that, thanks to this equality now preached, everything may pass into violence, and violence into arbitrary acts and thence into unchecked passion which will rend the world as the wolf does its prey, and in the end the world will swallow itself up. Even if this does not happen with mankind when it attains equality—if the love of nations and eternal peace prove not to be that impossible "nothing," as Alonso expressed it in "The Tempest"—but if, on the contrary, the actual attainment of aspirations toward equality is possible, then the poet would deem that the old age and extinction of the world had approached, and that, therefore, for active individuals, it is not worth while to live (pp. 571, 572).
Such is Shakespeare's view of life as demonstrated by his greatest exponent and admirer. Another of the most modern admirers of Shakespeare, George Brandes, further sets forth:[1]
"No one, of course, can conserve his life quite pure from evil, rom deceit, and from the injury of others, but evil and deceit are not
- ↑ "Shakespeare and His Writings," by George Brandes.
