George Pierce
George Pierce
depends difference essential material point tries view
There is no essential difference between the material of comedy and tragedy. All depends on the point of view of the dramatist, which, by clever emphasis, he tries to make the point of view of his audience.
broader next shaped standards turn
Out of the past come the standards for judging the present; standards in turn to be shaped by the practice of present-day dramatists into broader standards for the next generation.
attains conduct dramatic human pleases reach revelation
When the drama attains a characterization which makes the play a revelation of human conduct and a dialogue which characterizes yet pleases for itself, we reach dramatic literature.
great life
The drama is a great revealer of life.
audience brought choice drama eager freedom great individual itself perfect periods
In all the great periods of the drama perfect freedom of choice and subject, perfect freedom of individual treatment, and an audience eager to give itself to sympathetic listening, even if instruction be involved, have brought the great results.
assumed death far period recent tragic understand
What then is tragedy? In the Elizabethan period it was assumed that a play ending in death was a tragedy, but in recent years we have come to understand that to live on is sometimes far more tragic than death.
felt human immature impulse pretend rare
Rare is the human being, immature or mature, who has never felt an impulse to pretend he is some one or something else.
great however loses remembered seen
In reading plays, however, it should always be remembered that any play, however great, loses much when not seen in action.
best
Drama read to oneself is never drama at its best, and is not even drama as it should be.