(_a_) The reading or recitation of a dramatic work
[(_α_) True sensuous medium of drama the human voice. Modern
plays often impracticable in the theatre. Contrast of Greek
drama in this respect
(_β_) Plays written for perusal only. Theatrical
reproduction a real test of dramatic vitality. Question
whether dramatic works should be printed
(_γ_) Perusal no sufficient test of the acting possibilities
of a drama. Recitation subject to the serious restriction
that it is the expression of one voice only]
(_b_) The art of the Actor
[(_α_) Among the Greeks acting affiliated to sculpture.
Ancients added music to declamation. Means of interpretation
in motion of the body. The dance. Plastic character of Greek
performance
(_β_) Speech used solely as spiritual expression in modern
acting. Coalescence of actor's personality with his rôle.
Facial expression. Increase particularisation in modern
character. Illustrations. Increase of difficulties. Modern
actor an artist]
(_c_) The theatrical art which is more independent of Poetry
[(_α_) Plays written for the display of the particular
talent of actors. The Italian _commedia dell' arte._ French
attitude to audience
(_β_) Modern opera. Luxurious display of scenic accessories.
Schiller's "Maid of Orleans." Mozart's "Magic Flute"
(_γ_) The Ballet. The proper subordination of the dance]
3. Types of dramatic poetry and the chief phases of their
historical development
(_a_) The principle of Tragedy, Comedy, and the Play
[(_α_) The principle as associated with tragedy in its
essential and primitive form. The content of tragic action
supplied by spiritual forces which carry with them their
own justification, _e.g._, love of husband, wife, parents,
or children, patriotism, social life, etc. The substance
in which the greatness and stability of the tragic hero
consists. Theme of primitive tragedy generally the godlike
in its mundane character. Forces realized as the determinate
aim of human pathos. A collision in which both aspects are
justified from one point of view. Tragic resolution of
division. Meaning of Aristotle's dictum that tragedy excites
and purifies fear and pity. Sense of reconciliation 295
(_β_) In Tragedy what is eternally substantive is vindicated
under a mode of reconciliation. In Comedy the purely
personal experience retains the mastery throughout. Nature
of social basis of comedy. The comic. The conception of it
in Molière and Aristophanes. Requires a resolution even more
strongly than tragedy
(_γ_) The Satyric drama. Plautus. The modern dramatic play.
Illustrations from classical drama. Boundary lines fluctuate
more than in the case of genuine tragedy and comedy.
Tendency to pass from poetic form altogether. Theatrical
pieces exhibited for mere display of histrionic talent or
psychological analysis, or as a mere social relaxation]
(_b_) The difference between ancient and modern Drama
[(_α_) No genuine Oriental dramatic art. Principle of
individual freedom. Origins among Hindoos and Chinese
(_β_) True beginning among the Hellenes. The universal and
substantive content of the end, which individuals seek to
achieve. Exceptional plot and intrigue and varied display of
individual character not emphasized
(_γ_) In modern drama it is rather the destiny of some
particular character under exceptional circumstances which
forms the subject-matter. Interest directed not so much
to ethical vindication and destiny as to the isolation of
the individual and his conditions. Crime as a motive not
excluded. Formal greatness of character demanded. Variety
of characterization, and maze of plot and intrigue. In
tragedy further the paramount presence of a more exalted
order of the world,--whether conceived as Providence or
Fatality,--accepted]
(_c_) The concrete development of dramatic poetry and its
types
[(_α_) Greek drama. Roman drama an attenuated reflection.
Survey limited to Æschylus, Sophocles, and Aristophanes.
Background of ancient tragedy the heroic condition. Analysis
of modes under which ethical content of human action
asserted. The unsevered consciousness of the godlike and the
combating human action, presented under the form of chorus
and heroic figures. Significance of chorus. Opposition
between social obligation and private sense of duty.
Antigone. Modern conception of guilt and innocence no place
in Greek tragedy in strict sense. Final end reconciliation
of forces of human action. Such a _dénouement_ not merely
an ethical issue. Contrast between such and the Justice of
the Greek Epos. Illustrations. Antigone. Œdipus. Orestes.
Conception of old classical Comedy. The laughter of the
Olympian gods made present in man. Aristophanes]
(_β_) Modern dramatic art
[(i) The ends which ought to come into the process of the
action as the content of the characters. Borrowed from the
concrete world of religious and social life. Not however,
the particular ethical forces as of individuals which assert
them, _e.g._, Christ, the saints, kings, vassals, and
members of ruling families. Features of the private life
accepted not within scope of ancient drama. Personal love,
honour, etc. make an exclusive appeal. Faust. Wallenstein.
Generally it is the inner experience of soul-life which
demands satisfaction. Comparison of problem of Hamlet with
that of the Choephorae.
(ii) Nature of characters and collisions. Conflict
abides essentially in the character itself. Abstract
characterization of French and Italian poetry, also Spanish.
In contrast to this that of the English, and above all
Shakespeare. Goethe and Schiller. Vacillation of character.
"King Lear."
(iii) Nature of tragic issue. Justice of more abstract
nature than in ancient tragedy. The issue as the effect
of misfortune. "Romeo and Juliet," a kind of unhappy
blessedness in misfortune. Social plays the link between
tragedy and comedy. As a rule the triumph of ordinary
morality celebrated. Modern comedy. Question whether folly
is ridiculous only to others, or to the comic character
also. The second type mainly that of Aristophanes, the first
that of Molière. Invention of the intrigue or intricate
plot. Comparison of Shakespeare's comedy with that of
Aristophanes]