Page:The thirty-six dramatic situations (1921).djvu/113

 THIRTY-THIRD SITUATION 111 "Hatred of Kinsmen"):–"The Brigands" by Schiller; "Don Garzia" by Alfieri.

D (1) – False Suspicion Thrown by the Real Culprit Upon One of His Enemies: – Corneille's "Clitandre," and "Sapho" (Gounod, 1884); "Catharine la Bâtarde" (Bell, 1881).

(2) – Thrown by the Real Culprit Upon the Second Victim Against Whom He Has Plotted from the Beginning: – "Le Crime d'un Autre" (Arnold and Renauld, 1908). This is pure Machiavellianism, obtaining the death of the second victim through an unjust punishment for the murder of the first. Add to this the closest relationship between the two victims and the deceived judge, and we have all these emotions assembled: discovery of teh death of a relative supposed discovery of an impious hatred between two relatives; belief even in a second case of crime, aggravated this time by a scheme of revolt; finally the duty of condemning a loved one believed to be guilty. This plot then, is a masterly one, since it groups, under the impulsion of an ambition or vengeance, four other Situations. As for the "Machiavellianism" which has set it all in motion, it consists, for him who employs it, precisely in the method which is habitual to writers, a method here transferred to a single character; he abstracts himself, so to speak, from the drama, and, like the author, inspires in other characters the necessary feelings, unrolls before their steps the indispensable circumstances, in order that they may mechanically move toward the dénouement be desires. Thus is developed the "Artaxerce" of Metastasio.

Suppress the part of the villain, and suppose for a moment that the author has planned the dénouement desired by this traitor; the brining about of the most cruel results from a "supposed fratricide" and the "duty of condemning a son." The author cannot otherwise combine his means to produce it. The type of the Villain (who has successively appeared in many guises) is nothing else than the author himself, masked in black,