The Philosophy of Fine Art, volume 4 (of 4): Hegel's Aesthetik
Georg Hegel · en
There is a further feature in this type of reconciliation, however,
and that is the _personal_ or ideal nature of the satisfaction. We may
take this as a point of transition to the otherwise to be contrasted
province of _comedy_.
(_ββ_) That which is comic is, as we have already seen, in general
terms the subjective or personal state, which forces and then
dissolves the action which issues from it by its own effect into and
in contradiction, remaining throughout and in virtue of this process
tranquil in its own self-assurance. Comedy possesses, therefore,
for its basis and point of departure that with which it is possible
for tragedy to terminate, that is, a soul to the fullest extent and
eventually reconciled, a joyous state, which, however much it is
instrumental in the marring of its volitional power, and, indeed, in
itself comes to grief, by reason of its asserting voluntarily what
is in conflict with its aim, does not therefore lose its general
equanimity. A personal self-assurance of this character, however is,
from a further point of view, only possible in so far as the ends
proposed, and withal the characters include nothing that is on its
own account essentially substantive; or, if they do possess such an
intrinsic worth, it is adopted and carried out intentionally under
a mode which is totally opposed to the genuine truth contained, in
a form, therefore, that is destitute of such truth, so that in this
respect, as in the previous case, it is merely that which is itself
essentially of no intrinsic importance, but a matter of indifference
which is marred, and the individual remains just as he was and
unaffected.