Pictorial Shakespeare, 1880-1890 - eTheses Repository - University ...

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chosen attempt; that the rtificiality of the
"double" an-ango^cnt inthe last act was not
painfully apparent or hi jhly illusion.-, ry [sic]
in -roatly to her credit, and we would easily"
forgive greater flaws tlian any which were arn-
; r:\p-t in her performance for the sake of Hermione's
superb reception of the news of the death of her
little &oa...for the delightful naivete"of her
Pe-.-Oitci. ..and for the picture of sublime beauty
at the end of the play, when the seemingly sculptured
Hermione noves slowly from her pedestal and
desce.ids the long flight of steps into the
arme of expectant, y^t half-hesitating,
Leontcs.
Even t.ie hostile Dramatic Review conceded that in this scene
Hiss Andercon, "unimprecsive in the character of the ovirv:,
breat'iin: , suffering Queen" was "an ideal figure as Hermione,
the : till and silent statue", Odell, v:ith his habitu. 1 enthusiasm
for the picturesque, recalled in 1920 how, sc the red
velvet curt ins concealing the statue were dr^wn • ci^c, "one
had an impression of almost illimitable space, white marble
steps leading up and up, the vir,ta terain-ted by the statue":
And what a statueJ Mary Anderson in the -prime
of her clacsic beauty, posed as only chc could
oocel As she clowly came down those .vbopc, she
presented a picture given to any generation to
behold hardly more than onco.g
Clement Scctt thought the pecVstal too high, "L r.iiiii .king the
effect of tl-o picture", and offered an interesting obcervation
on Llie pooe adapted:
"iss Mary Ancleraon clooc not, lilce JJrc Charles
^ean, ctancl like a bashful maiden, listening to
a favoured GuJ.tor, to illustrate the lines of
Leontes:
OhI thus she stood,
3veii v/ith c-uch life of mnjecty,
./hen first I wooed her!
';ut t an she did in Galatea, otancle a living,
breathing- sta.tue, well worthy of the enthu;:ir,sm
of Polixenes..*
The ..aturday Review cooke of "the ct; tue of Llornione with the
lirht turned onto it", ano other accounts cu. /:st a use jf
light in-", nc well as the victa of steps, to separate the fi ( ;.ure
of Hermione i'ro.ii the other ^rrtici " nts in the scene. ,;o
limiting cues r^.re ,-;iven in the -prorot-bool:, and the ::ly ot _.,