ZTbe THttf\>ersfts of Cbtcago FOUNDED BY JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER GRILLPARZER'S ATTITUDE TOWARD ROMANTICISM A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND LITERATURE IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (DEPARTMENT OF GERMANIC LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES) BY EDWARD JOHN WILLIAMSON CHICAGO THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS 1910 XTbe THntt>er8ft£ of Cbicago FOUNDED BY JOHN D. ROCKEFELLBR GRILLPARZER'S ATTITUDE TOWARD ROMANTICISM A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND LITERATURE IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (DEPARTMENT OF GERMANIC LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES) BY EDWARD JOHN WILLIAMSON OF t/£oftw& CHICAGO THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS 1910 Copyright 1910 By The University of Chicago Published April 1910 Composed and Printed By The University of Chicago Press Chicago, Illinois, U. S. A. TO THE MEMORY OF MY PARENTS 211027 PREFATORY NOTE This study forms Part I of a larger work which will treat of the same subject. Part II will consist of a number of chapters on various romantic problems treated by Grillparzer in his dramas. One of these chapters is now ready for publication and the others will follow shortly. The author's thanks are due to Professor Schiitze of the Univer- sity of Chicago, at whose suggestion the work was undertaken, for his kind encouragement, and for the many helpful criticisms which he made from time to time. E. J. Williamson Hobart College Geneva, N. Y. March 4, 1910 I. LITERARY AND AESTHETIC VIEWS Grillparzer never identified himself absolutely with any particular school of poetry. His aesthetic studies, he tells us plainly, are written without any regard for a particular system. "Ich nehme mir bei diesen Anmerkungen vor, ohne Rucksicht auf ein System, uber jeden Gegenstand dasjenige niederzuschreiben, was mir aus seinem eigenen Wesen zu fliessen scheint. Die dadurch entstehenden Wider- spruche werden sich am Ende entweder von selbst heben, oder, indem sie nicht wegzuschaffen sind, mir die Unmoglichkeit eines Systems beweisen" (XV, 9). 1 The point of view that all systems of poetry are incomplete and inadequate is constantly reiterated throughout his works. To him poetry is one — classic and romantic are not sepa- rate divisions which are at war with each other, but are two comple- mentary principles which must be found united in all genuine poetry. " The discussion with regard to the superiority of classic or romantic poetry, ,, he remarks rather humorously, "appears to me as if a host asked his guests at dinner whether they preferred to eat or drink. A sensible person would of course answer: Both ,, (XV, 66). In another place he expresses himself as being utterly opposed to the idea that the human mind and the forms in which it appears can be pigeon-holed and registered like an insect collection (XVI, 31). From this point of view he attacks the critics who judge a work accord- ing to categories which they have previously set up: Romantisch, klassisch und modem Scheint schon ein Urteil diesen Herrn, Und sie ubersehn in stolzem Mut Die wahren Gattungen: schlecht und gut (III, 201). Romantic and classic are only means to the apprehension and inter- pretation of Nature. If one wishes to distinguish between the two, the difference, according to Grillparzer, consists in the fact "that romantic art aims at the effect on the feelings, regardless as to how that effect may be gained; the interesting, the witty, the significant, yes, even the ugly — all is welcomed, so long as the required effect is 1 References in the text are to Grillparzers samtliche Werke, 5. Ausg. in 20 Bden., herausgegeben von A. Sauer (Stuttgart, o. J.: Cotta). 2 grillparzer's attitude toward romanticism i produced. The ancient (classic) art, however, aimed to produce only / the beautiful, i.e., the exaltation of feeling which arises solely from I the impression of perfection made on the senses" (XV, 67). Conse- \ quently we find in Grillparzer's work many romantic elements, for to him the interpretation of Nature — idealized Nature — was the main thing, and the reproduction of such demands much broader aesthetic principles than those of mere classicism (XVI, 31, 32). In insisting upon the ati&iess^gijpQetry, Grillparzer's view was quite in accord with the view held by the romanticists and expressed by Friedrich Schlegel. In the Gesprdch iiber die Poesie Andrea is made to say: "Es freut mich dass in dem mitgeteilten Versuch endlich das zur Sprache gekommen ist, was mir gerade die hochste aller Fragen iiber die Kunst der Poesie zu sein scheint. Namlich die von der Vereini- gung des Antiken und des Modernen; unter welchen Bedingungen sie moglich, in wie fern sie rathsam sei." To this Ludoviko replies: "Ich wurde gegen die Einschrankung protestiren, und fur die unbe- dingte Vereinigung stimmen. Der Geist der Poesie ist nur einer und uberall derselbe." 1 This remark is taken from a discussion of Goethe's Wilhelm Meister which, according to Schlegel, unites in a wonderful degree the individuality of modern poetry and the classic spirit of the ancients. While Grillparzer could not accept all the statements of SchlegeFs famous definition contained in the 1 1 6th A thendums fragment, there are at least two statements contained in that definition of poetry which would meet with his entire approval, viz.: "Sie umfasst alles, was nur poetisch ist," and "Sie kann durch keine Theorie erschopft werden." 2 Quite in accord with his assertion that he does not intend to bind himself to the dogmas of any school is Grillparzer's attitude toward both classicism and romanticism. While he condemns the extrava- gances of the romanticists, he is at the same time no blind worshiper of things classic. Indeed he raises a protesting voice against those who laud the classics indiscriminately. 3 "Diejenigen die sich die 1 Friedrich Schlegels " Jugendschriften" (1 794-1802) herausgegeben von J. Minor (Wien, 1882), II, 382. 2 Ibid., 220, 221. 3 Cf. A. W. Schlegel, Vorlesungen iiber dramatische Kunst und Literatur, besorgt von Eduard Booking, 3. Aufl. (Leipzig, 1846), I, 7. LITERARY AND AESTHETIC VIEWS 3 Miihe genommen haben, die Sprachen der Alten zu lernen und ihre Werke zu studieren, suchen sich fur ihre Anstrengungen gewohnlich dadurch zu entschadigen, dass sie ewig von ungeheueren Reichtumern, von unermesslichen Schatzen sprechen, die da verborgen lagen und die sie gefunden; ja jeder Kiesel, der in der alten Welt, so gut als in der neuen, am Wege liegt ist ihnen ein Edelstein" (XVI, 51). With all reverence for the latter, he informs us that he proposes to examine what the idolizers of the classics have to say. The dialogue in the dramas of Aeschylus he considers to be unnecessarily wordy. "In den Wechselreden brauchen die Unterredenden die langste Zeit um sich iiber die einfachsten Verhaltnisse zu verstandigen, und was der Zuseher bei der ersten Antwort begriffen hat, wird oft durch zehn Verse durchgefragt, bis die Redenden ins Klare kommen Spater beim Euripides, ja schon beim Sophokles ist es jene Red- seligkeit, die den Athenern aus der Gewohnheit an offentlichen Reden und Gerichtsverhandlungen zum eigentlichen Labsal geworden ist Solche Geschwatzigkeit im guten Sinne kommt selbst in den Dia- logen des Plato nicht selten vor" (XVI, 58; cf. also XVI, 85, 86). He also calls attention to the awkwardness and faultiness of composi- tion in Euripides' plays, a feature to which Goethe 1 had already referred (XVI, 78). Even here, however, Grillparzer finds romantic elements. "Die Entwicklungsscene konnte Calderon geschrieben haben, so durch und durch romantisch ist sie" (XVI, 73). Oyer thirty years later (1853) he wrote the lines: Romantisch waren schon die Alten, Sahn lib' rail die Gotter, des Schicksals Walten, Romantik weicht von der Dichtkunst nie, Sie ist ihre Mutter: die Phantasie (III, 185, 186). Much sharper is Grillparzer's criticism of the Romantic school in Germany. This was due partly, as Ehrhard 2 has pointed out, to 1 Goethe an Zelter, Nov. 23, 1831: "Auf den griechischen Lokalitaten und auf deren uraltes mythologischen Legendenmasse schifft und schwimmt er, wie eine Stuck- kugel auf einer Quecksilbersee, und kann nicht untertauchen, wenn er auch wollte." 3 Auguste Ehrhard, Le thidtre en Autriche, Franz Grillparzer (Paris, 1900), 101; cf. also A. Farinelli, Grillparzer und Lope de Vega (Berlin, 1894). 277, 278; R. Batka, "Grillparzer und der Kampf gegen die deutsche Oper in Wien," Grillparzer Jahrbuch, IV. his conservative training which led him to cling to the classic forms while striving to combine with them the life and warmth which he found in the romantic poetry of Shakspere and Lope de Vega; partly also to the influence of his friend and critic, Joseph Schreyvogel. It was the latter, he states in the poem, "An einen Freund" (I, 142), who first gave his work a purpose. In the year 1807 Schreyvogel began to publish the Sonntagsblatt, a critical journal which stood for the ideals of classicism and opposed the extravagances of the new Romantic school. Grillparzer acknowledges in this autobiography (XIX, 61) his great respect for Schreyvogel as a critic and confesses that the Sonntagsblatt contributed much to protect him from the follies of romanticism. In the matter of form and technique he and Schrey- vogel shared the same views (XVIII, 130). The how, he con- siders, is just as indispensable in art as the what (XVI, 38). "Nicht der Gedanke macht das Kunstwerk, sondern die Darstellung des Gedankens" (XV, 26). J "Die vollendete Form ist es, wodurch die Poesie ins Leben tritt, ins aussere Leben. Die Wahrheit der Emp- findung gibt nur das Innere; es ist aber Aufgabe aller Kunst, ein Inneres durch ein Aeusseres darzustellen" (XV, 65). Or again: "Allerdings ist es falsch, dass die Form das Hochste in der Kunst sei, aber das Hochste ist in der Kunst nur insofern etwas, als es in der Form erscheint" (XV, 33). Thus it was that Grillparzer, while charmed by the life and truth displayed in the works of Shakspere and Lope de Vega, accepted as models in form the French classicists of the seventeenth century. 2 He considers Racine to be " ein so grosser Dichter als je einer gelebt hat" (XVI, 123), and deplores the influence of the Shaksperean form on Schiller's Wallenstein, which, in his opinion, had it been compressed into five acts would have been one of the greatest works in the world's literature (XIII, 172). From the same point of view he criticizes Fouque's work (XVIII, 87), and is opposed to those who, following Friedrich Schlegel's assertion "dass die Willkiir des Dichters kein 1 Cf. also Grillparzer s satntliche Werke, XV, 27; XVIII, 74; Brief eund Tagebucher, herausgegeben von Glossy und Sauer (Stuttgart: Cotta, 1903), I, 290, 295. 2 A. Foglar, Grillparzer s Ansichten iiber Liter atur, Biihne und Leben, 2. Aufl. (Stuttgart, 1891), 9; cf. also R. Mahrenholtz, "Franz Grillparzer iiber d. franzos. Literatur," Zts. f. franzos. Sprache und Lit., XII (1890), 291-301. LITERARY AND AESTHETIC VIEWS 5 Gesetz uber sie leide" 1 demand the abolition of all rules (XV, 39, 40)^ In his own works Grillparzer ever strove to combine the life and truth j of romantic poetry with perfection of form. " Ich weiss, dass ich ' es nie erreichen werde, nach was ich strebe in der drama tischen Poesie: das Leben und die Form so zu vereinigen, dass beiden ihr voiles Recht geschieht. Man wird es vielleicht nicht einmal ahnen, dass ich es gewollt, und doch kann ich nicht anders" (XVIII, 160). Theoreti- cally at least he was a firm believer in the three unities of the French classic drama 2 which had been condemned by Lessing and the roman- ticists. His statements on this subject, indeed, seem to be, as Strich 3 has pointed out, a direct criticism of A. W. SchlegeFs point of view. "Man thut zwar allerdings gut," writes Grillparzer, "den sogenannten Einheiten der Zeit und des Ortes keine wesentlichen Schonheiten aufzuopfern: wo man ihnen aber treu bleiben kann, soil man es ja nicht versaumen, es gibt der Handlung eine vorziigliche Stetigkeit und befordert das eigentliche Dramatische der Wirkung ungemein" (XII, 66) . Although Grillparzer did not succeed as a rule in observ- ing the unities in his dramas, he was firmly convinced of the advisa- bility of doing so wherever it was practicable. Believing that the form was a very essential feature of arX JLwas not to be wondered at that the Austrian dramatist should express discontent at the lack of formative power exhibited in the works of the romanticists. Tieck, Arnim, and Brentano wrote merely book- dramas which were diametrically the opposite of his own dramas. In the year 181 9 he wrote, referring to the Romantic school whose influence was at that time dominant in Germany: "Die Tongeber unter uns sind, was Jean Paul weibliche Genies nennt. Da fehlt es weder an Empfanglichkeit noch Liebe fur das Schone, aber an Kraft es zu gestalten und ausser sich hinzustellen Alle grossen Meis- ter aller Zeiten von Shakespeare und Milton bis Goethe waren mehr oder weniger plastisch Die Formlosigkeit, welche ein Haupt- 1 Athendumsjragment 116; cf. J. Minor, op. cit., II, 220. * E. Reich, Grillparzer s Kunst philosophic (Wien, 1890), 98 f.; M. Koch, Franz Grillparzer: Eine Charakteristik (Frankfurt a. M., 1891), 26; Grillparzers samtliche Werke, XVII, 196, 213. 3 Franz Grillparzers Aesthetik, Forschungen zur neueren Literaturgeschichte, herausgegeben von Dr. Franz Muncker (Berlin, 1905), 113 f. 6 grillparzer' s attitude toward romanticism ingredienz der sogenannten Romantik ist, war von jeher ein Zeichen eines schwachen, krankelnden Geistes, der sich selbst und seinen Stoff zu beherrschen nicht vermag" (XVI, 30; cf. also XVI, 35). For this reason he defends Goethe who had been criticized for his lack of sympathetic appreciation of the works of the romanticists: " Es ist an Goethe hart getadelt worden, dass er sich der sogenannten romantischen Schule, ja den besseren Hervorbringungen derselben, den Genoveven und Oktavianen so hartnackig widersetzte; er wusste aber wohin derlei fiihrt, er wusste, dass eine Form, die sich vom Stoffe beherrschen lasst, statt ihn zu beherrschen, den Keim der Fratze notwendig in sich tragt" (XVIII, 103). In his criticism of Tomantic writers Tieck especially receives censure. Tieck is no poet, but a dilettante because he is incapable of giving finished form to his poetic ideas (XVIII, 82) . " Ein Ganzes zu machen liegt aus der Mog- lichkeit dieses Menschen" (XVIII, 84; cf. also XV, 35-37). It is that incapacity to give concrete form to thoughts and ideas, so com- mon in works like Tieck's Zerbino, that Grillparzer takes exception to in the works of the romanticists. "Allerdings muss jedem Gedicht, wie jedem menschlichen Bestreben, eine Intention, ein Gedanke oder, in hochster Bezeichnung gefasst, eine Idee zum Grunde liegen, andererseits aber soil das Gedicht ein lebendiges sein und alles Leben- dig-Wirkliche ist ein Konkretum, der Gedanke aber oder die Idee ist und bleibt ein Abstraktes" (XVIII, 140). The works of great poets like Homer and Ariosto contain thoughts in abundance, but • thoughts which are rounded out into a perfect concrete whole. Some of the very greatest poets, it is true, have been successful in making the idea the main thing in the action. Not so the romanticists, how- lever, whom Grillparzer describes as poetische Stumper who seize upon -gigantic ideas to which they are unable to give artistic expression, 'because they lack that which every true artist should possess: "Dar- stellung, Formgebung, Belebung" (XVIII, 141; cf. also XV, 47, 63, 80). Closely related to and often the cause of this lack of form exhibited by the romanticists was the absolute predominance of fancy and feeling in their work. Romanticism on its one side was a revolt against the all- too-sober and unpoetic age of enlightenment (Aufkldrung) which tested all things by an appeal to the understanding (Ver stand), setting LITERARY AND AESTHETIC VIEWS 7 aside imagination and feeling as profitless. The romanticists went to the other extreme and made feeling their final criterion in questions of poetry. Grillparzer was opposed to the unbridled sway of feeling I and fancy on the ground that it detracted from the objectivity of poetry J and tended to make it abstract and formless. "Die deutsche Phan- tasie," he states, "kdnnte man beschuldigen, gar zu gern ins Weite zu gehen und dadurch unbildlich zu werden. Je hoher diese Kraft sich versteigt, um so nebelhafter werden ihre Gebilde, bis sie endlich zu blossen Schematen einschwinden, die den Gedanken wohl unter- stutzend begleiten, aber nicht mehr versinnlichen, nicht darstellen. Der Wert der Phantasie f ur die Kunst liegt in ihrer Begrenzung, welche die Gestalt ist" (XV, 76, 77; cf. also XV, 64). In thus limiting the\ role of the imagination in art Grillparzer was following the teaching \ of Kant. 1 Understanding and imagination must go hand in hand 1 (XV, 10 ; III, 85) . At the same time, however, he recognized that with- / out imagination there could be no poetry. " Der Verstand muss die Wirksamkeit der Phantasie zwar allerdings formell leiten, wie es denn der formale Leiter aller unserer innern Vermogen ist; hinsichtiich des eigentlichen Zweckes der Kunst aber kann er uns nicht helfen, da sie nicht auf formale Moglichkeit, sondern auf ideale Wirklichkeit ausgeht und als hochstes Prinzip ihrer Entscheidungen ein dunkles Gefuhl des Schonen anzunehmen genotigt ist." (XV, 57). Feeling was for him, as for the romanticists, the main essential in poetry, but ) it must be in harmony with all the other elements necessary to arty " Verstand, Phantasie, Gefuhl und Sinnlichkeit verlangen daher jedes ihre Wahrheit in der Kunst, von denen zugleich aber jede einzelne bedingt und beschrankt wird durch die Moglichkeit der andern, eben weil sie zu einem Eindrucke zusammenfliessen sollen" (XV, 2o)\ Nor could Grillparzer agree with the theory of the romanticists \ that there should be no definite boundary lines drawn between the different arts. In a contribution to the Athenaum entitled "Die Gemalde" August Wilhelm Schlegel had stated: "Und so sollte man die Kunste einander wieder nahern und Uebergange aus einer in die andere suchen. Bildsaulen beleben sich vielleicht zu Gemalden, Gemalde werden zu Gedichten, Gedichte zu Musik."* The inter- 1 Cf. Kritik der Urtheilskraft (Reclam Leipzig o. J.), 181 f. 3 Athenaeum (Berlin, 1798-1800), 3 Bde. 8 grillparzer's attitude toward romanticism mingling of music and poetry was especially characteristic of romantic books. Such is the case, for example, in Tieck's Liebesgeschichte der schonen Magelone, in Zerbino, and in many of his lyrics. ' In the over- ture to the comedy, Die verkehrte Welt, in which all the conventions of poetic form are broken through and which is written in the style of an orchestral symphony, the first violin repudiates the idea that it is not permissible and possible to think in tones and to make music in words and thoughts. 2 Novalis, too, was of the opinion that language should become song, that poetry should pass over into music. In his Frag- mente iiber Aesthetisches he writes: " Es lassen sich Erzahlungen ohne Zusammenhang, jedoch mit Association, wie Traume, denken; Gedichte, die bios wohlklingend und voll schoner Worte sind, aber auch ohne alien Sinn und Zusammenhang, hochstens einzelne Strophen verstandlich, wie Bruchstiicke aus den verschiedenartigsten Dingen. Diese wahre Poesie kann hochstens einen allegorischen Sinn im Grossen und eine indireckte Wirkung wie Musik haben." 3 Or again: " Wenn man manche Gedichte in Musik setzt, warum setzt man sie nicht in Poesie?" 4 Plastic, music, and poetry were for him inseparable elements found united in every true work of art. 5 Grillparzer's sense for well-defined form made him condemn these romantic theories which led to the creation of that poetry with undecided, vapory outlines, found so commonly in Tieck's work. Speaking of music, he states: "Der oft gebrauchte Satz: die Musik ist eine Poesie in Tonen, ist eben so wenig wahr, als der entgegen- gesetzte sein wiirde: Die Poesie ist eine Musik in Worten. Der Unterschied dieser beiden Kunste liegt nicht bios in ihren Mitteln; er liegt in den ersten Grunden ihres Wesens" (XV, 114; cf. also XV, 42, 43). In the same year (1822) he wrote: "Ich mochte ein Gegen- stiick zu Lessings Laokoon: tiber die Grenzen der Musik und Poesie schreiben" (XV, 114). Friedrich Schlegel had stated in his famous definition (Athendums- 1 Cf. G. Brandes, Die romantische Schule in Deutschland, 125 f.; Die Haupt- strdmungenderLiteraturdesiQ.Jahrhunderts(Chax\ottenb\irg: Barsdorf, 1900), II. 2 G. Reimer, Tiecks Schriften (Berlin, 1826-46), 20 Bde. 3 Sdmtliche Werke, herausgegeben von Carl Meissner (Florenz und Leipzig, 1898), HI, 37- 4 Ibid., 31. 5 Ibid., 32. LITERARY AND AESTHETIC VIEWS < fragment 116) that romantic poetry was a progressive Universal- \ poesie whose destiny it was to unite the separate forms of poetry and to bring them into touch with philosophy and rhetoric. This inter- mingling of poetic and prose forms, of epic, lyric, and dramatic ele- ments 1 such as is found in Shakspere's Pericles or Tieck's Genoveva and Kaiser Oktavian was far from Grillparzer's ideal. He did not approve of the intermingling of different forms in a work of art: " Weil jede ihren eigenen Standpunkt der Anschauung, einen anderen Grad der Verkorperung mit sich fuhrt und erfordert, welche, gemischt, sich storen und aufheben: Lyrik, Epos, Drama; Aussicht, Umsicht, Ansicht" (XV, 68) . The songs inserted into Tieck's Zerbino he desig- nates with the words, "Geklingel und Gewasch" (XVIII, 82). Also the introduction of loosely connected Novellen by Cervantes into his novel, Don Quixote, a procedure which Tieck as a romanticist heartily approved of, was, as he points out, considered by the author himself to be inartistic (XVII, 246) . He was ever an enemy of prosy poetry and of poetic prose. Chateaubriand's Les Martyrs and Lamartine's Jocelyn found no favor in his eyes: "Derlei Mischgattungen aber gefallen — ausser denen, die sich eben damit amusieren wollen — vor allem jenen Halbkopfen, die wahr und falsch, Freisinn und Beschranktheit, Vernlinftiges und Traditionelles gem in einen Topf zusammenmischen und, unfahig, irgend etwas rein aufzufassen, alles zu haben glauben, wenn sie aus allem ein Nichts zusammenbrauen" (XVIII, 140). v Even more decided was Grillparzer's aversion to the romantic J practice of confounding poetry and philosophy. "Die Poesie mit der Philosophie und Rhetorik in Beruhrung zu setzen," was, accord- ing to Friedrich Schlegel, one of the chief aims of romantic poetry (A thenaums fragment 116). "Poesie und Philosophie sollen vereinigt werden" (Lyceums fragment 115). This union Schlegel finds in Novalis: "Nicht auf der Grenze schwebst du, sondern in deinem Geiste haben sich Poesie und Philosophie innig durchdrungen." 2 Novalis dwells constantly on the inseparableness of poetry and phi- 1 Cf. Novalis: "Sind Epos, Lyra und Drama etwa nur die drei Elemente jedes Gedichts und nur das vorziiglich Epos, wo das Epos vorzuglich heraus tritt, und so fort?" (Samtliche Werke, III, 31). 9 Minor, Fr. Schlegels Jugendschrijten, II, 307. io grillparzer' s attitude toward romanticism losophy. The poet who is not at the same time a philosopher is for him unthinkable. "Die Trennung von Philosoph und Dichter ist nur scheinbar und zum Nachtheil beider. Es ist ein Zeichen einer Krank- heit und krankhaften Constitution." 1 "Die Poesie," he states, "ist der Held der Philosophic. Die Philosophie erhebt die Poesie zum Grundsatz; sie lehrt uns den Werth der Poesie kennen. Phi- losophie ist die Theorie der Poesie; sie zeigt uns, was die Poesie sei; dass sie Eins und Alles sei." 2 Grillparzer, on the other hand, was quite opposed to the introduc- tion of philosophical ideas into poetry. With all their philosophical depth the Schlegels, he states, can never become poets (XV, 36). "Die Wissenschaft hat es mit Begriffen zu thun, die Poesie mit Bildern Die Wissenschaft sucht den denkbar letzten Grund auf, die Poesie den letzten sinnlich erkennbaren, bildlich darstell- baren, u.s.w." (XV, 98, 99). The predominance of philosophic ideas meant for him the death of poetry (XVIII, 101 ; cf. also XV, 80). Tit was for this reason that he found most pleasure in the works of the glassies. " Die neuern Dichter, so vortrefflich sie sein mogen, hatten mir immer so viel Beimischung von Prosa, so viel Lehr- und Reflex- ionsmassiges, dass ich eigentliche Erquickung nur in der alten Poesie fand, wo die Gestalt noch der Gedanke und die Ueberzeugung der Beweis ist" (XVIII, 161). His aversion to philosophic ideas he states in no uncertain terms. "Kein Dichter in der Welt ist wohl je bei Schopfung eines Meisterwerkes von einer allgemeinen Idee aus- gegangen. Das kommt von der beliebten Einmischung der Phi- losophie in die Kunst Weh dem Menschen, der auf solches Generalisieren verfallt! Als Philosoph mag er vielleicht etwas leisten, zum Dichter ist er verdorben ewiglich!" (XVI, 55, 56; cf. also XV, 64). This statement, made in 1816, Grillparzer modified somewhat after the year 1834 (cf. XV, 102) in accordance with Kant's conception that the aesthetic idea is the sense-embodiment of the philosophic idea, 3 and in an utterance from the year 1843 he states: " Allerdings muss jedem Gedicht, wie jedem menschlichen Bestreben, eine Intention, ein Gedanke oder, in hochster Bezeichnung gefasst, eine Idee zum Grunde liegen, andererseits aber soil das Gedicht ein » Op. cit., Ill, 29. 2 Ibid., Ill, 29. 3 Cf. Strich, op. cit., 65 f. LITERARY AND' AESTHETIC VIEWS II lebendiges sein und alles Lebendig-Wirkliche ist ein Konkretum, der Gedanke aber oder die Idee ist und bleibt ein Abstraktes" (XVIII, 140; cf. also XV, 62). Here too, however, he maintains that poetry must be concrete and plastic and opposes the abstract ideas which the romanticists were wont to incorporate in their works. Roman- ticism, which in 1835 he had characterized as "die faselnd-mittel- alterliche, selbst-tauschend-religiose, gestaltlos-nebelnde, Tieckisch- und Menzlisch-unfahige Periode" (XVIII, 101), he still looks back upon in 1844 as " eine erbarmliche Zeit." 1 Grillparzer's opposition to the novel and the folk-song, forms of\ composition which enjoyed special favor among the romanticists, j may also be traced largely to his love for artistic form in poetry. / The popularity of the novel among romantic writers was largely due to the fact that it combined all the elements of poetry — epic, lyric, — and dramatic. In the Brief iiber den Roman Friedrich Schlegel states : " Es muss Ihnen nach meiner Ansicht einleuchtend sein, dass und warum ich fodre, alle Poesie solle romantisch sein; den Roman aber, insofern er eine besondere Gattung sein will, verabscheue Ja ich kann mir einen Roman kaum anders denken als gemischt aus Erzahlung, Gesang und andern Formen." 2 This mixed nature 01 s * the novel was, as has been pointed out, enough in itself to condemn it in Grillparzer's eyes as a form of art. As a matter of fact he con- ' sidered the novel to be a genre midway between prose and poetry, and therefore as not belonging to the highest kind of art. "Es besteht namlich die Poesie aus zwei Theilen: Poesie der Auffas- sung und Poesie der Darstellung; der Roman ist deshalb auch nur hochstens halbe Poesie" (XV, 63). In conversation with Folgar 3 he expressed himself even more strongly on this subject: " Mich schauert immer," he says, "wenn ich daran denke, dass die Italiener den Roman bei sich einfuhren. Durch zwei Jahrhunderte behalfen sie sich, freilich auf eine erbarmliche Art, mit ihren Sonetten; aber es war doch Poesie. Der Roman ist Prosa." Sir Walter Scott's achievements in epic, lyric, and dramatic poetry he considered to be 1 A. Foglar, Grillparzers AnsichUn iiber Literatur, Buhne und Leben (Stuttgart, 1891), 33- 3 J. Minor, op. cit., II, 373. 3 A. Foglar, op. cit., 31. 12 grillparzer's attitude toward romanticism insignificant: "Er ist auf die Erzahlung beschrankt; braucht es mehr, um ihn von jeder eigentlich hdhern Rangstufe auszuschlies- sen ?" (XVI, 190). The Novelle, a form which was very popular with Tieck and the other romanticists, was likewise condemned by him: "Novellen ! — Wer schreibt sie nicht ? Hat nicht langst das poetische Unvermogen des neuern Deutschlands sich auf dieses bequeme Faulbette breit hingestreckt ? " (XVIII, 127; cf. also XVII, 245). Still sharper is Grillparzer's denunciation of the folk-song 1 and Middle High German poetry. The formlessness and the lack of individuality in popular poetry were repulsive to his artistic sense. Middle High German poetry, with the exception of the Nibelungen- ^ lied, he considered to be little better than imitation of French models (XVI, 15). He congratulates Austria on the sound sense exhibited in not trying to revive popular works, as had been attempted in Ger- many (XVIII, 137). Folk-songs, he tells us, are a barbarous form of art (XIII, 186) ; they are like wild flowers, beautiful in their pris- tine state, but only weeds when placed beside cultivated flowers (XVIII, 36) . To seek inspiration from such sources is like drinking from stagnant pools while the clear spring of poetry (Homer and Shak- spere) bubbles up close at hand (III, 115). Those who, like Uhland, collect popular songs, he compares to the ox to whom the flowers and weeds of the meadow are all grass (III, 116). He parodies the Grimm philological method by seeking to ascribe great antiquity to a mean- ingless quatrain (XIII, 182-84), and derides the Wolf-Lachmann theory that epics are a development from popular songs. "Kein Epos ging je vom Volk, sondern von einzelnen seltenen, begabten Mannern aus, die allenfalls das im Volk zerstreute Sagen- oder Lieder- material sammelten und zum Ganzen bildeten, mit Hinzufugung eigener Erfindungen (denn zum Nachschreiber sich herzugeben, hat von jeher jeder Begabte verschmaht) " (XVIII, 14;. cf. also XVI, *5i 2 4> 25). In like manner Grillparzer was opposed to the introduction of a -Germanic mythology into German poetry. Friedrich Schlegel had stated in the Gesprach ilber die Poesie 2 that romantic poetry must 1 E. K. Bliimml, Volkslied-Miscellen 2, Grillparzer und das deutscke Volkslied. Herrichs Archivii5, 63 f. The same, Studien zur vergl. Litgesch. (1907), II, 191. 2 J. Minor, op. cit., II, 357 f. > LITERARY AND AESTHETIC VIEWS 1 3 create for itself a mythology just as ancient poetry had done. The \ new interest of the philologists of the romantic period in the German ' past had made itself felt in poets like Fouque* and Uhland, in whose works an attempt was made to revive the old Norse gods and heroes. 1 Grillparzer did not approve of such attempts. Speaking of Scheller's Mythologie der nordischen Volker (1816) he remarks: u Ich wiisste nichts, was man mit diesen neblichten Urformen in der epischen und dramatischen Poesie machen sollte; im Lyrischen mochte man sich eher noch ihrer zuweilen bedienen konnen" (XVI, 35). Here, too, it was that lack of concrete definiteness, characteristic of Norse mythology as compared with the definiteness of ancient mythology, on which Grillparzer based his judgment. And yet, despite the fact that he hated many of the theories of the Schlegels and a great deal of the practice of the Romantic school, Grillparzer had nevertheless much in his nature in common with the romanticists. As a recent writer 2 has remarked, the fact that certain thinkers and artists (e. g., Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Ibsen) have been such strong opponents of romanticism often, indeed almost invariably, proves that they themselves have deeply rooted within them the tendencies against which they storm, tendencies which, possibly, they are trying to overcome by such protests. GrillparzerX was himself conscious of his double nature and states in his autobiog- / raphy: " In mir namlich leben zwei vollig abgesonderte Wesen. Ein Dichter von der libergreifendsten, ja sich uberstiirzendsten Phantasie, und ein Verstandesmensch der kaltesten und zahesten Art" (XIX, 79). His imaginative nature appears strongly in the fanciful dreams anchv visions of his boyhood (XIX, 13-15), in his love for chivalric and \ ghost stories (XIX, 19, 20), tales of travel and adventure (XIX, 25). J That dreamy character, so common in romantic heroes and condemned ( by him as the misfortune of the German nation, he was forced to \ struggle against constantly, for he confesses that it was shared by himself. " Ich spreche hier nicht als einer, dem dieser dumpf traum- ende Zustand fremd ist, denn es ist der meine' , (XVIII, 84). The history of the^composition of several of his dramas shows how great 1 Fouque", Sigurd der Schlangentbdter (Berlin: Hitzig, 1808); Der Held des Nordens (Berlin, 1810); L. Uhland, Die Nibelungen (Entwurf), 1817, etc. a K. W. Goldschmidt, "Romantik-Epigonen," Das literarische Echo, X, 23, 161 7. 14 grillparzer's attitude toward romanticism a r61e inspiration and Stimmung played in his work, 1 so much so indeed that in later life he complained that he had never learned to work properly, but had remained "ein Mensch der Stimmung." 2 While romanticism did not take such deep root in Austria as it did in Germany, there was one outgrowth of it at least which made itself felt and which was approved by even such opponents of the 'movement as Schreyvogel, viz., the fate tragedy. 3 To quote Minor: 4 " Die Schicksalsidee tritt wie die Romantilr zu der Zeit auf, wo die Aufklarung ihre Macht iiber die Geister zu verlieren im Begriffe steht und den Aberglauben, unter den Gebildeten und im Volke, nicht mehr niederzuhalten vermag. Sie stammt also aus derselben Wurzel wie die Romantik, die fur prophetische Traume und Ahnungen, fiir die Nachtseiten des Seelenlebens, fiir alien Aberglauben jederzeit das warms te Interesse bezeugt und auch die virtuose Behandlung aller Mittel der Stimmungspoesie vorbereitet hat, deren das Schicksals- drama bedurfte." Grillparzer's first great drama, Die Ahnjrau, belonged to this class 5 and is clearly romantic. Many of his other dramas are, however, also more or less romantic, as will be shown later more in detail. The impressions of his youth were deeply ingrained in his nature he declared himself in the year 1846: "Die Jugendeindrucke wird man nicht los. Meinen eigenen Arbeiten merkt man an, dass ich in der Kinderzeit mich an den Geister- und Feen- marchen des Leopoldstadter Theaters ergotzt habe" (XVIII, 160). Sappho, Das goldene Vliess, Hero, Der Traum, ein Leben, Weh dent, der liigt, Esther, Die Jildin von Toledo and the Bruderzwist, all contain romantic elements. 6 Even those dramas which are usually considered as being most classical in form {Sappho, Medea, Hero) 1 Cf . Die Ahnfrau, XIX, 62 f.; Glossy und Sauer, Tagebuc her, 138, 139; Das goldene Vliess, XIX, 97; Aug. v. Littrow-Bischoff, Aus d. pers. Verkehr mit Fr. G. (Wien, 1873), 45; Tgb., 63. 2 Tagebiicher, 88. 3 E. Kuh, Zwei Dichter Oesterreichs (Pest, 1872), 38. 4 "Zur Gesch. d. Schicksalstragodie," Grillparzer Jahrbuch, IX, 14, 15. s J. Minor, Die Ahnjrau u. d. Schicksalstragodie, Forschungen z. n. Lit.-Gesch. Festgabe fur R. Heinzel (Weimar, 1898), 387-434; J. Volkelt, Fr. Grillparzer als Dichter des Tragischen (Nordlingen, 1888), 151 f.; A. Sauer, Grillparzer s samtliche Werke, I, 33, 34. 6 A. Schonbach, Gesammelte Aufsatze z. n. Literatur (Graz, 1900), 147, 148. LITERARY AND AESTHETIC VIEWS 1 5 are, as Scherer has pointed OiitrJove^ragedigs: "Antike Anschau- ungen, antike Empfindungen, antikes Heldentum, antike Lebens- verhaltnisse : darauf war es von ihm nicht abgesehen, und jeder Vor- wurf, den man hieraus ableitet, ist ungerecht. 1 Speaking of the last-named drama Grillparzer himself says: "Man hat sonderbar gefunden, dass ich dem aus dem Stoffe von Hero und Leander gezo- genen Stiicke den Titel: 'Des Meeres und der Liebe Wellen' gegeben. Mir lag aber daran, gleich von vornherein anzudeuten, dass die Behandlung, obgleich mit antiker Farbung, doch romantisch gemeint sei" (XVIII, 191). Grillparzer, indeed, was far from being opposed to the romantic, element in poetry. He criticizes, as has been pointed out, the lack ' of form and clarity, the confusion of philosophic and poetic elements, the intermingling of feeling and reflection, of poetry and prose, so characteristic of much of the work of the Romantic school. A few ' years before his death (1868) he stated that he was no enemy of roman- ticism, but of the. exaggerations jof .the romanticists: "Romantik: Gehorst du auch unter meine Gegner? Ich: Im Gegenteil. Du unterhaltst mich mit deinen bunten Bildern. Aber deine Anhanger haben die Sache doch sehr tibertrieben. Romantik : Was wird nicht alles tibertrieben ? und was geht das mich an ? Ich: Und dann der fatale romanische Name: Romantik! Romantik: Nun, so nenne mich auf deutsch ! Ich: Wiealsodenn? Romantik: Diejugend" (XIII, 187). Romantic and poetic are indeed almost synonymous\ terms with him (XVII, 169). Romantic poetry he prefers to call ] Empfindungspoesie (XV, 63), and without Empfindung he believes / that there can be no genuine poetry. "Was dem empfindenden Menschen wahr ist, ist poetisch wahr, und was dem denkenden Menschen wahr ist, ist philosophisch wahr" (XV, 38; cf. also XV, 62). This doctrine, as Strich has pointed out, 2 corresponds very closely to the view of the romanticists and especially of NovaliSX Grillparzer deplores the substitution of Gedanken for Empfindung , in poetry: " Es ist das Grundubel der Poesie (der lyrischen besonders) ' aller neueren Nationen, dass sie sich zur Prosa hinneigt. Nicht 1 W. Scherer, Vortrdge u. Aufsatze zur Gesch. d. geist. Lebens in Deutschland und Oesterreich (Berlin, 1874), 198; cf. also Grill par zers sdmtliche Werke, XIX, 74. » F. Strich, op. cit., 34, 35- 1 6 grillparzer's attitude toward romanticism dadurch, dass sie trivial wird, sondern gerade, wenn sie sich erhebt Ihre hochste Erhebung ist namlich bis zum Gedanken, indes nichts poetisch'ist als die Empfindung" (XV, 67). Poetry he defines as "die Empfindung des Verstandes und das Denken des Gefiihls" (XV, 55). It is not somelKIng^rat can be appreciated fully by the understanding alone, as the Aufklarer had believed. "Weh dem Gedicht, das sich vbllig durch den Verstand erklaren lasst" (XV, 24). "Ein Kunstwerk muss sein wie die Natur, deren verklartes Abbild es ist: fur den tiefsten Forscherblick noch nicht ganz erklarlich; und doch fur das blosse Beschauen etwas, und zwar etwas Bedeutendes ,, (XV, 40). These and similar utterances Strich 1 has shown to be developments of Kant's doctrine and shared by Schelling and other >mantic writers on aesthetics. For Grillparzer the problem to be solved by poetry and art is to bring the world into harmony with the laws of feeling (Empfindung) (XV, 38) and that is what he always strove to do in his own works. " Mein Vorsatz ist," he stated in 1838, "der Verstandes- und Meinungspoesie unserer Zeit nicht nachzu- geben. Das Bild, die Gestalt, Gefuhl und Phantasie festzuhalten und der Unmittelbarkeit der Anschauung zu gehorchen, die splitter- richtende Kritik mag dazu sagen, was sie will" (XVIII, 160). He disapproves of the subjection of the spiritual world to the common laws of matter as is the case in Gervinus' history of German literature: " Der Willkur, der Stimmung, dem Genie, der Laune ist kein Spiel- raum gelassen, bis aufs Blut wird alles erklart, und wenn der Mensch bis dahin ein kaum losbares Ratsel schien, sieht man mit einemmal, dass jede Erscheinung der sittlichen Welt sich nach den Anhand- gebungen der Regeldetri und des Einmaleins darlegen lassen" (XVIII, 15). "" Like the classicists, Grillparzer believes that art has as its object the representation of the beautiful (XV, 24) . His view of the beau- tiful has, however, as Strich has pointed out, 2 much in common with the romantic view. Like Bouterweck, Schelling, and A. W. Schlegel he gives up the Kantian division of Beautiful and Sublime and main- tains that the Sublime is only a form of the Beautiful (XV, 10). On the other hand, although he objected to the love of the distorted and 1 Op. cit., 77 f. 2 Ibid., 51. LITERARY AND AESTHETIC VIEWS 1 7 the depiction of the dark side of life found frequently in HebbePs works, 1 he was not averse to combining the ugly with the beautiful, as the romanticists were wont to do, whenever a new harmony was created by such a combination. Friedrich Schlegel had stated in his work, Ueber das Studium der griechischen Poesie, that the beautiful was not the standard according to which modern poetry could be judged: "Dies ist so wenig das herrschende Prinzip der modernen Poesie, dass viele ihrer trefflichsten Werke ganz offenbar Darstel- lungen des Hasslichen sind." 2 He admires the intermingling of these two elements in the works of Shakspere: "Wie die Natur Schones und Hassliches durch einander mit gleich uppigem Reichtum erzeugt, so auch Shakespeare." 3 Grillparzer makes the same distinction between romantic and classic as Schlegel. "Das Unterscheidende des Romantischen gegeniiber dem Klassischen ist, dass ersteres bloss die Gemtitswirkung bezweckt, gleichviel, auf welche Art sie bewirkt wird; das Interessante, das Geistreiche, das Bedeutende, ja das Hassliche, alles ist ihr willkommen, wenn nur die beabsichtigte Auf- regung dadurch hervorgebracht wird. Die alte Kunst aber ging bloss auf das Schone," etc. (XV, 67). He admires the success achieved by modern art in combining these opposites into a new harmony: "Es ist uberhaupt merkwiirdig zu beobachten wie die neuere Kunst, verglichen mit der alten, vom Unsinn und der Geschmacklosigkeit ausgeht, und das bunte, absurde Zeug sich nach und nach zu einer Richtung abklart, die als vdllig verschiedener Typus neben den Meisterwerken der Alten wiirdig und gewissermassen selbstandig bestehen kann," etc. (XVI, 179). In his own work he is romantic, like Shakspere and Lope de Vega, in the way in which he mixes comic and tragic elements. "In seinen Jugendstiicken," says Sauer, " streut er nach Shakespearischer Weise unter den ernsten Scenen komische ein" (I, 75), and Volkelt 4 has shown that in almost all his tragedies comic elements appear. 1 Littrow-Bischoff, op. cit., 148. 2 J. Minor, Op. cit., I, 88. 3 Ibid., I, 108; cf. Victor Hugo on the combination of the sublime and the grotesque in art, Preface de Cromwell, Theatre (Paris: Hachette, 1884), I, 21 f. 4 "Grillparzer als Dichter des Komischen," Grillparzer Jahrbuch, XV, 1-30; also Fr. Grillparzer als Dichter des Tragischen, 20, 21. ( 1 8 grillparzer's attitude toward romanticism Also in his view of the supernatural (das Wunderbare) and the rdle which it plays in poetry Grillparzer shows some affinity to the romanticists. "AucJ^asJWunderbare," he stated in the year 1819, "ist der H achafanuftg--4er-Jfetu£ nicht e nthoben." He justifies the employment of the supernatural for poetic purposes on the ground that the objective truth of the picture is relatively unimportant so long as the subjective effect of the same is true. For this reason he admires Calderon's use of the superstitions which have grown up (about Catholicism, producing through them an effect which is often \greater than that which is produced by religion itself (XVI, 32). This view became more and more established with Grillparzer and in 1837 we find him still defending the miraculous and supernatural elements in poetry: "Eigentlich absurde, aber durch ihr immerwah- rendes Vorkommen als in der innersten Natur des Menschen begriindet anzusehende Vorstellungen, daher fur die Philosophic verwerflich, fur die Poesie aber von hohem Werte: Strafe der Unthat bis ins spateste Geschlecht. Wirkung von Elternfluch und Segen. Vor- bedeutende Traume. Das Schicksal, mit Vorauswissen und Vor- ausbestimmen gedacht. Die Gottheit leidenschaftlich. Eine von den natiirlichen Folgen der That verschiedene Nemesis. Wahr- sagung. Gespensterglauben. Spezielle Erhorung des Gebetes. Gluck und Ungluck, objektiv gedacht" (XV, 65). In his youth he showed a preference for romantic poets like Calderon (I, 81 f.), Zacharias Werner, and Milliner, poets whose works are full of such elements. "Die Poesie," he states in his Autobiography, "kann des Hereinspielens eines Uebersinnlichen in das Menschliche nie ent- behren Die Alten hatten die grandiose Gestalt des Schicksals; aber auch nur fur die Poesie Diese grossartige Gestalt ist allerdings durch die neueren Religionen zerstort worden, aber die Trummer da von leben unvertilgbar als Vorbedeutung und Vorahnung, als Wirkung von Fluch und Segen, als Gespenster- und Hexenglauben / fort." The use of the supernatural element can indeed be traced i in many of Grillparzer's dramas, being particularly conspicuous in \ works like the Ahnjrau, Das goldene Vliess, Der Traum, ein Leben, ^Melusina, etc. 1 1 A. Sauer, Ueber das Zauberische bet Grillparzer. Gesammelte Reden und Auf- satze zur Geschichte der Literatur in Oester. und Deutschland (Wien, 1903), 205-30. LITERARY AND AESTHETIC VIEWS 1 9 I have so far treated largely of matters having reference to Grill- parzer's views on literature and aesthetics. In considering his dramas, however, a number of problems present themselves which show that Grillparzer's bias was toward romanticism. His views of art, love, N ethics, fate and guilt, monarchy, nature, the highest good, etc., all show romantic influence and will be treated later in detail. Also his use of language 1 and verse betrays to some extent the same influ- ence. These, however, are special problems which I merely mention here before passing on to one of the most fruitful sources for showing the influence of romanticism, namely, to an examination of the differ- ent types of character which Grillparzer prefers to portray in his dramas. 1 M. Schutze, Repetition of a Word as a Means of Suspense in the Drama under the Influence of Romanticism. Studies in German Romanticism, Part I (Chicago, 1907) . II. THE CHARACTERS In his review of Goethe's Egmont Schiller states that the drama may treat of actions and situations, or passions, or characters. Even where there is a combination of all three, one of these features always / predominates as the final purpose of the work. The ancient writers of tragedy, Schiller goes on to say, limited themselves almost exclu- sively to the representation of situations and the depiction of passions. \ The drama of character, on the other hand, belongs to modern times and more especially to the time since Shakspere. Shakspere, with dramas like Macbeth and Richard the Third, was the first to bring /' on the stage whole men, and Goethe in his Gotz and Egmont gave \ to Germany the first example of dramas in which the unity lay neither \in the situations nor in any passion but in the character of the hero. 1 In Schiller's own dramas the action is always most conspicuous. Schiller, indeed, rarely succeeds in depicting genuine passion and the characters which he has drawn are not only types, but often abstractions. Speaking of Schiller's characters MauerhofP says: "Es sind fortan nicht mehr Menschen, die auftreten und vor uns handeln, sondern kostumierte Wachsfiguren, ftir die deren Bildner, so gut als seine akademischen Begriffe von der Sache es ihm erlauben, und vor alien Dingen so schon und klangvoll wie moglich, spricht. .... Seine Menschen wollen nie, konnen darum auch nicht leiden, vergehen sich aber zufallig in wirklicher oder eingebildeter Art und mussen dafur zu ihrem bitteren Leidwesen mit dem Tode biissen." Ricarda Huch 3 was evidently of the same opinion when she wrote: " Unvergleichlich verstand es Schiller, seinen Dramen einen Korper zu geben; aber die Kehrseite ist: auch die Menschen, die er schafft, sind nur Korper, die sich bewegen, handeln und gestikulieren, lachen und weinen; wir sehen ihre Seelen nicht, aus denen all dies wirbelnde Leben herausquillt, horen die Spharenmusik nicht, die den grossen Reigen des Weltalls innerlich begleitet." 1 Schiller '$ sdmtliche Werke (Sakular-Ausgabe, Cotta), XVI, 179, 180. 2 Schiller und Kleist, 56, 57. 3 Bliitezeit der Romantik (Leipzig, 1905), 206. THE CHARACTERS 21 in / The main interest in Grillparzer's dramas, on the other hand rests in the characters. His theory of the drama is summed up the words: "Menschliche Handlungen und Leidenschaften sind der Vorwurf der tragischen Kunst. Alles andere, und ware es auch das Hochste, bleibt zwar nicht ausgeschlossen, aber ist — Maschine" (XV, 97). Several of his plays, indeed, were adapted to the special actors who were to play the various roles. 1 Schiller's dramas, which were at one time his ideal, soon ceased to be so. 2 His own plays have little in common with Schiller's apart from some external simi- larities in the use of certain motifs. 3 In their fundamental structure and especially in the emphasis laid on character and passions they\ show a much closer kinship with the technique of Goethe and of Shakspere. Throughout his works, in fact, Grillparzer shows an ever-increasing tendency toward the individualistic and the charac- teristic — a tendency which Friedrich Schlegel designates as the dis- tinguishing mark of romantic poetry. 4 The success of the Ahnjrau had been attributed by many to the element of the supernatural, to the interesting combination of the robber incidents with the fate tendencies of the work, in short to melodramatic effects. In his next work the poet determined to let his characters speak for them- selves. " Ich nahm mir vor, mein nachstes Produkt ein Gegenstiick dieses tollen Treibens werden zu lassen" (XVIII, 173). He there- fore chose the subject of Sappho, a subject with a plot so simple as\ to be almost devoid of incidents. Here the chief interest centers about Sappho, Phaon, and Melitta — the plot is purely personal. All his later plays, with the possible exception of Der Traum, ein Leben and Melusina, betray an ever-increasing interest in the characters andi passions. Des Meeres und der Liebe Wellen is almost as simple in its plot as Sappho; the Treuer Diener, as Sauer 5 has pointed out, is a masterpiece of characterization, while later works like the Bruder- 1 Glossy und Sauer, Grillparzer s Brief e und Tagebiicher (Stuttgart und Berlin), I, 56, 88; II, 13. 2 Glossy und Sauer, op. cit., II, 1, 27 f. 3 O. E. Lessing, Schillers Einfluss auf Grillparzer. (Bulletin of the University of Wisconsin, No. 54, 1902) ; ibid., " Motive aus Schiller in Grillparzers Meisterwerken." Journal 0} English and Germanic Philology, V (1903), 33-43. 4 J. Minor, Friedrich Schlegels Jugendschrijten, I, 107. s Grillparzer Jahrbuch, III, 23 f. 22 GRILLPARZER'S ATTITUDE TOWARD ROMANTICISM zwist in Habsburg and the Jiidin von Toledo afford examples of individualization which border on realism. But not only does Grillparzer show the influence of romanticism in that he lays most stress on the psychological development of charac- ters and passions, but the types which he prefers to portray are for the most part romantic types. Almost every critic has referred to the fa£t that in all his works Grillparzer has not represented a single really strong character. All are imperfect types, mostly inactive and wavering., passive and undecided in nature, or, if active and self- / assertive, soon prove their inability to cope with the problems which face them. Instinct and feeling, so prominent in romantic characters, are the ruling principles of their lives. They do not mold the course of events by force of will, but, as a rule, seek refuge from the turmoils and conflicts of life in retirement and contemplation. " Einen Helden des machtigen Willens, der sich aufreibt in schmerzlichen Ringen mit der widerstrebenden Welt — ja selbst eine aufflammende, verheerende Leidenschaft, die zu furchtbaren Taten spornt, hat Grillparzer nie dargestellt," says Scherer. 1 Volkelt 2 speaks much in the same tone when he states: "Und in der Tat findet sich unter den tragischen Helden Grillparzers, ausser Ottokar keine einzige Herrschernatur, ja uberhaupt kein ganzer Mann, und auch unter den Personen zweiter Linie ist einzig Rudolf von Habsburg ein Charakter, in dem das spezifisch Mannliche zu umfassender und kraftvoller Entwicklung gekommen ist." This same characteristic is noted by Schwering, 3 who compares Grillparzer's persons with those of Lord Byron and draws attention to the fact that the Austrian dramatist depicts mostly "schwankende Mannercharaktere, wetterwendische, der Laune des Augenblicks sich ftigende Naturen." (^ Grillparzer's strongest characters are indeed not men but women. I According to Faulhammer 4 the strength of his plays is to be found in * the admirable depiction of his women, and Scherer 5 has noted that 1 Franz Grillparzer, Vortrage u. Aujsatze zur Gesch. d. geistigen Lebens in Deutsch- land und Oesterreich (Berlin, 1874), 214. 2 Franz Grillparzer als Dichter des Tragischen (Nordlingen, 1888), 35. 3 Franz Grillparzers hellenische Trauerspiele (Paderborn, 1891), 45; cf. also G. Freytag, Ges. Werke (Leipzig: Hirzel, 1886-88), XVI, 329. <* Franz Grillparzer (Graz, 1884), 159. s Op. cit., 295. THE CHARACTERS 23 in representing lofty womanhood the poet's fancy was most power- fully stimulated. Sappho and Medea are infinitely greater than Phaon and Jason, and Hero, Esther, Rahel, and Libussa come in for a much larger share of the poet's sympathy than the various men- characters with whom they are associated. In this regard Grill- parzer's genius resembled Goethe's. "Mit grosserem Rechte, als von Goethe," writes Mahrenholtz, 1 "lasst sich von ihm sagen, dass er nur auf die Zeichnung des Weibes sich verstanden habe, die der Manner dagegen bei ihm eine schwachlich-verblasste sei," and Fari- nelli, 2 comparing the persons of the Austrian poet with those of his\ favorite Lope, states that Grillparzer's women possess for the most j part those qualities which are lacking in his men and which befit/ the man. The prominence accorded to women in the dramas of Grillparzer may be looked upon as the result of the gradual elevation of the social status of woman which began toward the close of the eighteenth century and was most zealously preached by Friedrich Schlegel, the apostle of romanticism. 3 In the studies Ueber die Diotima and Ueber\ die Philosophie, in the Lyceum and Athenaum fragments, and in his 1 novel, Lucinde, Schlegel has stated his doctrine on the subject of woman, i Like Plato and the Stoics he was a firm believer in the theory that "die Weiblichkeit, wie die Mannlichkeit der hoheren Menschlichkeit untergeordnet sein soil," 4 and condemned the " Knechtschaft der Weiber" as a " Krebsschaden der Menschlichkeit." 5 The women of the romantic circle, Caroline, Henriette Herz, Dorothea, and Rahel Levin, women of the highest culture and intellectual independ- ence, were the representatives of the new ideal of womanhood, an ideal which was just the opposite of the quiet household sphere of woman praised by Schiller in his Wiirde der Frauen. This new type of woman soon made her appearance in various forms in the literature of the day — in the Thusnelda and Penthesilea of Heinrich von Kleist, in the Judith and Chriemhild of Hebbel, and in Grillparzer's Sappho, Medea, Kunigunde, Esther, and Rahel. 1 Franz Grillparzer (Leipzig, 1890), 38. 2 Grillparzer und Lope de Vega (Berlin, 1894), 288. 3 H. Gschwind, Die elhischen Neuerungen der Frilh-Romantik (Bern, 1903). 4 J. Minor, Fr. Schlegels Jugendschrijtcn, I, 56. 5 " Lyceumf ragmente 106," ibid., II, 198. t { 24 grillparzer's attitude toward romanticism / Not only are Grillparzer's strongest characters his women but also most of the men whom he has portrayed have something feminine in their nature. For this reason they have often been compared with the men-characters found in Goethe's works. " Unwillkiirlich erinnert der Dichter an sein grosses Vorbild Goethe, auch dadurch, dass die mannlichen Figuren schwacher oft schwachlich erscheinen," writes Faulhammer, 1 and Bulthaupt 2 remarks that in almost all of Grillparzer's dramas the man is the weaker, not the woman. In this regard, ^too, Grillparzer was at one with the romanticists and opposed to Schiller. The exaggerated idea of Mannlichkeit which is characteristic of all of Schiller's men was just as distasteful to the romanticists as the super-femininity of the women generally found in his plays. " Manner wie diese," said Friedrich Schlegel, 3 "miissten 'an Handen und Beinen gebunden werden; solchen Frauen ziemte Gangelband und Fallhut." The romantic idea of a perfect character was that of a person who combined within himself the best features of botlj_sexes. As Novalis 4 stated it: " Der Mann ist gewissermassen auch Weib, so wie das Weib Mann." Friedrich Schlegel was never tired of preaching this doctrine. "Nur sanfte Mannlichkeit, nur (selbstandige Weiblichkeit ist die rechte, wahre und schone." 5 He believed that the character of the sexes should not be exaggerated, but rather equalized: "In der Tat sind die Mannlichkeit und die Weiblichkeit, so wie sie gewohnlich getrieben werden, die gefahr- lichsten Hindernisse der Menschlichkeit, welche nach einer alten Sage einheimisch ist und doch nur ein harmonisches Ganze sein 'kann, welches keine Absonderung leidet." 6 Grillparzer's characters correspond excellently to Schlegel's demand for " sanfte Mannlichkeit" and " selbstandige Weiblichkeit." Sappho, Medea, Esther, Libussa, and Rahel are the leading spirits of the dramas in which they play a role, and are infinitely greater than any of the men-characters in the same. On the other hand, 1 Op. cit., p. 64. 2 Dramaturgic des Schauspiels, 7. Aufl. (Oldenburg und Leipzig, 1904), III, 77. 3 J. Minor, op. cit., II, 4. 4 Novalis Schriften, herausgegeben von E. Heilborn (Berlin, 1901), II, 2, 506. s J. Minor, op. cit., II, 321. 6 Ibid., II, 321. THE CHARACTERS 25 Jaromir, Phaon, Leander, Rustan, Rudolf the Second, Bancbanus, Alfonso, and even Jason and Ottokar all belong to the mdnnlich-y. weiblich type. Like the persons in the various romantic novels they \ are " unstat und wankelmutig" and either lack the power to act or fail to maintain their manly dignity when fortune ceases to smile upon / them. For the purpose of analysis, I have divided the characters in Grill- parzer's dramas who may be considered as showing romantic tenden- cies into three classes: 1. The instinctive type, who follow blindly uncontrollable impulses. To this class belong: Bertha and Jaromir, Phaon and Melitta, Medea, Hero and Leander, Rahel, etc. 2. The quietistic type which turns away from life and seeks happi- ness in retirement and solitude. Among such are : Rudolf the Second, Matthias, Libussa and her sisters, Rustan, Sappho, etc. 3. Commonplace characters drawn from ordinary life. I. THE INSTINCTIVE TYPE The characterization in the Ahnjrau is weak, but the type which is represented by Jaromir a nd B ertha, the two chief persons of the drama, is purely romantic. Both belong to that class of unmoral characters who are so commonly met with in the works of the roman- ticists. They are both represented as children of instinct who follow blindly the dictates of their own passions, irrespective of right or wrong. The moral significance of their actions rarely enters into their thoughts. In the spirit of the true romanticist they believe in\ the right of the individual to live his life without the restriction of any \ law save that of his own free and untrammeled personality, the die- J tates of which they follow unswervingly. -* - *^ From the very first Bertha is pictured as yielding entirely to her -— . natural instincts. On awakening from her swoon and finding herself secure from the robbers who had threatened her life, she gives herself up whole-heartedly and without a thought to a perfect stranger, to whom she feels irresistibly attracted like the steel to the magnet: Wie ein Kind am Mutterbusen, Hing ich an des Teuern Lippen, Seine/ heissen Kiisse trinkend (IV, 22). 26 grillparzer's attitude toward romanticism It would almost seem as if she had partaken of some magic potion, so all-absorbing is this passion in her life. The count, her father, is struck by it but accepts it as something inevitable: Wie sie gliiht, Wie es sie hinuberzieht ! Aller Widerstand genommen, Und im Strudel fort geschwommen. Nun wohlan, es sei! (IV, 48, 49). Despite her intense longing for Jaromir, however, she has at certain moments a feeling that all is not well. An inner voice whispers to her that her love is criminal, but she has not the power to resist. Like the romanticists she does not believe that she is acting freely but feels that she is in the grasp of a power which keeps driving her on in spite of herself: Doch will ich mich ihm entziehen, Trifft sein Blick mich weich und warm, Mit dem Willen, zu entfliehen, Flieh ich nur in seinen Arm (IV, 65). Even after she learns that Jaromir is a robber and the captain of the band who have perpetrated so many cruelties — the man whom her father and the soldiers are hunting down like a wild beast, her passion for him soon overcomes all other considerations. For his sake she is ready to desert her father and, forgetful of filial duties and moral obligations, would flee with him to the uttermost parts of the earth. — - In thus deciding Bertha is yielding to her natural impulses. It is interesting to note how Grillparzer has traced step by step the devel- opment which goes on within her. She is a prey to conflicting emo- tions. She feels that all is lost, arid yet she cannot bear to be separated from her lover; she knows that she ought to detest him, and yet she cannot help loving him. "Himmel! Fort!" she exclaims (IV, 76); but when Jaromir, taking her at her word, is about to leave with the desperate resolve of surrendering himself up to justice, she springs to her feet and checks him. Her voice, her look betrays her love and he feels that there is still something to live for. She still attempts to resist when he tries to take her hand, but soon, moved by his entreaties and by the passion which she has for him, surrenders completely with the exclamation: " Jaromir, ach! Jaromir!" (IV, 79). From now THE CHARACTERS 27 on she has lost all power of resistance and yields to everything which he suggests: Bertha. Fliehen soil ich ? Jaromir. Kann ich bleiben ? Kann ich fliehen ohne dich ? Bertha. Und mein Vater ? Jaromir. Weib und ich ? Wohl so bleib: auch ich will bleiben. Hier, hier sollen sie mich finden, Fassen, wiirgen, fesseln, binden. Bertha. Ach, halt ein ! Jaromir. Du willst ? Bertha (halb ohnmachtig). Ich will! (IV, 80). In Jaromir we have depicted a typical romantic robber, a mar? capable of the boldest and most bloodthirsty deeds and at the same time a dreamer who loves solitude and brooding. He belongs to the same family as Selim whom Byron has described in the Bride of Abydos — a youth in whom the trained eye of a Giaffir, accustomed to discern warriors can see no signs of "aught that beseems a man." 1 And yet, like Selim, Jaromir turns out to be the dreaded leader of a fierce band of robbers, a wonderful mixture of the romantic mannlich- weiblich type. We first hear of him in Bertha's account of how she was drawn farther and farther into the woods by the sound of a lute : Klagend, stohnend, Mitleid flehend, Mit der Tonkunst ganzer Macht, Girrend bald gleich zarten Tauben Durch die dichtverschlungnen Lauben, Bald mit langgedehntem Schall Lockend gleich der Nachtigall, Dass die Liifte schweigend horchten Und das Laub der regen Espe Seine Regsamkeit vergass (IV, 21). In response to her cry of distress, when attacked by the robbers, a young man springs forth- from the thicket near by, a sword in his right hand, in his left a lute. The dreamer who, just a moment before, had been pouring forth his longings in the melancholy tones of the lute is transformed suddenly into a veritable tiger who, single-handed 1 Cf. Wyplel, "Byron and Grillparzer," Grillparter Jahrbuch, XIV, 26 f. /; 28 grillparzer's attitude toward romanticism and almost without striking a blow, puts to flight a whole band of murderers. Such is Jaromir — a man of moods. A man with a temperament like this is, as one would naturally expect, ruled by his impulses. Although in danger of betraying himself to the soldiers who are seeking him, he defends most warmly against the Hauptmann the robbers, in whom he sees fallen brothers. Again when he hears the conflict going on between his men and the soldiers, heedless of the fact that he is not only risking his own life, but also the happiness of Bertha and the honor of Count Borotin who has received him into his house and has even consented to an alliance with his daughter, the warlike instinct within him, the joy of battle takes possession of him and he rushes headlong into the , fray. Throughout the whole play he is represented as yielding to wild impulses. He is a law unto himself, a man who is not willing to submit even to the laws of nature, much less to human law. Even after he learns that Bertha is his sister his passion for her will brook no check: 1 Sie muss ich, ja sie besitzen, Mag der Himmel Rache blitzen, Mag die Holle Flammen spriihn Und mit Schrecken sie umziehn. Wie der tolle Wahn sie heisse, Weib und Gattin heisst sie hier Und durch tausend Donner reisse Ich die Teure her zu mir (IV, nS). "Alle Glieder des Hauses Borotin," writes Alfred Klaar, 2 "werden von Stimmung und Trieb beherrscht, all ihr Tun ist von der Hast der Leidenschaft eingegeben, all ihr Hoffen ist ein Begehren, das fur todgeweihte, trotzige Naturen typisch ist." The insti nctive love wh ich takes possession of both Bertha and Jaromir, almost before theyhave rightly seen each other, is a favorite theme with Grillparzer. In Sappho the love between Phaon and Melitta is, to be sure, of a slower growth but it is none the less instinc- 1 Jaromir is a parallel character to Eusebio in Calderon's Devotion de la Cruz. Cf. Eusebio's words to his sister Julia: Trotz des Himmels Schirm und Walten Julia muss ich dich besitzen (Reclam, Leipzig, 38). 2 Grillparzer s Leben und Schaffen (Berlin, 1903), 51. THE CHARACTERS 29 tive. The banquet scene, at which Melitta is described as having spilled on the floor the wine which she was to present to Phaon (IV, 159), was not calculated, according to the author's own statement, to excite love but served merely "die Aufmerksamkeit des jungen Paares aufeinander rege zu machen und sie in jenen Zustand des Beruhrtseins zu bringen, das der Liebe den Weg bereitet" (XVIII, 177). While it is true that the young people are not yet conscious of love, they have nevertheless been much impressed by each other. Phaon becomes dreamy and melancholy and leaves the feast to seek solitude for his conflicting thoughts. His feelings are confused and he tries to make clear to himself the significance of the various events of the past few days. Sappho's love does not entirely satisfy him. He thinks longingly of his parents whom he has left in ignorance of his fate, and of something else which he does not mention — possibly the little slave girl who acted so strangely at the banquet. Melitta, too, is filled with indefinite longings. The handsome stranger has made a very deep impression upon her, although as yet she is but half, if at all, conscious of the real significance of their meeting. In her soliloquy and in the following conversation with Phaon she gives expression to her aspirations. Her longings for her native land are in reality only the form which her desire for love assumes. She feel$\ that she is a stranger in the land of her adoption; she is pitied but V not loved. It is the desire for love which makes her recall her happy childhood, passed in a land the very name of which she has forgotten j and which is known to her only by its flowers and valleys. It is they land, she believes, from where the sun comes, an ideal land, embody- ing all her ideals of love and of the lovely : Von andern Baumen war ich dort umgeben, Und andre Blumen dufteten umher, In blauen Liiften glanzten schonre Sterne, Und freundlich gute Menschen wohnten dort (IV, 162). Melitta here gives expression to the same desire for love and happiness which we find expressed by Goethe's Mignon. Even after the rose scene in which Phaon kisses her, Melitta is not fully conscious of love, but it is clear that the feeling is growing within her. She even displays a tinge of jealousy when he asks her for one of the roses which have been picked for Sappho: 30 grillparzer's attitude toward romanticism Wie ? diese hier, Die jene wilden Madchen dort gepfliickt, Sie, die bestimmt fur — Nimmermehr! (IV, 166). The rose which she gives him in return for his gift must be picked by her own hands. Her following actions are represented as being perfectly instinctive and without any thought of love. She feels very happy, but does not stop to consider why she feels so. She bathes in the brook and goes back to the house singing. There she dresses herself carefully but simply and appears so beautiful as to even call forth an exclamation of approval from the lips of the jealous Sappho. Throughout the whole scene, however, she appears uncon- scious of any reason why she should have done all these things. When Sappho asks her why she considers this a day for celebration, she replies: Warum ? — Ei nu, dass du zuriickgekehrt, Dass du — ich weiss nicht recht, doch frohlich bin ich (IV, 182). Sappho of course thinks that she is dissimulating, but nothing is further from MelittaVmind than the intention to deceive. When she states that her age is sixteen instead of fifteen this also is done quite unconsciously. She becomes fully conscious of her love for the first time when Sappho demands from her the rose which she has received as a memento from Phaon. Then only does she realize what this small token means to her and she would rather die than part with it. Phaon is also represented as being only ha lf conscio us of his feelings toward Melitta. Grillparzer has himself expressed his purpose here when he stated: "Selbst als er Melitten schon gekusst hat, ist ihm seine neue Leidenschaft noch nicht klar, erst Sapphos Aeusserung bei der Erzahlung seines Traumes hellt ihn auf, und seine Liebe tritt heraus als er Melitten vor Sapphos Dolche schutzt" (XVIII, 177). When Sappho wakes him from the sleep in which such beautiful dreams have hovered about him he cannot understand why she is so sad: Du bist so triib! Was fehlt dir? Ich bin froh (IV, 175). He is filled with a feeling of happiness which surpasses anything that he has hitherto experienced. The sun seems to shine more brightly than usual, the sea is more sparkling, all nature is radiant with a THE CHARACTERS 3 1 heavenly beauty, and everything speaks to him of love. He even feels more kindly toward Sappho than ever before: Und glaube mir, ich war dir nie so gut, So wahrhaft, Sappho, gut, als eben jetzt (IV, 176). That it is love which has wrought this great change in him is clear, but his confused dream shows that he is not yet perfectly conscious that Melitta is the object of it all. He is indeed greatly startled when Sappho bursts in with the word " Melitta !" Fast hast du mich erschreckt! — Wer sagte dir, Dass sie es war? — Ich wusst' es selber kaura! (IV, 177). Not until he is called upon to defend Melitta's life against her mistress does he realize clearly his feelings toward her and he bursts forth in bitter reproach against Sappho (IV, 187, 188). Medea, too, betrays much of the same instinctiveness in her rela- tions with Jason which has been noted in the case of Bertha and Jaromir and of Phaon and Melitta. Here again, as with so many of Grillparzer's characters, it is love at first sight. She first meets Jason in the tower into which he has forced an entry and is drawn to him irresistibly. When her brother rushes in with his followers and is about to throw himself upon the intruder she instinctively restrains him and thus gives the enemy of her country a chance to escape. Jason is quick to observe the solicitude for his safety which she has unconsciously betrayed : Du sorgst um mich? Hab Dank, du holdes Wesen! Nicht fur die Hilfe, ich bedarf sie nicht, Fur diese Sorge Dank (V, 54). The silent workings of this new love, of which she is still uncon- scious, is seen in the wonderful softening of Medea's whole nature. When one of her maidens informs her, with fear and trembling, that her favorite horse is missing, instead of giving way to rage, as was her wont, she answers gently: "Es ist gut" (V, 57). Peritta, who had previously been driven out of her presence in disgrace because she had yielded to feelings of love, is now welcomed as a dear friend for whose misfortunes she evinces deep concern. And yet she is not fully conscious of the reason of this change which has come over her; 32 grillparzer's attitude TOWARD romanticism she still believes that the midnight visitor in the tower was the god Heimdar. When at last she is forced to believe that it was Jason, the Greek, who had visited her and who had been so bold as to kiss her, she is filled with a sense of injured dignity and in a flash of anger declares herself ready to avenge the insult: Gebeut! Willst du vernichten die Schar der Frevler, Sage nur, wie, ich bin bereit (V, 63). Despite her desire for revenge, however, when Jason is about to drink of the poisoned cup which she is presenting to him at the command of her father, she is once more overcome by an uncontrollable feeling and instinctively warns him that destruction lurks in the wine (V, 75). All through the following scene Medea is struggling against her instincts. Like Bertha in the Ahnjrau she feels that she ought to detest him whom she cannot help loving. She calls her father and brother to arms that the invaders may all be slain or driven away, and yet she wavers when her father demands that she shall accompany him on the work of destruction. It is her earnest wish to avoid what she feels to be the voice of destiny. She therefore beseeches her father to send her away into the interior, far into the woods and dark ravines, where no eye can penetrate and no voice disturbs the solitude. There she will abide and pray to the gods for victory. She cannot trust herself so long as she is in the neighborhood of Jason. Like the roman- ticists she feels that she is not free in her actions, feels that there is a force of fate within her which keeps driving her on in spite of herself: Man sagt — und ich fiihle, es ist so: Es gibt ein Etwas in des Menschen Wesen, Das unabhangig von des Eigners Willen, Anzieht und abstosst mit blinder Gewalt; Wie vom Blitz zum Metall, vom Magnet zum Eisen, Geht ein Zug, ein geheimnisvoller Zug Vom Menschen zum Menschen, von Brust zu Brust. Da ist nicht Reiz, nicht Anmut, nicht Tugend, nicht Recht, Was kniipft und loskniipft die zaubrischen Faden : Unsichtbar geht der Neigung Zauberbriicke, So viel sie betraten, hat keiner sie gesehn ! THE CHARACTERS 33 Gefallen muss dir, was dir gefallt; So weit ist's Zwang, rohe Naturkraft. Doch steht's nicht bei dir, die Neigung zu rufen, Der Neigung zu folgen stent bei dir, Da beginnt des Wollens sonniges Reich, Undich will nicht! (V, 82). Despite all her efforts to avoid Jason, fate seems to drive her into his very presence. The bridges have been washed away by the storm of the previous night and, in order to reach the place of retirement to which her brother is conducting her, she must pass close to the camp of the Greeks. The party is surprised by Jason and Medea is made prisoner. In desperation she seizes spear and shield and rushes upon Jason with the cry: "Kill or die!' , When her spear is shattered she draws a dagger, but she is helpless against him. Casting away his arms, he lays his life in her hands and challenges her to kill him if she can. She stands before him powerless and although she struggles long against the love which draws her to him she finally forsakes father and country and, bearing with her the parental curse, follows him. In the latter part of the trilogy Medea's natural feelings burst forth from time to time 1 although she tries to keep her passions under con- trol as much as possible. When she sees herself rebuffed on every side, however, her old nature gains the upperhand and she yields blindly to the impulse to revenge herself on those who have made her life unbearable: Gora. Was also sinnest du ? Medea. Ich geb' mir Miihe, nichts zu wollen, zu denken; Ob den schweigenden Abgrund Brute die Nacht! (V, 178). There is room for nothing in her soul except the one wild passion for revenge : So viel weiss ich, und so viel ist mir klar: Unrecht erduld' ich nicht ungestraft; Aber was geschieht, weiss ich nicht, will's nicht wissen! (V, 182). Karl Goedeke 2 has well described this outburst of passion to which Medea yields: "Von alien, mit denen sie in Berflhrung kommt, 1 Cf. Grillparzers samtliche Werke, V, 146, 168, 175, 198 f., etc. * Grundriss zur Geschichte der deutschen Literalur (Dresden, 1881), III, 389. 34 grillparzer's attitude toward romanticism wie ein grauenvolles Wesen gemieden, von den eigenen Kindern, die sie mit liebkosenden Drohungen zu locken wahnt, geflohen, und doch ihrem Willen nach ein liebendes Weib, eine liebende Mutter, heftig in aller Liebe und in hingebender Demut, stets von dem Gefiihl ungerecht erlittenen Leides tiberwaltigt, ist sie unfahig die stets gehauften Qualen zu tragen. Sie wirft die miihsam erstrebte Fassung weg und mit ihr die Weiblichkeit, die Sanftmut, die Geduld, die Liebe zu dem Gatten, und den Kindern, die Schonung der Fremden, ja die eigene Schonung und giesst die gefiillte Schale der Rache iiber alle die aus, um deren Duldung oder Liebe sie vergebens gerungen, unter deren Krankung, Gleichgiiltigkeit, Hass und Verachtung sie unerhort gelitten hat." / Again in Hero and Leander Grillparzer has depicted two charac- ters who follow the dictates of natural passion. "Jeder folgt mit einer gewissen Verblendung der einseitigen Richtung in welche sein [ Charakter ihn der gegebenen Situation gegeniiber drangt und treibt." 1 Her very determination to become a priestess Hero confesses has been due to the promptings of an instinct of which she has been only half conscious: Vielmehr ein glucklich Ungefahr hat mich, Nur halb bewusst, an diesen Ort gebracht (VII, 12). Her words are the expression of her highest reason; her actions, on the other hand, are based entirely on feeling and instinct. That is the case, for example, in the dove scene (VII, 21, 22). Hero has declared her firm determination to serve the goddess who is the enemy of all earthly love. She betrays her true instincts, however, when she caresses the dove which the priest wishes to drive away from the precincts of the temple because it symbolizes earthly love. So it is also in her relations toward Leander which form the central theme of the drama. On the very morning on which she was to renounce forever the world and human love she is attracted by two youths who are gazing 1 W. Scherer, Franz Grillparzer, Vortrage und Aufsatze zur Geschichte des geistigen Lebens in Deutschland und Oesterreich (Berlin, 1874), 257; cf. also A. Sauer, Akade- mische Festrede zu Grillparzers 100. Geburtstag, Gesammelte Reden u. Aufsatze zur Gesch. d. Lit. in Oesterreich u. Deutschland (Wien und Leipzig, 1903), 126: "Audi hier ein Schicksal, aber das Schicksal der unbezwingbaren, uniiberwindlichen Neigung." THE CHARACTERS 35 in through the grated door of the temple. One of these is Leander and, judging from her conversation with Janthe and her uncle, it would seem that he had made a much deeper impression upon her than she cares to admit even to herself. At the consecration ceremony in the temple this youth appears again and as Hero stands before the altar of Hymen their eyes meet. She stops short in the speech in which she is about to renounce marriage and forgets in her confusion the formula which she ought to repeat. She is visibly affected and before leaving the hall her eyes turn instinctively to the spot where Leander is kneeling (VII, 29). ■ A single glance is sufficient to draw them together just as is the case in Shakspere's Romeo and Juliet, in Heinrich von Kleist's Penthesilea and Kathchen von Heilbronn, or in Richard Wagner's 2 various musical dramas. "Die holde Leidenschaft der Liebe erbrennt plotzlich wie Feuer in den Seelen,' , says Gustav Freytag 3 in speaking of Grillpar- zer's characters, "sie erfullt das ganze Sein der Menschen, nur in ihr ist fortan das wahre Leben der Liebenden, welche wie Begeisterte, Traumselige dahinwandeln." » Hero does not seem to be at all conscious of love. Like the othei characters, already discussed, she is perfectly passive throughout! Her true feelings, however, betray themselves continually in her) various actions. When she appears in the second act she is singing to herself a love-song of Leda and the swan while engaged in her priestly duties. On becoming conscious of her action she remarks that her uncle objects to this song, but adds: "Was schadet's nur?" (VII, 37). When she sees Leander and Naukleros in the temple grove she assumes a tone of dignity as priestess but gradually her 1 In a conversation with Leander soon after this incident Naukleros draws his friend's attention to Hero's action and divines its meaning: Da stockte sie, die Hand hing in der Luft; Nach dir hin schauend, stand sie zogernd da, Ein, zwei, drei kurze, ewige Augenblicke. Zuletzt vollbrachte sie ihr heilig Werk, Allein noch scheidend sprach ein tiefer Blick, Im herben Widerspruch des frost'gen Tages, Der sie auf ewiglich verschliesst der Liebe: (VII, 34). 3 Cf. Elsa and Lohengrin, Senta and the Hollander, Siegmund and Sieglinde, Siegfried and Brunnhilde, Tristan and Isolde, Eva and Walther. 3 Gesammelte Werke (Leipzig, 1886-88), XVI, 326. 36 grillparzer's attitude toward romanticism natural feelings gain the upperhand. She remains haughty so long as she is addressing Naukleros; as soon as Leander speaks, however, she becomes much gentler: Du hast dich schlimm beraten, guter Jungling, Und nicht die richt'gen Pfade ging dein Herz (VII, 38, 39). Her words betray pity for the misguided youth before her and this pity makes her yield gradually to Naukleros' entreaties. To his request to be seated she replies: "Es ziemt sich nicht," but when urged to do so for Leander's sake she finally consents. Although she declares her intention to remain true to the vows which she has made there is an unmistakable tone of regret in her speech, when she says: "Noch gestern, wenn ihr kamt, da war ich frei," and when she advises Leander in the words: Gonn einem andern Weibe deinen Blick Und freu dich dessen, was uns hier versagt (VII, 40). When Leander throws himself at her feet she is not really offended / but questions the propriety of his act under the circumstances. J Throughout the whole scene she has been yielding but she first becomes conscious of the fact when she sees her uncle approaching — Er wird mich schelten, Und zwar mit Recht, warum gab ich euch nach? (VII, 41). On being asked by her uncle what she is doing here, she instinctively says what is not true in order to shield Leander: Sieh nur! ein kranker Mann (VII, 41). According as Hero's instincts gain the upperhand, her enthusiasm for the priestly office diminishes. " Hier also, hier !" is the only reply she vouchsafes to her uncle's description of the sublime life to which she has been called. Her indifference to his enthusiastic words makes him remark that she must be dreaming. Now that she has gained the height of her ambition he is surprised to find her silent and cold. Indeed a great change has come over Hero. She is no longer so confident of the absoluteness of her will as she was in the first act, before she met Leander (cf. VII, 12). Like Medea she has been forced to recognize a something in her life which, independent of will, attracts and repels with blind force. She feels that there is a THE CHARACTERS 37 force working within her of which she is but half conscious and which she is powerless to control: Du weisst, mein Ohm, wir sind nicht immer Herr Von Stimmungen, die kommen, wandeln, gehn, Sich selbst erzeugend und von nichts gefolgt (VII, 46). She hopes, however, to attain in retirement that composure which is lacking at present, ^n place of her former enthusiasm for her office there remains only a sense of duty. Although the idea of love has not yet clearly formulated itself in Hero's mind, she nevertheless feels attracted to Leander and con- fesses that, if she were not a priestess consecrated to the service of the goddess, he might possibly find favor in her eyes. She checks herself immediately, however, for what men call Neigung is something which must be avoided by her. She is glad that Leander is away and congratulates herself that she can now forget the whole affair. And yet she is restless; everything about her seems so empty and lonely. Her thoughts revert constantly to the youth on the other side of the Hellespont and she expresses the hope that her lamp may, like a star, shine through the night to the distant shore. Once more she hums the love-song of Leda and the swan and wonders why it is that this song is always recurring to her. Like the romanticists she would like to express her thoughts in music: Gedanken, bunt Und wirr, durchkreuzen meinen Sinn, In Tonen losten leichter sie sich auf (VII, 50). Leander is still uppermost in her thoughts, but she tries to persuade herself that her concern for him is disinterested: Ich will dir wohl, erfreut doch, dass du fern; Und reichte meine Stimme bis zu dir, Ich riefe grlissend: gute Nacht! (VII, 50). The following scene shows the gradual surrender of Hero to her natural feelings and instincts. She cannot help being greatly affected by the deep proofs of love which Leander has given in swimming across the Hellespont and in climbing up to her window, risking almost certain death just to see her again. Her anxiety for his safety increases every moment. When footsteps are heard approaching and it is necessary for him to conceal himself, she hesitates about letting him 38 grillparzer's attitude toward romanticism enter her sleeping apartment but, as the danger is imminent, she yields even this point. From now on there is a struggle going on within her between her sense of reason and her feelings of duty on the one hand and her love and natural instincts on the other. She rebukes Leander for having destroyed the harmony which had hitherto reigned in her soul, but, realizing suddenly the dangers which he had braved and those which still lay before him, all for love of her, her feelings change almost abruptly and she beseeches him to return home by a safer route than that by which he had come. And yet, in betraying such an interest, she feels that she is sinning against her vows and ■ forsaking the path of reason. It was Grillparzer's intention, however, to illustrate here once more his conviction that the passions and instincts are just as divine as reason. 1 The victory is never in doubt for a moment. Compassion and pity for Leander are followed by anxiety for his safety and recognition of the great sacrifices which he has made for her sake. She cannot refuse his request to visit her again. At first she proposes that he come on the anniversary of this festival, then, to his demand for a nearer date, she suggests the even- ing of the next full-moon. When, however, Leander insists that all these dates are too far distant, she surrenders entirely and says: "Come tomorrow then" (VII, 58). This is the climax. Till now /there has been a conflict in her soul between the natural passions and I reason, between the woman Hero and the priestess. Her natural \ feelings have been gradually gaining ground all along the line and now she yields absolutely. When Leander demands a token of her love she demurs for a moment, but only for a moment. She is now conscious of her power and wishes to tantalize him a little : Die Arme falte riickwarts, Wie ein Gefangener, der Liebe, mein Gefangener (VII, 59). She too, however, is a captive. 2 1 "Der Trieb, die Neigung, das Instinktmassige sind ebenso gottlich, als die Ver- nunft." — Werke, XVI, 12. This, too, was Goethe's view. See Hermann und Doro- thea, Canto I, 84-87: Dieser sprach: "Ich tadle nicht gerne, was immer dem Menschen Fur unschadliche Triebe die gute Mutter Natur gab; Denn was Verstand und Vernunft nicht immer vermogen, vermag oft Solch ein gliicklicher Hang, der unwiderstehlich uns leitet." 2 The fragment Seelengrosse (XI, 39 f.), which Grillparzer sketched in the year 1808, offers a parallel to Des Meeres und der Liebe Wellen in the psychological develop- THE CHARACTERS 39 Leander represents the half-conscious, naive type to which Phaon and Melitta belong. He is a dreamer who shows no interest in the life round about him, a star-gazer who has lived a self-absorbed life, apart from all companions save his mother and his friend, Naukleros. He had been untouched by love until he met Hero. Now, however, when he has fallen in love, he does not know what is the matter with him. He complains to Naukleros that he is weary and sick. The latter, knowing his temperament, assures him that he will feel all right when he is home again in his gloomy hut on the sea-shore, with nothing but sand and waves about him and heavy, threatening clouds overhead. There he will be able to lie of an evening in his boat, floating idly on the waves and gazing up into the stars, thinking of spirits, of nothing, thinking that he is thinking (VII, 31). A tempera- ment to which such surroundings and such occupations are congenial is surely romantic. To find satisfaction in thinking that one is think- ing is parallel to Friedrich SchlegeFs statement: "Ich genoss nicht bios, sondern ich fuhlte und genoss den Genuss"; 1 it is akin to the process described by Novalis 2 when he wrote: "Wir sind dem Auf- wachen nahe, wenn wir traumen dass wir traumen." Wrapped up in his dreams, Leander does not realize, according to his friend's report, that all the girls are in love with him. While in the temple he seems to have been unconscious of the attention which he attracted to himself: Nun frag' ihn aber einer, was er sah ? Ob's Madchen waren oder wilde Schwane ? Er weiss es nicht, er ging nur eben hin. Und doch war er's nach dem sie alle blickten. Die Priestrin selbst (VII, 33). ment of natural passion. Gianetta, a girl of seventeen years, has spent most of her life apart from the world in a convent. Just as Hero was convinced that the chief end of her life was to become a priestess in the temple of Aphrodite, so Gianetta, in her inex- perience, had persuaded herself that she was to be the wife of the Marchese Vercelli, an old friend of her father to whom she had been betrothed. She is, however, without realizing it, attracted to her former playmate, Rinaldo Fiorini, and the purpose of the play was to show the growth and final victory of her natural feelings over her precon- ceived determination. It is quite possible that this sketch exercised some influence on the Hero drama. 1 Lucinde (Reclam No. 320), 5. 3 Athendums fragment 288. 40 grillparzer's attitude toward romanticism When Naukleros assures him that he is in love he does not believe him. To him it seems more like sickness. 1 , Was sprachst du ? Ich bin krank. Es schmerzt die Brust. Nicht etwa innerlich; von aussen, hier, Hart an den Knochen. Ich bin krank, zum Tod (VII, 34). According to Leander' s own account (VII, 52) the swimming across the Hellespont was the result of a sudden impulse — not a premeditated act. He was restless and left his hut to gaze out over the sea. Sud- denly a light gleamed through the darkness, like a last ray of hope. The passion which had been slumbering within his breast since he met Hero, bursts forth: In macht'gen Schlagen schwoll empor mein Herz, Nicht halten wollt' es mehr in seinen Banden. The light drew him on. He rushed down to the shore and, casting himself into the sea, struck out for Sestos. / In all his actions Leander is represented as following blindly /and without the least hesitation his natural impulses. Naukleros, ( fearing for his friend's safety, tries to restrain him, but all in vain. Leander, formerly timid and fearsome, has suddenly become bold and is capable of deeds which make his companion turn pale. He be- lieves that the gods have taken him under their special protection and that in following his instincts he is guided by their wisdom: Amor und Hymen, ziehet ihr voran, Ich komm', ich felg^ und ware Tod der dritte! (VII, 80). Like Bertha and Jaromir it never occurs to him that his love for the priestess is forbidden and wrong. "Er ist ein Naturkind wie Hero und handelt nicht nach Maxim en, sondern gehorcht seinen natiir- lichen Impulsen. Seine Leidenschaft, der er sich gleichsam mit geschlossenen Augen liberlasst, unfahig und ohne den Willen sie zu bemeistern, treibt ihn ins Verderben." 2 In all these respects he is the child of romanticism. Once more in Rahel, the Jewess of Toledo, according to Scherer 3 1 This is similar to Grillparzer's own experience related in his Tagebuch for the year 1808: "Wenn ich Hebe, liebe ich so, wie vielleicht noch niemand oder doch nur sehr wenige geliebt haben; mein Gefiihl lasst sich nicht beschreiben, mit nichts ver- gleichen. Ich fiihle wirklich korperliche Schmerzen dabei." — Glossy und Sauer, II, 5. 2 J. Schwering, Franz Grillparzers hellenische Trauerspiele, 177. 3 Op. cit., 278. THE CHARACTERS 41 "eine dramatische Dichtung vom ersten Rang," Grillparzer has depicted a non-moral character who surrenders blindly and without a thought to her natural instincts. The king sums up her character in the last act, in the words: All was sie that, ging aus aus ihrem Selbst, Urplotzlich, unverhofft und ohne Beispiel (IX, 206). A true child of nature, she never stops to consider that her love for the ' king is something impossible and wrong, but follows impulses which J drive her to her destruction. In her desire to see the young king she is deaf to the warnings of her father and is indifferent to the law which forbids Jews to be in the royal gardens when the king goes walking. Her impulsive nature is seen also in her readiness to throw away a valuable jewel, should it please her to do so (IX, 137). The ethical significance of her acts does not concern her in the least. In this regard she is just the opposite of Donna Clara whom the king charac- terizes in the words: " Sittsamkeit noch sittlicher als Sitte !" (IX, 143). As a child of feeling and impulse Rahel passes quickly from one mood to another. From a light-hearted, impulsive creature she becomes the very incarnation of terror when she believes that she is in danger (IX, 145 f.). To the king's query as to whether she is always so timid her sister, Esther, replies : O nicht doch ! Sie war vor kurzem iibermutig noch Und trotzte, wollte, Herr, dich sehen (IX, 148). Weeping and laughing seems to be her normal condition. Like the" child who forgets all its troubles as soon as its attention is attracted by some new toy, she is carried away by every new whim. Garceran, in whose charge the king had left her, describes the changeableness of her moods as follows: Zum Anfang war ein Weinen ohne Mass, Allein die Zeit bringt Trost, pflegt man zu sagen; So war's auch hier. Vorbei der erste Schreck, Fand Munterkeit, ja Scherz sich wieder ein. Man sah nun erst das schimmernde Gerat, Die Seide der Tapeten ward bewundert, Des Vorhangs Stoff nach Ellen abgeschatzt, Man hat sich eingerichtet und ist ruhig (IX, 153). 42 grillparzer' s attitude toward romanticism The novelty of the situation makes her forget her fears. Her former exuberance of spirits has returned. According to her father's account she laughs,- dances, and sings like one half-mad. She has found some theatrical costumes in her apartments and decks herself out as queen. When the king becomes offended at the too great liberty which she Jakes with his picture, her sister has to explain that she has no evil design, as he supposes, but is merely acting in accordance with her ^nature: Es kam ihr ein, und also that sie's eben (IX, 162). Rahel is, indeed, a strange mixture of the conscious and the uncon- scious. Although conscious of her beauty and of the power which she exercises over the king, she is represented throughout as acting in an illogical and whimsical manner, foreign to the character that knows what it wants and proceeds definitely to carry out its will. She is variable as nature itself and has that in common with the per- sons already described that her actions proceed entirely from impulse. "Grillparzers Rahel," says Farinelli, 1 "ist ein leichtfertiges, sorgloses Geschbpf, ein Kind, das nur zu geniessen und nicht zu denken ver- mag, dem das Leben des Augenblicks das ganze Leben ist. Sie ist nur Instinkt, nur Natur." King Alfonso, while he does not follow consistently his impulses, like the other persons described, betrays nevertheless at times similar characteristics. He is so much the slave of his natural pas- sions that in his infatuation for the Jewess he forgets his wife and child and the welfare of his kingdom. His return to duty, moreover, is not an act of calm deliberation, but a yielding to still another sudden and uncontrollable impulse. As he gazes on Rahel's face, now dis- figured in death, he sees something repellent in the .features which had hitherto escaped his notice and his rage against her murderers is suddenly changed into recognition of his own guilt and unworthiness. Again in Herzog Otto von Meran and Don Casar, Grillparzer has portrayed two characters who are ruled entirely by their passions. They do not recognize any other law than that of their own unfettered will and cannot bear to be' thwarted in any of their plans. As true romanticists their actions are the outcome of the same philosophy 1 Grillparzer und Lope de Vega, 155. THE CHARACTERS 43 of life which William Lovell enunciated in the words: "Ich selbst bin das einzige Gesetz in der ganzen Natur, diesem Gesetz gehorcht alles." 1 Probably the most extreme case in all of Grillparzer's dramas \ of a character who follows his instincts purely and simply is that of Galomir in the comedy, Weh dem, der liigt. Galomir, indeed, is represented as being little higher than a Ipeast in the intellectual scale. The result was that the actor who played this part on the occasion of the first presentation of the piece represented him as an idiot — a proceeding which contributed not a little to the ill-success of the play and drew forth the censure of the author. Grillparzer did not intend Galomir to be represented as stupid, but merely as following his animal instincts. "Galomir/' he writes, 2 "ist so wenig dumm als die Tiere dumm sind; sie denken nur nicht. Galomir kann darum nicht sprechen, weil er auch nicht denkt; das wiirde ihn aber nicht hindern, z.B. in der Schlacht den rechten Angriffspunkt instinkt- massig recht gut herauszufinden. Er ist tierisch, aber nicht blod- sinnig" (XVIII, 197). In depicting characters who do not act with definite purpose and premeditated design, but who are ruled by instincts and impulses over which they have no control and of which they are only half conscious, Grillparzer has much in common with the romantic drama- tist, Heinrich von Kleist. 3 In Kleist's Kathchen von Heilbronn 4 we have a character who is ultra romantic in her nature. She is so much the slave of her impulses that her father believes that the Graf von Strahl must have exercised some magic power over her and accuses him to that effect before the Vehme. As soon as she sets eyes on the count in her father's work- shop she is smitten with an inexplicable love and, letting fall the * Tiecks Schrijten (Berlin, 1826-46), VI, 179. 3 Cf. also Wilhelm von Wartenegg, Erinnerungen an Franz Grillparzer: Frag- mente aus Tagebuchblattern (Wien, 1901), 51. 3 Grillparzer was familiar with the works of Kleist and characterized their author as "ein nicht genug zu preisendes Talent." — A. Foglar, Grillparzers Ansichten iiber Lit., Biihne und Leben (Stuttgart, 1891), 12. Cf. also Werke, XVIII, 87; Wilhelm von Wartenegg, op. cit., 35. 4 Das Kathchen von Heilbronn was first played in the Theater an der Wien, March 17, 18, and 19, 1810. 44 grillparzer's attitude toward romanticism tray which she is carrying, she folds her hands as in prayer and falls down prostrate before him. Soon afterward, when the count mounts his horse and is about to take his leave, she springs from a window thirty feet above the ground, like one bereft of her senses. For weeks she lies at death's door, but as soon as she recovers from the long and weary illness occasioned by her mad act, she for- sakes father, home, and her betrothed to follow the count. The similarity between Kleist's Kathchen and some of Grillparzer's personages is quite striking. Her act in letting fall the tray when she first meets the Graf von Strahl reminds one of Melitta's conduct at the banquet where she spills on the floor the wine which she is about to present to Phaon. With both it is a case of attraction at first sight. Again the impulse which causes Kathchen to cast herself from the window in order to follow the count is not unlike that which induces Leander to cast himself into the sea in order to join Hero. Both are irresistibly impelled by some power of which they are but half con- scious and which they follow blindly. In this regard, too, parallels might be drawn between Kathchen and Grillparzer's Medea and Bertha. Just as Medea and Bertha feel themselves inevitably attracted to Jason and Jaromir and are prepared to cut the ties which bind them to home and country in order to remain true to the feeling of love which holds them captive, so Kathchen, in her infatuation for the count, for- sakes all and follows him. — n Equally irresistible and inexplicable is the manner of Penthesilea's attraction to Achilles. The Greeks stand before the queen of the Amazons: Gedankenvoll auf einen Augenblick, Sieht sie in unsre Schaar, von Ausdruck leer, Als ob in Stein gehau'n wir vor ihr stunden; Hier diese flache Hand, versichr' ich dich, 1st ausdrucksvoller als ihr Angesicht: Bis jetzt ihr Aug* auf den Peliden trifft: Und Glut ihr plotzlich, bis zum Hals hinab, Das Antlitz farbt, als schluge rings um ihr Die Welt in helle Flammenlohe auf. 1 This feeling for Achilles, however, appears to her to be an enemy 1 H. von Kleist, Samtliche Werke, herausgegeben von Th. Zolling, D.N.L., 2. Teil, 287. THE CHARACTERS 45 within her own breast. She considers it a weakness and a disgrace for the queen of the Amazons to be the captive of love, and the fact that she feels herself powerless against this attraction makes her rage all the more against the Greeks and especially against him whom she knows to be the cause of her weakness: Oft, aus der sonderbaren Wut zu schliessen, Mit welcher sie, im Kampfgewuhl, den Sohn Der Thetis sucht, scheint's uns, als ob ein Hass Personlich wider ihn die Brust ihr fullte (p. 290). And yet, when the fortune of war has placed his life within her power, she yields to a sudden impulse and spares him: Doch jiingst, in einem Augenblick, da schon Sein Leben war in ihre Macht gegeben, Gab sie es lachelnd, ein Geschenk, ihm wieder: Er stieg zum Orkus, wenn sie ihn nicht hielt (p. 291). Indeed throughout the whole play Penthesilea is described as yielding blindly to her passions. Pride and love are struggling within her for the mastery. Impelled by a feeling of injured pride, she is determined to humble the haughty Greek who has brought discord into her soul: Ich will zu meiner Fiisse Staub ihn sehen, Den Uebermiitigen, der mir an diesem Glorwurd'gen Schlachtentag, wie keiner noch, Das kriegerische Hochgefuhl verwirrt (p. 313). She rebukes Meroe for being a captive of love, and yet she must con- fess that, even when she is fighting against Achilles, she is yielding to similar feelings: Was will ich denn, wenn ich das Schwert ihm ziicke ? Will ich ihn denn zum Orkus niederschleudern ? Ich will ihn ja, ihr ew'gen Gotter! nur An diese Brust will ich ihn niederziehn! (p. 337). In the conflict with the Pelide Penthesilea is vanquished and is dragged off unconscious by her maidens. But in the moment of victory Achilles is filled with a violent passion for her and declares himself her prisoner. He is, however, only the prisoner of love and insists that she shall accompany him to Phthia and become his queen. When she is rescued by the Amazons he challenges her to a new com- 46 grillparzer's attitude toward romanticism bat, intending to yield voluntarily and submit to her will. Her love, however, is now turned into a wild, uncontrollable fury which devours everything that comes in its way. The Amazons strive in vain to restrain her. Unconscious of what she is doing, she draws her bow against Achilles who stands defenseless before her and, rushing upon him with her dogs, stills her rage in his blood. Schwering 1 has pointed out the main points of similarity between Kleist's Penthesilea and Grillparzer's Medea. Both fall in love instinctively and in spite of themselves. In both there takes place a vain struggle against the passion which has gained possession of them. Penthesilea rages against the Greeks and especially against Achilles; Medea, like so many of Grillparzer's characters, would fain retire and avoid what she feels she cannot resist. Both, again, act from impulses which run counter to their preconceived resolves. Medea has sworn to be revenged on Jason for the insult which he inflicted upon her in the tower, but instinctively warns him when he is about to drink of the poisoned cup; Penthesilea spares Achilles when it lies in her power to subdue him. Both, finally, follow blindly the dictates of wild passion and kill that which they love best. Once more, in Prince Friedrich von Homburg, Kleist has drawn a character who is ruled by his impulses. He has already been the cause of two defeats, just on this account, and the Kurfurst warns him on the eve of the third battle to be calm. The prince, however, is depicted as acting under a kind of somnambulistic influence. Although commanded to maintain his position till he receives orders to attack, he yields to a sudden impulse and has the charge sounded. In vain do his fellow-officers remind him that he ought to wait for orders: Auf Ordr' ? Ei, Kottwitz! Reitest du so langsam? Hast du sie noch vom Herzen nicht empfangen ? 2 He is sentenced to death for disobedience, but believes that the Kur- furst is only playing the part of a Brutus. When he is asked on what grounds he bases his hopes of security, he replies: "Auf mein Gefiihl 1 Fr. Grillparzers hellenische Trauerspiele (Paderborn, 1891), 96 f. * H. von Kleist, Samtliche Werke, D.N.L., 3. Teil, 313. THE CHARACTERS 47 von ihm!" (p 336). " When, however, he is at last convinced that he is in real danger, he gives way entirely to feelings which seem unworthy in one who has acted so bravely on the field of battle, and is willing to sacrifice fame and everything else to save his life. In the end, to be sure, he gains the mastery over this feeling, but throughout the play he is "zerstreut, geteilt," a dreamer who follows blindly the intui- tions of his heart. The absolute surrender to one's natural impulses was the doctrine of Rousseau, of the Storm and Stress, and of romanticism. To the romanticists Personality was the all-important thing, the Ego was the supreme law of life. The ultimate nature of things, they believed, was revealed, not through Reason as the rationalists claimed, but through Feeling. 2 It will be found, therefore, that romantic charac- ters usually follow blindly their instincts, irrespective of all other considerations, moral or conventional. Conscience, to them, works through feeling and, therefore, in surrendering to their feelings they believe that they are obeying the highest law* of their nature. Like the prince of Homburg they take orders "from the heart" and base their hopes on their "Gefuhl": Denn etwas giebt's, das uber alles Wahnen Und Wissen hoch erhaben — das Gefiihl. 3 The praise of instinctive action is found everywhere in the works of the romanticists. "Das ist es eben," we read in Tieck's Dichter- leben, 4 "das ist das Herrlichste dabei, dass du nur so hinhandeltest, 1 Hero's words to the priest in Des Metres und der Liebe Wellen offer themselves for comparison with this answer of the prince: Priester. Bist du so sicher des ? Hero. Ich bin es, Herr ! Auf Zeugnis einer seligen Empfindung, Die mich durchstromt and again: Priester. Doch wie erweisest du's ? Hero. Ich glaub' es so. Priester. Auf ein Gefuhl audi ? Hero. Audi auf ein Gefuhl (VII, 84). a " Gefuhl scheint das Erste, Reflexion das Zweite zu seyn," writes Novalis (Schrif- ten, herausgegeben von Heilborn, II, ii, 589), and in the Lehrlinge tu Sais we read: "Das Denken ist nur ein Traum des Ftihlens, ein erstorbenes Fuhlen, ein blassgraues, schwaches Leben" (ibid., I, 230). 3 "Die Familie Schroffenstein," Kleists sdmUiche Werke, D.N.L., 1. Teil, 143. 4 Tiecks Schriften (Berlin: Reimer, 1828-46), XVIII, 271. 48 grillparzer's attitude toward romanticism nach einfachem Gefiihl, dass du nicht denkst und griibelst und Vor- satze fassest, sondern nur so ganz einfach deinem Wesen folgst." Such a character is Tieck's William Lovell whom Haym 1 character- izes as a weakling, "der die Beute jedes fliichtigsten Gefiihls ist." He wanders about without any fixed purpose in life, the slave of uncon- trollable passions. Instinct, he believes, is a gift from the gods to man for his guidance: "Welcher Mensch ist denn der edlere — der- jenige, der stets nach dem Gefuhle handelt, das ihn gerade in diesem Momente beseelt und ergreift, das ihn wie ein Gott im Busen vor- warts treibt, und er nun geht, ohne mit feiger Aengstlichkeit hinter sich zu blicken? Oder der, der nur als ein Sklave nach einem Gesetze sucht, nach dem er handeln miisse, weil es ihm lastig fallt, frei zu sein, und er also auch die Freiheit nicht verdient? Der Mensch ist denn geadelt, wenn er aus stillen, unbewussten Gefiihlen auf die Art gut ist wie das Thier durch Instinkt, Nahrung und Gesund- heit erwirbt, wie die Pflanze von innen heraus wachst, ohne ihren Willen." 2 Another such romantic character is Franz Sternbald, who, by his own confession, was accustomed "aus vollem Herzen zuzuzahlen, seine Liebe nicht zu messen und einzuschranken, sondern es zu dulden, dass sie sich in vollen Stromen durch das Land der Kunst, sein Land der Verheissung ergoss." 3 His friend Sebastian writes to him from Nurnberg, warning him not to give way so much to his feelings: " Dass du dich von deinen Empfindungen so regieren und zernichten lassest, thut mir sehr weh, deine Ueberspannung rauben dir Krafte und Entschluss." 4 Franz, indeed, reminds one very much of those characters of Grillparzer's dramas just described in the way in which he is ruled by his impulses., He is but vaguely conscious of the motives which induce him to act. When Zeuner asks him how he came to devote his life to painting, he replies : " Das kann ich Euch selber nicht sagen, ich war plotzlich dabei, ohne zu wissen wie es kam; einen Trieb etwas zu bilden, ftihlte ich immer in mir" 5 — a reply which may be fitly compared with Hero's reason, contained in the words: 1 Die romantische Schule, 2. Aufl. (Berlin, 1906), 43. 2 Tiecks Schriften, VI, 332. 3 Ibid., XVI, 131. 4 Ibid., 52. 5 Ibid., 31. THE CHARACTERS 49 Vielmehr ein glucklich Ungefahr hat mich Nur halb bewusst, an diesen Ort gebracht (VII, 12). His actions throughout are quite in accord with this confession. "Er kam auf einen freien )?latz im Walde, und plotzlich stand er still. Er wusste selbst nicht, warum er inne hielt, er verweilte, um daruber nachzudenken." 1 In one place we are told that he struggles against this tendency: "Er zwang sich, nicht heftig zu sein, nicht seine Gefuhle sprechen zu lassen, wenn sein Verstand und Urtheil in Anspruch genommen wurden." 2 In his meeting with Marie in Rome, however, he appears as he truly is, dominated by impulses : " Ohne dass sie es gewollt hatten, fast ohne dass sie es wussten, hatten beide sich ihre Liebe gestanden." 3 Most of the personages in the Wanderungen belong psychologically to the same family as Sternbald himself. The countess, whose portrait he painted on his way to Italy, might very well be com- pared in some respects with Grillparzer's Medea or Hero. All three declare their indifference to love and are confident of their power to resist it. Medea says: Mein Garten ist die ungemessene Erde, Des Himmels blaue Saulen sind mein Haus; Da will ich stehn, des Berges freien Liiften Entgegentragend eine freie Brust (V, 12). For Hero, also, love had no attraction: Hier, Hymenaus, der die Menschen bindet, Nimm diesen Kranz von einer, die gem frei. Die Seelen tauschest du? Ei, gute Gotter! Ich will die meine nur fur mich behalten (VII, 8). Similarly the countess prided herself on the fact that love had been unable to make any impression on her: "Diese Ruhe meines Herzens war mein grosster Stolz, ich meinte, was ich von Liebe gehort, sei nur eine Erfindung begeisterter Dichter." 4 When she met the Frankish knight, however, she became love's captive just as it happened in the case of Hero and Medea. At the very moment when she believed herself to be strongest, and almost before she was conscious of it, she was forced to yield to feelings which liad hitherto been unknown * Ibid., 38. 3 Ibid., 412. * Ibid., 406. ^Ibid., 261. 5eyond the power of man to mold to his purposes, for it is nothing more or less than the expression of his own personality, the following of inner dictates which are nearer to him than his own breathing. Such was the fate against which Kleist's Penthesilea attempted to struggle. The priestess cannot understand why Penthesilea is unable to flee from Achilles when no fate holds her, "nichts als ihr toricht Herz." Pro thoe, however, replies : Das ist ihr Schicksal ! Dir scheinen Eisenbanden unzerreissbar, Nicht wahr? Nun sieh: sie brache sie vielleicht, Und das Gefiihl doch nicht, das du verspottest 3 The same is true of many of Grillparzer's persons. Despite the fact that Grillparzer, in speaking of his Ahnfrau, declared in conversation 1 Novalis Schriften (Heilborn), II, ii, 531. 2 "Das Fatum, das uns driickt ist die Tragheit unseres Geistes: durch Erweite- rung und Bildung unserer Thatigkeit werden wir uns selbst in das Fatum verwandeln." — Novalis Schriften (Heilborn), II, i, 176. 3 H. von Kleist, Samtliche Werke (D.N.L.) 2. Teil, 343. THE CHARACTERS 53 with Emil Kuh that the idea of fate which dwells only in the human breast is not only unpoetic but also untrue, that man struggles not only with his own soul but also with an external power which forces itself in upon him, 1 the fate which links his persons together is largely the same as that which holds Penthesilea and Achilles. It is a power against which it is vain for them to struggle. While it is true that external fate plays a large part in bringing about the catastrophe in the Ahnfrau and the drama, as a whole, has stamped upon it the features of the fate-tragedy, there is nothing external about the power which links together Bertha and Jaromir. As has been shown they follow blindly the impulses of the heart. The same is true of Phaon and Melitta and of Hero and Leander. Of the latter Scherer says: "Hier wird nichts den Umstanden, nichts dem Zufall zugewalzt. Die Gewalt der Leidenschaft allein fuhrt ins Verderben. " 3 External fate also plays a considerable role in Das goldene Vliess, but the relation between Jason and Medea is purely personal. Here, as in the other dramas, it is the "Zug des Herzens," so prominent in the characters of romanticism, which is the mainspring of the action and which prevails over all other considerations. II. THE QUIETISTIC TYPE Not only does Grillparzer depict in his dramas characters who follow blindly their impulses, but he also introduces frequently the contemplative, quietistic character which turns away from life and seeks happiness in retirement — a type which is often combined with the instinctive character and which is equally romantic. To this class belong Rustan, Raimund, Robert of Normandy, Margarete, the Priester in Des Meeres und der Liebe Wellen y Libussa and her sisters, Rudolf the Second, and Matthias. Here, too, belong partly Sappho, Bancbanus, Phaon, Melitta, and others. Rustan, the hero of Der Trautn, ein Leben, 3 is, like Jaromir, a representative of the mannlich-weiblich type which was such a favorite with the romanticists. He is filled with that unrest which makes the romantic character an aimless wanderer in quest of happiness in its 1 E. Kuh, Zwei Dichter OesUrreichs (Pest, 1872), 24. 2 W. Scherer, op. cit., 257. * S. Hock, Der Trautn, ein Leben (Stuttgart and Berlin, 1904). 54 grillparzer's attitude toward romanticism various forms. Like Ulysses of old, he "cannot rest from travel" and is determined to "drink life to the lees." The restless strivings which have taken possession of his soul are described by his uncle, rf)hsud: Ja, fiirwahr, ein wilder Geist ^ Wohnt in seinem dustern Busen, / Herrscht in seinem ganzen Thun Und lasst nimmerdar ihn ruhn (VII, 114). Sleeping and waking he dreams of wars and battles, of crowns and victory. Like the numerous romantic characters who are unwilling to setde down to an ordinary mode of life, preferring to spend their days in the pursuit of an ideal which they never realize, Rustan is dissatisfied with the uneventful existence in Massud's house and wanders through mountains and woods, a prey to his discontent: Wie so schal diinkt mich dies Leben, Wie so schal und jammerlich! Stets das Heute nur des Gestern v Und des Morgen flaches Bild; \ Freude, die mich nicht erfreuet, Leiden, das mich nicht betriibt, Und der Tag, der, stets emeuet, Nichts doch als sich selber gibt (VII, 120). He is filled with a longing for a life of activity which allows him no rest. To achieve greatness is his most ardent wish: Sich hinabzustiirzen dann In das rege, wirre Leben, An die voile Brust es driicken, \ An sich und doch unter sich: Wie ein Gott, an leisen Faden Trotzende Gewalten lenken, u.s.w. (VII, 121). An impulse within him urges him to seek his fortune in the world and his uncle reluctantly grants him the permission which he demands. Rustan, however, is no man of action, but, as Goedeke says, " einen von sturmischem Thatendurst erf iillten Schwarmer, der nur von Glanz, Ruhm und Macht traumt." * Like the archduke Matthias in the Bruderzwist he is unfitted for active life but does not recognize 1 Grundriss u.s.w^ III, 388. THE CHARACTERS 55 his weakness till he has lived through the dream of a night. His normal state is quietism; Mirza pictures him as he really is: O, ich weiss wohl eine Zeit, Wo er sanft war, fromm und mild. Wo er stundenlange sass Auf dem Grund zu meinen Flissen, Bald des Hauses Arbeit teilend, Bald ein Marchen mir erzahlend, * Bald — o, glaubt mir, lieber Vater! Er war damals sanft und gut (VII, 114). Even in his dream, when whirled along by ambition and intoxicated by success, he betrays, at times, longings for the quiet happiness which he had scorned in his mad quest for fame and glory: O, hatt' ich — o hatt' ich nimmer , Dich verlassen, heimisch Dach, Und den Taumelpfad betreten, Dem sich Sorgen winden nach. Hatt' ich nie des Aeussern Schimmer _J Mit des Innern Wert bezahlt Und das Gaukelbild der Hoffnung Fern auf Nebelgrund gemalt! (VII, 167). The folly of his course is revealed to him in his dream, where he sees himself committing crime upon crime in the pursuit of his ambi- tious designs. To the deception which he practices on the king of Samarcands in order to win his favor and to obtain the hand of his daughter, Gulnare, he adds the crime of the murder of his rival. Accused before the king by old Kaleb, the dumb father of the victim, he poisons his benefactor and attributes the deed to his accuser. The latter is thrown into prison and Rustan reigns in Samarcand with the princess. His fortunes, however, are on the wane. His tyrannical rule causes an insurrection and the friends of the dumb Kaleb demand justice from the princess. Rustan is recognized as the real murderer of the king and of Kaleb's son and is forced to flee for his life, accom- panied by his accomplice, Zanga. Surrounded on all sides by his pursuers, he casts himself in despair from the very bridge on which he had murdered his rival. During his dream Rustan has been reminded constantly of the happiness which might have been his, but which he has trampled 56 grillparzer's attitude toward romanticism under foot. Mirza appears to him in a vision, sitting in front of her father's cottage and he hears the warning voice as the king reads : Rustan, Rustan, wilder Jager, Warum qualst du deine Liebe, Suchst auf unbetretnen Pfaden Ein noch zweifelhaft Geschick ? —J Kehr zuriick auf deinen Wegen, Wenn nicht hier, wo ist das Gliick ? (VII, 178, 179). A vision of the "Mann vom Felsen" whom he has murdered also appears to warn him against the dangerous course he is pur- suing: Rustan, Rustan, wilder Jager, Kehr zuriick auf deinen Pfaden ! Was ist Ruhm, der Grosse Gliick ? Sieh auf mich ! Weil ich getractet ^ Nach zu Hohem, nach Verbotnem, Irr' ich hier in dieser Wiiste, Freigestellt das nackte Leben Jedes Meuchelmorders Dolch (VII, 179, 180). To this might be added the words of the old dervish which he heard just before dropping off to sleep: Schatten sind des Lebens Giiter, / Schatten seiner Freuden Schar, ' Schatten Worte, Wiinsche, Thaten, Die Gedanken nur sind wahr (VII, 132). Rustan awakes in his uncle's house and discovers that the horrible adventures of days and weeks were but the dreams of a night, and that the bloody murderer of Kaleb's son and of the king has still unstained hands. The frightful nightmare through which he has passed is, however, a warning to him. His dreams of fame and glory have been dissipated and he is now content to lead a quiet idyllic life with Mirza and his uncle. Greatness has no longer any attraction for him; true happiness, he is convinced, is to be found only in the quiet harmony of the soul. His philosophy of life, and Grillparzer's own philosophy, is contained in the words: THE CHARACTERS 57 Eines nur ist Gliick hienieden, Eins: des Innem stiller Frieden Und die schuldbefreite Brust! Und die Grosse ist gefahrlich, Und der Ruhm ein leeres Spiel; . Was er gibt, sind nicht'ge Schatten, ^"~ Was er nimmt, es ist so viel! (VII, 215). This, too, is the ideal of Massud and Mirza; all three are types of quietism and just the opposite of Zanga for whom life is action (VII, 123). t The fleeing away from actual life in pursuit of contentment is characteristic of romanticism. Romantic characters are ever filled with a longing for satisfaction which they fail to find in ordinary, everyday life and which they therefore seek in remote lands and times, or in the ideals of their own souls. Thus we find the romanticists interested in the Middle Ages, in aimless travel in distant countries, and in poetry, music, and painting. The heroes of their books are almost invariably on journeys, and are always singing the praises of the wanderer's life: "O glucklich," says Tieck's Sternbald, "ist der, der bald die enge Heimath verlasst, um wie der Vogel seinen Fittig zu prufen und sich auf unbekannten, schoneren Zweigen zu schaukeln." 1 Sternbald resembles Grillparzer's Rustan in that the ordinary occupations of life offer no attraction for him. Like Rustan he is bent upon realizing the ideal of his dreams. When Zeuner offers him the position of overseer in his factory, he refuses flatly, 2 and when his mother tries to persuade him to settle down and till the soil, he declares that such a life would be impossible for him: "Wenn ich durch ungekannte Gegenden mit frischem Herzen streifen kann, so mag ich keines ruhigen Lebens geniessen. Tausend Stimmen rufen mir herzstarkend aus der Feme zu, die ziehenden Vogel, die uber meinem Haupte wegfliegen, scheinen mir Boten aus der Feme, alle Wolken erinnern mich an meine Reise, jeder G^danke, jeder Pulsschlag treibt mich vorwarts, wie konnt' ich da wohl in meinen jungen Jahren ruhig hier sitzen und das Wachstum des Getreides abwarten, die Einzaunung des Gartens besorgen und Ruben pflanzen!" 3 * Tiecks Schriften, XVI, 21. » Ibid., XVI, 30, 31. 3 Ibid., 48, 49- 58 grillparzer's attitude toward romanticism The romantic character, however, is no more a man of action than is Grillparzer's Rustan. As Friedrich Schlegel says of Goethe's Wilhelm Meister "sein ganzes Thun und Wesen besteht fast im Streben, Wollen und Empfinden." 1 The passion for wandering, with which he is filled, is merely the desire for happiness which drives him out into the wide world to seek his fortune. Like Rustan, how- ever, he generally finds in the end that happiness waits for him at ^) home. Such, for example, is the case with Ei cheng lorff's Taup;enjchts. "Nachdem er das ganze Leben lang iiberall seine blaueJBlume gesucht hat, findet er sie in seiner Heimat." 2 That, too, is the general signifi- cance of the fable in Novalis' Lehrlinge zu Sais, 3 a fable which is in many respects parallel to Grillparzer's Der Traum, ein Leben. Hya- cinth, like Rustan, is a self-absorbed type. Caves and woods were his favorite dwelling-places. He is in love with the beautiful Rosen- blutchen just as Grillparzer's hero is in love with Mirza. In both cases, however, the smooth course of love is disturbed. Zanga incites Rustan to activity; Hyacinth is entirely taken up with the wonderful tales of an old man who comes from afar and seats himself in front of his parents' house. " Da that er seinen weissen Bart voneinander und erzahlte bis tief in die Nacht." And now it is all over with Hya- cinth's happiness and love. He feels within him an impulse which draws him away from his home, out into the world. "Wenn ich an die alten Zeiten zuruck denken will, so kommen gleich machtigere Gedanken dazwischen; die Ruhe ist fort, Herz und Liebe mit, ich muss sie suchen gehn. Ich wollt euch gern sagen wohin, ich weiss selbst nicht: dahin wo die Mutter der Dinge wohnt, die verschleierte Jungfrau; nach der ist mein Gemiit entziindet." Finally he approaches the dwelling of the veiled maiden, but, as was the case with Rustan, he first obtains the object of his desires through a dream. Just as Rustan in his dream seems to recognize familiar figures of his past life (cf. VII, 178), so the various scenes through which he .passes seem familiar to Hyacinth, but enhanced in beauty. At last he stands before the heavenly maiden; he raises the glittering veil which 1 J. Minor, Fr. Schlegels Jugendschriften, II, 168. 2 G. Brandes, Die romantische Schule in Deutschland % 244. 3 Novalis Schriften (Heilborn), I, 224-29. THE CHARACTERS 59 envelops her and Rosenbliitchen sinks into his arms. After seeking everywhere the "blaue Blume," he, too, like Rustan and the Tauge- nichts, finds happiness in the quiet joys of an idyllic existence. All three are romantic types of quietism. 1 J tingling, in Irenens Wiederkehrf one of Grillparzer's earlier fragments, gives expression to the same desire for activity as Rustan: Hinaus, hinaus Aus engendem Haus, In Wald und Flur, Im Schoss der Natur, Der ungemessnen, ewig heitern, Die sturmisch pochende Brust zu erweitern ! Mich treibt's mit Gewalt Hinaus in den Wald, Der Freiheit luftigen Aufenthalt! Mich duldet's nicht hinter oden Wanden, Beim stillen Thun von hauslichen Handen (XI, 25). In contrast to this insatiable ambition is the song of the Wanderer, which represents Grillparzer's ideal: In bescheidenen Bezirken Wirkt des Mannes that'ge Kraft; Fruchtereicher ist sein Wirken, Er zerstoret nicht, er schafft, Und die Riesengrosse der Gedanken Fesseln nun des Hauses enge Schranken. Er lebt in der Seinen Kreise, Durch sich selber froh und reich, Und in blumenvollem Gleise Rollt das Leben sanft und gleich ! Innig fesselt ihn mit siisser Kette, Gatten-, Vaterlieb' an eine Statte. 1 Wir traumen von Reisen durch das Weltall; ist denn das Weltall nicht in uns ? . . . . Nach innen geht der geheimnisvolle Weg Die Aussenwelt ist die Schattenwelt, sie wirft ihren Schatten in das Lichtreich. (Bliltenstaub, Novalis Schriften (Heilborn), II, 1, 4; cf. also II, 1, 131, 335). 2 A. Sauer, Grillparzers samtliche Werke, XI, 21 f. 60 grillparzer's attitude toward romanticism Er geizt nicht nach eitlem Ruhme, Freut sich nicht der blut'gen Schlacht, Froh in kleinem Eigentume, Wenn sein trautes Weib ihm lacht; Wenn im engen Raum der armen Hiitte, Froh er ruht in froher Kinder Mitte (XI, 28, 29). ■ Raimund, in the opera, Melusina, 2 is also a parallel character to Rustan. Like Rustan he is a dreamer who is not satisfied with ordi- nary life and is willing to sacrifice actual human happiness in the pursuit of a delusion. His peace of soul has been disturbed by a dream in which he saw a fountain where water-nymphs were wont to disport themselves. One day, while hunting, he finds himself near this very fountain and invokes the fairy of his dreams to show herself: Mog' dir gefallen, ganz dich mir zu zeigen, Und willst du's nicht, o so entlass mich ganz ! Ein fremdes Streben hast du mir entglommen, Von dunkler Ahnung hebt sich meine Brust, Was sonst mein Gliick war, ist von mir genommen, Und durstend lechz' ich nach getraumter Lust (VII, 226). While he slumbers, Melusina appears to him again, tells him of her love, and leaves a ring. On finding the ring he is convinced that his dream was a reality and despite all the warnings of his friends and of Bertha, his betrothed, he descends into Melusina's kingdom, which opens up before him like the Venusberg to Tannhauser. And yet Raimund is not willing to loiter about on couches of idle- ness. He feels within him the desire for a life of activity (VII, 242). The thought of home and those whom he has left behind is still with him. In a vision he sees a knight approaching and pointing toward a coat of arms: Was willst du, Mann, mit deinem argen Troste ? Willst du mir sagen, dass mein Eisen roste? (VII, 247). 1 That, too, was Grillparzer's conception of Faust. Speaking of his proposed continuation of Goethe's Faust, he stated in 1822: "Ich erinnere mich von meinem damaligen Ideengang nur noch so viel, dass ich nach Gretchens entsetzlicher Katas- trophe Fausten in sich zuruckkehren und nun finden lassen wollte, worin er es versehen, worin eigentlich das Gliick besteht: in Selbstbegrenzung und Seelenfrieden" (XI, 257). 2 A. Sauer, Grillparzers samtliche Werke, VII, 223 f. THE CHARACTERS 6l The vision of a woman blowing a trumpet reminds him that he is losing his fair name and fame; while the sight of a pilgrim warns him that he is jeopardizing his soul. All these thoughts urge him to return to the world, and, when he learns to know Melusina's true nature, he carries out this resolve. But although Raimund has forsaken Melusina, his heart is still with her. The flowers of earth are to him without color, the herbs are but dry husks without fragrance, when compared with the beauty and fragrance of Melusina's kingdom. He feels that he has sacrificed his happiness in deserting the fairy and will not be comforted. The count rebukes him for being so melancholy: "Was also wollt Ihr? Dieses unbestimmte Sehnen und Verlangen ist das Grab aller That- kraft. Raimund, Ihr musst handeln" (VII, 261). His companions sing the praises of fame, wine, and women, and Raimund seems to be reconciled. Suddenly, however, he sees the pale form of Melusina among the dancers. He is once more in her power, and, to redeem the ring which he has thrown away, he descends into the grave. The piece ends in an apotheosis where love receives its reward for its faithfulness. Grillparzer's sympathies throughout are with the romantic charac- ters; our chief interest is in Melusina and Raimund, not with the characters of ordinary life. Raimund is not really interested in the ordinary affairs of life. To quote Volkelt: " Es wird als ein Fehltritt dargestellt, dass Raimund, neben anderen Motiven auch dem Drange nach Tatigkeit gehorchend (see 241, 247, 261 ff.) Melusinen untreu wird und sich in die Menschenwelt zuruckbegibt. Und seine Erlosung besteht darin, dass er wieder in Melusinens tatlos seliges Reich auf- genommen wird." 1 Raimund, it is true, does not find the "blaue Blume" of his yearning in "der Erde stillem Gluck," as Rustan does. His yearning leads him much farther. Like Rustan, however, he turns away from actual life and seeks happiness in a state of quietism which is even more extreme. "Ruhm und Unsterblichkeit," we read in one of Tieck's Marchen, "ist nur ein Hahnengeschrei, das fruher oder spater verschallt, das die Winde mit sich nehmen und das dann untergeht. ,,a That is the 1 J. Volkelt, Grillparzer als Dichter des Zwiespalts zwischen Gemiit und Leben. Grillparzer Jahrbuch, IV, 23. * L. Tieck, "Die Sieben Weiber des Blaubart," Schriften, IX, 139. 62 golden chord which runs through so many of Grillparzer's works. 1 Medea compares earthly fame to a dream (V, 228). She forsakes the simple, unsophisticated life of nature, in which she had lived in perfect harmony with the cosmic forces, and aspires to develop into something higher, to become a Greek among the Greeks. Her attempt, however, is doomed to failure. Melitta is "das liebe Mad- chen mit dem stillen Sinn," and to her is vouchsafed the happiness which is denied to Sappho. Phaon is of the same type: he is a self- absorbed fanciful character who becomes bewildered in the turmoils of life and finds composure only in solitude (IV, 156). The image of Sappho first became clear to him while communing with Nature under the silence of a starry sky: Dort, an den Pulsen der suss schlummernden Natur, In ihres Zaubers magisch-macht'gen Kreisen, Da breitet' ich die Arme nach dir aus; Und wenn mir dann der Wolken Flockenschnee, Des Zephyrs lauer Hauch, der Berge Duft, Des bleichen Mondes silberweisses Licht In eins verschmolzen um die Stirne floss, Dann warst du mein, dann fiihlt' ich deine Nahe, Und Sapphos Bild schwamm in den lichten Wolken! (IV, 146). 3 A simple life close to Nature is the ideal which he holds up to Melitta when he persuades her to flee with him: Dort driiben tiberm alten, grauen Meer Wohnt Sicherheit und Run' und Liebe ! O, folge ! Unterm breiten Lindendach, Das still der Eltern stilles Haus beschattet, Wolbt, Teure, sich der Tempel unsers Glticks (IV, 202). He prefers the happiness of an uneventful existence at Melitta's side to all the fame and glory which Sappho can offer him. Sappho herself yearns for the same kind of happiness. In resolv- ing to mingle with the world, she does not aspire to a life of activity, but desires to share with Phaon the joys of an idyllic, domestic life: 1 W. Scherer, op. cit., 205 f. 2 Cf. Wordsworth's poem "There was a boy," The Complete Poetical Works of W. Wordsworth (Crowell edition), 137. THE CHARACTERS 63 An seiner Seite werd' ich unter euch Ein einfach stilles Hirtenleben fiihren, Den Lorbeer mit der Myrte gem vertauschend, Zum Preise nur von hauslich stillen Freuden Die Tone wecken dieses Seitenspiels, Die ihr bisher bewundert und verehrt (IV, 143). Her love-dream, however, is soon shattered and she recalls longingly the time when, absorbed only in her art, she gazed out on the world with childlike eyes, when perfect harmony reigned in her soul and love was to her still a wonderland. She, too, sings the praises of quietism, when she exclaims: Weh dem, den aus der Seinen stillem Kreise Des Ruhms, der Ehisucht eitler Schatten lockt! She feels like one who is tossed about upon the waves, and who, gazing back, beholds in the distance the happy shores which he has left, and hears the voices of loved ones mingled with the roar of the surf. Such a one is borne along with the flood, and, when he does return, he finds that the flowers of spring have wilted, leaving behind only withered leaves (IV, 153; cf. also IV, 178, 191). The quiet happiness of domestic life is the ideal which Hero's mother holds up to her daughter (VII, 20). King Alfonso, in the Jildin von Toledo, finally perceives the folly of his course and tears himself free from the Jewess who has held him enthralled. In his best moments he, too, has had yearnings for the bliss of quietude: Und wie die Bienen, die mit ihrer Ladling Des Abends heim in ihre Zellen kehren, Bereichert durch des Tages Vollgewinn, Uns finden in dem Kreis der Hauslichkeit, Nun doppelt siiss durch zeitliches Entbehren (IX, 194). Bancbanus, like Rustan, finds happiness in that peace of soul which^ belongs to the man whose conscience is free from guilt (VI, 159). He / refuses the honors and distinctions with which the king wishes to reward him for his faithful service. It has been his experience that such distinctions have only brought him misfortune, and he demands permission to retire to his ancestral castie, there to spend his days in solitude beside the grave of his murdered wife (VI, 253). Robert, duke of Normandy, too, has come to see the emptiness of earthly 64 grillparzer's attitude toward romanticism honors and rank, and is quite prepared to renounce his claims to the throne of England. "Ja, ich dachte einst anders," he confesses, "aber diese Bilder sind entflohn und ich sehne mich nach Ruhe, nach Ruhe an der Seite meines Weibes, in den Arm en meines Sohnes, in der Mitte meiner Unterthanen" (XI, 62). His wife is similarly dis- posed. The tide of "Queen of England" has no charms for her: "Nicht verlang' ich zu herrschen als Furstin iiber diese Lande; mein Herz ist fur einen Thron nicht geschaffen, innig sehnt es sich nach Ruhe, nach Frieden, nach Liebe" (XI, 71, 72). She betrays the same desire for a life of retirement as we find expressed in Konig Ottokars Gliick und Ende, where Margarete declares that she is quite ready to abdicate in favor of her rival : O, konnf ich jetzt, in diesem Augenblick, Weit hinter mir der Krone Glanz und Pracht, Nach Haimburg hin, in meiner Vater Schloss, Allwo ich sass nach meines Gatten Tod Und sein und meiner Kinder Fall beweinte ! Ich habe diese Krone nicht gesucht! (VI, 22). Lucretia, in the Bruderzwist, is also persuaded that the highest good is to be found in the ordinary, simple duties of daily life: O, dass die Manner nur ins Weite streben ! Sie nennen's Staat, das allgemeine Beste, Was doch ein Trachten nach dem Fernen nur. Gibt's denn ein Bestes, das nicht auch ein Nachstes ? Mein Herz sagt nein, nachstpochend an die Brust (IX, 91). To Kaiser Rudolf, whom Ottokar characterizes as "ein gar stiller Mann" (VI, 28), is vouchsafed the victory over the all- too-active king of Bohemia. The ideal of the priest in Des Meeres und der Liebe Wellen is that of a life apart from men and their activities, the old monastic ideal of the Middle Ages. Such a hermit life is to be Hero's lot. Just as the 1 3wer, her future home, stands isolated on the sea-shore, so shall she stand aloof from the ordinary interests of women and lead a self- ( entered life. This ideal, however, is vouchsafed to those only who Avoid all that distracts; it is the fruit of that Sammlung which the priest declares to be — THE CHARACTERS 65 den machtigen Weltenhebel, Der alles Grosse tausendfach erhoht Und selbst das Kleine naher riickt den Sternen (VII, 47). Only to those who possess this attribute are the spiritual voices audible and the sources of truth revealed: Der Hintergrund der Wesen thut sich auf, Und Gotterstimmen, halb aus eigner Brust Und halb aus Hohn, die noch kein Blick ermass (VII, 47). The avoidance of active life is imperative for those who would preserve this sensitive nature. They must spend their lives in contemplation : Doch wessen Streben auf das Innre fuhrt, Wo Ganzheit nur des Wirkens Fiille fordert, Der halte fern vom Streite seinen Sinn, Denn ohne Wunde kehrt man nicht zuriick, Die noch als Narbe mahnt in triiben Tagen (VII, 48). x That was Sappho's fate (IV, 178) ; it was also the fate of Libussa. Libussa leaves the still circle of the circumscribed life in order to become queen of the Bohemians, but the step is a fatal one. Hitherto she had lived with her sisters, Kascha and Tetka, apart from the world, reading the events of life by occult signs and following the dictates of the spirit within. Her sisters rebuke her for deciding to mingle with the active affairs of government. " Wer handelt, geht oft fehl," is Tetka' s warning, to which Libussa replies : " Auch wer betrachtet " (VIII, 132). Kascha believes that association with men leads to deterioration: Wer nicht wie Menschen sein will, schwach und klein, Der halte sich von Menschennahe rein (VIII, 133). She and Tetka are determined to lead a life of contemplation: Sie aber, deine Schwestern, wollen einsam Und ungestort vom lauten Pobelschwarm Dem geist'gen Anschaun leben, der Betrachtung (VIII, 200, 201). Libussa, like Sappho, responds to the call to active duty. She desires to become more human. The contemplation of moon and 1 In the speech: "Du wahltest ewig unter Moglichkeiten," etc. (VII, 24), Grill- parzer makes the priest say something which is not consistent with his character. Throughout the play the priest is represented as being entirely indifferent to the actuali- ties of life. 66 grillparzer' s attitude toward romanticism stars, and the mysterious calculations with which her sisters busy themselves, seem shallow and monotonous to her. Like Sappho (IV, 148), she finds in life itself the highest purpose of life: Dies Kleid, es reibt die Haut mit dichtern Faden Und weckt die Warme bis zur tiefsten Brust; Mit Menschen Mensch sein, diinkt von heut mir Lust. Des Mitgefiihles Pulse fiihl' ich schlagen, Drum will ich dieser Menschen Krone tragen (VIII, 130). She hesitates about sacrificing her personal freedom through marriage (VIII, 171), but finally overcomes even this feeling and acknowledges Primislaus as her lord (VIII, 197) . The sacrifice of her individuality, however, was too great. Wlasta notices the change which has come over her mistress and warns Primislaus: Wer seinem innern Wesen widerspricht, Der ist gezwungen, ob durch sich, durch andre. Glaubst du, Libussa sei Libussa noch, Als Ordnerin des Hauses, als die Herrin Von Magden, die die laute Spindel drehn ? Sie fiihlt es nicht, allein ihr Wesen flihlfs. Sie sehnt sich nach den Schwestern, glaube mir, Dort ist ihr Platz, hier ist nur ihre Statte (VIII, 208). Her sisters retire before the bustle and tumult of communal life, the beginning of which is marked by the founding of Prague. Libussa, on the contrary, tries to become reconciled to the new era of civiliza- tion which is dawning, but fades away like the shadow before the rising sun. "Libussa," writes Farinelli, "hat Gott gleichsam als seine Priesterin auf Erden geschaffen. Sie gehort wie Sappho, einer hoheren Sphare der Menschheit, ja kaum der Menschheit an. Sobald sie an irdisches Leben gekettet, dem rein Hohen, dem rein Edlen entsagt, sinkt sie dahin." 1 She is one of those romantic characters who cannot face the facts of life. Zipper describes Rudolf the Second as one of the most difficult and complicated characters ever created by a dramatic poet, and goes on to say that the art which Grillparzer exhibits here is all the more admi- rable, " da dieser Charakter so stark im Banne des Quietismus steht, 1 Grillparzer und Lope de Vega, 142. THE CHARACTERS 67 dass er beinahe nicht wirken, bios sein will." 1 He is represented as being of an aesthetic temperament, a man who is more interested in art and books than in the affairs of state. Even the news of a revolution in Hungary fails to arouse his attention. The affairs of the outer world only disturb him and make him irritable and impatient. Rudolf, moreover, is perfectly aware of the lack of activity in his nature. When his nephew, Ferdinand, hints that the archduke Matthias would like an office in which he might have more scope for activity, he retorts: 1st er denn thatig nicht ? Er reitet, rennt und ficht. Wir beide haben Von unserm Vater Thatkraft nicht geerbt — Allein ich weiss es, und er weiss es nicht (IX, 26). The romantic, reactionary ideal of passivity and quietism is the ruling principle in Rudolf's life. Like Rousseau and Wordsworth, he finds true life in Nature, not in Man: Drum ist in Sternen Wahrheit, im Gestein, In Pflanze, Tier und Baum, im Menschen nicht. Und wer's verstiinde, still zu sein wie sie, Gelehrig fromm, den eignen Willen meistemd, Ein aufgespanntes, demutvolles Ohr, Ihm wiirde leicht ein Wort der Wahrheit kund, Die durch die Wei ten geht aus Gottes Munde (IX, 25). As Volkelt says : "Er erblickt das Hochste in der stillen kampflosen Ordnung des Sternenhimmels; er mochte, dass sich die kleinen und grossen Geschicke der Menschen nicht durch Verstand und Leiden- schaft, Wollen und Wagen, sondern durch leisen und unbewusst weisen Naturtrieb regeln. Er ist wie er selbst sagt, eine stille, gem heimisch in sich verweilende Natur (IX, 105) und misstraut daher dem Handeln mit seinen unaufhaltsamen, sich weithin erstreckenden und dabei sich verunreinigenden Wirkungen" (see 74, 82, 107). a That accounts for his conservatism, his lack of sympathy with the new spirit of the times. In progress he sees only disrespect for old customs and traditions (IX, 22). The contrast between Rudolf and Ferdinand is very noticeable. 1 A. Zipper, Franz Grillparzer (Reclams Universal-Bibliothek, No. 4443, Leipzig, oj.), p. 89. 2 Grillparzer Jahrbuch, IV, 19. 68 grillparzer's attitude toward romanticism Rudolf is passive and self-absorbed; Ferdinand is active and fanatical. Rudolf does not dare to make a move: Allein wer wagt's, in dieser triiben Zeit Den vielverschlungnen Knoten der Verwirrung Zu losen eines Streichs (IX, 27). Ferdinand shows his ruthless energy in driving from their homes twenty thousand of his subjects for religion's sake. Rudolf is igno- rant of the plots which are being hatched by Klesel and the archdukes, until forced to believe by eye-witnesses like Herzog Julius and Prokop. The idea of taking action, even when his throne is in danger is distaste- ful to him. Were it possible, he would shake the burden of govern- ment from off his shoulders (IX, 75) and retire, as his uncle Charles the Fifth did on one occasion, and await death in a cloister (IX, 108). 1 Peace on earth is his most ardent wish, a wish which corresponds well with his passive nature. Throughout the play he is represented as wavering and undecided, dreamy and passive. Even when Don Casar is bleeding to death he hesitates and refuses to interfere (IX, 102). In many respects Rudolf the Second is the counterpart of Grill- parzer himself. " Seine Natur hatte eben so viele Analogien mit der seines Helden," writes Betty Paoli: "den unwiderstehlichen Hang zu traumerischer Contemplation, den idealen Zug, dem alles Vergang- liche unwichtig scheint, die Schwierigkeit einen Entschluss zu fassen, die in grosser Zartheit des Gewissens wie in einem alle moglichen Folgen uberschauenden Tief- und Fernblick ihren Grund hat, den oft auftauchenden, schmerzlichen Zweifel an der eigenen Kraft, den Widerwillen gegen alles Gewaltsame, und zugleich in seltsamen Widerspruch dam it gepaart, eine Heftigkeit, die bis zur Wildheit, eine Strenge die bis zur unerbittlichen Harte gehen konnte." 2 The archduke Matthias betrays the same passivity which has been found to be characteristic of Kaiser Rudolf. Neither the one nor the other has inherited Tatkraft, but Matthias does not recognize his weakness as Rudolf does. Without Klesel to spur him on, he could do nothing. In action he is vacillating and wavering : 1 Cf. also "Klosterscene," Werke (Sauer), I, 200 f. 2 Grillparzer und seine Werke (Stuttgart, 1875), 59» 0o - THE CHARACTERS 69 Das ist der Fluch von unserm edeln Haus: Auf halben Wegen und zu halber That Mit halben Mitteln zauderhaft zu streben (IX, 49). These words, says Scherer, are characteristic in the mouth of him, "der mit unzulanglichen Mitteln immer das Allergrosste will und aus einem Extrem ins Andere fallt, aus Uebermut in Verzweiflung." 1 After the emperor's death is announced and he is hailed as his succes- sor, he feels unable to face the duties and responsibilities of his new office and longs for rest and quietness (IX, 130). His dreams of activity and lofty ambition have vanished, just as was the case with Rustan: O Bruder, lebtest du, und waV ich tot! Gekostet nab' ich, was mir herrlich schien, Und das Gebein ist mir darob vertrocknet, Entschwunden jene Traume kunft'ger Thaten, Machtlos wie du, wank' ich der Grube zu (IX, 131). Klesel, in short, is the only really capable man of action in the whole play. Wallenstein, to be sure, is introduced at the end, but is not of sufficient importance in the development of the drama to be considered. Ferdinand, too, shows plenty of activity, but he is a fanatic. The favorite types are passive and quietistic. Characteristic of romantic personages is their love for solitude and retirement. The bustle of the city and the activities of ordinary life are not congenial to the free development of the individual. That is why Libussa is opposed to the building of a city. She is afraid that if men are surrounded by walls they will no longer come into contact with the living breath of nature and will cease to feel their unity with the " Geist des All " (VIII, 202) . Their development is liable to become conventional; like the brook which flows into .the stream, they lose their individuality. Out in the solitude of the woods, however, they will be able to shake off the unnatural burden imposed upon them by society and can realize their true selves in a passive and contemplative existence. ~~"~*x Thus the praise of solitude and retirement is emphasized in all j romantic books. Like Grillparzer's Rustan or Matthias, the roman- / tic character is continually longing for Ruhe and Stille during his 1 Fr. Grillparzer, Vortrage und Aufsdtze, etc., 291. 70 grillparzer's attitude toward romanticism aimless wanderings. So, for example, Tieck makes William Lovell say: "Itzt denke ich es mir so erquickend, in einer kleinen Hiitte am Saume eines einsamen Waldes zu leben, die ganze Welt vergessend und auf ewig von ihr vergessen, nur mit der Erde bekannt, so weit mein Auge sieht, von keinem Menschen aufgefunden, nur vom Morgenwinde und dem Sauseln der Gestrauche begriisst — eine kleine Heerde, ein kleines Feld — was braucht der Mensch zu seinem Gliicke mehr?" 1 Franz Sternbald expresses the same wish where he says : " Freilich ist es etwas Schones, ruhig nur sich zu leben, und recht friih das stille Land aufzusuchen, wo wir einheimisch seyn wollen." 2 Holderin, too, praises the silence of starry nights: "Dann wann es stille war, wie in den Tiefen der Erde, wo geheimnisvoll das Gold wachst, dann hob das schonere Leben meiner Liebe sich an." 3 The same tone prevails all through Heinrich von Kleist's Brief e an seine Braut. 4 Kleist knows of no situation so calculated to heighten love and its enjoyment as "ein stilles Landleben" (p. 228). "Ach Wilhelmine, schenkte mir der Himmel ein grimes Haus, ich gabe alles Reisen und alle Wissenschait und alien Ehrgeiz auf immer auf! Denn nichts als Schmerzen gewahrt mir dieses ewig bewegte Herz, das wie ein Planet unaufhorlich in seiner Bahn zur Rechten und zur Linken wankt, und von ganzer Seele sehne ich mich, wonach die ganze Schopfung und alle immer langsamer und langsamer rol- lenden Weltkorper streben, nach Ruhe" (p. 173). The ideal of "des Innern stiller Friede,' , so prominent in Grillparzer's characters, is also Kleist's ideal. He is not willing to accept an office, however dignified, for he despises the happiness which fame and position carry with them: "Aber das Entscheidenste ist dieses, dass selbst ein Amt, und ware es eine Ministerstelle, mich nicht gliicklich machen kann. Mich nicht, Wilhelmine — denn eines ist gewiss, ich bin einmal in meinem Hause gliicklich, oder niemals" (p. no). Novalis, while showing considerable interest in the activities of life, was also filled with the desire to retire from the " tummelvollen 1 Tiecks Schrijten, VI, 167. 2 j^d., XVI, 59. 3 Hyperion, Holderlins Gesammelte Dichtungen, herausgegeben von B. Litzmann, (Stuttgart, o. J.; Cotta), II, 124. 4 Heinrich von Kleist, Brief e an seine Braut, herausgegeben von Karl von Bieder- mann (Breslau, 1884). THE CHARACTERS 7 1 Schauplatz dieser Welt, in den stillen Frieden des hauslichen Lebens." 1 " Ruhe," he tells us in his Journal, " ist der wahre Zustand des Menschen." 2 External circumstances do not disturb him and those like him, "deren Welt ihr Gemuth, deren Thatigkeit die Betrachtung, deren Leben ein leises Bilden ihrer innern Krafte ist." Quietism is the ideal of such men. " Keine Unruhe treibt sie nach aussen. Ein stiller Besitz geniigt ihnen, und das unermassliche Schauspiel ausser ihnen reizt sie nicht darin aufzutreten, sondern kommt ihnen bedeutend und wunderbar genug vor, um seiner Be- trachtung ihre Musse zu widmen." 3 The passive, contemplative life, so prominent in Grillparzer's \ characters, was in short the ideal of romanticism. That is the sort of life which Friedrich Schlegel extols in his Idylle uber den Miissigang, ■ when he says: " Je gottlicher ein Mensch oder ein Werk der Menschen ist, je ahnlicher werden sie der Pflanze. Diese ist unter alien Formen der Natur die sittlichste und die schonste. Und so ware ja das hochste, vollendetste Leben nichts als ein reines Vegetiren. ,,4 This ideal Schlegel finds best realized in oriental life: "Nur Italiener wissen zu gehen und nur die im Orient verstehen zu liegen; wo hat sich aber der Geist zarter und slisser gebildet als in Indien ?" s Such a passive, plantlike development is also praised as the highest in Heinrich von Ofterdingen. "Die Gewachse sind die unmittelbarste Sprache des Bodens; jedes neue Blatt, jede sonderbare Blume, ist irgend ein Geheimnis, das sich hervordrangt, und das, weil es sich vor Liebe und Lust nicht bewegen und nicht zu Worten kommen kann, eine stumme, ruhige Pflanze wird. Findet man in der Einsamkeit eine solche Blume, ist es da nicht als ware alles umher verklart, und hielten sich die kleinen befiederten Tone am liebsten in ihrer Nahe auf. Man mochte vor Freude weinen, und abgesondert von der Welt nur seine Hande und Flisse in die Erde stecken, um Wurzeln zu 1 Erasmus an Fritz. Fr. von Hardenberg, Nachlese, herausgegeben von einem Mitglied der Familie. 2. Aufl. (Gotha, 1883), 76; cf. also Novalis Briefwechsel, herausgegeben von J. M. Raich (Mainz, 1880), 5, 12, 121, 134, 138. * Novalis Schriften (Heilborn), I, 294. 3 Heinrich von Ofterdingen, Novalis Schriften, I, 94. 4 Lucinde (Reclam 320, Leipzig, o.J.), 29. s Ibid., 28. 72 grillparzer's attitude toward romanticism treiben, und nie diese gliickliche Nachbarschaft zu verlassen " x Novalis, indeed, as Brandes has pointed out, 2 goes even farther than Schlegel in this regard and would crystallize life in the dead forms of mathematics. "Das hochste Leben ist Mathematik. Reine Mathe- matik ist Religion. Zur Mathematik gelangt man nur durch eine Theophanie. Der Mathematiker weiss alles. Alle Thatigkeit hort auf, wenn das Wissen eintritt. Der Zustand des Wissens ist Euda- monie, selige Ruhe der Beschauung, himmlischer Quietismus." 3 The study of Grillparzer's life reveals the fact that he, too, was of a retiring disposition and preferred to be alone with himself. He possessed many of the same qualities as his brother Karl, whom he describes as exhibiting, from youth up, "Spuren eines zuruckge- zogenen, menschenscheuen Charakters." 4 Like Sappho he longs to recall the happy days "in denen er in den Armen der Poesie schwelgte, wo er sich noch erhaben fiihlte tiber die Welt um sich her.'* 5 Discouraged with himself and with the conditions prevailing in his native country, he is resolved, like the romantic wanderers, to seek solace in a roving life. " Hinaus in die Welt, in anderen Gegen- den, von anderen Menschen umgeben, wird vielleicht mein Geist wieder die gliickliche Stimmung gewinnen, die mir die Tage meiner fruheren Jugend so selig verfliessen machte, vielleicht dass die Alpen der Schweiz in mir jenen Geist wieder, der mit vollen Stromen sich in Blanka von Kastilien ergoss, und der jetzt, von der Last meiner Laune niedergedruckt, auch nicht den kleinsten Versuch macht, sich wieder aufzurichten." 6 In all the European countries, however, he finds the same conditions staring him in the face, and would fain seek rest and happiness in one of the remote South Sea islands : " Aber du nimm mich auf, seliges Eiland, das nur selten des Europaers verpes- tender Fuss betritt, an dessen Klippen die Gefahr wacht .... nimm mich auf in deinen stillen Schoss, Otaheiti, das wie ein Feenland meiner Phantasie vorschwebt, nach dem alle meine Wiinsche fliegen, 1 Novalis Schrif ten, I, 172, 173. 2 Die romantische Schule in Deutschland, 211. 3 Novalis Schrif ten, II, i, 223. ♦ Glossy und Sauer, Grillparzers Brief e und Tagebucher, I, 126 f. s Ibid., II, 30; cf. Sappho, IV, 152, 153. 6 Ibid., II, 31. THE CHARACTERS 73 und das ich mir in einsamen Stunden der Melancholie mit so reizenden Farben male. Gewahre nur eine Hiitte fiir mich und Georg und ein Weib, das, auf deinen Fluren geboren, in ihres Gatten Gluck ihre Seeligkeit, in einem Buschel Federn all' ihre Wunsche erfiillt findet. Gib nur wenige Baume in deren Schatten ich ruhen kann, deren Friichte meine einfache Nahrung sind, und ich will froh die Hande zum Himmel heben und rufen: Ich bin glucklich!" 1 All through his life, in fact, Grillparzer showed a decided aversion for society. "Ich bin nur ein Mensch, wenn ich allein bin," he wrote in his Journal in the year 1831; "die Gesellschaft findet an mir nur zu haufig einen Klotz." 2 This aversion to mixing with men stood very much in his way and hindered greatly his advancement. It was that which made it impossible for men like Graf Stadion to befriend him. 3 " Bekanntschaf ten wollte ich nicht machen," he wrote to Kathi Frohlich from Paris, 4 and in another letter, written a few years earlier, he states: " Die Gesellschaft gefiel mir nicht ganz, aber vielleicht nur, weil mir iiberhaupt keine Gesellschaft gefallt." 5 That is the tone which prevails in so many of his letters. 6 Grillparzer, indeed, had quite another ideal. Like the various characters, just described, he longed for rest and quietness. Paris failed to interest him. " Was brauch' ich all das Zeug zu sehen und zu horen. Werde Wien wieder angenehm fmden, wo ich wenigstens allein sein kann." 7 He cannot understand why he took such a trip. " Was war ihr Zweck ? Zu sehen ? Ich suche Zerstreuung ? Zer- streut ware ich wohl genug. Wenn ihr Zweck aber Sammlung, Fassung, Ermutigung gewesen ware, so bin ich davon so weit entfernt, als da ich von Hause abging." 8 "Orden und Prachtpokale," he 1 Glossy und Sauer, Briefe und Tagebiicher, II, 32, 33. 'Ibid., 9$; cf. Steffens' description of Novalis. "Novalis konnte in grosseren Gesellschaften oder in Gegenwart von Fremden lange stillschweigen in Nachdenken versunken dasitzen. Ein zartes Gefuhl schien ihm die Gegenwart verschlossener und innerlich entfremdeter Naturen zu verrathen; nur wo ihm verwandte Geister ent- gegenkamen, gab er sich ganz hin. Dann sprach er gem und ausfiihrlich und erschien im hochsten Grade lehrhaft." — Nachlese, 262. 3 A. Sauer, Grillparzer s samtliche Werke, XIX, 112 f. 4 Briefe und Tagebiicher, I, 123. 5 Ibid., 102. 6 Ibid, 121, 122, 193, 201, 254, etc. 7 Samtliche Werke, XX, 64. 8 Ibid., 75. 74 grillparzer' s attitude toward romanticism /i stated in a letter to Archduke Maximilian, " offentliche AnerkenHung und Belobung, so erhebend sie von der einen Seite sind, haben doch yon der anderen etwas der nach innen gerichteten Natur des Dichters Fernstehendes und Fremdes, ja Verwirrendes." 1 The plantlike development, which was the ideal of Friedrich Schlegel and Novalis, : was also the ideal which he gives expression to in the poem, Pflanzen- \ welt (I, 174): Y Das Hochste ist, das Hochste bleibt Ein einig sichrer Geist, Von aussen nicht, Von innen nicht, Durch nichts beengt, was Stoning spricht, Und Unterwerfung heisst. Denn wie die Pflanze steht er da, Und saugt in sich den Saft; Treibt ihn empor In Halm und Rohr, Und bringt als Blum' und Frucht hervor Die Sammlung seiner Kraft. /in the Kloster bei Sendomir (XIII, 193 f.) he represents Count Star- y schensky as finding in the stillness of the cloister that repose of soul which a life full of vicissitudes and disappointments has denied him. 2 The Romantic school was not able to produce a great drama / because Sehnsucht, which is the cardinal feature of all romantic and [ quietistic characters, does not lend itself easily to dramatic represen- ts^ tation. Firmness of will is essential to the really tragic character and that was possessed neither by Grillparzer himself nor by the majority of the persons whom he has portrayed. "Aus dem Quietismus," writes Emil Kuh, "spriesst keine echte Tragodie; er ist das Ziel, nicht der Ausgangspunkt derselben So wenig Staaten sich aufbauen, wichtige Unternehmungen wachsen, menschliche Krafte uberhaupt sich entwickeln konnen, wenn der Wert unseres Strebens und Thuns an sich in Frage gestellt wird, so wenig kann das Spiel 1 Brieje und Tagebiicher, I, 167. 2 Grillparzer approved the plan of his cousin, Marie Rizy, to retire to a convent (cf. the poem "Von der Nachfolge Christi"). "Ihm erschien diese Weltflucht nicht als eine Askese. Uebte er selber doch obwohl mitten im Leben stehend, im Grunde die gleiche Flucht vom Leben." — H. Rau, Grillparzer und sein Liebesleben (Berlin 1904), 7i- THE CHARACTERS 75 der Krafte ein Abbild des Lebens, in der Tragodie, voilstandig sich entfalten, wenn der Geist, der zum Verzichten antreibt, der Werk- meister und Bauherr des Dramas ist. Dies jedoch ist er bedingt in dem Drama Grillparzers." 1 HI. THE COMMONPLACE CHARACTER A third type of character which may be considered as an outcome of the romantic movement is the commonplace character of ordinary life. Here, too, the influence of romanticism may be traced to some extent in Grillparzer's persons. "Return to nature' ' was the watchword of Rousseau and the French romanticists, of the Storm and Stress, and of the English naturalistic movement. In France the heroic, conventional charac- ters of Corneille, Racine, and Voltaire were superseded by the more natural types of Diderot, Beaumarchais, and Victor Hugo. Count Almaviva, in Beaumarchais' Barbier de Seville, circumvents old Dr. Bartholo, with the help of the cunning barber, Figaro. Again in the Manage de Figaro the barber by his cleverness manages to outwit the count. "What is nobility," he says in a monologue: "Vous vous Stes donne la peine de naitre, et rien de plus; du reste, homme assez ordinaire." 2 Victor Hugo finds his heroes among common- place characters like the convict, Jean Valjean, and the hunchback of Notre Dame. The same development may be observed in England in the characters of Richardson and Fielding, and later in those of Wordsworth. In the preface to the Lyrical Ballads (1800) Words- worth states that " the principal object proposed in these Poems was to choose incidents and situations from common life, and to relate or describe them, throughout, as far as was possible in a selection of language really used by men, and at tho same time, to throw over them a certain coloring of imagination, whereby the ordinary things should be presented to the mind in an unusual aspect." 3 Wordsworth's favorite types are the simple characters of ordinary life — Ruth, the Highland Girl, Michael, Peter Bell, or old Simon Lee. The same holds true of the works of the German Storm and Stress, where we find characters like Wagner's Kindermorderin, or Schiller's Musikus 1 Op. cit. y 202. a Le mariage de Figaro, Act. V, sc. iii. 3 Wordsworth's Prefaces and Essays on Poetry (Boston: Heath & Co., 1892), 3,4- 76 grillparzer's attitude toward romanticism Miller and his daughter Luise. That, too, was the conception of Novalis, Friedrich Schlegel, and the German romanticists. "Die Welt muss romantisirt werden," writes Novalis, and adds: "Indem ich dem Gemeinen einen hohen Sinn, dem Gewohnlichen ein geheim- nisvolles Ansehn, dem Bekannten die Wurde des Unbekannten, dem Endlichen einen unendlichen Schein gebe, so romantisire ich es." 1 Friedrich Schlegel praises the qualities of simplicity and naturalness found in Goethe's Wilhelm Meister: "Was hier vorgeht und was hier gesprochen wird, ist nicht ausserordentlich, und die Gestalten welche zuerst hervortreten, sind weder gross noch wunderbar." 2 Several of Grillparzer's persons belong to the commonplace type praised by the romanticists. Leon, the hero of the comedy, Wek dem, der lilgty is a character chosen from the lower walks of life, but one who by his cleverness and resource puts to shame the noble-born Atalus, who is helpless in the situation in which he finds himself. Bancbanus is also a very ordinary, pedantic kind of man, but Grill- parzer has so depicted him that we are impressed by the wonderfulness of his character. The pedantic correctness with which he performs each duty, even to the neglect of his own rights as a man, is the out- come of a faithfulness deeply rooted in his nature — a faithfulness which raises him high above the ordinary, and lends that dignity and infinite significance to the commonplace which Novalis has charac- terized in the word "romantisiren." Isaac in the Jiidin von Toledo is also a commonplace character, but he is treated from the realistic rather than from the romantic point of view. There is nothing idealistic in his nature; his gross, sordid, materialistic character is always conspicuous. Even in the presence of his murdered daughter he thinks only of his money-bags (IX, 2is). In the foregoing study it has been shown that Grillparzer prefers to treat in his dramas characters who are distinctly romantic. At another time I shall consider some of the problems in the various plays and shall try to show that in them also Grillparzer's leaning was toward romanticism. 1 Novalis Schriften, II, i, 304; cf. also Klingsohr's statement with regard to poetry: "Die beste Poesie liegt uns ganz nahe, und ein gewohnlicher Gegenstand ist nicht selten ihr liebster StoS."—Samtliche Werke (Meissner), II, 156. 2 J. Minor, Fr. Schlegels Jugendschriften, II, 165. OF TH€ f UNIVERSITY Of RETURN TO the circulation desk of any University of California Library or to the NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY Bldg. 400, Richmond Field Station University of California Richmond, CA 94804-4698 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 2- month loans may be renewed by calling (510)642-6753 1-year loans may be recharged by bringing books to NRLF Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days prior to due date DUE AS STAMPED BELOW JUL 2^1996 20,000 (4/94) V