Digitized bythe InternetArchive in 2007with funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/freytagstechniquOOfreyuoft FREYTAG'S TECHNIQUE OF THE DRAMA AN EXPOSITION OF DRAMATIC COMPOSITION AND ART Dr. GUSTAV FREYTAG AN AUTHORIZED TRANSLATION FROM THE SIXTH GERMAN EDITION BY ELIAS MacEWAN, M.A. J. TITIRD EDITION. r/'l CHICAGO SCOTT, FORESMAN AND COMPANY 1900 Pli Fn COPYRIGHT, 1894 By S. C. GRIGGS & COMPANY PRESS OF THE HENRY O.SHEPARD CO CHICAGO CONTENTS. Biographical Note. - - ^ - -vii-ix — Introduction. Technique of the drama not absolute. Cer- tain craftsman's skill of earliertimes. Conditionof present time. Aristotle's Poetics. Lessing. The great dramatic works as models. . - . . - i-g CHAPTER —DRAMATIC ACTION. I. — 1. The Idea. How the drama originates in the mind of the poet. De-velop-ment -of the.idea..Mate-rial a-nd its trans- formation. The historian and the poet. The range of material. Transformation of the real, according to Aris- totle. g-i8 — 2. What is -Drama-tic?-Expl-anatio-n. E-ffg,Cts-« Characters. Theaction. The dramaticlifeof thecharacters. Entrance ofthe dramatic intothelifeof men. Rarenessofdramatic power. ig-27 — 3. Unity. The Law. Among the Greeks. How it is pro- duced. Howtheunity ofhistorical material is not secured. ----- False unity. Where dramatic material is to be found. The character in the modern drama. Counter-playand its danger. Episodes. 27-49 — 4. Probability. What is probable. Social effects of the drama. The strange. The marvellous. Mephistopheles. The irrational. Shakespeare and Schiller. - 49-61 -_-.—..- 5. Importance and Magnitude. Weakness of characters. Distinguished heroes. Private persons. Degrading the art. 61-66 CONTENTS. iv — 6. Movement and Ascent. Public actions. Inward strug- gles. Poet dramas. Nothing important to be omitted. PrinceofHoDiburg. Antonyand Cleopatra. Messenger scenes. Concealment and effect through reflex action. Efifectsbymeans of theaction itself. Necessityof ascent. Contrasts. Parallel scenes. - - - - 66-84 — 7. What is Tragic? How far the poet may not concern himselfaboutit. Thepurging. Effectsofancienttragedy. Contrast with German tragedy. The tragicforce(moment). The revolutionand recognition. - - - 84-103 CHAPTER H.—THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE DRAMA. — 1. Play and Counter-Play. Two halves. Rise and fall. Two kinds of structure. Drama in which the chief hero leads. Drama of counter-play. Examples. Spectacle- play and tragedy. - _ - - . I04-114 — 2. Five Parts and Three Crises. The introduction. The exciting force (moment). The ascent. The tragic force .-.-.- orincident. Falling action. The force ormotiveof last suspense. The catastrophe. Necessary qualifications of the poet. 114-140 3. Construction of the Drama in Sophocles.—Origin oftragedy. Pathosscenes. Messengerscenes. Dialogues. Representation. The three actors. Scope of their work compared with modern actors. Same actor used to strengthen effects. Cast of parts. Ideas of preserved tragedies. Construction of the action. The characters. Ajax as an example. Peculiarity of Sophocles. His rela- tion to the myth. The parts of the tragedy. Antigone. King (EdipMS. CEdipus at C0I0710S. The Trachinian Women. Ajax. Philoctetes. - - - 140-181 4. Germanic Drama.—Stage of Shakespeare. Its influence onthe structure of thepieces. Shakespeare'speculiarities. Its falling action and its weaknesses. Construction of Hamlet. - - - - - . - 181-192 CONTENTS. V — The Five Acts. Influence of the curtain on the modern stage. Development of the act. The five parts. Their .... technicalpeculiarities. Firstact. Second. Third. Fourth. Fifth. Examples. Construction of the double drama, Wallenstein. - 192-209 CHAPTER —CONSTRUCTION OF SCENES. III. — Members. Entrances. Scenes. Units of the poet. Their .-.--. combination into scenes. Structure of the scene. Inter- vals. Change of scenery. Chief scenes and subordinate scenes. 210-216 The Scenes Accordingto the Number of Persons.— Conduct ofaction through the scenes. Monologues. Mes- senger scenes. Dialogue scenes. Different structure. Love scenes. Three persons. Ensemble scenes. Their laws. ThegalleysceneinAntonyand Cleopatra. Banquet scene in Piccolomini. Riitli scene. Parliament inDemet- rius. Mass scenes. Distributed voices. Battles. 216-245 CHAPTER IV.—THE CHARACTERS. — Peoples and Poets. Assumptions of dramatic character- ization, creation, and after-creation. Variety of peoples and characters. Germans and Latins. Difference accord- ing to poets. Shakespeare's characters. Lessing, Goethe, Schiller. - - - - - - 246-266 — Characters in the Material and in the Play. The characterdependent on the action. Example of Wallen- stein. Characters with portraiture. Historical characters. Poets and history. Opposition between characters and action. Theepicherointrinsicallyundramatic. Euripides. The Germansand their legends. Older German history. Nature of historical heroes. Inner poverty. Mingling of opposites. Lack of unity. Influence of Christendom. Henry IV. Attitudeofthe poet toward the appearancesof reality. Oppositionbetween poetand actor. - 266-303 — Minor Rules. The characters must have dramatic unity. The drama must have but one chief hero. Double heroes. CONTENTS. vi Lovers. The action must be based on characteristics of the persons. Easily understood. Mingling of good and evil. Humor. Accident. The characters in the different acts. Demandsof theactor. The conceptionofthe stage ----- arrangement must be vivid in the poet's mind. The province of the spectacle play. What is it to write effectively? 303-322 CHAPTER v.—VERSE AND COLOR. — I. Prose and Verse. Iambic pentameter. Tetrameter. Trimeter. Alexandrine. Verse of the Nibelungen Lied. Dramatic element of verse. Color. - - 323-340 CHAPTER VL—THE POET AND HIS WORK. — I. Poet of Modern Times. Material. Work. Fitting for the stage. Cutting out. Length of the piece. Acquain- tance with the stage. _ . - - 341-366