Sir Hudibras

William Randolph Hearst, as Sir Hudibras, rides a mule labeled “Maud” being led by a man labeled “Gloomy Arthur” on a quixotic adventure. Papers protrude from Hearst’s pockets stating “The danger of Taft, The peril of Bryan, Philippics for the Peepul, Standard Oil letters, [and] Other letters.” Caption: “Accompanied by a clerk, one of the Independents, he ranges the country after the manner of Don Quixote, with zealous ignorance endeavoring to correct abuses and repress superstition.”–Century Dictionary.

comments and context

Comments and Context

There are subtexts and now-obscure references in this L. M. Glackens cover cartoon in Puck, but it is presumed that average readers of 1908 understood. Although the caption makes reference to Don Quixote by Cervantes, the drawing and its purport rely on Hudibras by Samuel Butler, an epic poem loosely based on Quixote.

Hudibras was a knight errant, and his squire Ralpho was a counterpart of Sancho Panza. Rather than the deluded Quixote, who was portrayed as well-meaning with a dose of sympathy, Butler’s character was a direct representation of a Cromwellian Roundhead or Puritan zealot, not merely mistaken in beliefs but malign. His long poetic take was written in the aftermath of the Restoration and Parliament’s relative subjugation by the Crown.

In Glackens’s cartoon, William Randolph Hearst is Hudibras; he was the yellow-journalist newspaper publisher of national import and influence. In those days Hearst was radical, a Muckraker of sorts with a sensationalist streak (decades later he would be as consequential on the right). A two-term congressman, Hearst had higher ambitions, having unsuccessfully run for New York mayor, governor, and the presidency.

Once a fierce loyalist of Bryan — in 1896 virtually the only major publisher to endorse the Democrat-Populist — in 1908, still aspiring to the White House, Hearst felt betrayed and abandoned by Bryan as the latter ran for a third time. He and the staff of his newspaper chain founded and supported a rump party, the Independents, and ran an obscure businessman for the presidency. It was, after all, Quixotic.

Hearst’s chief editorial writer and factotum Arthur Brisbane is depicted as Ralpho. The ignoble mule is labeled “Maud.” The Hearst papers were early and important wet-nurses to the creation of the comic strip, and the showcase of the Sunday color supplement — the funny pages. That is the context, an easy vehicle for ridicule by opponents, of sources: Maud the Mule, a character by Frederick Burr Opper; and “Gloomy” Gus, another Opper character.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1908-10-14

Creator(s)

Glackens, L. M. (Louis M.), 1866-1933

Period

U.S. President – 2nd Term (March 1905-February 1909)

Repository

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

Page Count

1

Record Type

Image

Resource Type

Cartoon

Rights

These images are presented through a cooperative effort between the Library of Congress and Dickinson State University. No known restrictions on publication.

Citation