Page:The thirty-six dramatic situations (1921).djvu/66

64 (2) — Through Political Necessity: — "Les Guebres and "Les Lois de Minos" by Voltaire.

(3) — Through a Rivalry in Love: — "La Petite Mionne" (Richebourg, 1890).

(4) — Through Hatred of the Lover of the Unrecognized Daughter: — "LeRoi s'amuse" (in which the discovery takes place after the slaying).

B (1) — Being Upon the Point of Killing a Son Unknowingly: — The "Telephus" of Aeschylus and of Sophocles (with incest as the alternative of this crime); Euripides' "Cresphontes;" the "Meropes" of Maffei, of Voltaire and of Alfleri; Sophocles' "Creusa;" Euripides' "Ion." In Metastasio's "Olympiad" this subject is complicated by a "Rivalry of Friends." A Son Slain Without Being Recognized: — Partial example: the third act of "Lucrece Borgia;" "The 24th of February," by Werner.

(2) — The Same Case as B (1), Strengthened by Machiavellian Instigations: — Sophocles' "Euryale;" Euripides' "Ægeus."

(3) — The Same Case as B (2), Intermixed With Hatred of Kinsmen (that of grandfather for grandson): —Metastasio's "Cyrus."

C — Being Upon the Point of Slaying a Brother Unknowingly: (1) — Brothers Slaying in Anger: — The "Alexanders" of Sophocles and of Euripides. (2) — A Sister Slaying Through Professional Duty: — "The Priestesses" of Aeschylus; "Iphigenia in Tauris," by Euripides and by Goethe, and that projected by Racine.

D — Slaying of a Mother Unrecognized: — Voltaire's "Semiramis;" a partial example: the denouement of "Lucrece Borgia."

E — A Father Slain Unknowingly, Through Machiavellian Advice: (see XVII): — Sophocles' "Pelias" and Euripides' "Peliades;" Voltaire's "Mahomet" (in which the hero is also upon the point of marrying his sister unknowingly). The Simple Slaying of a Father Unrecognized: — Legendary example: Laius. From romance: "The Legend of Saint Julian the Hospitaller."