in Victor Hugo's ' Her- nani,'" in The Sewanee Review for April and October, 1905. The pres- ent article is one of a series of studies in Hugo's method of portraying char- acters. This study of the character of Ruy Bias, which will be perhaps the most exhaustive of all my articles on Hugo's dramatic characters, is almost wholly inductive. 4 The Character of Victor Hugo's "Ruy Bias" who sacrifices even his sweetheart for the sake of his honor, is guilty of a most monstrous act of revenge. Ruy Bias entertains beneath the clothing of a lackey the passions of a king. These social antitheses, inevitably exhibiting many and varied contra- dictory qualities in the same character, partake of the nature of the epic. As in a novel, many individual traits and details, whether important or trivial, essential or accidental, are pre- sented. This exaggerated individualization, assisted by cos- tumes and disguises, leads naturally to a sort of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde dualism. As a consequence, most of Hugo's import- ant dramatic characters must be examined and treated as two men, one representing the inner life or lyricism, the other rep- resenting the outer life or the epic, or the one standing for one sort of a rrian and the other for exactly the opposite. In order, therefore, to interpret intelligently and scientifically one of Hu- go's heroes, these contradictory qualities must be discovered and harmonized. This analysis applied to "Ruy Bias" does not progress very far before we discover that Ruy Bias, the hero, is both a lackey and a minister. His intellectual endowments are strong enough to make him a powerful executive, but his social qualities and moral characteristics weaken his will and make him a dreamer, thereby unfitting him for decisive action in critical moments. Educated in a "college of science and pride" to become a work- man, he ends in becoming a lackey. Instead of developing his intellectual qualities and playing a man's part in the realities of an active life, he grows faint-hearted and spends his time in idle- ness and ignominy. His inaction leads to the forming of a mountain of projects, to the longing for wealth, power, and so- cial position, and finally to social degradation and moral failure. In view of all this, it is easily seen that he is in his natural state when he is a lackey and in a disguised condition when he is a minister; that when he is a lackey he is essentially true to his character as a whole, and that when he is prime minister, though there is still a vestige of the lackey left, he is true, above all, to the intellectual side or an accidental phase of his character. Let us study, in the first place, this intellectual or accidental phase of the character of Ruy Bias. It is hot by his own effort The Character of Victor Hugo's " Ruy Bias" ' 5 but through an external power that he is raised to the height of political power. In this position of a statesman, imposed upon him by his master, his own individuality is not allowed full sway, but he is upheld by the personality of another. As long as his practical powers are sustained by this external force, he appears great and even colossal. As soon, however, as this external power, in the form of the exiled Don Salluste, makes its appear- ance, Ruy Bias's own personality becomes involved, and he la- mentably fails. Like the dove under the powerful and irresist- ible fascination of the serpent, Ruy Bias yields to that unac- countable, infatuating exterior force. Up to the sudden and un- expected appearance of this exiled master, our hero has risen rapidly and displayed remarkable powers as a statesman. The fate of the young dreamer beconies only the more pathetic and tragic when we realize that he is, in his political position, the victim not of society nor of his own character, but of a cold, heartless, intellectual villain. The external power that controls the political rise of Ruy Bias is not limited to the revengeful Marquis of Finlas. While it is true that the latter is the motive force of evil that is pushing him on relentlessly and contrary to the young man's will, there is an opposite motive force of good directing his political career towards the highest office in the gift of the throne. This direct- ing force is none other than the melancholy and lonely queen, who instinctively recognizes the ability of the young man. In- spired by admiration for his genius and love for himself, as well as by the need of a strong and firm hand to guide the nation in its hour of peril, she promotes him rapidly from the position of equerry to that of prime minister. Within the remarkably short period of six months the queen appoints him equerry, universal secretary, and prime minister, decorates him with the golden fleece, and creates him Duke of Olmedo. One of the council- lors, suspecting that some one behind the scenes is mysteriously helping him in the attainment of these honors,^ suggests that ^ This rapid promotion of Ruy Bias is much more unnatural than that of Wallenstein or Claude Melnotte, the former not being of such a low station ' in life as Ruy Bias, and the latter requiring two and one half years to rise to the rank of Colonel in the French Army, where promotion is usually quick. 6 The Character of Victor Hugo's ^^Ruy Bias" his good fortune is due to the queen who rules over him while he rules over them. The queen even goes so far as to tell Ruy Bias that he seems to her to be the real king, the real master, and frankly acknowledges to him that it is she who has m^de him mount by degrees to the summit. "Where God should have placed you," she says, "a woman puts you." While the power of evil is directing him from afar, the power of good is close at hand. Under the immediate influence of this benignant force, Ruy Bias grows in influence and accomplishes splendid achievements ' for his queen. Not until this power is withdrawn and the hostile power reappears, does the new prime minister fall. Moreover, one external power plans only good for him, and the other plots ultimate evil. When the first comes into contact with Ruy Bias's intellectual life, there is a tendency to rise, but when the latter comes into conflict with this intel- lectual life, the personality of the lackey-duke is involved, and the result of this collision is disastrous. As long then as Ruy Bias's assumed character is unknown to one of these external powers, all goes well, but as, soon as he is in the presence of one who penetrates his disguise, there is a collapse. His disguise discovered or thrown off, he is the dreaming, longing lackey; his disguise resumed, he is the intellectual prime minister. So far, then, his success is due, not to his own passions and deeds, but to events and circumstances; not to his own will, but to the will of others. This intensified intellectual and practical phase of the life of Ruy Bias contributes to the inconsistency and im- probability of his character, a notable mark of the Romantic lit- erature of the period, and especially of Victor Hugo, its ablest and most distinguished exponent. Another external force, independent of the master and the queen, is fate. The particular fatality that relentlessly pursues Ruy Bias is his low birth. As long as this social condition remains in the background without taking an active part in in- fluencing and controlling the career of Ruy Bias, his, success is assured ; but as soon as he is in the presence of that external power that is cognizant of his social station, this fatality mani- fests its power and inevitableness. The fate, therefore, of the young aspiring lackey is latent in his past in the form of his low The Character of Victor Hugo's "Ruy Bias" 7 birth, and in his evil genius in the person of the wicked Don Sal- luste ; and it can be averted only in part by the presence of his good angel in the person of the queen. Finally, however, the good in and around him is overcome by the evil, symbolized by his intriguing master and the fatality of his ignoble birth. The intellectual and political history of Ruy Bias, as influ- enced by these three external forces, is clearly traced in the an- tecedent action and in the progress of the rising action of the drama. Like Figaro and Hamlet, he has been to college. In this "college of science and pride," he has been taught a trade; he therefore knows how to do things. He is, furthermore, rep- resented as having many accomplishments. He sings, writes a fine hand, composes verses, is an orator, and has the reputation of being the most accomplished man in Spain. The councillors recognize his ability, declaring that they have a master who will be great, a Richelieu, if not an Olivarez. Like Melnotte and Clavigo, he is a genius who knows everything and can do every- thing. His brilliant and trained mind knows causes and effects, wills, judges, and resolves. The queen tells him that he has a sublime mind in his head, and that genius is his crown. She wonders why he is ignorant of nothing, whence comes his voice that speaks as the voice of kings ought to speak, and why he is as terrible and great as God himself would have been. As a minister he is capable of decisive acts of will, and knows the se- cret of impelling others to such actions as will produce a col- lision of forces. His oratory is impressive and convincing, and his patriotism unbounded. Being a man of genius, his actions are mysterious to those by whom he is surrounded. In the ab- sence of his evil master, his powerful personality is felt by the whole empire, commanding the respect of the councillors and the admiration of the queen. His upright character and strong per- sonality, when his intellectual powers are at their highest, win the pure and romantic love of the queen, evoking from her the remarkable declaration : "I give you my soul. Queen for all, for you I am only a woman." Thus his intellectual qualifications are sufficient; but his moral and social qualities, his character and personality are insufficient to enable him to attain complete and final success. Genius without birth cannot make a minister 8 The Character of Victor Hugo's "Ruy Bias" out of a lackey or a nobleman out of a peasant. There is, thus, according to Hugo's logical formula of social antitheses, an ex- ternal barrier between the upper and lower classes. With him, blood does tell. Furthermore, costume assists in indicating the intellectual and political life of Ruy Bias. It helps to distinguish his social rank and to bring out the antithesis. It is not so much an historical costume as an artistic one, for it is adapted to the character rather than to the epoch. By the use of costume the dominant traits, passions, moods, and particular temperament of a charac- ter may be made known. The appropriate use of costume lends an element of concreteness and individuality to a character. When Don Salluste, for example, introduces Ruy Bias at court, the latter is clothed in a costume befittinig his new station. He puts on a scarf of the latest style, and wears a magniiicent sword, with a splendid hilt of the workmanship of the famous engraver Gil; he also wears a hat. Later, in the recognition scene between him and the queen, Ruy Bias is magnificently clothed, with a mantle falling over his left arm. In the council chamber he is arrayed in black velvet, with a cloak of scarlet velvet, wearing a white feather in his cap and the golden fleece on his neck. These costumes are symbolic, the black indicating seriousness and dignity, the scarlet being em- blematic of his power as prime minister. By means of costume, moreover, Hugo can easily disguise his characters. He not only constantly uses this scenic process, but he frequently abuses it. Rochester, in "Cromwell," is disguis- ed as a Puritan and Ormond as a Round Head. Hernani is dis- guised as a bandit, and on one occasion he employs the melodra- matic device of a double disguise — that of a bandit and a pil- grim. Ruy Bias is disguised as a nobleman. As Franz Moor's conscience could be stretched to suit the occasion, so this dis- guise can be assumed or discarded at will. This changing of the costume to suit the character and the occasion, a device em- ployed so strikingly by Shakespeare, Schiller, and Scott, not to mention other great romantic writers, facilitates the portrayal of concrete complex characters, with all their numerous qualitites, whether consistent or contradictory. It is characteristic, too. The Character of Victor Hugo's "Ruy Bias" 9 rather of comedy than of tragedy, and aids Hugo very materially in illustrating his theory of the mixture of tones in the same composition, and, more particularly, of the mingling of the gro- tesque and the sublime in the same character. In passing from the accidental to the essential, from the as- sumed character to the real character, it will be necessary to note that this element of the intellectual will also form a part of the real and complete personality of Ruy Bias. Like Shakes- peare's women who, disguised as men, preserve their sex-dis- tinguishing characteristics, Ruy Bias, as a lackey, nevertheless possesses to a certain extent that mental quality which had been developed to its highest capacity by means of a certain concen- tration of his innate powers, aided by great crises and external wills. These external forces largely eliminated, he falls back naturally and inevitably upon his own resources both of natural endowments and acquired powers. All of these traits combined form his peculiar individuality, and it is this individuality and personality that determines and controls his actions. The sum of all these traits, attainments, experiences, and deeds, assisted by powerful and striking situations as well as by outward forces and circumstances, forms his real character. This real character of Ruy Bias is seen in its highest and com- pletest form when he is in the presence of both Don Salluste and the queen ; for he is then both lackey and minister. It is on such occasions that he is in possession and command of all his complex powers, faculties, and characteristics. It is at that point, when to the queen he is minister and to her enemy he is lackey, that he kills Don Salluste. He is great when he throws off his disguise and confesses to the queen his treasonable duplic- ity. Then his strength of will, powerful intellect, versatility, quickness and skill are almost as remarkable as those of lago and Don Salluste. Like Corneille's heroes, his will is then un- counquerable. His own will, assisted by the external force of good, can do wonders. When Ruy Bias is in the presence of the queen, his will is able to struggle against his fatality and finally to triumph over it. His will, seconded by love, his good angel, wins over fatality seconded by his evil genius. His sin of will and taint of blood will, it seems, somehow end in good. lo The Character of Victor Hugo's " Ruy Bias'' O, yet we trust that somehow good Will be the final goal of ill, To pangs of nature, sins of will, Defects of doubt, and taints of blood. This real character of Ruy Bias is carefully and even minutely portrayed in the text. We are reminded from time to time that Ruy Bias is intended to be not a mere typical person, with gen- eral and universal characteristics, but a concrete individual, hav- ing certain mental and physical qualities, undergoing certain physical, mental, and emotional experiences, and entertaining a variety of conflicting motives. We are never, for one moment, allowed to forget that he has a body. The introduction of vari- ous little details lends reality to the representation of his physical existence. His dreams, longings, desires, ambitions, deeds, fail- ures and successes are represented to our imagination or pre- sented before our eyes. His genius and accomplishments, his ministerial duties and doings, and his love affairs are equally and unequivocally confided sooner or later to the pub- lic. Though the councillors may wonder at his mysterious actions, and though the queen may not until the very last know the low origin of his birth, yet the spectators know all they could possibly need to know to follow intelligently the work- ings of his mind, his plans and purposes, his motives and deeds, and the successes or failures of his projects. In short, his real character, mental, moral, and physical, with all its traits, contra- dictions, acquisitions, and possibilities is, epically and lyrically, in true romantic fashion, revealed to us in concrete form. I In painting the portrait of Ruy Bias, Hugo indicates his phys- ical qualities. True to his theory of the portrayal of a romantic icharacter, the author provides his hero with a body, giving in detail its individual, material, and exterior traits and features which give particular reality to the character, however complex it may be. By means of numerous local and casual details, scrupulously eliminated by the French classical writers of trag- edy, Hugo gives an exact reproduction of a concrete individual. In the first place, he endows his creations with a certain age, \^ physiognomy, nervous sensibility, and temperament. The eye of Ruy Bias, irritated but without fury, overwhelms the council- i The Character of Victor Hugo's "Ruy Bias" 1 1 lors with flashes, and his voice speaks like that of kings. The queen is charmed by his eyes and captivated by his voice. He and Don Cesar so much resemble each other that they would be taken for brothers; Don Salluste observes that they have the same air and the same visage. When dressed up by Don Sal- luste, Ruy Bias looks like a perfect nobleman. Specific cos-f/ tumes assist in making known his age and physical aspects/ Enough distinctive physical traits are added to distinguish and individualize his character. Instead of idealizing these physi- cal traits, as the classicists insisted should be done in the inter- est of universal, essential truth, jIugo„Qai.efully determines the physiognomy in the interest of a particular reality. Under this canon of romantic dramatic art, Ruy Bias is represented, not as a moral condition, an abstract idea, an ideal figure, or a typical being, but as a concrete, real man, having a particular, individ- ualized body. \ Not only physical qualities but physical experiences emphasize Ruy Bias's physical reality. While the physical characteristics of Ruy Bias are more sparingly given than is usual in the case of Hugo's heroes, the author more than makes up for this pauc- ity of traits by the physical experiences the lackey-minister is made to undergo. The antecedent action contributes definite information as to his early education, aspirations and actions. He himself tells us that he was an orphan, born among the peo- ple, and educated in a college of science and pride. He speaks of that happy time of joy and sorrow when he lived homeless, when he was hungry in the day and cold at night, but when he was free. He and Don Cesar sang together at dawn, and in the evening slept together beneath the star-lit sky. He passed whole days, pensive and idle, before some magnificent palace, watch- ing the duchesses come in and go out. One day, dying of hunger upon the pavement, the thriftless young man picked up a piece of bread where he found it. When he was twenty years old, be- leiving in his genius, the idle dreamer, walking barefooted in the roads, lost himself in meditations upon the lot of humanity. Lately he has been living in Don Salluste's mysterious house, the companion and master of two black mutes. He waits every day in the passage-way to catch a glimpse of the queen, with 12 The Character of Victor Hugo's " Ruy Bias" whom he is in love, and of whom he dreams every night. He gathers German blue-flowers, out of which he makes bouquets, and, like Romeo and Ne'er-Do- Well, he climbs at night over walls and iron-gratings, in order to place these bouquets upon a bench in the park where the queen can get them. As we pass, however, from the antecedent action to the action proper of the drama, these various details, marking his actual phyiscal experiences, become, of course, much more numerous. The aspiring lackey continues to provide the queen with flowers, even daring to accompany one of his bouquets with a letter. In the course of the action he is represented as wearing and chang- ing various articles of dress, standing with head uncovered, shak- ing hands, bowing, addressing the councillors, writing and sign- ing letters, closing the door, opening a window, falling upon a chair, cutting his hand, carrying messages, trembling, tottering, swooning, picking up and kissing a piece of lace, crossing his arms, kneeling to the queen, raising his eyes to heaven, locking a door, walking with great strides up and down the room, pray- ing in a church, drawing a phial from his bosom, weeping, hid- ing his head in his hands, reading a letter by the light of a lamp, taking the queen by the hands or holding her in his arms, seiz- ing the sword of Don Salluste, pushing him into a closet, killing the revengful, heartless villain, and finally dying. Thus we have represented, not to our imagination simply, but almost wholly before our very eyes, the hero's physical attitudes, emotions, and actions. In this way romantic drama emphasizes the drama of life at the expense of the drama of conscience, the physiological at the expense of the psychological. While the classical dramatist presents the inner life of its heroes, rather than the outer life, romantic drama emphasizes the outer rather than the inner. Instead of selecting a few general traits and experiences, the romantic dramatist gives a multiplicity of de- tails, many of them necessarily trivial. He endows his hero not with a few essential qualities but with a number of accidental characteristics. A premium and an emphasis are thus placed upon the commonplace, the trivial, and the insignificant. Ruy Bias is thereby presented not as an abstract idea but as a con- crete reality. He stands not for the nobility, but for the people, The Character of Victor Hugo's "Ruy Bias" 13 the masses, and in order to symbolize the people, it was neces- sary to make him a complex, concrete being. Ruy Bias is furthermore endowed with certain distinguishing mental, moral, and social qualities, certain individualizing emo- tions and passions, and is made to undergo various mental expe- riences. He has a fine mind, but when the influence of his good angel is withdrawn he suffers from a weak will. Being a man ' of genius he indulges in day-dreaming, building a mountain of projects, and longing to do great things. As a minister, he is able, brilliant, eloquent, great, powerful, practical, sagacious, firm, courageous, patriotic, hopeful, honest, upright, intoxicated with power, and self-sufficient. As a lover, he is true, loyal, sincere, considerate, proud, passionate, jealous, fascinated, mel- ancholy, despondent, suffering, despairing, and mad. As a lackey, or rather perhaps as a man, he is all these and more, with the exception, as pointed out above, that, as a minister, his in- tellectual qualities are emphasized and intensified by his pecul- iar environment. The lackey is represented, more or less fully, in the text as respectful, obedient, faithful, discreet, cautious, timorous, sensitive, ambitious, longing, dreaming, purposeless, given to revery, morbid, religious, sentimental, poetical, diffi- dent, disconcerted, hopeless, fearless, fatal, patient, good, hon- orable, inexorable, and infatuated. As a man, Ruy Bias posses- ses, however paradoxical the statement may seem, all these qual- ities, which are now to be brought into harmony with one another. Possessed of these various qualities and faculties, animated by these numerous emotions and passions, and actuated by these conflicting motives, Ruy Bias, like Hernani, symbolizes the modern complex man. A hero, incarnating such a multiplicity of contradictory powers, passions, and motives, cannot help en- gaging in many struggles, both inward and outward. His own will is in unremitting conflict with itself, and constantly meet- ing with active and determined opposition and persecution from without. His character is being continuously molded and de- veloped by circumstances, by obstacles seemingly insurmount- able, by superior external forces, by a relentless fatality, and by his own acts, thoughts, and aspirations. His fate is thus deter- 14 The Character of Victor Hugo's "Ruy Bias" mined both by his own deeds, errors, and weaknesses, and by external powers over which' he has no control. Artistically, his fall, latent in his deeds, whether crimes or mistakes, and in his environment, is inevitable and indispensable. Ruy Bias, like many of Hugo's other characters, is endowed with contradictory qualities and actuated by discordant motives. His inconsistent actions are presented, explained, and harmon- ized in various ways. In the first place, while most dramatic writers represent characters serving as foils to each other, Hugo enlarges the field of the art of characterization by making a character serve as a foil to himself, [instead of representing the classical simplicity of character and singleness of motive, neces- sitated by the narrow rules of time, place, and action, which limit the classical dramatist to one mood or one crisis, Hugo extends the time and place indefinitely so as to include many moods and many crises. By this means the development of character, a variety of emotions, passions, and qualities, and a number of important events and great crises can be exhibited without violating probability or naturalness. This question of probability or naturalness of an action does not, however, trouble ■ Hugo, whose violent and improbable mixture of dissimilar ele- ments in the same drama and antithetical traits in the same character has become a commonplace of Hugo criticism. Another method of presenting apparently irreconcilable qual- ities and actions is to employ the comic and melodramatic device of disguises. Opposed to a hero's real character is his assumed character, and this assumed character is indictated by a disguise of some sort. While lago is two-faced and Tartuffe is a hypo- crite, Ruy Bias, like Hernani, shows his double character by means of costumes. Shakespeare's Edgar and Hamlet assume the disguise of madness. Nor is this idea of a double role con- fined to the moderns, for the Zeus of .^schylus and the Admetus of Euripides, among others, exhibited inconsistent phases of character. Furthermore, Hugo, like Scott, often emphasizes this element of antithesis in another and a striking manner : he employs the device of allowing a character to lay fantastic stress upon one virtue or passion or motive at the expense of others. Gomez, The Character of Victor Hugo's "Ruy Bias" 15 for example, engages in a great struggle between love and honor, in which the latter wins; but later vengeance triumphs over honor. Rather than violate his oath, Hernani would say, with Brian de Bois Gilbert in "Ivanhoe:" " Many a law, many a com- mandment have I broken, but my word never." Don Cesar, the friend and companion of Ruy Bias, is guilty of innumerable crimes against the state, the church, and humanity, but all Don Salluste's persuasion, threats and bribes cannot induce him to assist the villain in wreaking vengeance upon a weak and help- less woman. Like the Corsair, the names of many of Hugo's characters are Linked with one virtue, and a thousand crimes. It is in this fantastic way, that Hugo makes a character serve as a foil to himself, and display characteristics and motives that are absolutely incongruous and contradictory. This manner of por- traying a character, which has been facetiously called antithesis raised to the second degree, is a striking illustration of Hugo's theory of the mingling of the sublime and the grotesque in art. The author is, so to speak, "consistently inconsistent." Hugo is not the only writer of modern times who ascribes con- tradictory qualities to the same character. No less a dramatist than Shakespeare deigns to present a man — homo et vir — with his manifold qualities, many of them being opposite or inconsis- tent. Opposite qualities and incompatible moral forces are care- fully blended in his Henry V, Coriolanus, and Angelo. In a most impressive manner the character of Julius Caesar is made to appear as possessed of the most noble and sublime endow- ments, as well as of low and trivial traits. The character of Brutus illustrates how it takes a combination of dissimilar quali- ties to make a man : His life was gentle; and the elements So mixed in him that Nature might stand up And say to all the world " This was a man !" The contradictions are thus completely and artistically harmon- ized. This element of medisevalism is exemplified, also, in the early 1 6 The Character of Victor Hugo's " Ruy Bias" dramas of Schiller and in one or two of Goethe's plays. The Robber Moor gives his money to orphans and supports promis- ing young men at college. Goethe's Goetz von Berlichingen and Faust have "two souls in their breast" which are engaged in constant warfare with each other. Later, also, German Roman- ticism is full of "reduplication of selves." In English romanticism, Scott and Byron are particularly re- markable for their portrayal of characters posssessing contradic- tory qualities, the characters of the former being revealed by their outward actions and those of the latter by their inward con- flicts. The deformed and eccentric Meg Merrilies, the "harlot, thief, witch, and gipsy," is noted for her virtuous deeds. Ma- caulay, in his essay on Byron, speaks of certain characters of Byron, like Manfred and Sardanapalus, as having contradictory qualities, as being exhibited in a sharp antithetical way, as hav- ing ascribed to them as many contradictory qualities as possible, as being made up of startling contrasts, disgusting inconsisten- cies, and grotesque, monstrous traits. One of the first characteristics of Ruy Bias that strikes our attention is his ambition. Like Melnotte, his prototype, he had in his early youth he knew not what ambition. Without the spur, however, of external powers such as the planning of Don Salluste and the love of the queen, his ambition becomes that of a chimerical declasse. With the help of these forces his ambi- tion knows no reasonable bounds. His ambition is not such as to make him say with Macbeth : I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, but rather he could say to himself. What thou wouldst highly, that wouldst thou holily. Nor is his ambition personal, like that of Macbeth ; nor is it re- gardless of the public welfare, like that of Hotspur. Like Lady Macbeth, he thinks only of the interest of his lover, or, like Bru- tus, of his country ; and like Hamlet, he feels that the world is out of joint, and that he was born to set it right; but also, as in the case of the Danish prince, he finds that evil is too cunning, The Character of Victor Hugo's "Ruy Bias" 17 too strong for him. He pitied the misfortunes of Spain, and believed that the world needed him ; but in himself he was not equal to the task of a statesman or a reformer. His ambition has been fitly called the ambition of equality, making him rise to the height of the queen or causing her to fall to his own level. By the side of this definite, active ambition of Ruy Bias is an indefinite, passive ambition, characterized by a certain vague longing to do something or to be somebody. While at college, he became a dreamer instead of a workman. He passed his days and nights in fruitless meditations upon the lot of human beings, in cherishing an indescribable, indefinite ambition in his heart, in building air-castles, in entertaining fond but unavailing hopes, and in fostering a belief in his genius. This idealist, dreaming the dreams of youth, indulging in vain speculations, proposing to himself tasks to which he is unequal, dreaming of the impos- sible and the unattainable, yearning for something just beyond his reach, spends his time in that morbid reflection which leads to inaction and failure. Whatever resolution he may form is "sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought." His academic and philosophical mind, when suddenly brought into contact with the strenuous world of action, wastes too much precious time in "thinking too precisely on the event." Naturally there is only one destiny for such impractical longings, and that is practical failure. Such men as Hamlet, Lorenzo, Brutus, Posa, Karl Moor, Wallenstein, Parzival, Werther, Rene, Manfred, Hernani, and Ruy Bias, however high-minded, cultivated, and well-intentioned they may be, are looked upon by practical men as visionary, impractical, ingenuous, unbalanced, and devoid of common sense. ,Such dreamers, while, as in the case of Ruy Bias, they often attain almost the topmost round of fortune's ladder, suffer event- ually ignominious failures. Like Moses, they get in sight of the promised land, but they are unable to reach the final goal for which they have longed and yearned. Their impractical long- ings are unrealized, their idealistic dreams are shattered, and their splendid air-castles have toppled to ruin. The somnambu- list Ruy Bias wakes too late from his dreams, and then he real- izes that he has been only a dreamer. He learns too late that i8 The Character of Victor Hugo's " Ruy Bias" "life is real, life is earnest." As a result, partly of this dream- iness, Ruy Bias neglects to anticipate the return of his master, and wanders aimlessly through the town, instead of taking vig- orous measures against the villain. His ultimate fall is due, therefore, not to crime but to weakness, and this weakness is his dreamy, imaginative nature, the idleness and indolence of genius, a sort of dolcefar niente. Like Waverley, Ruy Bias is rather a creature of imagination than of reason. This mystic yearning of Ruy Bias is likewise characteristic of romanticism. He is one of those idle dreamers who are often daring enough to gather flowers from Alpine heights or pluck them from the brink of some abrupt declivity or impending prec- ipice. The more insignificant, indefinite, and difficult of at- tainment the object of their longing desires, the greater the en- deavor to obtain it. Their longing is of the blue-flower type, that mysterious something as distant and of as vague a color as the sky itself. Somehow or other they have intimations or catch glimpses of the unattainable objects of their pining, long before they assume definite shape in their mind or appear visible to the nakecl eye. They are never quite sure as to whether these ob- jects are material or spiritual. They do not know whether they are to be discovered finally in the sky, on the sea, in the desert, or in the solitude of woods or caves. Their minds are so filled with hazy, dim, mysterious aspirations, that they cannot deter- mine whether their ideal happiness or perfect bliss is to be en- joyed in this world or in the world to come. The desires of these romantic, longing souls are often pur- poseless, unutterable, and insatiable. As a consequence of this day-dreaming, these seekers after ideal and unattainable happi- ness become restless, discontented, vacillating, languishing, moody, incapable of action, aimless wanderers, and victims of the maladie du siecle. To them that purpose which leads to ac- tivity is absurd. To Lucinda, industry and utility are the "angels of death with the flaming swords, who stand in the way of man's return to Paradise." They cannot think of following a calling .or adopting a profession. They cannot endure the exer- tion or the restraint of forming useful purposes or industrious habits. Ne'er-Do- Well is a vagrant idler, who lies under the The Character of Victor Hugo's "Ruy Bias" 19 trees, playing his zither, or holds some insignificant post obtained under the influence of his lady. Manfred delights in wandering alone in the wilderness or upon the mountain tops, in gazing up- on the torrent or the stars, and in listening to the sighing of the Autumn winds. Ruy Bias, who passed his youth in idleness and longing, asked himself the question, "why work?" Such dreamers are often men of genius, not subject to the laws of or- dinary men. To them fortune comes as in a night, only to for- sake them in as brief a time. They sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. And yet the greatest achievements and discoveries of mankind have been accomplished by men of restless longings and insatiable desires. The pathway of history and literature is strewn with just such wrecks. Nations and individuals have alike failed to realize completely their hightest ambitions, deepest longings, and nob- lest aspirations. The Hebrews sought the promised land, and the Christians saw visions of the new Jerusalem. The old Greeks were constantly indulging in vague dreams about happy lands out beyond their reach, or of far off golden fleeces. Med- iaeval peoples explored the seas, trying to find the happy isles, made crusades to redeem and restore the eternal city, went in quest of the Holy Grail, and wandered over land and sea in search of Utopias and beautiful paradises. Hamlet was filled with desires and speculations, but was impotent to accomplish his noble purposes. The hero in Klinger's Sturm und Drang, who had an "indefinite craving for boundless activity," became a day-laborer, in order to be something. The restless Rousseau, tormented by a thousand aimless and insatiable desires, was thor- oughly discontented with himself and his surroundings. The unhappy wandering Rene, dissatisfied with life and incapable of resolute, definite action, failed to accomplish his most ardent wishes. Many of the heroes of Byron, another restless, discon- tented spirit, were incapable of forming any definite plan of ac- tion or of satisfying any of their passionate yearnings. These romantic heroes, because of their aspirations which remain al- ways indefinite and incompletely fulfilled, have been fitly com- pared to a Gothic cathedral. Even Tennyson, inspired by the Christian injunction, "Be ye perfect even as your Father in 20 The Character of Victor Hugo's "Ruy Bias" Heaven is perfect," would have the Unattainable shadowed forth, would have man rise step by step to higher things, scale the mighty stair Whose landing place is wrapped about with clouds Of glory of Heaven, ascend the vast altar-stairs That slope through darkness up to God, and keep before the mind that far-off divine event, To which the whole creation moves. On the way, however, to this ultimate perfection and this dis- tant consummation there are necessarily countless wrecks. James D. Bruner. The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.