MONDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1967
THE VOICE
PAGE 3
fj _i *rendell brown
;; [Mj a/(Xv
' V *barry williams
TOYLING AND MOYLING
Charles Lamb used the term “Utopia of Gallantry”
to defend Restoration Comedy, in his essay, “The
Artificial Comedy of the Last Century.” In it. Lamb
sought to deny the relevance of moral standard to Res
toration comedy, L.C. Knights has stated the most
persuasive case in our time, against Restoration Comedy
in his essay, "Restoration Comedy; The Reality, and
The Mytho” Unlike most critics of Restoration Comedy,
Knights does not state morality as its central fault,
but claims, that since the comedy of the era had
no significant relation with the best thought of the time,
its degrading element was more an intellectual one—
that it was trivial, gross and dulL
Jeremy Collier, in his “A Short View of The Pro
faneness and Immorality of the English Stage,” launch
ed the original change of immorality in the works of
great Restoration writers of comedy, Etherege, Wy
cherley and Congreve, a stand taken by most of the
critics every since. Lamb being the most notable ex
ception, offering an attractive, but unsatisfaciory de
fense that the morality of everyday life nas no place
in such comedy.
For the reader to understand why the immorality
argument began and yet persists, he need read at least
one play of the authors cited above; afterwards, he
would perhaps ponder if the present day “hippies”
are really ‘hipped,” compared with the Restoration
Gallant, whether those heroes were licentious asMacay-
lay called them, or whether they exhibited freedom of
manners as Lamb described them.
Restoration comedy has two main interests- ihe be
havior of the polite and of pretenders to politeness
and some aspects of sexual relationships.
It is very much concerned with attempts to ration
alize sexual relationships and a kind of sex-antago-
nism of love spots or bouts, lie at bottom of almost
every comedy. Two of the main themes found within
this core are that constancy in marriage is a bore
and that marriage acts as an impediment to love. An
endless list of characters, from Do rim any in Etherege’s
Man of Mode, to Mirabel in Congreve’s The Way of
The Worldf display these notions over and over again.
Space will not allow comment on that endless list,
but the reader may grasp this notion from what is
sometimes called the most charming scene in Res
toration Comedy. The famous China Closet scene in John
Wycherlye’s third play. The Countrv Wife, the first
of the great Restoration comedies.
Pinch-wife, an aging, conceited rake , has married
a naive, simple country girl, in hopes that her ig
norance (and hence, he says her innocence) will keep her
faithful to him, but things don’t work out that way.
Pinch-wife’s constant references to cuckolding plant
the idea in his rakish, friends’ minds: moreover,
every step that Pinch-wife takes to prevent being
cuckolded seems to bring him closer to it—with a
little help from Margery, his wife, and Horner, the
rake he is most worried about. The country wife, how-
2ver, knows what she wants, and Horner, using im
potence as a ruse and Lady Fidget for practice, works
steadily toward cuckolding Pinch-wife. Lady Fidget is
interrupted in Horner’s closet and enters the room
apologizing, “I have been toyling and moyling, for the
prettiest piece of China, My Dear.” The lady who
interrupted and who is also in on Horner’s ruse, asks
if she can have some China too, and Horner replies:
"This lady had the last there.” Later, he tells Lady
Fidget’s friend: “I can’t make China for you all,”
The scene typified the accent on inconstancy through
the art of cuckoldry. The love chase and subsequent
bouts animated with wit, first seen in As_Yo.u Like
It, in Beatrice and Benedict, reach the height of per
fection in Congreve’s The Wav of The World in Mira
bel and Millimant.
While Resoration Comedy depicted, in great measure,
the reality of the time, influenced mainly by the court
of Charles II, the serious drama of the time was a
king of escapism to the nobel savage and Grecian and
Roman tales of action. Dryden’s Conquest of Granada
and All For Love clearly show serious drama’s flight
from the reality of the times.
Curtain Call: Hector McEachern as Eloyt Chase, and
Barbara Myrick, in an especially strong performance
as Amanda Chase Prynce, excited FSC stage lovers
in Noel Coward’s Private Lives. The comedy was a
November Drama Guild success.
risoouRNEn
I "or Easy Release" |
I hear a voice. A voice I cannot touch. I hear The
Voice on radio, TV, signs, newspapers, magazines,and
books. It’s like ghost. The Voice is inescapable. I
and every black man lives with the Voice every day.
When I open a Look or Life magazine there’s the Voice.
Always hanging over me. When I look at TV there’s
the Voice in its material form as I predicted, a thostly
form.
There’s a mute in the air. I see them on TV, and
hear them on radio. I hear them but they are as silent
as a pitch dark night. Don’t get me wrong they have a
voice, an artificial voice, that inescapable white voice
penetrating them.
For your information the first black president will
be elected in the ’72 Presidental election, predicts
Mahammad Shabazz. During the black president’s term
in office a war between whites and blacks will occur.
As a result of this a 1973 Compromise will develop.
It will call for an appropriation of fertile land and fin
ancial assistance to the blacks. And as a consequent
of this division a Communistic take-over of this nation
will occur in 1975.
A Christmas Prayer
Rendell Brown
JACQUELYN V.
WHITFIELD
EXCELLENCE
Jacquelyn Vandaliah
Witfield, a native of St.
Albans, New York, has
been selected as Miss Al
pha Phi Alpha Fraternity
of the Epsilin Zeta Chap
ter, for the year 1967-68,
This vivacious young lady
is quite versatile in her
college career. She is a
senior, majoring in Math
ematics and minoring in
Spanish and Physics. She
is affiliated with the fol
lowing organizations: (1)
president of Alpha Kappa
Phi, (2) secretary of Beta
Kappa Chi, (3) Mathemat
ics CJub, (4) Educational
Policies and Curriculum
Committee, (5) Alpha
Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc.
and (6) Chess Club. She
adds to her versatility
with the following awards;
(1) the award for the top
ranking Junior student
1966-67, (2) theawardfor
the top ranking Student in
Mathematics 1966-67 and
(3) the oral communica-
tion award.
Negro
(Continued From Page 2)
ing to death, the funeral
pile dies, the day of death.
I would think that a Ne
gro is a dead person read
ing that.
In the same dictionary,
in the English half, I look
ed up the word negro. It
gave the Latin words
‘Aethips” and “Afri.”
Aethiop is defined as
“Black man” while Afri
is defined as “the dwell
ers in Africa.” From this
we would be or should be
called Black people or
Afro-Americans.
My last bit of research
was done in the Oxford
English Dictionary, which
is the largest. Negro was
this ti’^e defined as (1)
an individual (esp, a male)
belonging to the African
race of mankind. Why do
they add in their entries
“especially a male?” Are
so-called negro females
called something else a-
gain?
Well that is the mud
dled picture from the ref
erence book point of view.
Looking at it realistically
though, we find that the
Black man in this coun
try has been robbed and
robbed well of his iden
tity, so much so that he
can be called by a name
(Negro) which does not
mean anything at all. If
the human rights’ strug
gle is to be an effective
one, the Black man of Af
ro-Americans, must as
sume an identity which
ties in his past heritage
with his present, and the
word “Negro” will not do
it, because it is not look
ed upon around the world
as the name of a race
of people but as a nation
alism, its use should
be discontinued and in its
place, another word such
as Afro-Americans or
Black man should be used.
If the Black man in
this country is ever real
ly to gain from the hu
man rights’ struggle, he
must unify and the most
common bond between
Blacks is, as LeRoi
Jones* might put it, “Him
Black Self.” Negro, a
word which came about
through the early slave
trade, must be cast a-
way as the chains of that
reprehensible slavery
period were cast away,
so that the Black man
can move on to a more
truthful and meaningful
freedom,
Bernard Pearson
*LeRoi Jones is a Black
playwright and poet and
writer in residence at
San Francisco State Col
lege.
Child: “Are you rich.
Mom?” Mother; “Not
in money. But who would
ask for anything more
than three wonderful chil
dren?” Child: “Bobby
Kennedy?”
Dear God,
At a time when man
shows no regard for you
and your benevolence and
has begun to take the
miracles and dolances of
your kingdom as mere
occurences, let me take
time out to say thank you
and to beg you for your
forgiveness of all man
kind. As Jesus asked for
his slayers at calvary, I
ask for us, the peoples
of the world, forgive us
for we know not what we
do.
Then God, if I were
given my choice of gifts
for Christmas, my choice
would be a simple one.
I would ask for an epi
demic — an international
epidemic of love. I would
ask that you strike at the
very core of every man’s
heart, instilling in us the
desire to love our neigh
bors as ourselves. I would
pray that from the heart
of every bigot and preju
diced individual, a desire
to be his brother’s keep
er would spring forth. I
would also pray that the
from high atop a love al
ter, men might yell “love
power” and the pacifist
attitude of the flower peo
ple might be replaced by
an activist attitude and
diseminated throughout
the entire world. Then
God, may all the joys and
treasures of education in
this and every institution
of higher leaning aid, as
in moving closer to you
by learning to appreciate
and love the beauty with
which you have encom
passed us.
This will make but a
small Christmas gift, but
if everyone opens his
shiny gift and his heart
on the day of your son’s
birth, I am certain that
this Christmas will be
more than just a day of
gift exchanging. It will be
a day that every man, in
every country, and in ev
ery language will raise
his voice in a prayer con
fessing his love for you
and all mankind.
/ KNEW
I knew all about life
At an early age
I had hope to tell others
How to live.
But they thought
Me a social transgressor
And-their-guilt-ridden
minds
Would not allow my
Rationality into their hearts
And heads —
I wanted others to be ha^py
That is why I am sad.
Pearson