THE DRAMATIC WORKS OF JOHN GALSWORTHY BY THOMAS CARLTON UPHAM B. S. Massachusetts Agricultural College, 1916. THESIS Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS IN ENGLISH IN THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 1918 ^3 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS THE GRADUATE SCHOOL -±±J. 19liT I HEREBY RECOMMEND THAT THE THESIS PREPARED UNDER MY SUPERVISION RY T^/u^m C^^^ l^M^ 7> ENTITLED -- ^<^A : ^jnjk^ ^7 C/dJa*iA/h BE ACCEPTED AS FULFILLING THIS PART OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF ^7 £>L^L In vharge of The Head of Department Recommendation concurred in* Committee on Final Examination* Required for doctor'6 degree but not for master's UiUC CONTENTS CHAPTERS PAGE I. Introduction; Life and Development as an Author 1 II. Synopses and Production of the Plays 9 III. Galsworthy's Philosophy of Life 56 IV. Literary Art of the Dramas 84 V. Dramatic Technique of the Dramas 112 VI. Relationships and Conclusion 141 BIBLIOGRAPHY Part I. Chronological List of John Galsworthy's Works 150 Part II. Books of Criticism in which Galsworthy is Considered 152 Part III. Critical Matter of Importance in Periodicals 154 Part IV. Other Periodical Criticism and Articles by Galsworthy 156 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 http://archive.org/details/dramaticworksofjOOupha . 1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION; LIFE AND DEVELOPMENT AS AN AUTHOR The object in the present study of the dramatic works of John Galsworthy has been to see as clearly and as fairly as Mr. Galsworthy himself, who weighs everything and tries to be sensitive in impres- sion and expression. Barrett H. Clark says: "Galsworthy is so sensi- tive that he perhaps over-estimates the sensitiveness of his audi- ence. rt ^ Elsewhere^ it is asserted that his impartiality has become self—conscious . Whether this is wholly true or not, it is evident that the fairness and the sensitiveness of Mr. Galsworthy should be the ideals of the present writer. Though this work is in no sense a biography, it seems most fit- ting at the outset to present at least a brief sketch of Galsworthy the man, the novelist and the satirist. To some he is known as the au- thor of Strife and of the markedly popular recent novels Beyond and The Freelands . To others he is the thoughtful writer of several vol- umes of keen satirical sketches, —brief, bitter, pungent and piquant. By all who read the publications of the day he is recognized as an in- 1 British American . and Drama oX To-day ; p 129 2 P. P. Howe: Dramatic Portraits; p. 241. 2 terpreter of modernity. Edwin Bjorkman in an interesting discussion calls Galsworthy one of the great interpreters of modern life.^ John Galsworthy, —novelist, satirist, poet, dramatist, friend of mankind and enemy of society—was born in Coombe, Surrey, England August 14, 1867. The few facts of his early life are sufficient to show that he, like Milton, studied and browsed among his books until he was close to middle life. He did not write until he was ready; when he was ready the words flowed freely and well. He was educated at the famous preparatory school at Harrow and at the University of Oxford, where he devoted himself more or less earnestly to preparation for the bar. It was his native keenness, how- ever, rather than any especial assiduity which later gained for him honors in law. He was called to the bar in 1890 but his practice thereafter was slight and unsatisfactory, and he soon abandoned it. Fortunately for him his family was able and willing to provide him with the means for extensive travel and unlimited education. Thus in reading, study and travel he passed the years up to 1897. During this time (and in the years since) he visited the United States and Canada, Egypt, the Cape of Good Hope, Russia, all central Europe, Australia and the Fiji Islands. No matter where he has been his heart has always turned back to England, —not to the Surrey of his birth, but to the pleasant southwestern district of Devon, to which his home and interests were transferred early in life. Thus we find one critic writing that "his roots are English" and that "though born in Surrey, he is a Devon man." This fact is important, because 1 Galsworthy ; an Interpreter of Modernity ; Review of Reviews; May 1911, 43:634-636. 2 Sheila Kaye-Smith : John Galsworthy ; p. 15. h 3 in his writings the settings, the characters, and, to some extent, the dialogue show the atmosphere of Devon. The few scenes laid out- 1 2 3 4 p side this district are in Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Scotland^ 6 7 8 the Tyrol and elsewhere in Austria, America and South Africa. In so prolific and varied a writer as Galsworthy these exceptions are in- significant. Galsworthy has set Devon most sharply before his readers in A Man of Devon, in The Patrician , in many of the Moods , Songs and g Doggerels and in several of the sketches, like Riding in Mist . Even more in A Bit oj Love , the most recent of the ten long plays, the au- r thor charms all readers and hearers with the Devon dialect . Galswc - thy, then, by his travels has widened his outlook and deepened his in- sight, but he has not allowed himself to write concerning those . things he knows little of. By the year 1897 Galsworthy had passed the formative period of his life. Now at the age of thirty he was preparing to write. The first period of his labors as a creative artist may be said to extend to 1904. During these seven years he contributed magy short articles 10 to various periodicals of the British Isles. His style at once made him welcome if his satirical and sober manner did not make him popular, During these years also he put forth his first novels, but he was as yet only a beginner. He had made no stir. The principal productions to 1 A Knight in Villa Rube in and Other Stories ; The Dark Flower ; Wind in the Rocks and The Inn of Tranquillity in The Inn of Tranquillity . 2 Beyond . 3 Ibid. 4 The Salvation of a Forsyt 6 in Villa Rube in and Other Stories 5 Beyond . 3 Villa Rube in ; The Little Dream ; The Little Man . 7 That Old Time Place in Tfre Inn of Tranquillity ; The Silence in Villa Rube in and Other Stories . 3 A 'Voman in A Motley . 9 In The Inn of Tranquillity; pp. 47-53. [10 Albany Review, New Age, Nation, English Review, Speaker, Qutlook t etc 4 1904 were From the Four Winds (stories), A Man of Devon (and other sto- ries), Villa Rubein, Jocelyn and The Island Pharisees . After 1904 Galsworthy's social interests broadened more rapid- ly, his insight grew more profound and his power increased. The perioc of the great novels from 1904 to 1911 was notable for the production of th% Man of Property , The Country House , Fraternity and The Patri- cian .. These with The Freelands of a later date are considered to be, thus far, the masterpieces of the novelist. In 1906 Galsworthy began to write for the stage, and in the first four years he gave to the world The Silver Box , Joy , Strife and . Justice The Eldest Son and The Little Dream , written before Justice , appeared later. With the exception of Joy this group of plays deals with broad social questions. It will be seen in an ensuing chapter that Joy considers just as broad a question of a different kind. By this time Galsworthy had found himself. As early as 1900, however, he had said: "A man's no good, if he's always thinking of what others think; a man must stand on his own legs." 1 For Galsworthy finding himself meant an increase in the vigor of his style and a greats er penetration into the problems of modern society, modern business and modern life. He did not attempt, however, to answer problems but to propound them. In 1909 he wrote: "And when, Sirs, this pale flame has- sprung into the air swaying to every wind, it brings vision to the human eye. And, if it be charged on this old man Cethan that he and his lanthorn by reason of their showing not only the good but the evil bring no pleasure into the world, I ask, Sirs, what in the world is so dear as this power to see—whether it be the beautiful or the foul 1 Villa Rubein ; p. 98. 5 1 that is disclosed?" Speaking again of the novelist as lanthorn bear- er, he wrote: "He v/as dead. And the Prince touched him, saying: 'Fare- well, old manl The lanthorn is still alight. Go, fetch me another one, 1 " 2 and let him carry it I Thus when one lighter of dark corners passes on, another is found to take his place. Galsworthy himself at this time felt that he too was carrying a lanthorn. Galsworthy's descriptive power also increased as his art devel- oped; yet even in the first year of the century he held the attention of the thoughtful reader with such a statement as this: "In the night the spiders had spun over the grass a sea of threads that bent and quivered to the air like fairy tight-ropes . "^ This power had reached its height in 1910, and with it had come greater expression of inter- est in all dumb animals. Later I shall have occasion to speak of the many pages Galsworthy devotes to his sympathy for and with every liv- ing creature.