Page:The thirty-six dramatic situations (1921).djvu/75



NECESSITY OF SACRIFICING LOVED ONES

(The Hero; the Beloved Victim; the Necessity for the Sacrifice) Although similar to the three situations we have just considered, the Twenty-Third recalls, in one of its aspects, that destruction of natural affection which marked the Thirteenth, "Hatred of Kinsmen." The feelings which we here encounter in the protagonist are, it is true, of a nature altogether different. But through the intrusion of the element of Necessity, the end toward which he must proceed is precisely the same. A (1) — Necessity for Sacrificing a Daughter in the Public Interest: — "The Iphigenias" of Aeschylus and of Sophocles; "Iphigenia in Aulis," by Euripides and by Racine; "Erechtheus" by Euripides (2) — Duty of Sacrificing Her in Fulfillment of a Vow to God: — The "Idoménées" of Crébillon, Lemierre, and Cienfuegos; the "Jephthes" of Buchanan and of Boyer. This nuance tends at first toward Situation XVII, "Imprudence," but the psychologic struggles soon give it a very different turn.

(3) — Duty of Sacrificing Benefactors or Loved Ones to Ones Faith: "Torquemada;" "Ninety-Three:" "Les Mouettes" (Paul Adam, 1906);"La Fille à Guillotin" (Fleischmann, 1910). Historic instances; Philip II; Abraham and Isaac. B (1) — Duty of Sacrificing Ones Child, Unknown to Others, Under the Pressure of Necessity: — Euripides' "Melanippe;" "Lucrèce Borgia," (II, 5). 73