Abstract
A political and artistic traditionalist, John Philip Kemble's Shakespearean interpretations were aimed at curbing all rebellious tendencies and antisocial activities, including regicide and sexual license. Edmund Kean, who had come up through the rankest of rank provincial theaters, was the kind of actor London's patent theaters had tried to banish. Alexandre Dumas made the scene up, of course, but the themes of charity, fraternity, and sexuality, all repeated in prior anecdotes concerning the actor, suggest that he knew, or had heard, quite a bit about Kean. For reasons, then, ranging from silverware to seduction, from crass manners to class warfare, the doors to high society were eventually shut on Kean. Thus, Kean epitomizes the worst consequences of the social change and represents ways in which revolutionary energies of social conscience are drained by undisciplined behavior, illicit desire, and personal narcissism.