Page:The thirty-six dramatic situations (1921).djvu/89

 TWENTY-SIXTH SITUATION 87 A (l)--A Mother in Love With Her Son:- "Semiramis" by Manfredi, and by Crebillon; to explain and extenuate this case, the latter author has first used the Eighteenth (Involuntary Crimes of Love); "Les Cuirs de Boeuf" (Polti, 1898). Inverse case: "Le Petit Ami" by Leautaud. (2) - - A Daughter in Love With Her Father: - Alfieri's "Myrrha," whose psychology is drawn from that of "Phedre." (3) - - Violation of a Daughter by a Father: - - "The Cenci" by Shelley; the story of the Peau d'ane (intention only). B (1) - - A Woman Enamored of Her Stepson: - "Iobates" and "Phaedra" by Sophocles; the "Hippolytus" of Euripides and of Seneca; "Phedre" by Racine. In comedy: "Madame l'Amirale" (Mars and Lyon, 1911). In almost none of the foregoing cases, it will be observed, is there a reciprocity of desire, whereas the passion, here- tofore solitary, is shared, and the crime, unconscious at least on one side in "Myrrha," is boldly committed in (2) - - A Woman and Her Stepson Enamored of Each Other: - Zola's "Renee" (drawn from his story "Curee,"j and similar to the quasi-incestuous passion of "Dr. Pascal." The love is platonic in Alfieri's "Philip II," and Schiller's "Don Carlos." (3) -A Woman Being the Mistress, at the Same Time, of a Father and Son, Both of Whom Accept the Situation: "L'Ecole des Veufs" (Ancey, L889 , C (1) - A Man Becomes the I. over of Mis Sister-in- Law: "La Sang-Brule" (Bouvier, 1885); "Le Con- science de I'Enfant" (Devore, L889 . The Man Alone Enamored: "Le Sculpteur de Masques" (Cromelynck, L911. 2 A Brother and Sister in love With Each other: Euripides "TIoIum" "Canace" by Speroni; •• "li Pity She's a Whore," Ford's masterpiece; "La Citta Morta" 1>.- d'Annunzio. Even after these works, there remains much more than a Kl (, aninj_'; an ample ham-si is still before us. We may extend Class A to include the complicity of both parties (Nero and Agrippina furnish an example, according to