Life, 1916-04-20 · page 11 of 52
Life — April 20, 1916 — page 11: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
The main cartoon depicts a "Boston Lady" interrogating what appears to be Shakespeare's Ghost. The caption plays on a literary mystery: "ARE YOU SHAKESPEARE, OR BACON, OR AREN'T YOU?" This references the historical authorship debate—some scholars argued that Francis Bacon, not Shakespeare, wrote the plays. The joke satirizes Boston's intellectual pretensions: even encountering a literal ghost, a Boston intellectual would obsess over academic disputes rather than appreciate the work itself. The cartoon mocks pedantic literary criticism and the tendency of educated elites to prioritize scholarly debates over genuine engagement with art. The page's accompanying text discusses Shakespeare's enduring literary significance and compares British military costs to other nations, but these appear unrelated to the cartoon's satire.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Boston Lady: ARE YOU SHAKESPEARE, OR BACON, OR AREN'T YOU? OVE me little, love me long” What a flat-cap 'prentice song! Love me for one glorious day, Then, Master Time, have thy own way! One stormy day of splendid bliss, And then—the great, unknown abyss! Come, my love, what sayest thou To a primrosed Eden—now? Fie! thou impish, dainty prude! How could I with thee be rude? I, who love thee as I prize The two wild pupils of mine eyes! O ye gods! Just hear her squeal, As my lips across hers steal! Draw the curtains! Marlowe comes! No, it's Cupid. How he hums! June 3, 1593. W.S. Shakespeare’s Ghost: WANGED IF 1 KNOW. Immortality W! we consider how many sets of Shakespeare are sold, after the lapse of three hundred years, to persons who read absolutely nothing but newspapers, we get some notion of the Bard's titanic power. In three hun- dred years how much of the boasted literature of to-day will burden the shelves of people who never give it a second glance? Moreover, the Shakespeare tradition owes most of its punch to Shakespeare himself. Of course, time and chance happeneth to them all, and adventitious circumstances have doubtless helped— notably the Baconians—but, after all, it is the Bard’s own quality which enables his publishers to sell him so copiously to customers who will never look inside his covers—the quality of profound in- sight, of philosophical depth, of ex- quisite delicacy and the rest. Assuredly, it is a wonderful th.ng to be so enshrined in the hearts of the great English-speaking races, or at all events races which might speak Eng- lish if they could spare the time from more serious concerns. A Detail ACOORDING to the latest figures, our army costs $1,047.54 per man, while Great Britain's army costs $660.01 per man, Other countries are consider- ably lower. Our cost per man is higher than that of any other country. Wages are higher and equipment more expen- sive. That is, for our army. But why bother with little things like that? comicbooks.com