Page:Hutcheson Macaulay Posnett - Comparative Literature (1886).djvu/341

 the means of attaining that end. Hence the rôle of the singing personage, an admirably ingenious conception, a characteristic essentially distinguishing the Chinese from all known theatres. This singing personage, with figurative, showy, and lyrical diction, his voice aided by a musical accompaniment, is a link between the poet and the audience, like the chorus of the Greek theatre, only with this difference, that he remains no stranger to the action. On the contrary, the singing personage is the hero of the piece, who, when the catastrophe occurs, always remains on the stage to rouse the sorrow of the spectators and draw forth their tears. It will be observed that this personage, like the rest, may be taken from any class of social life; in the Sorrows of Han he is an emperor; in the Maid's Intrigues, a young servant. When the chief personage dies in the course of the play, his place is taken by another character of the drama, who sings in his turn. In fact, the singing personage is the leading character that instructs, cites the maxims of the wise, the precepts of philosophers, or appeals to famous examples from history or mythology."

The passages in which descriptions of Nature, or figures taken from the sights and sounds of Nature's life, occur most frequently are sung by this curious personage; it is to be remembered, however, that, as in the Indian drama, the prominence of Nature is marked quite as much by the use of similes as by actual descriptions. Such a simile, for example, is contained in the very name of the play, Han-koong-tseu, literally, "Autumn in the Palace of Han"—a name translated the "Sorrows of Han," because in Chinese "Autumn" is emblematic of sorrow, just as "Spring" is of joy. Throughout this play, the subject of which is the tragic fate of a Chinese lady, who throws herself into the river