Abraham Lincoln in his Times Chapter 22 Union, Tragedy, and Legacy Part 3

Abraham Lincoln in his Times Chapter 22 Union, Tragedy, and Legacy Part 3

Of the three Booth children who became prominent actors—Edwin, John Wilkes, and Junius Jr.—only John adopted their father’s tempestuous style. A Boston reviewer said that John “had more of the native fire and fury of his great father than any of his family.” 64  John relished violent stage roles. As a child, he had gotten perverse pleasure out of  shooting stray cats—unlike Lincoln, who avoided hunting because he did not want to hurt animals. 65  As an actor, John Wilkes Booth struck Whitman “a queer fellow; had strange ways.” 66  Whitman didn’t like Booth’s version of the American style, which lacked finesse. For instance, John carried the sword fight scene in  Richard III  to sadistic lengths. “The Richard of Mr. [John Wilkes] Booth,” commented a reviewer in 1863, “is an impossible personage.” He made Shakespeare’s character someone one “who loved murder for murder’s sake alone.” With an “almost demoniac look,” Booth’s Richard “dabbles in blood; sprinkles it on the stage after the murder of …