The Philosophy of Fine Art, volume 4 (of 4): Hegel's Aesthetik
Georg Hegel · en
(_γγ_) But, _thirdly_, the task of dramatic creation is not completed
with the presentment of vital characterization. Goethe's Iphigeneia
and Tasso throughout are good enough examples of this poetic
excellence--and yet they are not, if we look at them more strictly,
by any means perfect examples of dramatic vitality and movement. It
is for this reason that Schiller long ago remarked of the Iphigeneia,
that in it is the ethical content, the heart experience, the personal
opinion which is made the object of the action, and is as such visually
reproduced. And unquestionably the display and expression of the
personal experience of different characters in definite situations
is not by itself sufficient; we must also have real emphasis laid
on the collision of the _ultimate ends_ involved, and the forward
and conflicting movement which such imply. Schiller is consequently
of the view that the movement of the Iphigeneia is not sufficiently
disturbed; we are permitted to linger within it too long and easily. He
even maintains that it without question inclines to the sphere of epic
composition, if we contrast it at least with any strict conception of
tragedy. In other words, dramatic effect is action simply as action; it
is not the exposition of personality alone, or practically independent
of the express purpose and its final achievement. In the Epos play
may be permitted to the breadth and variety of character, external
conditions, occurrences and events; in the drama, on the contrary, the
self-concentration of its principle is most asserted relatively to the
particular collision and its conflict. It is thus that we recognize
the truth of Aristotle's dictum,[20] that tragic action possesses two
sources (αἴτια δὐo), opinion and character (διάνoια καὶ ἦδoς), but what
is most important is the end (τέλoς), and individuals do not act in
order to display diverse characters, but these latter are united with a
common bond of imaginative conception to the former in the interest of
the action.
(_γ_) As a matter for our _final_ consideration in this place there is
the relation in which the _poet_ is placed to the general public. Epic
poetry in its truly primitive state requires that the poet place wholly
on one side his distinctive personality in its contrast to his actually
objective work. He offers us the content of that and only that. The
lyric poet, on the contrary, deliberately expresses his own emotional
life and his personal views of the world.