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COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY GERMANIC STUDIES 
 
 THE SOLILOQUY IN GERMAN DRAMA 
 
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 SALES AGENTS 
 
 NEW YORK : 
 
 LEMCKE & BUECHNER 
 30-32 West 27TH Street 
 
 LONDON : 
 HUMPHREY MILFORD 
 Amen Corner, E.G. 
 
 TORONTO : 
 
 HUMPHREY MILFORD 
 25 Richmond Street, W. 
 
THE SOLILOQUY 
 IN GERMAN DRAMA 
 
 BY 
 
 ERWIN W. ROESSLER 
 
 Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for 
 
 THE Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, in the Faculty 
 
 OF Philosophy, Columbia University 
 
 ^tbs iork 
 
 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
 1915 
 
Copyright, 1915 
 By Columbia University Press 
 
 Printed from type, February, 1913 
 
 PRESS OF 
 
 THE NEW ERA PRINTING COMPANY 
 
 LANCASTER, PA. 
 

 Approved for publication, on behalf of the Department of 
 Germanic Laiignages and Literatures of Columbia University. 
 
 Calvin Thomas. 
 
 New York, December, 19 14 
 
 t^i-^f iT* Mi r^ 
 
TO 
 
 MY PARENTS 
 
 WHOSE SELF-DENIAL MADE POSSIBLE MY EDUCATION 
 
CONTENTS 
 Introduction 1 
 
 Chapter 
 
 I. Early Indigenous Drama 20 
 
 1. Medieval Church Plays. 
 
 2. Shrovetide Plays of the Fifteenth Century. 
 
 3. Drama of the Reformation. 
 
 4. Hans Sachs. 
 
 5. Herzog Heinrich Julius von Braunschweig. 
 
 6. Jakob Ayrer. 
 
 II. The Pseudo-Classic Drama 34 
 
 1. Gryphius. 
 
 2. Lohenstein. 
 
 3. Christian Weise. 
 
 4. Gottsched and his Followers. 
 
 III. The Era of Lessing, Goethe, Schiller 42 
 
 1. Lessing. 
 
 2. Storm and Stress Drama. 
 
 3. Schiller. 
 
 4. Goethe. 
 
 IV. The Romantic Drama 76 
 
 1. Heinrich von Kleist. 
 
 2. Franz Grillparzer. 
 
 V. Forerunners of Modern Realistic Drama 88 
 
 1. Friedrich Hebbel. • 
 
 2. Otto Ludwig. 
 
 3. Ludwig Anzengruber. 
 
 VI. Recent Developments 100 
 
 1. Hauptmann. 
 
 2. Sudermann. 
 
 Conclusion ^09 
 
 Bibliography 113 
 
 Index 116 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 In the family of dramatic conventions no member has played 
 so important a role, and on the other hand none has had so 
 ignominious an ending, after a most glorious career, as the 
 soliloquy. In its present crushed and lowly estate, it forcibly 
 reminds one of the last years of the great exile at St. Helena. 
 After centuries of the greatest popularity with both playwright 
 and audience, the soliloquy has at last met with the fate of most 
 popular idols and been ruthlessly ousted from its comfortable 
 throne. 
 
 This revulsion of feeling occurred in the final decades of the 
 nineteenth century, when "the leading playwrights of every 
 modern language began to display a distaste for the monolog, 
 with Ibsen setting the example of renunciation."^ There seems 
 to be a consensus of opinion regarding Ibsen's stimulating 
 influence on the technic of modern drama,^ an influence which 
 manifested itself particularly in the disappearance of the solil- 
 oquy from the drama. Mr, Hamilton says : " The present 
 prevalence of objection to soliloquy and aside is due largely 
 to the strong influence of Ibsen's rigid dramaturgic structure."^ 
 Mr. Henderson, commenting upon Ibsen's remark that his 
 " League of Youth " is written " without a single monolog, in 
 fact, without a single aside," declares : " In this respect, I be- 
 lieve Ibsen sounded the deathknell of the monolog, the solil- 
 oquy, the aside, and by his practice soon rendered ridiculous 
 those dramatists who persisted in employing these devices."* 
 
 1 A Study of the Drama, by Brander Matthews, New York, 1910, p. 142. 
 
 2 The Development of the Drama, by Brander Matthews, New York, 
 1906, pp. 37, 321, 326,^'349^ Der Monolog und Ibsen, by R. Franz, Mar- 
 burg, 1907, p. 95. Die deutsche Literatur des 19. Jahrhunderts, R. M. 
 Meyer, Berlin, 1906, pp. 709^ 787, etc. 
 
 3 Theory of the Theatre, by Clayton Hamilton, New York, 1910, p. 88. 
 
 4 The Evolution of Dramatic Technic, by Archibald Henderson, North 
 American Review, March, 1909, p. 439. For this and a few other citations 
 I am indebted to Mr. Arnold's monograph on The Soliloquies of Shake- 
 speare. New York, 191 1. 
 
 2 1 
 
R. V. Gottschall repeatedly rails at Ibsen for having given the 
 soliloquy its deathblow.^ 
 
 Professor Brander Matthews admits that Ibsen "has been 
 masterly in his adjustment of his methods to the conditions of 
 the picture-frame stage,"^ but shifts the real responsibility for 
 the disappearance of the soliloquy a little further back upon 
 Edison's shoulders, as the introduction of electric lighting 
 together with the picture-frame stage created a setting so real- 
 istic that the stepping out of the picture to talk intimately with 
 the audience was felt to be entirely out of place. The fact 
 remains, however, that Ibsen was the first to realize this inap- 
 propriateness and, having realized it, to perfect a new techinc 
 that discarded soliloquies and asides. Accordingly he is en- 
 titled to the greatest credit. 
 
 Before discussing the various types of soliloquy and quoting 
 the opinions held by critics and poets regarding the value and 
 justification of the same, a definition of the soliloquy might not 
 be amiss. 
 
 St. Augustine coined the Latin soliloquium from solus and 
 loqui, a "talking alone," from which the English form is 
 derived.^ The Standard Dictionary defines soliloquy as a talk- 
 ing to one's self regardless of the presence or absence of others, 
 a discourse uttered for one's own benefit. The French form 
 soliloque is defined as the discourse of a person who talks to 
 himself.* For some mysterious reason the German language 
 has refused the rights of naturalization to the Latin applicant, 
 and there seems to be but one instance^ of its use and that in 
 the Latin form. In the above definitions it is noteworthy that 
 there is not the slightest suggestion of the stage or the drama. 
 
 Turning to the word monolog, from the Greek /movos and Xoyos, 
 a "talking alone," what do we find? Oxford dictionary: " a 
 scene in which a person of the drama speaks by himself ; con- 
 trasted with chorus and dialogue." Standard : a dramatic solil- 
 
 iZur Kritik des modernen Dramas, by R. v. Gottschall, Berlin, 1900, 
 pp. II, 119, 213. 
 
 2 Matthews, A Study of the Drama, p. 64. 
 
 3 W. W. Skeat, Etymological Dictionary. 
 
 4 Nouveau Larousse, vol. 7. 
 
 5 Bodmer in a letter to C. H. Miller, March 5, 1782. 
 
3 
 
 oquy. Both add a modern use, viz., a dramatic composition for 
 a single performer, a kind of dramatic entertainment per- 
 formed throughout by one person, as, e. g., a monolog in vau- 
 deville. The Encyclopedia Britannica, Meyer's and Brockhaus' 
 Konversations-Lexika and La grande Encyclopedic all agree 
 that a monolog is a passage in a dramatic piece in which a 
 personage holds the scene to himself and speaks to himself. 
 It would seem, then, that monolog and soliloquy, although ety- 
 mologically equivalent, are not synonymous, inasmuch as the 
 former refers to a portion of a drama, whereas the latter does 
 not necessarily suggest the footlights. The difficulty can be 
 peacefully settled, however, and both of the contestants put 
 upon an equal footing by prefixing "dramatic" to soliloquy. 
 Why English and American critics, with few exceptions,^ have 
 preferred the term soliloquy, in spite of the fact that all Ger- 
 man^ and French critics and dramatists have used Monolog 
 and monologue respectively, is a question that I am unable ta 
 answer. 
 
 I should accordingly re-phrase Dr. Arnold's definition, " It 
 is evident that all soliloquies are monologs, but that monologs- 
 are not necessarily sohloquies,"^ as follows : Not all soliloquies 
 are monologs, but monologs are necessarily dramatic soliloquies. 
 
 A dramatic soliloquy then is a passage in a drama in which a 
 character is alone upon the stage and speaks to himself, believ- 
 ing himself to be alone. Even when the character is not alone 
 on the stage his speech may be a soliloquy if it shows that the 
 character is entirely oblivious to his surroundings. 
 
 How does the aside differ from the soliloquy? Mr. Paull,* 
 Mr. Henderson^ and Dr. Hennequin* maintain that it is noth- 
 ing more than a short monolog. Inasmuch as the aside is a 
 
 1 Dryden, Essay on Dramatic Poesy, 1668. Hedelin, The Whole Art of 
 the Stage Made English, 1684. A. Hennequin, The Art of Play writing, 
 1890. 
 
 2 The word Selbstgesprach is occasionally used, but it may refer to a 
 soliloquy off the stage as well as to a monolog. 
 
 3 The Soliloquies of Shakespeare, p. 2. 
 
 4 Dramatic Convention with Special Reference to the Soliloquy, Fort- 
 nightly Review, May, 1899, p. 863 ff. 
 
 5 The Evolution of Dramatic Technic, North American Review, March, 
 1909, p. 432 ff. 
 
 6 Art of Play writing, p. 152 ff. 
 
remark uttered by an actor on the stage so as not to be heard by 
 other characters on the stage, it violates two of the principles 
 of the monolog. The speaker of the aside is not alone on the 
 stage, nor does he believe himself alone ; he is not speaking to 
 himself, but nearly always to the audience. The distinctive 
 characteristic of the aside is that it occurs in the midst of dia- 
 log, although it is also regularly used in connection with the 
 overheard soliloquy. 
 
 The overheard soliloquy, frequently employed in Roman 
 comedy, crops out in large numbers in Gryphius's comedies and 
 continues to be in vogue till Lessing's time — a good example 
 occurs in " Der junge Gelehrte." Kleist makes use of this 
 device on one occasion, but as a rule it has been tabooed by 
 serious drama. It is, indeed, an "arrant absurdity, a contra- 
 diction in terms. "^ Inasmuch as the convention of the dra- 
 matic soliloquy is that the audience is permitted to overhear the 
 thoughts of a character when he is alone on the stage, that the 
 thoughts are made audible only for the audience, the absurdity 
 of one actor actually overhearing another's thoughts becomes 
 evident. 
 
 The definition of monolog and soliloquy, the former refer- 
 ring to the stage, the latter to real life, naturally suggests the 
 question : To what extent is it natural to soliloquize oflF the 
 stage ? " No person in the full possession of his senses will 
 utter more than short exclamations when he is alone. He may 
 cry, sing, whistle, even laugh, mumble a few words, but never 
 'express what he feels, least of all what he intends to do."^ Dr. 
 Arnold says that it is undeniable that people do talk to them- 
 selves, but that it is preposterous "that young, healthy persons 
 audibly set forth their secret ideas at great length. "^ I hardly 
 believe that only the aged and infirm indulge in this peculiarity. 
 Say what one will, the fact remains that a person who sohlo- 
 ■ quizes is considered peculiar, if not slightly demented. As Jean 
 Paul puts it : "A person who in his waking moments talks to 
 himself fills us with a shudder; and if I hear myself talking 
 
 1 Brander Matthews, Putnam's Monthly, Nov., 1906, p. 183. 
 
 2 R. Franz, Der Monolog und Ibsen, Marburg, 1907, p. 42. 
 « The Soliloquies of Shakespeare, p. 20. 
 
when alone I have the same feeling."^ Gottfried Keller in his 
 autobiographical novel confesses: "I felt ashamed of myself; 
 I could not hear myself talk alone and I was no longer able to 
 pray aloud even in the deepest solitude and secrecy. "^ Heyse' 
 refers to soliloquizing as a weakness ; Dostojewsky* refers to a 
 soliloquizer as a hypochondriac. Paull tersely says : " A man 
 does not speak to himself, unless indeed he is beside himself."^ 
 But — altera pars audiatur! For the soliloquy has champions 
 as well as sarcastic defamers. Diderot, in his essay on dra- 
 matic poetry, writes: "You know that I have long been in the 
 habit of soliloquizing. When I return home sad and chagrined 
 I retire to my study and there I question myself and ask : what 
 ails you ? ''^ Marmontel in his " Poetique " defends the soliloquy 
 in ardent fashion : " It is entirely natural to speak to one's self. 
 There is not a person who does not find himself talking to 
 himself at times about matters that affect or seriously interest 
 him."'' Nicolai maintains that it is not contrary to nature for 
 a person who is aroused or excited to talk to himself.® Hen- 
 derson grants that " people sometimes — and not infrequently — 
 do give audible expression to their thoughts and feelings."' 
 According to H. Gartelmann it is " a well known phenomenon 
 that people not infrequently begin to think aloud, to soliloquize, 
 when greatly moved."" The almost proverbial dictum, "There 
 is but one step from the sublime to the ridiculous," is said to 
 be a part of a soliloquy delivered by Napoleon on his return 
 from Russia. Dr. H. Schlag denies that soliloquies are un- 
 natural and insists that many persons when alone allow their 
 thoughts to become audible.^^ 
 
 1 Titan, 94. Zykel, Hempel's ed., Vol. 15-18, p. 434. For this and a 
 few other quotations I am indebted to R. Franz, ut supra. 
 
 2 Der griine Heinrich, I, 44, ed. 1904. 
 
 3 Merlin, I, 59, ed. 1892. 
 
 4 Ein sanftes Weib, Magazin fur Litteratur, 1897, p. 1506. 
 
 5 Op. cit., p. 868. 
 
 6 Oeuvres completes, ed. by Assezat, Paris, 1895. Belles Lettres IV, 
 Chap. XVII. 
 
 7 Oeuvres, second ed., Paris, 1767, Vol. I, p. 359 ff. 
 
 8 Abhandlung vom Trauerspiele, in Bibliothek der schonen Wissen- 
 schaften, etc., 1757. I> P- 48 IT. 
 
 9 Op. cit., p. 433- 
 
 10 Dramatik, Berlin, 1892, 'p. 169. 
 
 n Das Drama, Essen, 1909, p. 306 ff. 
 
6 
 
 So much for the views, favorable and otherwise, on the 
 sohloquy off the stage. What, on the other hand, are the views 
 of the critics with regard to the dramatic soliloquy, the mono- 
 log? Long soliloquies have been the subject of attacks for 
 several centuries and in many climes. About the middle of 
 the i6th century an Italian critic, dramatist and impresario, 
 De Sommi of Mantua, objects to monologs, basing his objec- 
 tion on the fact that long soliloquies on the street are entirely 
 unnatural.^ A reporter in Pesaro in 1574 bewails his sad lot, 
 as the monotony of the soliloquies in a comedy he had to criti- 
 cize proved almost unendurable.- Hedelin, Abbe d'Aubignac, 
 (1657) objects strenuously to expositional soliloquies, ce 
 mauvais artifice, ce secours etranger, and also to emotional 
 soliloquies whose position in the drama makes them absurd : as, 
 e. g., when a lover, hearing of a danger that threatens his mis- 
 tress, soliloquizes at great length instead of hurrying to her 
 aid.^ The Earl of Mulgrave in his " Essay on Poetry " (1717) 
 believed that : 
 
 " First then. Soliloquies had need be few. 
 Extremely short, and spoke in passion too."* 
 
 Gottsched, a few years later (1730), after condemning all 
 soliloquies on the ground that "kluge Leute pflegen nicht 
 laut zu reden, wenn sie allein sind," relents and adds : " es 
 ware denn in besonderen Affekten, und das zwar mit wenig 
 Worten."^ Ramler, who is little more than the editor and 
 translator of Batteux, insists that "every soliloquy must be 
 short, because it is almost unnatural. If it is long, the person 
 must be violently agitated."*' 
 
 J. von Sonnenfels, theatrical censor at Vienna and author of 
 "Briefe iiber die Wienerische Schaubiihne," objects to all 
 monologs on the ground of their improbability, especially to 
 
 1 Geschichte des neueren Dramas, W. Creizenach, Vol. II, p. 287. 
 
 2 Ibid., note 2, p. 287. 
 
 8 Pratique du Theatre, Paris, 1657. Englished in 1684: The Whole Art 
 of the Stage. 
 
 *An Essay on Poetry, London, 1717, p. 308. 
 
 5 Versuch eincr critischen Dichtkunst, p. 598. 
 
 8 Einleitung in die schonen Wissenschaften, S. K. W. Ramler Vol II 
 p. 246 ff. , . , 
 
the purely expositional type. He finds them permissible only 
 when passion is at its height, and the heart too small to con- 
 tain .the inner struggle. But even then long, logically arranged 
 speeches are out of place. " In such moments the restless char- f 
 acter utters disjointed, disconnected speeches, he articulates 
 gebrochene Tone, he is restless, sits, stands, runs back and 
 forth, acts strangely."^ G. Freytag practically condemns dra- 
 matic soliloquies, saying that the isolation of a character on 
 the stage always requires an apology, and that monologs are 
 not a necessary adjunct of modern dramas because of the 
 numerous opportunities of disclosing thoughts and feelings 
 which the modern stage gives to the characters. He also claims 
 that the art of acting has brought about a changed conception 
 of dramatic effects.^ Edgar Allan Poe finds both asides and 
 soliloquies preposterous and not as respectable as the shifts 
 employed by Chinese playwrights. ^ Henderson does not go 
 quite so far as Freytag when he says : " Dramatic craftsman- 
 ship has to-day reached a point of such complex excellence 
 that the best dramatists refuse to employ so unworthy a device 
 as the lengthy soliloquy."* Brevity is also insisted upon by 
 Mr. Archer : " A few broken exclamations under high emotion 
 is all the soliloquy that strict art should permit, for high emo- 
 tion does in many cases manifest itself in speech."' It is note- 
 worthy that critics have been unanimous in condemning the 
 expositional soliloquy. 
 
 Not all critics, however, have objected to the long dramatic 
 soliloquy which lays bare the soul. Hedelin approved of it, 
 though with misgivings, when he said : " I confess that it is 
 sometimes very pleasant to see a man upon the stage lay open 
 his heart, and speak boldly of his most secret thoughts, ex- 
 plain his designs, and give vent to all that his passion sug- 
 gests ; but without doubt it is very hard to make an actor do it 
 
 1 Friedrich DiiseK Der dramatische Monolog in dcr Poetik dcs 17. und 
 18. Jahrhunderts und in dfen Dramen Lessings, p. 15, Hamburg, 1897. 
 2Technik des Dramas, loth ed., 1905, p. 192 ff. 
 8 Woodberry ed., Vol. 7, Marginalia. 
 * Op. cit., p. 440. 
 5 English Dramatists of Today, p. 274. 
 
8 
 
 with probability."^ Diderot favors the emotional soliloquy, 
 but objects to its being lengthy. Dr. Arnold's quotation : " Man 
 speaks to himself only in moments of perplexity,"^ is incom- 
 plete, as Diderot adds: "If long, it sins against the nature of 
 dramatic action, which it holds in suspense too much."^ Nicolai 
 prefers the emotional monolog to a colorless conversation with 
 a confidant.* Mendelssohn is especially enthusiastic about that 
 type of soliloquy in which violent inner conflict precedes a 
 final decision, but demands natural artless expression in all 
 emotional soliloquies.^ Though Freytag in his authoritative 
 dramaturgic work is rather unfriendly to the soliloquy, he is 
 willing to tolerate the introspective soliloquy, provided that it 
 has dramatic structure and direct bearing upon the action. He 
 insists that it must contain " Satz, Gegensatz, Ergebnis und 
 zwar Schlussergebnis, das fiir die Handlung selbst Bedeutung 
 gewinnt."^ J. J. Engel made the same demand as early as 
 1774: " The monolog must be really dramatic — monologs which 
 bring about an important change in the frame of mind of the 
 character, and by that means in the plot, are commendable."^ 
 
 Lessing,® following in Diderot's footsteps, is a warm admirer 
 of the emotional soliloquy. A. W. von Schlegel demands that 
 every emotional soliloquy be cast in the dialog form, that it 
 be sich mit sich selbst hesprechen,^ as though the character 
 were divided into two persons. Hebbel insists upon the same 
 characteristic : " Monologs are only proper when there is dual- 
 ism in the individual, so that the two persons who at other 
 times ought to be on the stage seem to be active in his breast."^" 
 According to HegeP^ all introspective soliloquies are justified, 
 
 iThe Whole Art of the Stage, p. 57. 
 2 P. 18. 
 
 8 Oeuvres completes, Paris, 1875 ; Belles Lettres IV, Chap. XVII. 
 * F. Nicolai, Abhandlung vom Trauerspiele, Bibliothek der schonen 
 Wissenschaften und der freyen Kiinste, Vol. I, p. 48. 
 6 Gesammelte Schriften, 1843, Vol. I, p. 321 ff. 
 
 6 Technik des Dramas, p. 192 ff. 
 
 7 Schriften, 1802, Vol. 4, p. 228. For this and a few other citations I 
 am indebted to the scholarly monograph of F. Diisel. 
 
 8 Hamburgische Dramaturgic, 48. Stiick. 
 
 Sammtliche Werke, Leipzig, 1846, VII, 50. 
 10 Tagebucher, II, 2971, ed. by Werner, Berlin, 1904. 
 "Aesthetik, Vol. III. Quoted by R. v. Gottschall in Zur Kritik des 
 moderncn Dramas, Berlin, 1900, Chap, on Der Monolog im Drama, p. 112. 
 
9 
 
 whether they are calmly reflective or rent by inner conflict. 
 Vischer/ on the other hand, demands Affekt i. e. emotion. 
 Among other admirers I might mention Mundt," Gartelmann,^ 
 Schlag,* Gottschall,^ Ludwig,« Delius/ Kilian.^ 
 
 Contemporary opinion as mirrored in the modern natural- 
 istic dramas appears distinctly hostile to the dramatic solilo- 
 quy, this hostility manifesting itself in ostracizing the once 
 welcome assistant. Gottschall, an ardent admirer of the solil- 
 oquy, sums up the present condition as follows : " From the 
 Berlin Sinai ten new commandments are announced to the 
 kneeling populace. And to these ten belongs the following: 
 Thou shalt no longer write monologs ! "^ But this new state of 
 affairs is not without precedents. As Dr. Arnold points out, 
 Corneille, more than two centuries ago, discarded the soliloquy 
 in the greater part of his later works and comments upon the 
 fact in the introduction to his works, thus showing that it was 
 premeditated and not accidental.^ Moliere's masterpieces also 
 contain practically no soliloquies, his " Impromptu," the " Cri- 
 tique " and the " Comtesse d'Escarbagnnes " having none at 
 all. German literature furnishes us a precedent in the dramas 
 of the pupils and followers of Gottsched, especially those 
 of Johann Elias Schlegel and Frau Gottsched. Gottsched's 
 "Deutsche Schaubuhne"^"^ consists for the greater part of plays 
 in which soliloquies and asides are entirely avoided.^^ Why did 
 their departure from traditional dramatic technic fail to influ- 
 ence succeeding dramatists? Why could they not exert the 
 same influence that Ibsen through his technic has exerted upon 
 the playwrights of practically every modern language? Pri- 
 
 lAesthetik, Stuttgart, 1857, Vol. IV, p. 1392. 
 
 2 Theodor Mundt, Dramaturgic, Berlin, 1848, p. 138 ff. 
 
 3 Dramatik, Berlin, 1892, p. 169 ff. 
 
 4 Das Drama, p. 306 ff. 
 
 5 Zur Kritik des modernen Dramas, Berlin, 1900, pp. 109-127. 
 
 6 Otto Ludwig, Shakespeare-Studien, ed. by M. Heydrich, 1874, Nach- 
 lassschriften. Vol. II, p. 105. 
 
 7 Arnold, p. 19. 
 
 8 Op. cit., p. log. 
 
 9 Arnold, p. 15. 
 
 10 Leipzig, 1740-1745. 
 
 11 Rudolf Franz, Der Monolog und Ibsen, p. 32. 
 
10 
 
 marily and chiefly because contemporary and succeeding 
 dramatists (and incidentally audiences) did not question the 
 convention of the soHIoquy. Then, too, the small intrinsic 
 worth of the plays militated against their being used as models 
 by other dramatists. For some years past, however, the dra- 
 matic soliloquy has been subjected to criticism, which received 
 added stimulus from the new technic of Ibsen's powerful plays. 
 But when a convention is attacked and becomes the topic of 
 dispute, its days are numbered. As Paull so aptly expresses 
 it : "A convention that is questioned is doomed ; its existence 
 depends upon its unhesitating acceptance."^ 
 
 The drama has its conventions as well as every other art. 
 A convention is an implied pact between the artist and his 
 patrons to accept certain variations from real life as absolutely 
 essential means of expression.^ To enjoy an opera we must 
 accept the convention that all the characters express themselves 
 through the medium of song ; in sculpture we do not look for 
 color (although Klinger has favored the world of art with a 
 few colored statues) ; in paintings motion is 'out of the ques- 
 tion. Dramatic convention, then, is an agreement between the 
 author and the public, between those before the curtain and 
 those behind it, to accept variations from real life off the stage 
 as a part of the game. Among the conventions of the drama 
 some are essential, and these may be termed permanent because 
 of their enduring qualities. Others, however, have changed 
 from age to age ; after being used for a time they have been 
 discarded, and these might be called temporary conventions. 
 Among the permanent conventions are the removal of the 
 fourth wall of the room so that we can see what is taking 
 place, the raising of the actors' voices so that we can hear them, 
 the elucidation of the plot so that we can follow it, making the 
 action much more compact than it would be in life, the conden- 
 sation of the dialog, as we have only a short time in the theater. 
 Some of the temporary conventions are the use of prose, verse, 
 rime, assonance and the soliloquy. The latter has been so tena- 
 cious a convention, that one might well say that it has been 
 
 1 Fortnightly Review, May, 1899, p. 870. 
 
 2 Brandcr Matthews, The Development of the Drama, p. 2 ff. 
 
11 
 
 demoted to the temporary division after being at home in the 
 other division for centuries. 
 
 The dramatic soliloquy, then, is a convention and is not based 
 on real Hfe. As generally stated, this variation from life, this 
 convention, permits an actor who believes himself to be alone 
 on the stage to make his thoughts audible so that the audience 
 hears them and becomes acquainted with what would otherwise 
 be unknown to them. In other words, " an actor soliloquizing 
 must be supposed to be thinking aloud. "^ Does this statement 
 regarding the underlying principle of the monolog cover the 
 ground and include all types? It would seem that only the in- 
 trospective soliloquies, those that reveal thought and feeling, 
 are taken care of. The expositional soliloquy, which conveys 
 information regarding the plot or the characters to the audi- 
 ence, is not provided for in that definition. I should formulate 
 the principle underlying the expositional soliloquy as follows: 
 The speaker loses his personality for the time being, becomes 
 the mouthpiece of the author, and, while talking to himself 
 (in reality to the audience), conveys to the audience such infor- 
 mation as the author desires; whereas the introspective mono- 
 log is highly subjective and vibrant with the speaker's person- 
 ality, the expositional type is colorless, objective and impersonal. 
 
 Given the problem of reducing the dramatic soliloquy to its 
 lowest terms, the investigator would doubtless find the result 
 to be, broadly- speaking, the soliloquy conveying information 
 and the soliloquy revealing thought and emotion. Classified 
 according to their underlying convention, the former might be 
 termed verbal soliloquyj the latter a thought soliloquy. Lastly, 
 their relation to the audience differs, inasmuch as the soliloquy . 
 conveying information always implies a consciousness of the 
 audience, especially so in its crude use in early German drama, 
 while the thought soliloquy never implies a knowledge of the 
 spectators. 
 
 The soliloquy that imparts information has played a most 
 important role in the construction of the drama, especially at 
 the beginning, where it performs the important office of putting 
 
 1 Brander Matthews, Concerning the Soliloquy, Putnam's Monthly, Nov,, 
 1906. 
 
12 
 
 the audience in touch with the author, of bridging over the 
 chasm between author and spectator. The spectators, in order 
 to understand the action, must be made aware of certain facts 
 concerning the characters and the plot; they must become 
 acquainted with certain events that have occurred before the 
 play begins. The task of conveying such information, known 
 as exposition, may be undertaken by monolog or dialog. The 
 former is a labor saving device, fulfilling its task with ease and 
 despatch, but critics from Hedelin down to the present time 
 have pronounced it crude, unnatural, a lame makeshift, an in- 
 sult to the intelligence of the audience. The latter, on the 
 other hand, though slower and more difficult, is the more artis- 
 tic method. The expositional soliloquy was a favorite device 
 with German dramatists before Hauptmann, Holz, Sudermann, 
 and other members of the modern naturalistic school, not only 
 at the beginning of the play but throughout its course. In a 
 play the author is often confronted with the necessity of im- 
 parting some specific piece of information to the audience in 
 order to prevent confusion, and without compunction he resorts 
 to the least taxing and simplest method, viz., the expositional 
 soliloquy. It may describe some event : a battle, a murder, or 
 what not, that has occurred off the stage during the progress of 
 the play or is occurring back of the scenes ; it may be narrative, 
 identifying, self-characterizing, or it may be employed to reveal 
 the plans and intentions of the speaker. No matter when ex- 
 planation is necessary, the expositional soliloquy is ready and 
 willing to jump into the breach. The different types of expo- 
 sitional soliloquy may be classified as follows: i. introductory 
 exposition, 2. identification, 3. self-characterization, 4. narra- 
 tion, 5. description, 6. intention. 
 
 Naturally the purest and least adulterated forms of the ex- 
 positional soliloquy are found among the early dramatists, the 
 authors of church plays, Hans Sachs, and his contemporaries, 
 handicapped as they were by a very crude technic and but a 
 step removed from the epic style. To be sure we find ex- 
 amples of the baldly expositional soliloquy throughout German 
 dramatic literature (except in the naturalistic drama of today, 
 as previously stated), but generally some attempt is made to 
 
13 
 
 render it more plausible by giving it an emotional admixture or 
 an individual touch. 
 
 The introductory expositional soliloquy supplies the audience 
 with such information regarding the plot and the characters as 
 is necessary for following the story intelligently. Before Gry- 
 phius the majority of plays began with this short cut ; beginning 
 with him, however, the dialog opening was the preferred 
 method of attack. We find introductory expositional solilo- 
 quies in two of Gryphius's plays, " Carolus Stuardus " and 
 " Papinianus," in Lessing's " Philotas " and " Emilia Galotti," 
 in Schiller's prolog to " Die Jungfrau von Orleans," in Goethe's 
 " Iphigenie " and in his " Faust," although there is a large 
 admixture of other elements in both the latter, in Grillparzer's 
 " Ahnf rau," " Des Meeres und der Liebe Wellen," and " Der 
 Traum ein Leben," in Hebbel's "Michelangelo" and "Agnes 
 Bernauer." More than forty of Sach's shrovetide plays and 
 many of his comedies and tragedies furnish uncontaminated 
 examples of this type. 
 
 The soliloquy employed to identify the speaker generally 
 occurs at the beginning of the play, but it is not confined to that 
 position. The church plays furnish numerous examples : " I 
 am Abel, who was murdered by his brother " — " I am Isaiah, 
 one of the prophets."^ The shrovetide plays of the fifteenth 
 century, Hans Sachs, and many others, use this same naive 
 type : "I am called Mr. Tannheuser, my name is known far 
 and wide," " I am called Eulenspiegel and am known through- 
 out Germany."- In Iphigenie's opening speech Goethe makes 
 use of this type, yet with what a world of consummate skill ! 
 
 The self-characterizing type is an outgrowth of the previous 
 type and is often added to it. After the speaker has told his 
 name, he goes on to give a frank recital of his characteristics. 
 So, e. g., Eulenspiegel, after introducing himself, proceeds to 
 discuss his innate knavery and to illustrate it. We find this 
 type in classical and nineteenth century drama, but there it has 
 been raised to a higher plane. The villain makes use of it to 
 disclose his real vicioijs self, e, g., Franz Moor in " Die Rau- 
 
 1 Redentiner Osterspiel, ed. by T. Froning, pp. 133, 134. 
 
 2 Hans Sachs, Fastnachtspiele. 
 
14 
 
 ber," Marwood in " Miss Sara Sampson," Adelheid in " Gotz," 
 Zawish in " Konig Ottokars Gliick iind Ende." Occasionally, 
 however, a frank bit of self-characterization is met with ; Sieg- 
 fried indulging in it in Hebbel's " Genoveva."^ A more highly 
 developed technic allows the audience to draw its own conclu- 
 sions as to the actor's character, which displays itself both in 
 dialog and in soliloquies of an introspective nature. 
 
 Descriptive and narrative soliloquies occur in such numbers 
 in the early period that they make the plays fairly topheavy. 
 Nor are they infrequent in the later plays. A good example 
 of the soliloquy which describes events that are going on simul- 
 taneously off the stage occurs in " Emilia Galotti,"^ when 
 Marinelli stands at the window and keeps the audience posted 
 as to what is going on outside. There is one instance even in 
 Hauptmann, Rektor Besenmeyer repeating part of the service 
 in the adjoining church.^ Ordinary descriptive and narrative 
 soliloquies that contain only a bald recital of facts are not fre- 
 quent, but almost every dramatist contributes one or more ex- 
 amples. In " Minna von Barnhelm " Werner delivers a solilo- 
 quy which is filled with frankly narrative material,^ in " Kath- 
 chen von Heilbronn " the Count^ and the Emperor** deliver 
 narrative speeches. Eugenie's speech in " Die natiirliche 
 Tochter " will illustrate the descriptive type.^ 
 
 The soliloquy that explains the plans and intentions of the 
 speaker may be either complete in itself, or it may be merely 
 an appendage of another soliloquy, usually of the narrative 
 type. Werner's previously quoted speech ends in this manner, 
 as do several soliloquies in " Gotz."^ Franz Moor's diabolical 
 soliloquy at the beginning of Act 2 is a splendid example of 
 how this type can be infused with dramatic life, by showing us 
 the mental processes which led up to the formulation of the 
 
 1 Act I, Sc. I, end. 
 
 2 Act, 3, Sc. 2. Also Lessing : Nathan, Act II, Sc. i, beginning. 
 
 3 Florian Geyer, Act 3, p. 47. 
 
 4 Act III, Sc. 6, entire. 
 
 5 Act IV, Sc. 2. 
 
 6 Act V, Sc. 2. 
 
 7 Act V, Sc. 6. 
 
 8 Act I, Sc. 2; Act I, end. 
 
15 
 
 plan. Even the simple statement of a plan is made highly- 
 effective when delivered under emotional stress, as in Ferdi- 
 nand's speech in " Kabale und Liebe."^ 
 
 The introspective soliloquy is the medium for expressing the 
 thoughts and feelings of the actor. In contradistinction to its 
 shiftless relative, the expositional soliloquy, which it is hard to 
 defend, the introspective soliloquy might be termed the true 
 soliloquy, as it makes known to us thoughts and emotions that 
 would otherwise remain hidden, " It lets a tortured hero un- 
 pack his heart ; it opens a window into his soul ; and it gives 
 the spectator a pleasure not to be had otherwise. It allows us 
 to listen to the communing of a character with himself, as though 
 we were not overhearing what he is saying."^ 
 
 The thought soliloquy may be subdivided into reflective, 
 moralizing, and deliberative. The emotional soliloquy may ex- 
 press any one of the emotions as anger, fear, love, hate, joy, 
 grief, despair, shame, jealousy, revenge, longing, contempt, dis- 
 gust, irritation. 
 
 In the reflective soliloquy the speaker's thought is turned 
 back upon past experiences or ideas and his attitude toward 
 them made clear. Tell's famous soliloquy^ before he murders 
 Gessler splendidly illustrates this type. It usually occurs at 
 the conclusion of a dialog when the actor who is alone on the 
 stage reverts to the matters just touched upon in the conver- 
 sation and acquaints the audience with the thought or thoughts 
 uppermost in his mind, in other words, his mental reaction. 
 So Pylades, after his conversation with Iphigenie, Act 2, Sc. 2 : 
 " She seemed greatly moved by the fate of the royal house. 
 Whoever she may be, she has known the king well, and fortu- 
 nately for us, has been sold to this place from a noble family. 
 Be quiet, dear heart, and let us steer courageously toward the 
 star of hope that shines for us." Lessing's dramas show a 
 fondness for this type, several examples occurring in almost 
 every play. 
 
 The moralizing soliloquy goes a step further than the reflect- 
 ive, as it indulges in moral reflections and draws practical les- 
 
 1 Act I, end. 
 
 2 Brander Matthews, A Study of the Drama, p. 149. 
 
 3 Act 4, Sc. 3- 
 
16 
 
 sons from past experiences, thus introducing a conscious didac- 
 tic strain. The early plays from the serious dramas of Sachs 
 through the dramas of the reformation have a large admixture 
 of this moralizing element. Virtue and vice, right and wrong, 
 are the pegs upon which these little sermons are hung. In the 
 philosophical soliloquy a wider field is drawn upon, abstract 
 ideas rather than the concrete are at the basis of the musing. 
 Faust's immortal reveries, Primislaus in " Libussa,"^ Wallen- 
 stein on custom,^ Sappho's beautiful outbursts,^ Attinghausen 
 on the passing of the good old days,* — these are some of 
 the splendid examples that can be found in German literature. 
 The deliberative soliloquy considers and examines the reasons 
 for and against a proposition, it estimates the weight and force 
 of arguments, it views the probable consequences of an action 
 in order to reach a decision. Nathan's soliloquy^ just prior 
 to his interview with Saladin, and Posa's speech® in a similar 
 situation show this calm examination of the pros and cons. 
 Very often, however, there is a considerable admixture of emo- 
 tion in this type, and in that case the speaker reveals an inner 
 conflict. Where thought is subordinated to, and outweighed 
 by, feeling the soliloquy will be referred to as a conflict solilo- 
 quy. Odoardo's soliloquy. Act 5, Sc. 4,^ not only illustrates tlie 
 subordination of thought to passion, but calls attention to it: 
 " Aber sieh da ! Schon wieder ; schon wieder rennet der Zorn 
 mit dem Verstande davon " — and then begins to examine the 
 possibilities calmly. Other examples are Moor's " to be or not 
 to be,"® Fiesco's soliloquies in the second^ and third acts,^" 
 Philotas's outburst in the fourth scene,^^ the soliloquy of the 
 Tempelherr, Act 5, Sc. 3.-- 
 
 lAct III, Sc. I. 
 
 2 Wallenstein's Tod, Act I, Sc. 4. 
 
 3 Act III, Sc. I. Act IV, Sc. I. 
 4Wilhelm Tell, Act II, Sc. i. 
 
 5 Act III, Sc. 6, in Nathan der Weise. 
 
 6 Don Carlos, Act III, Sc. 9. 
 
 7 Emilia Galotti.- 
 
 8 Die Rauber, Act IV, Sc. 5. 
 
 9 Act II, Sc. 19. 
 
 10 Act III, Sc. 2. 
 
 11 Wilhelm Tell, Act II, Sc. i. 
 
 12 Nathan der Weise. 
 
17 
 
 As the term " emotional soliloquy " is not subject to misin- 
 terpretation, and as even one example for each of the numer- 
 ous emotions would take up altogether too much space, further 
 discussion is not necessary. 
 
 It is a generally accepted theory that the stage, architectur- 
 ally speaking, has exerted an unmistakable influence upon the 
 drama. ^ In other words, the form of the stage of a certain 
 period has to a large extent determined the form of the play. 
 The soliloquy is an example of this influence, as the close prox- 
 imity of the spectators to the actors on the stage of the early 
 epochs produced an atmosphere of intimacy which made the 
 expositional soliloquy seem perfectly in place. The stage of 
 today, set apart from the audience and supplied with remark- 
 able scenic and lighting effects, produces such an air of nat- 
 uralness, of vraisemblance, that the expositional speech seems 
 altogether out of place. The lack of stage settings in the earli- 
 est period and poor illumination later on, made explanation of 
 " business " on the stage necessary. Many actions on the stage 
 would have been unintelligible to the spectators had not the 
 actor explained what he was doing. To illustrate : in Sachs's 
 Shrovetide play " The Peasant in Purgatory," the farmer, after 
 being drugged, is to be thrown into a dark cell. Another actor 
 carries him on the stage, lays him down and announces that the 
 farmer is now in the cell. Immediately after that the peasant 
 according to stage directions " clears his throat, gets up and 
 gropes about in all directions." Without an explanation the 
 spectators would have difficulty in interpreting his actions and 
 visualizing the scene, therefore an explanatory soliloquy is deliv- 
 ered by the peasant : " Hang it, where am I ? What a dark hole 
 this is ! I see and hear nothing here. I take hold of noth- 
 ing but four stone walls," etc. In the last analysis, of course, 
 all soliloquies of this type are expositional, as they convey 
 information to the audience. 
 
 The structural soliloquy, on the other hand, is primarily a 
 mechanical device whose function it is to prevent friction in 
 the wheelwork of the drama, a lubricant as it were. One vari- 
 
 1 Freytag, Technik des Dramas, loth ed., p. i6o. 
 3 
 
18 
 
 ety of the structural soliloquy is referred to by Diisel^ as the 
 Pausenfiilhnonolog, which is employed to fill a gap between the 
 exit of one player and the entrance of another. Dr. Arnold re- 
 fers to this as the link soliloquy, and adds two other varieties : 
 the entrance and exit soliloquy. The entrance soliloquy " pre- 
 vents the simultaneous appearance of A at one door and B at 
 the other. Even though they were meeting by appointment, 
 they probably would not arrive at the same instant. So A 
 comes on a moment before B, and fills the interval with some 
 remark."^ The exit soliloquy was used at the end of an act to 
 prevent the awkwardness resulting from several people leaving 
 the stage at the same time. One accordingly remained behind 
 and delivered a short speech. The drop curtain of course made 
 these two types unnecessary, as it may rise or fall on an assem- 
 bled group. Both the entrance and exit soliloquy are infre- 
 quent in German drama, as the early playwrights had no com- 
 punctions about allowing two or more characters to enter and 
 leave simultaneously. In Sachs, e. g., the stereotyped stage 
 direction at the end of the act is, " they both depart, or they all 
 depart." At the beginning of an act we find either an exposi- 
 tional soliloquy or the simultaneous entrance of two or more 
 characters. In the plays of Heinrich Julius there are a few 
 examples of entrance and exit soliloquy, e. g., in " Buhler und 
 Buhlerin," II, 2 ; II, 5 ; IV, 7, but even in these there is an ad- 
 mixture of the expositional element. The unwillingness to 
 have the stage empty or to have a pause between the exit of one 
 actor and the entrance of another is responsible for the link 
 soliloquy. Lessing was fond of this device, especially in his 
 early plays, as Diisel points out. In his plays the form is rather 
 stereotyped : a brief reference to what has preceded followed by 
 an announcement of the approach of a character — ha, there 
 he is! 
 
 The link soliloquy as such is shortlived. Lessing in his later 
 plays and succeeding dramatists transformed the structural de- 
 vice into an integral part of the play by making it the vehicle 
 
 1 Op. Cit., pp. 22-2S,, 42. 
 
 2 Op. cit., p. 81. 
 
19 
 
 for reflections on the preceding scene, i. e., a reflective or 
 thought soliloquy. 
 
 After the preceding classification and definitions, just a word 
 as to the scope and purpose of this investigation. It will be in 
 the main a portrayal of the career of a dramatic convention, 
 the soliloquy, as manifested in German drama from its infancy, 
 i. e., the church plays, to the present time. Although princi- 
 pally a historical study, the investigation will attempt to throw 
 light on the question whether the recent drama has, or has not, 
 gained in artistic effectiveness by its gradual disuse of the so- 
 liloquy. Two questions then will be answered: i. What role 
 does the soliloquy play in the technic of the various German 
 dramatists? 2. Is dramatic technic improved by the elimina- 
 tion of the soliloquy? 
 
CHAPTER I 
 Early Indigenous Drama 
 
 I. Medieval Church Plays 
 
 Moralizing embodied in a dramatic spectacle is less odious 
 and vastly more effective than a sermon from a pulpit. Real- 
 izing this, the priests fostered the different types of religious 
 drama which had their origin in the various church festivals. 
 The germs of the Easter play, e. g., are found in the Catholic 
 ritual and consist of four sentences that are chanted by two 
 semi-choruses representing the three Marys who visit Christ's 
 tomb and the angels who tell them that Christ has risen. These 
 sentences form the basis of the Latin Easter play, which in 
 turn gave rise to a Latin-German form, in which the Latin 
 speeches were translated into German for the benefit of the 
 uneducated spectators, and finally resulted in plays that were 
 almost entirely German. The last mentioned gave rise to the 
 unwieldy passion plays, which sometimes lasted three to four 
 days and required several hundred actors.^ 
 
 The plays were at first performed in the church, but as they 
 grew to such dimensions that the church could no longer 
 accommodate them, they were taken to an open air stage that 
 was usually set up in the market place. The stage^ was a 
 large wooden platform, somewhat longer than it was wide, 
 which was not raised far from the ground, so that all parts of 
 it were visible to the standing or sitting spectators. It repre- 
 sented all the places which were necessary in the action, such 
 as houses, gardens, cities, castles, etc. Naturally, these are 
 only indicated, and that in the crudest manner, so that even in 
 the fifteenth century the top of a mountain, the roof of the 
 temple and hell were all represented by a barrel. The actors 
 were visible throughout the entire play. At the beginning of 
 
 1 R. Froning, Das Drama des Mittelalters, in 3 vols., Vol. I, p. 4. 
 
 2 Ibid., Vol. I, p. 266 ff. 
 
 20 
 
21 
 
 the play, or rather just previous to the opening, the actors 
 march upon the stage in solemn procession and sit down in 
 their appointed places, which they leave only when the play 
 requires their presence elsewhere. 
 
 The dramatic art was as crude as the stage and its settings. 
 The whole treatment was epic rather than dramatic and the 
 author's main concern was to get the story across. Selection 
 of essentials, compression of the plot or dialog did not trouble 
 the playwrights, as they believed in describing everything in 
 the greatest detail. 
 
 In one respect the author of a church play was decidedly 
 better off than later playwrights : there was no need of intro- 
 ductory exposition as his audience was familiar with biblical 
 lore. The only difficulty he faced was to let the audience know 
 who the characters were that appeared in the play. This he 
 did in the least taxing manner by having every character about 
 whom there was any doubt simply tell the spectators who he 
 was, in other words, by employing the identifying soliloquy. 
 To be sure this is an elastic use of the term, for, strictly 
 speaking, these speeches are addressed directly to the audience- 
 and therefore are not soliloquies. This also applies to the 
 narrative soliloquies of which there are a few examples,^ and 
 to those expressing the speaker's intention. Illustrations of 
 the identifying soliloquy are numerous: "Redentiner Oster- 
 spiel," 260 ff., 685 ff. ; " Wiener Passionsspiel," 65 ff. ; " Als- 
 felder Passionspiel," 7189 ff.; and in every " Kramerscene " 
 the different characters are introduced in this manner. Occa- 
 sionally a bit of self-characterization is added as in the "Als- 
 f elder" play, 1253 ff. The Redentin play has two good ex- 
 amples of the intentional speech: 250 ff. where Jesus tells of 
 his plan to go to hell and release Adam and Eve and the holy 
 fathers, and 1950 ff. where Lucifer discloses his plan of catch- 
 ing all sinners and bringing them to hell. 
 
 Real emotional soliloquies, however, do occur, although not 
 in great numbers. The type in which the speaker is so over- 
 come with emotion that he is entirely oblivious of his sur- 
 roundings is on the whole more frequent than the type in 
 
 1 Trierer Osterspiel, 161-5, Vol. I, p. 55. Alsfelder Passionsspiel, 
 3622-27, Vol. 3. P- 701- 
 
22 
 
 which the speaker is alone. Those who object that a character 
 can not be alone as all the actors are on the stage must 
 remember that the action moves from place to place and that 
 any one station with its group of actors constitutes the stage 
 for the time being and the remainder becomes non-existent. 
 So, when Peter in the " Frankfurter Passionssspiel," after 
 denying that he knows Christ, leaves the house to deliver a 
 soliloquy of remorse,^ that part of the platform for the time 
 being becomes an empty stage and he is alone on the stage. 
 The same applies to Judas, who delivers a stirring soliloquy 
 of remorse- while going away to commit suicide. The stage 
 directions read : " Judas throws the coins on the ground and goes 
 out to hang himself, saying on the way etc." Neither one of 
 these soliloquies implies the least consciousness of the audience 
 and are accordingly real soliloquies. In the "Alsfelder Pas- 
 sionsspiel " Peter is also alone when delivering his soliloquy 
 of remorse,^ as the stage directions read : " Peter leaves weep- 
 ing bitterly and withdraws from Christ and says." The speech, 
 however, is not as effective as in the Frankfurt play. Judas's 
 speech of remorse* in the Alsfeld play on the other hand is 
 weakened by being partly addressed to the audience : " O 
 friends, now hear my complaint, which I am about to indulge 
 in ! I was one of the twelve apostles ; I have betrayed my lord 
 and master and sold him to the Jews ! Therefore I shall now 
 commit suicide,"* — then he begins his lament as follows : " Oh 
 God that I was ever born," etc. But for the introduction it 
 would be a true soliloquy. Every " Marienklage " illustrates 
 the type of emotional soliloquy, which shows the speaker en- 
 tirely oblivious to his surroundings. Other examples are Mary 
 Magdalen's soliloquies of remorse and regret in the Frankfurt^ 
 and Alsfeld plays,^ Lucifer's soliloquy of anxiety'^ at Satan's 
 long absence in the Redentin play, and his outburst of remorse^ 
 Plater in the same play. 
 
 i26i4flf. 
 
 2 2650 if. 
 
 3 3S94ff- 
 
 4 3622 a. 
 
 5io76ff. 
 
 6 1994 ff. 
 
 7 1691 fif. 
 
 8 1928 ff. 
 
23 
 
 Grief, regret and remorse are the emotions most often repre- 
 sented in the soHloquies. There is one splendid example of 
 the gloating villain in the Alsfeld play/ where Satan, after 
 causing the death of the Baptist, steps forth and shouts : " Oho, 
 oho ! I have seen that my vvrish has been carried out : the man 
 has been murdered though innocent." The thought soliloquy 
 does not occur independently, but occasionally as a part of 
 another type. In one of Lucifer's soliloquies of remorse this 
 bit of moralizing is incorporated: "This is the result of pride! 
 Pride is the beginning of all sin, pride has lowered us devils 
 to the abyss."- At rare intervals there is also a reflective bit 
 very much in the nature of an aside, e. g., in the Frankfurt 
 play after Christ has spoken a few lines of Latin, Lieberman 
 Rabi says : " We are all surprised that Christ can speak Latin, 
 although he never attended school ! It strikes me that that is 
 not proper."^ 
 
 The soliloquy which explains "business" or actions on the 
 stage is not pressed into service very often, as most of the 
 actions are perfectly intelligible to the spectators. Additional 
 precautions are taken by having a person not in the play inter- 
 rupt it occasionally and tell the audience just what scene will 
 be presented next, together with its contents, e. g., Augustinus 
 in the Frankfurt play. In unusual cases explanation becomes 
 necessary, as when Lucifer looks for Christ's soul after the 
 death on the cross,* and when the earth quakes after Christ's 
 death.' The peculiar part of the latter description is that it 
 begins in the present tense and after one sentence continues in 
 the past tense as though the speaker were quoting some one else. 
 
 2. Shrovetide Plays of the 15th Century^ 
 German secular drama has its origin in the carnival mum- 
 meries which were a popular form of amusement during the 
 
 1 1040 ff. 
 
 2 Redentin play, 1946 ff- 
 8 8soff. 
 *4iSi ff- 
 54156 ff. 
 
 6 Fastnachtspiele aus dem 15. Jahrhundert, a collection of 121 plays ed. 
 by Dr. Keller, Stuttgart, 1853. 
 
24 
 
 few days before Lent with its long period of enforced sobriety. 
 Throngs of masked citizens paraded through the cities and 
 entered private residences, inns and bar-rooms, where they 
 sought to evoke laughter by mimicking certain types that em- 
 bodied ludicrous characteristics. Mimicry was soon supple- 
 mented by the spoken word, and the boorish peasant, the arro- 
 gant knight, the immoral priest and others are held up to ridi- 
 cule in satiric speeches. The crudest type consists of a series 
 of identifying and self -characterizing speeches. The masked 
 actors enter together, each delivers a self-characterizing speech 
 and they depart after being dined and wined. Then there are 
 court scenes in which cases of every description are tried in a 
 farcical manner, usually complaints against unfaithful hus- 
 bands, which, however, did not result in divorces. Doctor 
 scenes are also quite common in which a quack, after boasting 
 of his skill and his marvellous cures, gives the patient some 
 ludicrous prescription. Everyday life furnishes most of the 
 themes but serious matters dealing with religious and social 
 conditions are not tabooed. In fact it is sometimes difficult to 
 tell where the religious play ends and the carnival play begins, 
 as the latter has encroached so far upon the domain of the 
 form'er.i 
 
 Very few of the shrovetide plays were performed on the 
 stage, or rather platform, such as was used for church plays. 
 Froning states that the more serious plays such as Nos. iii 
 and 1 19 in Keller required a stage. All others got along with- 
 out stage or scenery, as they were repeated in places where 
 such things were out of the question. The prolog of the first 
 play in Keller throws an interesting light upon the average 
 place of performance and the simple preparations. 
 
 Real soHloquies do not occur in these plays, although we 
 might term the identifying, self-characterizing, narrative and 
 descriptive speeches crude expositional soHloquies. Some of 
 the plays in which there is a crude plot are developed entirely 
 by means of dialog: Nos. 22, 37, iii. The last named deals 
 with the legend of Pope Joan and is a good example of the 
 
 1 Froning, Vol. 3, pp. 955 ff-,' E. Devrient, Geschichte der deutschen 
 Schauspielkunst, 1848, Vol. I, p. 96 ff. 
 
25 
 
 blending of religious and secular drama. Gottsched calls it 
 " das alteste tragische gedruckte deutsche Originalstiick."^ In 
 No. 57, entitled " Ain guot Vasnachtspil " there are three asides 
 in the dialog, possibly the earliest use of this device. 
 
 3. Drama of the Reformation 
 
 Almost everywhere the medieval church drama was put to 
 utter rout by the Reformation, first because the Protestants 
 objected to it as a Catholic institution, and secondly because 
 the times were too stormy to permit people to sit calmly and 
 enjoy the epic meanderings of the church plays. The drama 
 that took its place was used principally as a weapon of attack 
 and defense, especially by the Protestants, against religious 
 adversaries. Epic treatment and endless sermonizing coupled 
 with the exposition of the Lutheran doctrine characterize these 
 plays. The stage and the scenery was crude and virtually that 
 of the church plays, and the plays were given in churches, 
 schools and public squares. 
 
 Some of the plays, such as " Die Totenfresser "^ by Gengen- 
 bach, required no stage or setting and were probably performed 
 on the street. Gengenbach occupied a unique position in the 
 drama of this period, as he began in the Catholic camp and 
 ended as a rabid champion of the Reformation. His "Zehn 
 Alter dieser Welt"^ is permeated by the Catholic doctrine, 
 while the " Totenfresser " is a bitter attack upon the practice of 
 giving masses for the souls of the departed. The gist of the 
 latter is that the only ones that benefit by these masses are the 
 pope and the clergy, who are able to live in luxurious ease from 
 the proceeds. The play is utterly undramatic and is to all in- 
 tents and purposes a series of expositional soliloquies which set 
 forth the views of the adherents and opponents of the Catholic 
 church. 
 
 " Der Ablasskramer "* is not much more dramatic and con- 
 
 1 Vol. II, p. 82, quoted by Keller. 
 
 2 Das Drama der Reformationszeit, ed. by R. Froning, Stuttgart, pp. 
 3-10, date 1525. 
 
 3 In Keller: Fastnachtspiele des 15. Jahrhunderts. 
 * Froning, p. 13 ff., date, 1525. 
 
26 
 
 sists of a series of denunciations hurled at the salesman by 
 those whom he has formerly duped. Oratorical attacks are 
 supplemented by physical assaults and the vender is compelled 
 to admit all his shameful practices. A reflective soliloquy near 
 the end of the play shows him a sadder but wiser man. 
 
 "Der verlorene Sohn"^ by Waldis is the oldest Protestant 
 drama based upon a biblical theme and paved the way for a 
 host of imitations, the prodigal son soon becoming a favorite 
 theme with dramatists. Besides being a " Tendenzdrama " it 
 has a special point of interest in the fact that it is the first 
 German drama that shows influences of the Roman drama by 
 the division into acts, the introduction of riotous scenes with 
 the meretrices and the deceptive innkeeper. The introductory 
 expositional soliloquy is addressed to the audience, the other 
 expositional speeches avoid this crudity. Several asides by the 
 innkeeper as he plucks the prodigal possibly show Latin influ- 
 ence. There is but one emotional soliloquy, an outburst of 
 sorrowful regret by the prodigal after he has been plucked. 
 
 " Susanna "^ by Rebhuhn is the earliest German play that 
 shows " a conscious striving for artistic effects of poetic form 
 and dramatic construction."^ The play is divided into five acts 
 and has a prolog, epilog and chorus at the end of the first four 
 acts. Of all the Susanna plays this is the best and the most 
 effective, as it is the simplest. A long expositional soliloquy 
 which reveals the villainy of a rich rascal and the corruptness 
 of the judges is interesting, as it is introduced solely to charac- 
 terize the venality of the bench. On the whole then the technic 
 of the soliloquy in these plays is on the same level as in the 
 church plays. 
 
 4. Hans Sachs 
 
 The early shrovetide plays of Sachs were undoubtedly pre- 
 sented in inns and private homes, as were those of the 15th 
 century, and probably the same method of presentation pre- 
 vailed. The later plays may possibly have been presented on 
 the stage used for the larger plays, i. e., the so-called comedies 
 
 1 Froning, p. 31 ff., date 1527. 
 
 2 Froning, p. loi ff., date 1536. 
 
 3 Calvin Thomas, German Literature, p. 158. 
 
27 
 
 and tragedies. The latter were performed for the most part in 
 churches, the regular rendezvous of the mastersingers, on crude 
 stages erected for this purpose.^ But as early as 1550 the 
 mastersingers built the first German theater in Niirnberg for 
 the performance of larger plays, probably realizing the inap- 
 propriateness of giving them in churches.^ Or it is possible 
 that the clergy strenuously objected to such performances in 
 the churches. 
 
 The form of the stage of this period is largely a matter of 
 conjecture, although stage directions in the plays throw a little 
 light upon the subject. Very likely then the stage consisted 
 of a platform raised about three feet from the ground and open 
 to the spectators on three sides. A broad partition about six 
 feet high ran across the rear of the stage so as to form a 
 dressing room and wings for the actors. There may have been 
 a real door or merely a curtain through which the actors 
 entered the stage from this enclosed space. The top of this 
 subdivision was open so that the smoke of a conflagration off 
 the stage was visible and the tumult of a battle plainly audible 
 to the spectators ; the sides, however, were probably covered so 
 that changes in costume would not be seen.^ In front of this 
 main stage there was sometimes a lower stage, especially in the 
 theaters upon which the mastersingers may have sung the 
 entr'acte music. ^ There was no scenery or stage-setting of any 
 sort, no curtain to mark the beginning or end of an act; the 
 characters came out upon the stage at the beginning of an act 
 and left it at the conclusion of the act. 
 
 Considering the simplicity of the stage and the ease with 
 which one could be erected, it is supposable that the wealthy 
 citizens often entertained their friends by giving theatricals in 
 their homes. 
 
 The stereotyped form with which the comedies and tragedies 
 begin is a prolog by the " ernholdt " or herald, who gives the 
 audience a brief synopsis of the play followed by an introduc- 
 tory expositional soliloquy. The plays themselves are simply 
 
 1 Anton Clock, Die Biihne des Hans Sachs, Passau, 1903. 
 
 2 E. Devrient, Gcschichte der deutschen Schauspielkunst, Vol. I, p. 
 ii3ff. 
 
stories cast in the dialog form ; getting the story across is the 
 main object of the author, who is not concerned with the 
 struggle of one will against another, with the inner processes 
 that give rise to a decision, with the soul-state resulting from 
 a given act. As Freytag puts it : " Nicht die Darstellung einer 
 Begebenheit an sich, sondern ihrer Einwirkung auf die Men- 
 schenseele ist Aufgabe der dramatischen Kunst."^ The plays 
 regularly conclude with a moralizing sermon which is also 
 delivered by the herald. 
 
 Almost half of the shrovetide plays have neither prolog or 
 epilog, and in most of the others the prolog has been reduced 
 to a mere formula of greeting, generally : " ein guten abent ir 
 erbarn lent." In the plays that have a prolog a dialog opening 
 is usually employed. Occasionally, especially in the later plays, 
 an expositional soliloquy follows the prolog in the manner of 
 the tragedies and comedies.- When Sachs discards the more 
 or less stereotyped prolog he decidedly favors the soliloquy as 
 the vehicle for attack. In more than forty cases soliloquies are 
 used, whereas a dialog opening occurs in only thirteen of the 
 plays, notably in his later productions.^ 
 
 In his later comedies and tragedies there is also a growing 
 tendency to discard the opening soliloquy and employ dialog. 
 In eight comedies written between 1556 and 1560 four have the 
 dialog opening; in eight tragedies of the same period seven 
 begin with dialog. 
 
 The introductory expositional soliloquies are generally 
 frankly addressed to the audience, but there are numerous cases 
 where the character is required by the stage directions to talk 
 to himself or herself — " red mit im selb," or " red mit ir selb." 
 The speech itself in this case is usually cast in the same mold 
 as those addressed to the audience and is in no sense a talking 
 to one's self. But there are instances where this expositional 
 speech is raised to a higher artistic level by making it an apos- 
 trophe to Fortune, as in " Die schon Marina " — " Great praise 
 and thanks to thee, O Fortune! How richly and abundantly 
 
 1 G. Freytag, Die Technik des Dramas, Leipzig, 1905, p. 18. 
 
 2 Fastnachtspiele, Nos. 68, 70, 71, 73. 
 
 3 Ibid., Nos. 20, 25, 27, 35, 36, 43, 50, 59, 60, 61, 62, 80, 83. 
 
29 
 
 thou hast provided me with everything so that no sorrow can 
 approach me!" etc. To be sure, the speech gradually sinks to 
 the level of frank exposition, but the attempt to get away from 
 the direct address to the audience is praiseworthy. In " Fortu- 
 natus " we find an apostrophe to God in the opening soliloquy : 
 " Oh God in heaven to thee I lament the fact that I spent my 
 )'Oung days so foolishly," etc. In " Der teuffel mit dem kauff- 
 mann "the apostrophe to Fortune is carried through to the 
 end of the speech, thus producing quite an artistic effect. An 
 emotional admixture is occasionally used to good effect and 
 absolves the soliloquy from the charge that it is addressed to 
 the audience, e. g., in " Das boss weyb mit den worten etc. gut 
 zu machen " and in " Die vier ungliickhafften liebhabenden per- 
 sonen." In the former the henpecked husband says : " Alas, 
 poor wretched man that I am, what shall I do ? That which is 
 given as a comfort to men troubles my life most. Oh! Oh! 
 Oh ! Oh ! alas ! alas ! wherever I stand and go I have nothing 
 but trouble which only the grave can free me from !" 
 
 The soliloquy used for identification, a crude makeshift 
 which occurs so often in the church plays and in the shrove- 
 tide plays of the 15th century, is also employed by Sachs. Nor 
 is its use conffned to the early plays ; on the contrary, it crops to 
 the surface continually. In the earliest of the shrovetide plays, 
 dated 15 17, entitled "Das hoffgsindt Veneris" every character 
 introduced himself in this manner : 
 
 " Herr Donheuser bin ich genandt, 
 Mein nam der ist gar weit erkandt, 
 Aus Frankenlandt was ich geborn," etc. 
 
 As late as 1553 he used this type in " Der Eulenspiegel mit den 
 blinden," where Eulenspiegel introduces himself as follows : 
 
 " Eulenspiegel bin ich genandt," etc. 
 
 Expositional soliloquies of the narrative, descriptive, self- 
 characterizing and intentional type occur on practically every 
 page. Whenever the author feels that there is the least doubt 
 about the story being absolutely clear to the audience, a char- 
 acter informs the spectators of his plans and intentions or tells 
 
30 
 
 them of some event that could not be presented on the stage. 
 By means of soliloquies the author answers any possible ques- 
 tions as to the fate or experiences of a given character even 
 before they arise. 
 
 The entire absence of scenery frequently makes the explana- 
 tory soliloquy necessary, so that the audience may knowr what 
 the character is doing on the stage, and where he is located. So 
 in " Fortunatus " the character states that he is now in a wild 
 forest (Act 2) or in London (Act 5) ; in " Der hornen Seifrit " 
 the hero tells us that he is confronted by a high mountain (Act 
 3), etc. In "Der baur in dem fegfeur" the peasant gropes 
 blindly about the stage and explains his actions by telling the 
 audience that he is confined in a dark cell. 
 
 As all of the author's plays with the exception of a few 
 Shrovetide plays serve a moral purpose, as the epilogs of the 
 comedies and tragedies and the concluding speeches of the 
 Shrovetide plays show, it is not surprising to find bits of moral- 
 izing in some of the soliloquies. One example taken from 
 " Die schon Marina " will illustrate the type : " Unchastity is 
 the most injurious of all vices. Whoever tries it is allured by 
 it ; whoever yields to it is choked by it ; it weakens the under- 
 standing and shortens life, hurts one's reputation, consumes 
 honor and wealth," etc. Other types of the thought soliloquy 
 do not occur. Emotional soliloquies, however, especially those 
 expressing the more common emotions such as grief, sorrow, 
 rage, fear, regret, joy, etc., are met with very frequently. 
 
 It is interesting to note that Sachs gave some thought to the 
 performance of his plays, as occasional stage directions will 
 show. To be sure they are for the most part rather crude and 
 one gesture is made to do service for differing emotions, re- 
 minding one forcibly of the acting of some of the present oper- 
 atic stars. Soliloquies are usually without stage directions 
 other than the stereotyped form : " enters and speaks," or 
 " enters and speaks to him — or herself." But now and then the 
 character is asked to clap the hands together above the head to 
 express sorrow or grief or anger or what not. In Krimhilt's 
 soliloquy at the end of "Seifrit" the author is liberal with 
 stage directions : " She takes the twigs off of the corpse and 
 
31 
 
 beats her hands above her head " ; then, a little later, " she sinks 
 upon him, embraces and kisses him " ; and later, " she sees the 
 dagger, picks it up, looks at it, and says." At the end of the 
 speech she leaves " sadly." The attempt to make the perform- 
 ance a little realistic certainly redounds to the credit of the 
 author. 
 
 5. Hercog Heinrich Julius von Braunschweig 
 
 English drama, even in the crude form in which it was intro- 
 duced to the Germans by the " Englische Komodianten," ex- 
 erted a great influence upon German drama, especially upon 
 Duke Heinrich's and Jakob Ayrer's plays. The Duke and 
 Landgrave Maurice of Hessia each had a troop of English 
 players and each was stimulated to the point of writing plays 
 for these actors. Maurice, whose plays have been lost, even 
 built a theater that was modeled after the type then in vogue in 
 England. The Duke's plays show that he also adopted the 
 English stage, whose chief characteristics were a balcony above 
 the rear of the stage and the curtaining off of the space under 
 the balcony, so that it could be employed when a change in the 
 scene was desired.^ More attention had been given to the art 
 of acting in England than in Germany, and the plays of the 
 English comedians are filled with elaborate stage-directions 
 whose aim it was to secure great realism in presentation, espe- 
 cially when grief, pain and despair were to be depicted. All of 
 the Duke's plays show his indebtedness in this respect, as they 
 are abundantly supplied with stage-directions. English influ- 
 ence is also discernible in the use of prose, the introduction of 
 instrumental music, songs and dances, and lastly in the adoption 
 of the clown. 
 
 The soliloquies in the plays of the English comedians are 
 very crude. ^ The characters often introduce themselves and 
 speak at length about their plans and intentions. Sometimes 
 these soliloquies are only indicated, e. g., in " Der Konig von 
 Schottland," Act IV. The stage directions read: "The king 
 comes out and tells how he is going to get to the place where Run- 
 cifax lives, whom he intends to ask which of his two daughters 
 
 1 W. Creizenach, Die Schauspiele der englischen Komodianten, Vol. 23, 
 D.N.L., p. 92. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 85. 
 
32 
 
 he is to get." The villains expose their dark designs in solilo- 
 quy and the heroes announce both plans and accomplished facts, 
 and sometimes give reports of actions that the audience has 
 already witnessed. The moralizing soliloquy is frequently em- 
 ployed, but never at great length for fear of tiring the public. 
 Ranting soliloquies in which passion was torn to tatters were 
 also a favorite device. 
 
 What did the Duke adopt from this technic of the solilo- 
 quy? To secure realistic acting he supplied the soliloquies 
 with full stage-directions in the manner of the English come- 
 dians. Then too he occasionally uses the ranting soliloquy, 
 which in those days must have exerted a powerful influence 
 upon the spectators. Good examples occur in the tragedy 
 "Von einem ungerathenen Sohn," VI, end, where Nero is 
 asked to accompany his ranting with such actions as : " griin- 
 selt, winselt, kriimmet und windet sich, und stellet sich greulich 
 an, briillet wie ein Ochs, fallet zu der Erden, kratzet mit 
 Handen und Fiissen von sich, stehet wieder auf und lauft her- 
 umb, als wenn er gar von Sinnen ware."^ Another long speech 
 of this type is found in the last act of " Buhler und Buhlerin," 
 part of which reads: " Pfui dich, du stinkende Hoffart, pfui, 
 du heillose und vergangliche Schminke ! O wehe, o wehe, ach 
 was leide ich Angst und Schmerz in meinem Herzen! O ihr 
 Berge, fallet iiber mich und bedecket mich ! Ach, dass die 
 Erde sich aufthate und mich verschliinge."^ 
 
 For the most part the expositional soliloquies are crude, and 
 often, as in the case of the clown, directly addressed to the 
 audience. Sometimes a moralizing^ or reflective bit and in one 
 case a lyric prelude* raises the soliloquy to a slightly higher 
 plane. The clown's soliloquies are either baldly expositional 
 or reflective. In the latter he usually indulges in sardonic 
 laughter^ at the stupidity or the discomfiture of his master and 
 frequently takes the audience into his confidence and begs them 
 not to betray him. 
 
 1 Julius Tittmann, Die Schauspiele des Herzog Heinrich Julius, Leip- 
 zig, 1880, p. 233. 
 
 2 Op. cit., p. 73. 
 
 3 0/>. cit., p. 3. Susanna, p. 111-112, Von einem Edelmann. 
 *0p. cit., pp. 35-6; Von einem Buhler. 
 
 B Op. cit., pp. 64, 90, 96, 107, etc. 
 
6. Jakob Ayrer 
 
 Two tendencies characterize Ayrer's work: an endeavor to 
 remain faithful to the tradition of Sachs's dramatic art, together 
 with an attempt to acclimate the histrionic art of the EngUsh 
 comedians on the German stage. The result of this amalga- 
 mation produced no development in technic but rather a degen- 
 eration, as the plays show greater fondness for epic treatment 
 than those of Sachs. To make up for the lack of interest re- 
 sulting from this undramatic form he introduced elaborate 
 stage processions, court scenes, battles and devil-scenes and 
 reaches a higher plane in stage-effects, especially of the lurid 
 melodramatic type. According to Robertson^ the plays written 
 between 1593 and 1598 show no English influence, w^hereas 
 those between 1598 and 1605 reveal the influence of the English 
 comedians. His stage probably consisted of a lower front 
 stage and a raised stage or bridge, under the middle of which 
 there was an opening which might be used for a cave or an 
 additional place of entrance and exit or what not.^ Rather full 
 stage-directions, the use of the clown as a character in the 
 plays, and instrumental music, all show English influence. 
 
 The expositional soliloquy is pressed into service on all pos- 
 sible occasions to acquaint the audience with the past, present 
 and future, and little effort is made to raise them above the 
 baldly instructive plane by giving them a reflective or emotional 
 admixture. The moralizing element is usually confined to 
 short sententious bits, although longer speeches do occur.^ 
 Emotional soliloquies are for the most part outbursts of grief 
 and despair. These outbursts as a rule are rather tame affairs 
 and seldom tear passion to tatters.* On the whole then Ayrer's 
 soliloquies are a little cruder than those of Sachs. 
 
 1 J. G. Robertson, Zur Kritik Jakob Ayres mit besonderer Riicksicht 
 auf sein Verhaltniss zu Hans Sachs und den englischen Komodianten, 
 Leipzig, 1892. 
 
 2 Ibid. 
 
 3 Comedia von der schonen Sidea, II, beg. A. von Keller's ed. 
 
 4 Keller, Vol. II, p. 787. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 The Pseudo-Classic Drama 
 
 I. Gryphius 
 
 There was a complete break with the old dramatic tradition 
 in the 17th century when Andreas Gryphius, the originator of 
 the German artistic drama, introduced the Renaissance tradi- 
 tion into German drama. Nothing in modern drama is based 
 on medieval or i6th century drama. It really has its origin in 
 the "Kunstdrama" of Gryphius, which is patterned after 
 foreign models. The Silesian's model however was not so 
 much Seneca as Vondel, the great Dutch dramatist, who was 
 the leading exponent of the Renaissance tradition in Holland. 
 
 Seneca's style exerted an immeasurably greater influence 
 upon Gryphius than his technic. " The technic of the two play- 
 wrights shows few points of contact,"^ says Stachel. How do 
 the two compare in the use of the soliloquy? Seneca, with one 
 or two exceptions, invariably begins with an expositional solilo- 
 quy which is followed by a commenting chorus. Gr>'phius begins 
 two of his five tragedies with a dialog, viz., " Leo Armenius " 
 and " Cardenio und Celinde." In the second tragedy " Cath- 
 erine von Georgien," after a prolog by Eternity in the style of 
 the Church play prologs, the dialog form is employed. In 
 " Carolus Stuardus " and " Papinianus " there are introductory 
 expositional soliloquies but neither is followed by a chorus. 
 In Seneca's plays the soliloquy forms a large component part, 
 especially in " Medea," which has more soliloquy than dialog. 
 The Roman poet shows a decided fondness for identifying 
 soliloquies, a character often introducing himself to the audi- 
 ence before he begins a conversation. Another striking char- 
 acteristic of his soliloquies is their position at the beginning of 
 an act. 
 
 1 Paul Stachel, Seneca und das deutsche Renaissance-Drama, Berlin, 
 1907, p. 270. 
 
 34 
 
35 
 
 In Gryphius the soliloquy does not play so prominent a role. 
 Although the length of the soliloquies leaves nothing to be de- 
 sired, they are not so frequent, there are none of the identify- 
 ing type, and there is no particular fondness shown for the 
 beginning of an act. 
 
 Gryphius was endowed with a most melancholy temperament 
 and the misfortunes that befell him and his country served to 
 heighten this innate gloom. His five tragedies are permeated 
 with pessimism as a result of his despairing outlook upon life. 
 " All is vanity," or " sic transit gloria mundi " is in brief the 
 theme of his plays. His heroes are characterized by steadfast- 
 ness in enduring adversity rather than by positive action. The 
 bombast and ranting, so characteristic of the plays, as well as 
 the author's dejection and pessimism are faithfully mirrored in 
 the soliloquies. 
 
 The initial expositional soliloquy in " Carolus Stuardus " is 
 far from being baldly instructive. Several apostrophes, ques- 
 tions and answers, and an admixture of anger and defiance, 
 skillfully place the expositional matter into the background. 
 The author's sermonizing instinct unfortunately got the better 
 of him, and the fine frenzy of the closet dramatist is revealed; 
 in the line : " Bebt, die ihr herrscht und schafift ! bebt ob dem; 
 Trauerspiel ! " Once more, later in the play, the stage-illusion; 
 is destroyed when he has Fairfax say in a soliloquy : " Wer nah 
 diss Unheil sieht, wer fern diss traurspiel hort." In " Papin- 
 ianus" the expositional matter is also cleverly cloaked in the 
 initial soliloquy. There is a considerable admixture of philcn 
 sophical reflection : 
 
 " Wer iiber alle steigt und von der stoltzen hoh 
 Der reichen ehre schaut, wie schlecht der povel geh, 
 . . . Hat wol (ich geb es nach) viel iiber die gemein. 
 Ach ! aber ach ! wie leicht nimmt ihn der schwindel ein 
 Und blendet unverhofft sein zitterndes gesichte, 
 Dass er durch gahen fall wird, ehr man denkt, zu nichte ! 
 Wie leichte bricht der fels, auf dem er stand gefasst, 
 Und reisst ihn mit sich ab ! " 
 
 Later: 
 
36 
 
 " Wer die gemeine noth 
 Zu lindern sich bemiiht, sucht nichts als eignen tod. 
 Wer sich fiir alle wagt, wird auch nicht einen finden, 
 Auff dessen rechte treu er konn in schiffbruch griinden." 
 
 The speech is a real talking to one's self, apostrophe is freely 
 used and in parts the dialog form is successfully employed: 
 
 " Was hab ich denn verwiirckt, unredliche gemiitter ? 
 Kommt klager ! tretet vor ! entdeckt, wie herb and bitter 
 Auch cure zunge sey ! Ich fliehe die gemein 
 (Sprecht ihr) und schliesse mich vor freund und fremden ein. 
 Wahr ists, dass ich," etc. 
 
 He takes up the charges one by one and answers them as though 
 his accusers were confronting him. 
 
 There are few expositional soliloquies in the plays and all 
 have an emotional coating. " Papinianus," V, furnishes a good 
 example of inner conflict, the first time that we meet with this 
 type of soliloquy. It opens with a question of perplexity: 
 " What now ?" then takes up the pros and cons, and after a 
 short deliberation the decision is made : 
 
 " Ach miissen wir die faust in seinem blute farben? 
 Wir miissen ! ach ! es sey ! Papinian soli sterben." 
 
 Another new type is found in " Catherine von Georgien " where 
 Abas in a long soliloquy defends the decision he has made. 
 
 Ranting soliloquies in Gryphius are practically synonymous 
 with emotional soliloquies, as he knows no bounds in the depic- 
 tion of an emotion and regularly tears passion into tatters. In 
 "Catherine" Abas pours forth pages such as the following: 
 
 "" Princessin ! Ach ! Princessin ! Ach wir brennen ! 
 
 Feuer ! Feuer ! Feuer ! Feuer ! Feuer ! kracht in diesem hertzen ! 
 Wir verlodern, wir verschmeltzen, angesteckt durch schwefel- 
 
 kertzen 
 Princessin! schau! princessin! wir bekennen 
 Entzeptert, auf dem kny und mit gewundnen handen, 
 -Dass wir unrechtmassig dich betriibet, 
 Dass wir ein stuck an dir veriibet, 
 Welches aller zeiten zeit wird grausam nennen." 
 
37 
 
 In " Leo Armenius ' 
 
 " Treuloser aberwitz ! durch wahn verfiihrter mann ! 
 Undank, dem laster selbst kein laster gleichen kann ! 
 Durchteuffeltes gemiith ! vermaledeyte sinnen ! 
 Die keine redlichkeit noch wohlthat mag gewinnen ! 
 Hab ich dich tollen bund vom koth in hof gebracht 
 Und auf selbst-eigner schoss beriihmt und gross gemacht? 
 Hat uns die kalte schlang, die jetzund sticht, betrogen? 
 1st dieser basilisc an unsrer brust erzogen? 
 Warum hat man dich nicht erwiirgt auf frischer that?" 
 
 The exposition in " Cardenio und Celinde," though appar- 
 ently in dialog form, is in reality one long soliloquy which is 
 occasionally interrupted by a patient friend who asks for infor- 
 mation that he is familiar with. In the same play, in the solilo- 
 quy at the beginning of the second act, we find a most interest- 
 ing defense of the soliloquy, the first and only justification of 
 this convention in German dramatic poetry : 
 
 "Was red ich? und mit wem? Wie, wenn die heisse macht 
 Der seuchen uns besiegt, ein zagend hertze schmacht 
 In hart entbrandter glut und die geschwachten sinnen 
 Empfinden nach und nach, wie kraft und geist zerinnen, 
 Indem die innre flamm nunmehr den sitz anfallt, 
 In welchem sich vernunfft gleich als beschlossen halt, 
 Denn taumelt der verstand, denn irren die gedanken, 
 Denn zehlt die schwartze zung des abgelebten krancken 
 Viel ungestalte wort in schwerem schwermen hen" 
 
 In short, when disease or an all-consuming passion weaken 
 body and mind, the mind is clouded and the ideas become con- 
 fused and the tongue of the unfortunate victim rambles inco- 
 herently. Gryphius accordingly believes that a person solilo- 
 quizes only when he is in an abnormal condition. 
 
 According to Proelss these plays were produced on the 
 stage, not very frequently to be sure and most likely in a sadly 
 mutilated form. The stage varied according to the theater, the 
 stages in the court and school theaters naturally being better 
 equipped with stage setting and scenery than those of the trav- 
 eling players. We still find a front and a back stage separated 
 
38 
 
 by a curtain, but the sides of the stage are now shut off from the 
 audience either by curtains or walls. The front stage in the 
 permanent theaters was provided with several drop curtains, 
 one for each act; the stages of the itinerant players, on the 
 other hand, generally had only one. Artificial light had to be 
 used, as most of the performances were given indoors. 
 
 As we turn from the tragedies to the comedies — Scherzspiele 
 is the author's designation — we involuntarily smile at the idea 
 of an individual so immersed in gloom and melancholy even 
 harboring a humorous thought. But as we read along we can 
 but marvel at the wonderful metamorphosis, and finally per- 
 force resort to a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde theory to account 
 for the exuberant humor and the genuine tomfoolery that per- 
 vades the plays. 
 
 The expositional soliloquies are addressed directly to the 
 audience and filled with such exclamations as : " See here ! 
 you may believe me," etc. Quite regularly the approach of the 
 next character is announced at the end of a soliloquy: O see, 
 there she comes already ! or. See, there he is, etc. In " Die 
 geliebte Dornrose" the overheard soliloquy is repeatedly used 
 and in connection with it the aside. In the first act of this play 
 two soliloquies, delivered by characters at opposite sides of the 
 stage, are overheard by a third character who is hiding.^ The 
 asides are for the most part humorous, although a reflective bit 
 occurs occasionally, so, e. g., " You see, neighbors, that's what 
 you get when you allow the girls to go to school and learn to 
 spell,"^ possibly the earliest dramatic attack upon feminism. 
 
 Ranting soliloquies do not occur. A good example of the 
 soliloquy expressing inner conflict occurs in " Horribilicribri- 
 fax": "What shall I do now? Shall I turn back? That 
 would appear too unmannerly. I shall pass by and address her 
 very briefly."^ In "Peter Squenz," where there is a play within 
 the play, viz., that of Pyramus and Thisbe, the characters of 
 the enclosed play employ the introduction soliloquy in the style 
 of the old church plays.* 
 
 1 Comedies, ed. by H. Palm; I, p. 258 ff. ; II, p. 286 ff. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 288. 
 
 sibid., II, p. 89. Another example in IV, p. 126. 
 4 Ibid., Ill, p. 28 ff. 
 
39 
 
 2. Lohenstein 
 Taking '' Cleopatra " and " Ibrahim Sultan " as representa- 
 tive plays, one finds little in the use of the soliloquy that dif- 
 ferentiates it from that employed by Gryphius. The relative 
 scarcity of the soliloquy is perhaps noteworthy. The same 
 fondness for philosophic reflections, florid rhetoric and apostro- 
 phe characterize Lohenstein's soliloquies. On the whole, there 
 is less ranting than in the soliloquies of Gryphius. Quotations 
 from the one real soliloquy in " Cleopatra " — there are three 
 which are delivered in the presence of others — will sufficiently 
 illustrate the above mentioned characteristics: 
 
 " O Sprudel-reiches Meer der jammer-voUen Welt ! 
 Die Segel stehn gespann't, die Netze sind gestellt 
 Uns in den Hafen, Ihn in's Garn und Grab zu fiihren. . . . 
 Ein flatternd Herze gleicht mit Wanckel-muth den Pferden, 
 Die ein geschwancker Zaum bald recht- bald linckwerts lenckt. . . . 
 Gunst, Liebe, Freundschafft gleicht sich zarten Berg-Kristallen, 
 Die keine Kunst ergantzt, sind einmal sie zerf alien: 
 Stillt auch Versohnung gleich zmveilen Wund und Blutt, 
 Sie bricht erhitzter auf und scharfifet Gall' und Glutt, 
 Die in dem Hertzen kocht, Man trockne Sumpf und Lachen, 
 Ein Under Regen wird sie wieder wassricht machen." . . .^ 
 
 3. Christian Weise 
 
 Compared to the bombast and turgidity of Gryphius and his 
 followers the simplicity and naturalness of Weise's plays is in- 
 deed refreshing. He shows a keen knowledge of human nature 
 and a good sense of humor. Had he not ground out his plays 
 in such a mechanical fashion — he wrote three each year besides 
 attending to his arduous school work — and written them for 
 school purposes, his plays might have exerted great influence 
 upon the development of the drama. As a matter of fact his 
 plays hardly created a ripple in the dramatic pool. 
 
 The comedies " Die bose Catherine " and " Der baurische 
 Machiavellus "^ and the tragedy " Masaniello "^ will adequately 
 
 1 Act II, p. 181 ; Deutsche Nat. Lit., Vol. z^. 
 
 2 Deutsche Nat. Lit., Vol. 39. 
 
 3 Neudrucke deutscher Litteraturwerke des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts, 
 ed. by R. Petsch, Halle, 1907. 
 
40 
 
 serve to illustrate Weise's use of the soliloquy. The large num- 
 ber of soliloquies is noteworthy as well as the author's fond- 
 ness for asides. For the most part these soliloquies are expo- 
 sitional and of the crude type in which the audience is taken 
 into the speaker's confidence. As a rule they are short and the 
 language is natural and free from ornamentation. Our old 
 friends, the self -identifying and self -characterizing soliloquy, 
 also crop to the surface every now and then, so, e. g., in 
 " Machiavellus," II and III ;^ " Masaniello," III.- Reflective and 
 moralizing soliloquies are rather infrequent, but it is interesting 
 to notice that the clown is often the author's mouthpiece and 
 indulges in a moralizing harangue in the style of the French 
 raisonneur.^ Emotional soliloquies are very prosaic and shal- 
 low and offer nothing remarkable. 
 
 On the whole, Weise's technic of the soliloquy shows little 
 advance over that of the 15th and i6th centuries. 
 
 4. Gottsched and his Follozvers 
 
 Gottsched's view regarding the soliloquy has been previously 
 quoted, viz., that sane people are not in the habit of talking to 
 themselves when alone except when they are overcome by emo- 
 tion, and in that case very briefly. Although he himself did 
 not entirely taboo the soliloquy in his dramatic work — his 
 " Cato," e. g., contains several short reflective and link solilo- 
 quies and a long deliberative soliloquy — his pupils and follow- 
 ers consistently avoided it. His " Deutsche Schaubiihne," a col- 
 lection of translations from Moliere, Corneille, Racine, Vol- 
 taire, Holberg, etc., and original works by his wife, J. E. 
 Schlegel and others, for the most part contains dramas which 
 do without soliloquies and asides, especially the plays of J. E. 
 Schlegel and Luise Adelgunde Victoria Gottsched, the reform- 
 er's wife. Schlegel makes sport of the soliloquy in a criticism 
 of a drama by J. Klaj entitled " Herodes " : " Here we plainly 
 see how useful it would be if the author of the tragedy himself 
 would step into a corner of the stage and talk occasionally. 
 
 1 Deutsche Nat. Lit., Vol. 39, p. 20; p. 45. 
 
 2 Op. cit., p. 78. 
 
 3 Ibid., p. 48. 
 
41 
 
 . . . Instead of the hero coming out and telling himself about 
 his troubles in a long speech, so that the spectators may know 
 what is on his mind, the author might say : now love is torment- 
 ing my hero with cruel thoughts ; now he does not know what 
 to do."^ 
 
 In the comedies the use of the confidant in the French man- 
 ner solves the problem of exposition ; in the tragedies the dialog 
 is overloaded with epic matter, so that it becomes entirely un- 
 dramatic and lifeless, as in Schlegel's " Hermann." Characteri- 
 zation and psychological development are practically wanting, 
 in fact the whole treatment is epic rather than dramatic. If 
 these plays had had real dramatic worth their new technic, viz., 
 the dropping of soliloquies and asides, might have exerted great 
 influence upon succeeding dramatists. As a matter of fact the 
 innovation passed unnoticed. 
 
 Gottsched's hostility to the soliloquy and aside is doubtless 
 due to French influence, primarily that of Hedelin, whom he 
 ranks with Aristotle as an authority on dramatic matters.^ In- 
 asmuch as Hedelin's view was on the whole hostile to the solilo- 
 quy, as we have previously pointed out, it is small wonder that 
 Gottsched adopts his master's point of view. Then too the 
 fact that Corneille's later dramas and Moliere's masterpieces 
 were practically devoid of soliloquies may also have influenced 
 him. 
 
 Summing up, then, the period from Gryphius to Lessing, a 
 period of servile adherence to foreign models and foreign 
 technic, Roman in the case of Gryphius, his followers and the 
 writers of school drama, French in the case of Gottsched and 
 his school, illustrates the usual fate of a popular idol in the 
 career of the soliloquy. The florid, rhetorical soliloquy of 
 Gryphius, dazzling the populace as did Beau Brummel in the 
 heyday of his career, meets with reverses and is compelled to 
 slink oflf the scene of its former triumphs, when it is reduced 
 to a threadbare, impossible exterior such as it presents in 
 Weise's works. 
 
 1 Quoted by Diisel, in Beitrage zur Critischen Historic der deutschen 
 Sprache, 27. Stiick, 1741. 
 
 2 F. Diisel, p. 4 ff- 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 The Era of Lessing, Schiller and Goethe 
 
 In the preceding period the soliloquy passed from a state of 
 unchallenged acceptance and unqualified approval to a state of 
 innocuous desuetude. During the classic period, the era of 
 Lessing, Schiller and Goethe, the soliloquy practically under- 
 went the opposite process. Lessing attempted the impossible 
 by trying to transmute a convention into a " slice of life." His 
 realistic treatment of the soliloquy undoubtedly invested it with 
 as much naturalness (vraisemblance, to use the French term), 
 as was humanly possible, and yet the fact remains that even his 
 form of the soliloquy is not a faithful counterpart of real life 
 — we do not regularly think aloud — and after all a conven- 
 tion. Schiller and Goethe on the other hand did not worry 
 about the naturalness or unnaturalness of the soliloquy, but 
 restored it to its former position of an absolute ruler whose 
 rights are in no wise questioned. 
 
 I. Lessing 
 
 If Lessing had not been antagonistic to all things Gott- 
 schedian, there is a possibility that he might have developed and 
 perfected the new technic and given us powerful dramas whose 
 appeal would not have been weakened by the absence of solil- 
 oquies and asides. But to return to actuality, Lessing's tech- 
 nic of the soliloquy in his early comedies, " Damon," " Der 
 junge Gelehrte," " Der Misogyn," " Die alte Jungfer," " Der 
 Freigeist," " Die Juden " and " Der Schatz," is on a plane so 
 much lower than that found in his maturer plays that it is best 
 treated separately. 
 
 Expositional soliloquies are rare in the early plays, as the 
 employment of confidants in the French manner made them 
 unnecessary. Only one example of the introductory exposi- 
 tional soliloquy occurs, viz., in " Der Misogyn," but even here 
 42 
 
43 
 
 we find quite an improvement over the bald and calm state- 
 ment of facts that was customary. A highly irate father bel- 
 lows a few disjointed expositional bits at the audience. A be- 
 lated piece of introductory exposition, " Freigeist," I, 2, shows 
 a skillful blending of the purely epic with the emotional, the 
 latter outweighing the former. The accumulated anger of the 
 first scene bursts forth in wrathy reflections which are followed 
 by a few facts necessary to the comprehension of the plot. But 
 one crudely expositional speech can be found, that of Raps in 
 " Der Schatz," Sc. II, in which he identifies himself: "Man 
 muss allerlei Personen spielen konnen. Den mochte ich doch 
 sehen, der in diesem Aufzuge den Trommelschlager Raps 
 erkennen sollte? Ich seh' aus, ich weiss selber nicht wie; und 
 soil — ich weiss selber nicht was? Eine narrische Kommis- 
 sion ! " 
 
 Unnecessary characterizing bits, which remind one of the 
 labels in the mouths of old pictures, crop up in soliloquies now 
 and then, e. g., in " Der Freigeist," I, end, where the servant 
 characterizes his master, and II, 4, where Lisette describes two 
 servants: "Ein Paar allerliebste Schlingel! Adrasts Johann 
 und Theophans IMartin: die wahren Bilder ihrer Herren von 
 der hasslichen Seite! Aus Freigeisterei ist jener ein Spitz- 
 bube ; und aus Frommigkeit dieser ein Dummkopf ." 
 
 The speaker's intention rarely requires a whole speech ; as 
 a rule it forms the appendix of a reflective soliloquy, thus 
 giving a dramaitic touch to speeches that temporarily retard the 
 movement of a play.^ 
 
 Lessing shows a decided predilection for reflective solilo- 
 quies in the early plays, a type of soliloquy in which the speaker 
 reverts to the theme discussed in the preceding dialog and com- 
 ments upon it or gives vent to the feeling and emotion aroused 
 by that conversation. Unless these reflective speeches result 
 in a change of attitude on the part of the speaker or in the 
 formulation of a plan that has some bearing on the action, they 
 naturally are lyric rather than dramatic. Most of them are 
 undramatic in character and have a considerable admixture of 
 
 1 Die alte Jungfer, II, 4; Der Freigeist, III, 7; Der Schatz, Sc. 2. 
 
44 
 
 philosophic reflection. " The tone of these soliloquies is natur- 
 ally not dramatic but rather elegiac and passive, and philo- 
 sophic embellishment which the young thinker could not do 
 without even in his comedies makes them rather duller and 
 more tiresome than livelier and brighter."^ Every one of the 
 early plays furnishes examples of this type : " Damon," Sc. 6, 
 8; "Der junge Gelehrte," I, I, II, 4; " Der Misogyn," II, beg. 
 II, 6; II, end; " Die alte Jungfer," II, 4; " Die Juden," 17, 19; 
 "Der Schatz," 3, 8, 10, 11 ; " Der Freigeist," III, 3, III, 7, V, 
 2, etc. There is a liberal sprinkling of the philosophical ele- 
 ment in almost all of the above mentioned soliloquies. A full- 
 fledged " Tendenzmonolog " occurs in " Die Juden," Sc. 3, in 
 which the attitude of Christians towards Jews is criticized. 
 Emotional outbursts are rare, the best examples occurring in 
 " Der Freigeist," I, 2, V, 2. 
 
 Lessing's desire to avoid an empty stage gave rise to quite 
 a few link soliloquies whose function it was to fill the gap 
 between the exit of one character and the entrance of another.^ 
 
 The most interesting feature of Lessing's early soliloquies 
 is their style. Even in " Damon," his earliest attempt, Less- 
 ing breaks away from the familiar type with its carefully 
 expressed, logically developed and uninterrupted ideas, such 
 as one might find and expect in a previously prepared argument 
 or oration. Both of Damon's long reflective speeches, Sc. 6 
 and 8, show the author's attempt to express the ideas as they 
 occur to the speaker. The thoughts come haltingly one mo- 
 ment, then again one thought is interrupted by another that 
 suddenly suggests itself. There are breaks in the continuity 
 of the thought, sudden jumps far afield, reversion to previously 
 expressed ideas, sudden anticipations. " Ich wiirde ihn selbst 
 tadeln — Doch — ich halte ihn auch nicht einmal fahig dazu — er 
 mag sein, was er will — aber — ich irre mich wohl auch — ich 
 beurtheile ihn nach mir — weil ich so schwach bin ; f olgt es denn 
 daraus, dass ein anderer — Doch allerdings eine so vollkommene 
 Freundschaft ist fiir diese Welt nicht — Ob auch wohl Leander 
 so denkt, als er redet? — Halt — Ich will," etc. 
 
 1 Dusel, op. cit., p. 30. 
 
 2 Damon, I, 3 ; I, 5 ; Die alte Jungfer, i, 3; I, 4; Der junge Gelehrte, 
 
45 
 
 In his desire to emphasize the realistic element he over- 
 emphasized and went too far, but that does not detract from 
 the value of the innovation. There is at least no doubt in any 
 one's mind that the speaker is thoroughly aroused and excited. 
 Adrast's soliloquy in " Der Freigeist," V, 2, also admirably por- 
 trays his violent agitation : " Was fiir ein neuer Streich ! — Ich 
 kann nicht wieder zu mir kommen ! — Es ist nicht auszuhalten ! 
 Verachtungen, Beleidigungen — Beleidigungen in dem Gegen- 
 stande, der ihm der liebste sein muss: — alles ist umsonst; 
 nichts will er fiihlen," etc. 
 
 The occasional interruption of the speaker in the middle of 
 his soliloquy is another realistic touch. ^ But the announcing 
 of the next character by the speaker of the soliloquy when he 
 has finished is far more common : " Da kommt er ja selber ; 
 Ah, hui da kommt; Ha, da kommt er; komm{ da nicht." 
 
 Apostrophe is rarely used in the early plays to enliven the 
 soliloquy. A long apostrophe to learning by Damis occurs in 
 a pseudo-soliloquy, as a servant is present and listening.^ 
 
 Asides are numerous, especially in " Die Juden," " Der 
 Freigeist," and " Der Schatz." It seems strange that the same 
 man who strove to make the soliloquy realistic could allow such 
 an improbable convention as the aside in his plays. During 
 a dialog in " Die Juden," e. g., the characters stop in the middle 
 of a conversation and each delivers three asides, a ludicrous 
 performance. Then after they have talked past each other, 
 one asks the other why he has been so lost in thought.* Of 
 course Lessing's indebtedness to French comedy and especially 
 to Regnard, Marivaux and Destouches accounts for the use of 
 the aside, but as early as 1750, the same year in which "Der 
 Schatz " was written, he found asides " so ungereimt, dass 
 nichts darijber ist,"* and accused every one who did not find 
 them very offensive of lack of taste. It is evidently another 
 instance of the fact that theory and practise do not always 
 coincide. 
 
 1 Die alte Jungfer, II, 4; Der Freigeist, V, 2; Die Juden, I, 3; I, 19. 
 
 2 Der Junge Gelehrte, I, i. 
 8Sc. 6. 
 
 * Criticism of Plautus' Captivi in Beytrage zur Historie u. Aufnahme 
 des Theaters, 3. Stuck, 1750. 
 
46 
 
 In the 48th number of the " Hamhurgische Dramaturgic" 
 Lessing warmly defends soliloquies which acquaint us with the 
 attitude and the plans of the speaker. Quoting from his trans- 
 lation of Diderot's essay on dramatic art he says : " Warum 
 haben gewisse Monologen eine so grosse Wirkung? Darum, 
 weil sie mir die geheimen Anschlage einer Person vertrauen 
 und diese Vertraulichkeit mich den Augenblick mit Furcht oder 
 Hoffnung fiillet." He goes on to say that if the attitude of the 
 characters is unknown to the spectator the latter cannot mani- 
 fest particular interest in the action, but that his interest will 
 be doubled if he has some light on the matter and feels that 
 the action and the speeches would be entirely different if the 
 characters knew each other. Only in that case he will hardly 
 be able to await the development when he is able to compare 
 their real selves with their acts. Later in the same essay he 
 defends the expositional prologs of Euripides because he main- 
 tains that it is better to acquaint the audience with the neces- 
 sary exposition in a crude manner than not at all. In No. 49 
 he again champions the expositional prolog and states that he 
 greatly prefers it to a dialog exposition with the aid of a talk- 
 ative confidant. 
 
 Lessing practised what he preached with regard to the solil- 
 oquy, and we find expositional soliloquies of all kinds, includ- 
 ing the introductory variety as well as soliloquies which reveal 
 the thoughts and emotions of the speakers. Initial exposition 
 is conveyed in soliloquy form in " Philotas " and " Emilia 
 Galotti," in dialog form in " Miss Sara Sampson," " Minna," 
 and " Nathan." In both " Minna " and " Sara " this exposi- 
 tional dialog takes place between the principal characters and a 
 trusted servant or chambermaid, in other words the French 
 confidant; in "Naithan" the dialog is better motivated, as 
 Nathan returns from a journey and naturally wishes to be put 
 in touch with the events that have occurred during his absence, 
 reminding one somewhat of Ibsen's technic in " Ghosts," " Ros- 
 mersholm," " Doll's House " and others. 
 
 The brief expositional bit in " Minna " in which Just con- 
 veys a few facts while talking in his sleep is too short to be 
 a full-fledged initial exposition soliloquy. The clever manner 
 
47 
 
 in which its exposition is presented, with its admixture of 
 anger and the use of the dialog form, brings home rather 
 forcibly the remarkable progress since the old-time expositional 
 soliloquy. The initial soliloquy in " Philotas " is so permeated 
 with despair, impatience, disgust and impotent rage that one 
 fails to notice the purely expositional element. It is a real talk- 
 ing to one's self : " Schmeichle dir nur, Philotas ! " and uses the 
 apostrophe very effectively. Of the eight scenes in the first 
 act of " Emilia Galotti," the odd scenes are adjoining links in 
 the exposition, all in soliloquy form and all delivered by the 
 prince. Only the first scene includes small bits of dialog with 
 his valet. But this exposition is cleverly managed. In the 
 first two letters in the mass of mail which he is rapidly perus- 
 ing are pegs upon which he hangs a bit of information. Then 
 the arrival of a painting previously ordered furnishes a very 
 plausible excuse for a little more exposition. Scene 5 alone 
 is a Httle superfluous in my opinion, inasmuch as the declara- 
 tion of his love is repeated in the dialog of the following scene. 
 To be sure the prince's agitation gives this soliloquy life and 
 animation, but it is not essential. The seventh scene on the 
 other hand bears vitally upon what is to follow with its antici- 
 patory content. Incidentally this series of soliloquies throws 
 considerable light upon the character of the prince. 
 
 Self-characterizing passages occur in several of the solilo- 
 quies, the crudest being that of the Klosterbruder in " Nathan," 
 who says : " Ich mag nicht fein sein ; mag nicht iiberreden ; 
 mag mein Naschen nicht in alias stecken ; mag mein Handchen 
 nicht in allem haben."^ Marwood's speech, IV, 5, is more 
 dramatic: "Bin ich allein? — Kann ich unbemerkt einmal Atem 
 schopfen und die Muskeln des Gesichtes in ihre natiirliche Lage 
 fahren lassen? — Ich muss geschwind einmal in alien Mienen 
 die wahre Marwood sein, um den Zwang der Verstellung 
 wieder aushalten zu konnen. — Wie basse ich dich, niedrige 
 Verstellung! Nicht weil ich die Aufrichtigkeit Hebe sondern 
 weil du die armseligste Zuflucht der ohnmachtigen Rachsucht 
 bist."^ When Tellheim tears up Marloff's note, he throws a 
 
 1 Nathan der Weise, IV, beginning. 
 
 2 Miss Sara Sampson. 
 
48 
 
 little light on his character : " Wer steht mir daf iir, dass eigner 
 Mangel mich nicht einmal verleiten konnte, Gebrauch davon zu 
 machen ? "^ 
 
 Baldly expositional bits are rare indeed, the two instances in 
 " Minna " being the only examples. But even here they are 
 partially redeemed by being but a part of respectable reflectira 
 soliloquies. A little thought, however, would have made them 
 unnecessary. 
 
 A good example of a descriptive soliloquy occurs in " Emilia 
 Galotti," III, 2, where Marinelli stands at the window and 
 describes what is going on outside. Questions and exclama- 
 tions together with apostrophes give it quite a little dramatic 
 life. Other descriptive passages are found in " Nathan," II, 5, 
 II, 7, in the first of which Nathan describes the approaching 
 knight, in the second a former acquaintance. 
 
 When a speaker expresses his intention in soliloquy he 
 usually does so after due reflection, and accordingly we find 
 an intentional ending in practically all reflective soliloquies as 
 well as in some of the deliberative and conflict soliloquies. In 
 this respect the reflective soliloquies of the later plays stand 
 on a higher plane, as they rise from passive inactivity to active 
 participation in the plot. 
 
 The reflective soliloquies of the later plays, then, both revert 
 and anticipate, thus influencing the action. A good example 
 ocurs in " Nathan," IV, 8, where Daja, after reflecting for a 
 moment about the preceding conversation, announces her inten- 
 tion of telling Recha who she really is. Other examples are 
 found in "Minna," IV, 8; " Philotas," Sc. 4; "Emilia," III, 
 5, III, 2. The moralizing and philosophical element which Less- 
 ing was so partial to in his early plays is discarded in his later 
 dramas. 
 
 The best example of a deliberative soliloquy is Nathan's 
 famous speech. III, 6, in which he arrays his keen mental 
 powers against the Sultan's tricky question that covers so many 
 pitfalls and finally hits upon a solution. The slight perplexity 
 that the Sultan's question has left him in is splendidly portrayed : 
 
 iMinna, I, 7. 
 
49 
 
 " Hm ! Hm ! — wuncierlich ! — Wie ist 
 
 Mir denn? — Was will der Sultan? Was? — Ich bin 
 Auf Geld gefasst; und er will — Wahrheit. Wahrheit." 
 
 Then after he has laid bare the trap he proceeds to weigh 
 possible answers in masterly fashion : 
 
 " Ich muss 
 Behutsam gehn. — und wie? wie das? — So ganz 
 Stockjude sein zu wollen, geht schon nicht. — 
 Und ganz und gar nicht Jude geht noch minder. 
 Denn, wenn kein Jude, diirft er nur fragen, 
 Warum kein Muselman ? " 
 
 In the ensuing pause a solution presents itself which satis- 
 fies him completely : " Das war's. Das kann mich retten." 
 
 Scene 8 of the same act makes it plain that to Lessing the 
 soliloquy was a thinking aloud. The stage directions read: 
 "Tempelherr. Geht mit sich selbst kampfend, auf und ab; bis 
 er losbricht," which surely indicates that we are now to hear 
 the continuation of an inner conflict, that his thoughts now 
 become audible. His emotion quickly gives way to calmer 
 deliberation, which results in a decision. This transition from 
 silent to audible thought is also evident in V, 3, and III, 6. 
 
 When the head is subordinated to the heart, when the careful 
 mental balancing of the pros and cons is upset by an emotional 
 eruption, we pass from the deliberative soliloquy to one of con- 
 flict. Odoardo's speech, V, 4, aptly illustrates this transition: 
 " Wie ? — Nimmermehr ! — Mir vorschreiben, wo sie hin soil ? — 
 Mir sie vorenthalten ? — Wer will das? Wer darf das? — Der 
 hier alles darf, was er will? Gut, gut; so soil er sehen, wne 
 viel auch ich darf, ob ich es schon nicht diirf te ! Kurzsichtiger 
 Wuterich ! Mit dir will ich es schon aufnehmen. Wer kein 
 Gesetz achtet, ist eben so machtig, als wer kein Gesetz hat. 
 Das weisst du nicht ? Komm an ! komm an ! — Aber siehe da ! 
 Schon wieder ; schon wieder rennet der Zorn mit dem Ver- 
 stande davon." Then he settles down to calm deliberation: 
 " Was will ich ? Erst miisst' es doch geschehen sein, woriiber 
 ich tobe," etc. Soliloquies in which emotion unmistakably holds 
 the upper hand are Odoardo's conflict soliloquy, V, 6; Melle- 
 font's speech, IV, 2 ; Marwood's soliloquy, IV, 9 ; the speech of 
 4 
 
50 
 
 Tempelherr, III, lo. Philotas's long soliloquy in the 4th scene 
 is deliberative on the whole, although there^is a strong under- 
 current of emotion at times. 
 
 Purely emotional soliloquies, i. e., soliloquies whose sole 
 aim is to acquaint us with the speaker's feelings, are not 
 frequent. Most of the soliloquies, with the exception of the 
 baldly expositional and the purely mental deliberative speeches, 
 have an admixture of emotion. Minna's outburst of joy at 
 finding Tellheim: " Ich habe ihn wieder! — Ich hab' ihn, ich 
 hab' ihn ! Ich bin gliicklich ! und f rohlich ! "^ is the best ex- 
 ample of an unadulterated emotional soliloquy in Lessing's 
 dramas. 
 
 The language of the soliloquies in the later plays lacks poetic 
 embellishment and rhetorical flourish ; it is simple and natural. 
 Liberal use of apostrophe and the dialog form infuses a great 
 deal of dramatic life into these speeches. In addition the solil- 
 oquies give us an insight into the workings of the mind, show- 
 ing us how the ideas come to consciousness one by one. The 
 fact that the ego of the speaker is so often divided into two 
 arguing or opposing selves makes us forget for the time being 
 that there is but one character on the stage. 
 
 The custom of announcing the approach of an actor at the 
 close of the soliloquy is retained in the later plays. Asides are 
 less numerous in the later dramas, but even this is surprising 
 when we know how bitterly Lessing denounced them in the 
 " Dramaturgie," where he refers to them as " unnatiirliche 
 Kiinsteleien." "Nathan" contains as many as fifteen asides! 
 
 Nowhere in Lessing's plays is the language of the soliloquy 
 embellished or florid. Generalizing and sententious ingredi- 
 ents occur only in his early plays. A growing desire to make 
 the soliloquies as natural as possible is plainly discernible as 
 one reads the dramas chronologically. Whereas many of the 
 early soliloquies served a merely mechanical purpose, viz., the 
 linking of scenes, the later soliloquies are essential parts of the 
 drama as they have a direct bearing upon plot and characteriza- 
 tion. The scarcity of expositional soliloquies in the early plays 
 is due to the fact that the necessary exposition was usually 
 
 HI, 7. 
 
51 
 
 conveyed to the audience by dialogs of servants or confidants 
 who were thoroughly conversant with the state of affairs. 
 Although the later plays have more expositional soliloquies, 
 these speeches are never crudely instructive but closely knit 
 into the fabric of the play. 
 
 2. Storm and Stress Drama 
 
 A craving for uncorrupted nature, the glorification of indi- 
 viduality, the denunciation of current social conditions, bitter 
 attacks upon authority, whatever its guise — these in short are 
 the characteristics of this revolutionary movement. The attack 
 upon literary authority manifested itself chiefly in a revolt 
 against French influence, French artificiality and the unnatural- 
 ness that resulted from tlie tyranny of the irksome three unities, 
 together with a demand for themes that were distinctively Ger- 
 man in character. 
 
 How did all this affect the technic of the soliloquy? Quanti- 
 tatively there is little difference, with the exception of a few 
 plays, notably Schiller's "Die Rauber," and Miiller's "Geno- 
 veva," where restraint is thrown to the winds and the soliloquy 
 is allowed to flood page after page. Qualitatively, however, 
 the general tendency is to indulge in ranting and produce weird 
 excrescences upon the tree of sane expression. But whatever 
 their faults these soliloquies are for the most part highly dra- 
 matic and virile. They show many of the best traits of Les- 
 sing's technic with their use of the dialog form, of apostrophe, 
 frequent pauses and the presentation of ideas as they occur to 
 the speaker. 
 
 Schiller's and Goethe's storm and stress plays will be dis- 
 cussed in connection with their other dramas. The dramas to 
 be considered here are Klinger's " Die Zwillinge," Leisewitz's 
 " Julius von Tarentum," Wagner's " Die Kindermorderin," 
 Lenz's "Der Hofmeister," and Miiller's "Golo und Genoveva."^ 
 
 Sauer's criticism : " Wie ein einziger Monolog braust das 
 StiJck dahin,"^ is justified as Guelfo rages through "Die Zwil- 
 linge " like a Titan surrounded by pygmies. Although the solil- 
 
 3 Sturmer und Dranger, 3 vols. ed. by A. Sauer, Berlin. 
 2/fctd., Vol. I, p. 311. 
 
52 
 
 oquies are not as numerous as one might expect, many of Guel- 
 fo's speeches hardly bear the semblance of dialog and are in 
 reality disguised soliloquies. So, in I, 2, Guelfo is interrupted 
 by Grimaldi with " Lieber Guelfo, nicht so," after he has torn 
 a goodly supply of passion to tatters, but he pays absolutely no 
 attention to the remark. Eight of the nine soliloquies fall to 
 the share of Guelfo and all are hot with rage and anger, with 
 the exception of the first half of his soliloquy at the end of Act 
 III. Exclamations, apostrophes, questions and pauses admi- 
 rably portray his tempest- tossed soul. The following will 
 illustrate the style: "Ha! verfolgt mich alles? Alle Damonen 
 und Gespenster der Nacht? Mein boser Geist hangt mir auf 
 dem Nacken, er lasst mich nicht, stiert mich aus alien Winkeln 
 an. Bias zu! Vergift mir jedes Faserchen meines Herzens! 
 Wiihl giftig in meinem Blut! Hu! was martert den Guelfo? 
 wen will Guelfo martern? — Die Glocke ruft dumpf, der Sturm 
 saust iiber die Tiber. Eine schone Nacht! — Ferdinando, gieb 
 das Weib ! Ferdinando gieb die Erstgeburt ! "^ The language 
 throughout leaves the impression of a battlefield covered with 
 the disjecta membra of the combatants. 
 
 Miiller's " Golo und Genoveva " is top-heavy with soliloquies 
 and asides. The soliloquies are often baldly narrative and de- 
 scriptive, but together with these expositional speeches we find 
 reflective soliloquies and a choice assortment of emotional out- 
 bursts, mostly by Golo, who supplies at least one example for 
 every emotion aroused by unrequited love. The language every 
 now and then is lost in a maze of florid ingredients, as, e. g., 
 " Hier will ich die siisse Luft einschlurf en, die ihre schone 
 Wange gekiihlt, darein sie ihren balsamischen Atem ergoss; 
 begrabt mich hier, wenn ich einst sterbe, mein Leib wird nicht 
 in Staub zerfallen, alle meine erstarrte Adern werden bald in 
 ein neues Leben zuriickdringen und wie Blumen durch die 
 Erde zu dieser Luft emporschiessen. — ^Wer doch der Schlum- 
 mer sein konnte, auf solch einem Paar Wimpern zu ruhen. — 
 Kalter Tod, warmes Leben; alles um sie — die Welt, das Uni- 
 versum — um einem einzigen Druck." 
 
 mi, I. 
 
63 
 
 " Schlaf wohl und siiss, Liebchen zart, 
 Auf deinem Mund meine Himmelfahrt ! "^ 
 
 The language of the soliloquies in the other plays mentioned 
 before is natural and appropriate to the characters. In " Der 
 Hofmeister" and "Die Kindermorderin " the few soliloquies 
 are interesting because of the rather full stage-directions call- 
 ing for pantomime, so, e. g. : " setzt sich bin und best eine Zeit 
 lang"; legt das Buch bin, geht sehr bewegt ein paarmal auf 
 und ab"; " sucht in der Tasche und zieht den Brief heraus, 
 Guckt ihn noch einmal durch."^ Silence on the stage and silent 
 expression of the emotions is an interesting forerunner of 
 modem realistic methods. That soliloquies may have their 
 uses is made clear by one of the characters in " Der Hofmeister " 
 who begins to soliloquize in another's presence and, when inter- 
 rupted, explains : " Es ist ein Monolog aus einem Trauerspiel, 
 den ich gern recitiere wenn ich Sorgen habe,"^ in other words, 
 an efficacious means of driving dull care away. The soliloquy 
 is often a real talking to one's self, as in " Julius von Taren- 
 tum," II, 7: "Dummkopf, sie sagte mir ja selbst die Ursach 
 meiner Kalte " ; V, 2, " Alter, ist das der Ton eines Richters ?" 
 In this play especially the soliloquies contain frequent pauses, 
 numerous apostrophes and the dialog form. 
 
 3. Schiller 
 The most striking fact about the soliloquy in Schiller is its 
 frequent occurrence in the early plays, especially " Die Rauber," 
 and its gradual curtailment and disappearance in the latter 
 plays. That Schiller gave this convention more than passing 
 thought is evidenced in his preface* to the " Rauber," where he 
 speaks with approval of the self-revealing soliloquy, the solilo- 
 quy which acquaints us with the inmost thoughts and feelings 
 of the speaker. To be sure, he does not directly mention the 
 soliloquy, but he does speak of " surprising the soul as it were 
 in its most secret movements" (die Seele gleichsam bei ihren 
 
 1 II, 4, end. 
 
 2 IV, p. 325, Die Kindermorderin. V, beginning. 
 
 «II, 5- 
 
 ■* First sentence of the Vorrede. 
 
54 
 
 geheimsten Operationen ertappen) as an advantage of the dra- 
 matic method and this undoubtedly refers to the convention of 
 the soHloquy. 
 
 Quite in accordance with this statement we find a preponder- 
 ance of reflective and emotional soliloquies and a comparative 
 ■scarcity of the purely expositional type. In fact, most of the 
 «xpositional soliloquies form a small component part of some 
 'Other type of soliloquy. There is but an isolated example of an 
 initial exposition soliloquy, and that does not occur in a play 
 proper but in the prolog to the " Jungf rau von Orleans."^ In 
 it Joan acquaints us with the supernatural message which she 
 •has received. 
 
 Near the beginning of " Die Rauber " Franz prefaces a long 
 reflective soliloquy with a bit of self-characterization that leaves 
 no doubt as to his villainy, e. g., " Da miisst ich ein erbarm- 
 -licher Stiimper sein, wenn ich's nicht einmal so weit gebracht 
 hatte, einen Sohn vom Herzen des Vaters loszulosen. . . ."^ 
 -Another example of this type occurs in " Maria Stuart," where 
 Elizabeth throws considerable light upon her character : " O 
 Sklaverei des Volksdiensts ! Schmahliche Knechtschaft — Wie 
 bin ich's miide, diesem Gotzen zu schmeicheln, den mein Inner- 
 stes verachtet! etc."^ Apostrophes, exclamations, questions 
 and answers impart considerable life to these expositional frag- 
 ments and raise them far above the old ad spectatores speeches. 
 
 Narrative soliloquies are scarce, and when they do occur they 
 are incorporated in a reflective or emotional speech. In Wal- 
 lenstehi's reflective soliloquy. III, 13, we find quite a bit of 
 :-narration : 
 
 " Dahingeschmolzen vor 
 Der schwed'schen Starke waren eure Heere, 
 Am Lech sank Tilly, euer letzter Hort; 
 Ins Bayerland, wie ein geschwollner Strom, 
 Ergoss sich dieser Gustav, und zu Wien 
 In seiner Hofburg zitterte der Kaiser, 
 Soldaten waren teuer, etc."* 
 
 1 Scene 4 entire. 
 
 2 1, I. 
 
 ■3 IV, 10. 
 
 4 Wallensteins Tod. '.: 
 
65 
 
 Beatrice, in her first long emotional soliloquy, also contributes 
 expositional material in the form of narration beginning: 
 
 " Und so erwuchs ich still am stillen Orte, 
 In Lebensglut den Schatten beigesellt, 
 Da stand er plotzlich an des Klosters Pforte, 
 Schon wie ein Gott, und mannlich wie ein Held."^ 
 
 Wallenstein's narrative is infused with dramatic life by the use 
 of the apostrophe, that of Beatrice by exclamation. 
 
 A splendid example of dramatic description is found in Lei- 
 cester's soliloquy, V, lo,^ in which the preparations for the 
 execution and the execution itself are vividly sketched: 
 
 "... Horch! Was war das? 
 Sie sind schon unten . . . Unter meinen Fiissen 
 Bereitet sich das furchterliche Werk. 
 Ich bore Stimmen — Fort ! Hinweg ! Hinweg 
 Aus diesem Haus des Schreckens und des Todes ! 
 Wie? Fesselt raich ein Gott an diesen Boden? 
 Muss ich anhoren, was mir anzuschauen graut? 
 Die Stimme des Dechanten — Er ermahnet sie — 
 Sie unterbricht ihn — Horch ! — Laut betet sie — 
 Mit fester Stimme — Es wird still — Ganz still ! 
 Nur schluchzen hor' ich und die Weiber weinen — 
 Sie wird entkleidet — Horch ! Der Schemel wird 
 Geriickt — Sie kniet aufs Kissen — legt das Haupt — " 
 
 Other examples worthy of mention are " Maria Stuart," IV, 
 lo, where Elizabeth depicts the dangers that threaten her on 
 every side ; " Die Jungf rau von Orleans," IV, beginning, where 
 Joan describes the festivities inRheims; II, 6, of the same play, 
 where Montgomery describes the approach of the battling 
 maiden. 
 
 The speaker's intention usually forms the conclusion of a 
 reflective or deliberative soliloquy and is short as a rule: 
 "Fiesco," II, 8, II, 19, III, 2, V, i ; ''Maria Stuart," IV, 10; 
 "Jungf rau," III, 9; " Kabale und Liebe," I, 7; " Wallensteins 
 Tod," III, 13. When Franz Moor learns of his father's death 
 he indulges in a lengthy instructive outburst which illustrates 
 
 1 Die Braut von Messina. 
 
 2 Maria Stuart. 
 
56 
 
 the ranting unnatural style so characteristic of " Die Rauber " : 
 " Nun sollt ihr den nackten Franz sehen und euch entsetzen ! 
 Meine Augenbrauen sollen iiber euch herhangen wie Gewitter- 
 wolken, mein herrischer Name schweben wie ein drohender 
 Komet iiber diesen Gebirgen, meine Stirne soil euer Wetterglas 
 sein ! Er streichelte und koste den Nacken, der gegen ihn 
 storrig zuriickschlug, Streicheln und kosen ist meine Sache 
 nicht. Ich will euch die zackichten Sporen ins Fleisch hauen, 
 und die scharfe Geissel versuchen. ... In meinem Gebiet 
 soil's so weit kommen, dass Kartoffeln und diinn Bier ein 
 Traktament fiir Festtage werden, und wehe dem, der mir mit 
 vollen, feurigen Backen unter die Augen tritt! Blasse der 
 Armut und sklavischen Furcht sind meine Leibfarbe ; in diese 
 Liverei will ich euch kleiden !"^ 
 
 Thought soliloquies, especially of the reflective variety, 
 greatly outnumber the expositional type, and every play fur- 
 nishes one or more examples. In " Die Rauber " Franz is 
 especially obliging in the matter of taking the audience into his 
 confidence and unfolding his crassly materialistic point of view, 
 his heartless villainy, his cringing cowardice. In his first long- 
 winded soliloquy he reveals his attitude toward life, practically 
 a negation of all ties which hold society together. One by one 
 he takes up and coolly disposes of reputation, conscience, etc. : 
 " Gewissen — o ja freilich! ein tiichtiger Lumpenmann, Sper- 
 linge von Kirschbaumen wegzuschrecken ! ... In der That 
 sehr lobenswiirdige Anstalten die Narren im Respekt und den 
 Pobel unter dem Pantoffel zu halten, datnit die Gescheiten es 
 desto bequemer haben."^ In spite of its great length the soHloquy 
 is not without dramatic life. Apostrophes are frequent, ques- 
 tions follow each other in breathless haste, sometimes five or 
 six before an answer is vouchsafed: " Warum hat er mich 
 gemacht? doch wohl nicht gar aus Liebe zu mir, der erst ein 
 Ich werden sollte ? Hat er mich gekannt ehe er mich machte ? 
 Oder hat er mich gedacht wie er mich machte? Oder hat er 
 mich gewiinscht, da er mich machte? Wusste er was ich 
 werden wiirde? Das wollte ich ihm nicht raten."^ Qcca- 
 
 1 Die Rauber, II, 2 end. 
 
 2 1,1. 
 
57 
 
 sional interruptions in the flow of thought also show a desire 
 to secure verisimilitude. In the same act Karl reflects upon the 
 degeneracy of the times in a speech that is permeated with 
 disgust and indignation and characterized by terrible ranting.^ 
 The soliloquy at the beginning of the second act, partly reflect- 
 ive, partly deliberative, suffers from the insertion of medical 
 lore in the reflective portion, but is otherwise dramatic. The 
 other reflective speeches in this play are made more or less dra- 
 matic by the use of exclamations, questions and answers, and 
 pauses. - 
 
 The short reflective soliloquies in " Fiesco " form quite a con- 
 trast to the lengthy outpourings in " Die Rauber." Their brev- 
 ity might tempt one to regard them as link soliloquies, but they 
 serve a dramatic purpose by characterizing the speaker or by 
 showing his attitude. Fiesco delivers most of these speeches, 
 usually at the end of a scene : " Dieser Republikaner ist hart 
 wie Stahl." " Wenn diese Flammen ins Vaterland schlagen, 
 mogen die Doria feste stehen." Other instances occur in I, 2 ; 
 II, 16; 111,6; V, I. 
 
 It would lead too far afield to take up all the reflective solilo- 
 quies. Among the more noteworthy^ are Eboli's dramatic speech 
 when Don Karlos spurns her love,* Wallenstein's long soliloquy 
 when he realizes that he has hopelessly involved himself,^ Lei- 
 cester's speech after his unmasking by Burleigh,^ Tell's famous 
 soliloquy in the hollow way.^ The length of Tell's speech is a 
 little surprising at first sight, but, let us remember that we are 
 dealing with a soliloquy, not with dialog. In dialog his loqua- 
 ciousness would be surprising, but here it is simply a case of 
 his thoughts being made audible as he is waiting to kill Gessler. 
 This reflective speech contains no element of conflict; no at- 
 
 u, 2. 
 
 2 I, end ; IV, 2 by Franz ; IV, 2, end by Franz ; IV, 4. 
 
 3 Other examples: Kabale und Liebe, I, 6; IV, 8; Don Karlos, I, i; 
 II, 9; III, i; III, 5; IV, 6. Piccolomini, II, 5; III, 9; Wallensteins Tod, 
 II, 4; II, s; III, 13. Jungfrau, II, 8; III, 9; Braut v. Messina, beg. of 
 Sc. 2 partly; Tell, II, i end. 
 
 ♦ Don Karlos, II, 9- 
 
 5 Wallensteins Tod, I, 4. 
 
 6 Maria Stuart, IV, 4. 
 
 7 Wilhelm Tell, IV, 3. 
 
58 
 
 tempt is made to reach a decision, no defense of his intended 
 action is made. His decision is previously made and he is 
 absolutely convinced of the righteousness of his undertaking. 
 The form is practically that of a dialog and consequently highly 
 dramatic. Practically a third of it is an apostrophe to Gess- 
 ler, and throughout the remainder of the soliloquy apostrophes 
 are made now to his arrow and bowstring, now to his children. 
 Purely deliberative soliloquies are rather infrequent, inasmuch 
 as the speaker's emotional nature usually crops to the surface 
 and puts an end to calm deliberation and a cool unimpassioned 
 weighing of the pros and cons. Franz Moor's solution of the 
 problem of committing murder legally admirably illustrates the 
 deliberative type. The problem is stated : " Wer es verstiinde 
 dem Tod diesen ungebahnten Weg in das Schloss des Lebens 
 zu ebnen? den Korper vom Geist aus zu verderben ... ha! 
 ein Originalwerk ! wer das zu Stand brachte ? " His perplexity 
 is removed little by little by a careful weighing of all possible 
 solutions, till the one eminently satisfactory weapon is found: 
 "Zorn? . , . dieser heisshungrige Wolf frisst sich zu schnell 
 satt . . . Sorge? . . . dieser Wurm nagt mir zu langsam . . . 
 Gram? . . . diese Natter schleicht mir zu trage — Furcht? 
 ... die Hoffnung lasst sie nicht umgreifen . . . Was? sind 
 das all die Henker des Menschen? ... 1st das Arsenal des 
 Todes so bald erschojpft? . . . (Tiefsinnend) Wie? . . . 
 Nun? . . . Was? Nein! Ha! (Auffahrend) Schreck!— Was 
 kann der Schreck nicht ? . . . Und doch ? Wenn er auch diesem 
 Sturm stiinde? . . . Wenn er? etc."^ The final decision is 
 worked out as well as any of Lessing's. The suspense, the 
 mental groping, the flashlike decision, remind us of Nathan's 
 decision in his famous soliloquy. To be sure the ranting spoils 
 the good effect. Posa's soliloquy immediately before his inter- 
 view with the king is moulded along the lines of Nathan's speech 
 prior to his interview with the Sultan and avoids Moor's rant- 
 ing. Posa is perplexed at being summoned by the king. "Wie 
 komm ich aber hieher? Eigensinn des launenhaften Zufalls 
 war es nur, was mir mein Bild in diesen Spiegeln zeigte? . . . 
 
 1 Die Rauber, II, i. 
 
Ein Zufall nur ?" After due deliberation he reaches a decision : 
 " Was der Konig mit mir auch wollen mag, gleichviel ! — Ich 
 weiss, was ich . . . ich mit dem Konig soil — und war's auch 
 eine Feuerflocke Wahrheit nur. . . ."^ The Moor's soliloquy 
 in Fiesco^ differs from these in that it reaches no decision. 
 
 When the speaker's emotions intrude upon his calm delibera- 
 tion, when head gives way to the heart, the way is paved 
 for a soliloquy in which the struggle between conflicting ideas 
 and emotions is depicted, in short, a conflict soliloquy. Fiesco 
 passes through two such struggles. In the first conflict^ be- 
 tween his selfishness and his altruism the latter is victorious and 
 he decides to renounce his ambition for the good of the state. 
 The opening lines leave no doubt as to the type of soliloquy : 
 "Welch ein Aufruhr in meiner Brust! welche heimliche Flucht 
 der Gedanken. . . ." In his second inner struggle* Fiesco 
 vacillates for some time between obeying and ruling, but finally 
 decides in favor of the hammer rather than the anvil. Here 
 too the inner unrest is pointed out near the opening of the 
 soHloquy: "Wilde Phantasien haben meinen Schlaf aufge- 
 schwelgt . . . mein ganzes Wesen krampfig um eine Empfind- 
 ung gewalzt. . . ." Joan's conflict between love and duty,^ 
 Karl Moor's " to be or not to be " soliloquy,'' Amalia's struggle 
 after she has spoken to Karl,^ and the latter's conflict as he sees 
 the scenes of his childhood after a long absence,® are other 
 examples of this type.^ 
 
 Philosophic utterances frequently form a small component 
 part of a reflective soliloquy, especially in the later dramas. 
 The most noteworthy example, as well as the longest, is Wallen- 
 stein's reflection on custom :^° 
 
 1 Don Karlos, III, 9. 
 
 2 Fiesco, III, 7. 
 
 3 Die Verschworung des Fiesco, II, 19. 
 
 4 Fiesco, III, 2. 
 
 5 Die Jungfrau, v. O, IV, beg. 
 
 6 Die Rauber, IV, 5. 
 
 7 Ibid., IV, 4- 
 sibid.. IV. I. 
 
 9 Two soliloquies in Demetrius. 
 
 10 Wallensteins Tod, I, 4. 
 
60 
 
 " Nicht was lebendig, kraftvoll sich verkundigt, 
 1st das gefahrlich Furchtbare. Das ganz 
 Gemeine ist's, das ewig Gestrige, 
 Was immer war und immer wiederkehret 
 Und morgen gilt, weil's heute hat gegolten ! 
 Denn aus Gemeinem ist der Mensch gemacht, 
 Und die Gewohnheit nennt er seine Amme. 
 Weh dem, der an den wiirdig alten Hausrat 
 Ihm riihrt, das teure Erbstiick seiner Ahnen ! " 
 
 In the face of death Talbot philosophizes as follows : 
 
 " So geht der Mensch zu Ende — und die einzige 
 Ausbeute, die wir aus dem Kampf des Lebens 
 Wegtragen ist die Einsicht in das Nichts 
 Und herzliche Verachtung alles dessen, 
 Was uns erhaben schien und wiinschenswert. . . ."^ 
 
 Other examples occur in "Don Karlos," III, 9; "Maria Stu- 
 art," II, 6; IV, 10; " Wilhelm Tell," II, i. 
 
 Emotional soliloquies are especially numerous in " Die Rau- 
 ber," and the early dramas are all characterized by the most 
 unnatural florid style. So, e. g., when Karl Moor realizes his 
 brother's colossal knavery, he regales us with an allegro furi- 
 oso on the theme Spitzbube, with several variations.^ Fiesco 
 contributes this inimitable bit when he discovers his murdered 
 wife: "Ah, (mit frechem Zahneblecken gen Himmel) hatt ich 
 nur seinen Weltbau zwischen diesen Zahnen — ich fuhlte mich 
 aufgelegt, die ganze Natur in ein grinsendes Scheusal zu zer- 
 kratzen, bis sie aussieht wie mein Schmerz."^ Such examples 
 might be multiplied ad libitum but would serve no purpose. 
 The later dramas furnish more examples of thought soliloquies 
 with the exception of " Die Braut von Messina" in which three 
 of the four soliloquies are of the emotional type. The diction 
 of these soliloquies like that of the entire play is lofty and 
 highly poetic. 
 
 Pantomime by an actor left alone on the stage as a means of 
 expressing his emotions has largely supplanted the soliloquy in 
 
 1 Jungfrau, III, 6. 
 
 2 Die Rauber, IV, 3. 
 s Fiesco, V, 13. 
 
61 
 
 the modern realistic drama. Schiller realizes the value of pan- 
 tomime and frequently inserts stage-directions in his soliloquies 
 calling for it. Yet he does not attempt to supplant the solilo- 
 quy by pantomime, but wisely makes it an efifective servant. 
 There is but one noteworthy instance where a character is left 
 alone on the stage without delivering the expected soliloquy. 
 The overpowering grief is here expressed by silent pantomime 
 which is far more effective than a long outburst would be. The 
 stage-directions read : " Wallenstein leaves. The servant lights 
 the way. Seni follows. Gordon remains standing in the dark- 
 ness, looking after the duke until he has disappeared in the fur- 
 thest corridor; then he expresses his grief by gestures and 
 leans sorrowfully against a column."^ One of the most com- 
 mon stage-directions found in the soliloquies is that calling for 
 silence, which shows that Schiller realized that the mind does 
 not work with clock-like precision and that the flow of thought 
 is frequently interrupted. " Nach einem langen Tief schweigen ; 
 Pause ; grosse Pause ; in Tief sinn versunken ; bleibt tief sinnig 
 stehen; geht tiefdenkend auf und nieder," are the most fre- 
 quently used directions and are especially numerous in the first 
 four plays. All of the eight directions found in " Wallenstein " 
 and the succeeding dramas call for silence. 
 
 Summing up then we find that the soliloquy after running 
 riot in " Die Rauber," both quantitatively and stylistically, grad- 
 ually subsides and shows marked moderation along both lines. 
 Although " Fiesco " and " Kabale und Liebe " combined do not 
 give as much space to the soliloquy as " Die Rauber," the style 
 employed is still characterized by ranting and florid outbursts 
 and the tendency towards sane expression is slight indeed. In 
 " Don Karlos " on the other hand, the style of the soliloquies is 
 natural and free from ornamentation. In the later dramas in 
 spite of the fact that they are clothed in verse, the prevalence 
 of natural diction and the comparative absence of rhetorical 
 embelHshments in the soliloquies is noteworthy. The most 
 striking fact about the solilcKiuies however is their dramatic 
 form. Practically only such passages as embody philosophic 
 
 1 Wallensteins Tod, V, 5 end. 
 
62 
 
 generalizations might be termed undramatic, all others throb 
 with life. Schiller is especially happy in his use of the dialog 
 form, in his habit of making the soliloqu}^ a real speaking to 
 one's self. When this duality of the speaker is not in evidence 
 the skillful use of apostrophe again imparts this dialog element 
 to the speeches. Question and answer, exclamations and apos- 
 trophe never permit the soliloquy to degenerate into a lifeless 
 narration of facts and feelings. 
 
 4. Goethe 
 
 Unquestioning acceptance of the soliloquy in all its forms 
 characterizes Goethe's use of the convention. In his second 
 dramatic effort, " Die IMitschuldigen," which shows a profusion 
 of soliloquies and asides, Goethe seems to have seen the absurd- 
 ity of this prodigality and pokes fun at it by saying : " Ohne 
 viel Raison giebt's manchen Monolog."^ Although his second 
 version of " Gotz " contains fewer soliloquies than the first, it 
 is not due to the fact that the soliloquies troubled him, but 
 rather to the fact that Adelheid had been too much in the lime- 
 light and had become too prominent in the play. In order to 
 readjust the play and lessen the emphasis placed upon this char- 
 acter, some of the soliloquies were discarded. On the other' 
 hand, the first part of " Faust " is richer in soliloquies than the 
 original version known as the " Urfaust." The gradual elimi- 
 nation of soliloquies noticeable in Schiller is not in evidence in 
 Goethe's dramas; quite the contrary, Goethe's later plays em- 
 ploy this convention more freely if anything than the early dra- 
 matic works. The most notable change in the soliloquies as we 
 follow the plays chronologically is the gradual transition from 
 a dramatic mold to one that is lyric and elegiac. 
 
 Initial exposition soliloquies are employed in " Die Geschwis- 
 ter," " Iphigenie," and " Faust." Of the three only that in the 
 first mentioned is baldly expositional, and it is rather crudely 
 epic, being relieved only by an expression of the speaker's love 
 for Marianne in the form of an impassioned apostrophe and the 
 portrayal of the doubts that arise in his mind as to her love for 
 
 mi, 8. 
 
him. The conflicting emotions and his decision are dramati- 
 cally depicted : " O Marianne ! wenn du wiisstest, dass der, den 
 du fiir deinen Bruder haltst, dass der mit ganz anderm Herzen, 
 ganz andern Hoffnungen fiir dich arbeitet ! . . . Vielleicht ! 
 . . . Ach! Es ist doch bitter . . . Sie liebt mich . . . ja, als 
 Bruder , . . Nein, pfui! das ist wieder Unglaube, und der hat 
 nie was Gutes gestiftet. . . . Marianne! ich werde gliicklich 
 sein, du wirst's sein, Marianne !" The initial soliloquy in 
 " Iphigenie " on the other hand is so permeated with her grief, 
 her unhappiness and her hopes, not to forget the philosophical 
 admixture, that the expositional matter is hidden by a veil, as it 
 were. The exposition in Faust's soliloquy is also entirely sub- 
 ordinated to the emotional element. After revealing his hopeless 
 mood, his dissatisfaction with his present condition : " Es mochte 
 kein Hund so langer leben," the soliloquy reveals his ardent long- 
 ing for life and love. Realizing his failure as a scholar, Faust 
 casts aside that hitherto dominant interest and pleads for emo- 
 tional participation in life. The grim bitterness of the intro- 
 duction gives way to a passage of great lyric warmth and beauty 
 which is followed by another outburst of disgust and the exe- 
 cution of the plan to call magic to his aid. The approach of 
 the Erdgeist is very vividly described, especially where he 
 arouses himself with ahnost superhuman effort: " Du musst! 
 du musst, und kostet es mein Leben ! " The speech then is rather 
 an exposition of mental state than of facts, a highly subjective 
 soliloquy. Epimetheus's opening soliloquy in " Pandora " might 
 also be termed a soliloquy of mental state, as it is for the most 
 part reflective and only incidentally expositional. The bit of 
 self-identification in this speech is interesting: 
 
 " Denn Epimetheus nannten mich die Zeugenden, 
 Vergangnem nachzusinnen, Raschgeschehenes 
 Zuriickzufiihren, miihsamen Gedankenspiels, 
 Zum triiben Reich gestalten-mischender Moglichkeit." 
 
 In a few of the fragments expositional soliloquies are found, 
 e. g., in " Nausikaa," I, 2, where Ulysses briefly alludes to his 
 wanderings ; in " Die Aufgeregten " and in " Bruchstiicke einer 
 Tragodie" which was not written out but merely outlined. 
 
64 
 
 The third act of the second part of " Faust " opens with an ex- 
 positional soliloquy by Helena in the style of a Greek tragedy. 
 
 Instances of identification are rare in the soliloquies. Aside 
 from the example in " Pandora," in which Epimetheus intro- 
 duces himself, there are two instances in the second part of 
 "Faust," in which Erichtho and Helen introduce themselves. 
 In the opening soliloquy of " Iphigenie " and the first soliloquy 
 in " Nausikaa " the identity of the speaker is revealed without 
 the actual mentioning of the name. 
 
 The best of the few examples of self-characterization is that 
 of Brackenburg in " Egmont," in which he contrasts his boyish 
 traits with his present characteristics.^ But even this forms but 
 a small part of a reflective soliloquy, as is the case with the other 
 characterizing bits, e. g., " Ich habe nicht gelernt zu hinter- 
 halten, noch jemand etwas abzulisten."^ 
 
 Descriptive soliloquies are of frequent occurrence, especially 
 in the second part of " Faust," the second act of which has as 
 many as nine of this type. Weislingen's speech as he is dying 
 is only partially relieved by a dramatic expression of remorse 
 at having condemned Gotz to death : " Ich bin so krank, so 
 schwach. AUe meine Gebeine sind hohl. Ein elendes Fieber 
 hat das Mark ausgefressen. Keine Ruh' und Rast, weder Tag 
 noch Nacht. Im halben Schlummer giftige Traume. . . . 
 Matt ! Matt ! Wie sind meine Nagel so blau ! — Ein kalter, kalter, 
 verzehrender Schweiss lahmt mir jedes Glied. Es dreht mir 
 alles vorm Gesicht. Konnt' ich schlaf en ! "^ Shorter descrip- 
 tions, especially of occurrences ofif the stage, are less crude, as, 
 e. g., Lerse's : " Gotzen zu Hiilf ! Er ist fast umringt. Braver 
 Selbitz, du hast schon Luft gemacht,"^ or Gotz at the window : 
 "Aha! ein rotrockiger Schurke, der uns die Frage vorlegen 
 wird, ob wir Hundsf otter sein wollen."^ Or "Gott sei Dank! 
 Dort seh ich Feuer, sind Zigeuner. Meine Wunden verbluten, 
 die Feinde hinterher. Heiliger Gott, du endigst grasslich mit 
 mir ! "« In " Stella " the description at the window is infused 
 
 1 I, end. 
 
 2 Iphigenie, IV, i. 
 
 3 Gotz, IV, 10. 
 4G6tz, III, II. 
 6 Gotz, III, i6. 
 6 Gotz, V, 6. 
 
65 
 
 with some dramatic life by an emotional admixture and fre- 
 quent apostrophes. "So seh ich dich wieder? Den Schau- 
 platz all meiner Gliickseligkeit ! Wie still das ganze Haus ist ! 
 Kein Fenster offen ! Die Galerie wie ode, auf der wir so oft 
 zusammen sassen ! Merk dir's Fernando, das klosterliche An- 
 sehn ihrer Wohnung, wie schmeichelt es deinen Hoffnungen."'- 
 In " Egmont " the princess rather baldly describes the unsettled 
 condition of the Netherlands,^ but later in the same play Alba 
 delivers a dramatic description at the window : " Er ist es ! 
 Egmont! — Trug dich dein Pferd so leicht herein und scheute 
 vor dem Blutgeruche nicht, und vor dem Geiste mit dem blan- 
 ken Schwert, der an der Pforte dich empfangt? — Steig ab! — 
 So bist du mit einem Fuss im Grab ! und so mit beiden ! — ^Ja, 
 streichl' es nur und klopfe fur seinen mutigen Dienst zum letzten 
 Male den Nacken ihm — Und mir bleibt keine Wahl."^ Euge- 
 nie's description of the preparations made for her departure,* 
 Faust's descriptive bits in his first two soliloquies, his rapturous 
 outburst after seeing Gretchen, Gretchen's description of the 
 jewels, all are enlivened by an emotional admixture. The de- 
 scriptive soliloquies in the second part of " Faust " on the other 
 hand are quite undramatic and unnecessarily retard the action. 
 A few of these speeches are characterized by great stylistic 
 beauty and their marvellous word painting makes one forget 
 their dramatic shortcomings. For example: 
 
 " In Dammerschein liegt schon die Welt erschlossen 
 Der Wald ertont von tausendstimmigem Leben, 
 Tal aus, Tal ein ist Nebelstreif ergossen, 
 Doch senkt sich Himmelsklarheit in die Tiefen, 
 Und Zweig' und Aste, frisch erquickt, entsprossen 
 Dem duft'gen Abgrund, wo versenkt sie schliefen; 
 Auch Farb' an Farbe klart sich los vom Grunde, 
 Wo Blum' und Blatt von Zitterperle triefen, 
 Ein Paradies wird um mich her die Runde."^ 
 
 1 Stella, I, 2. 
 
 2 Egmont, I, 2. 
 
 3 Egmont, IV, 2. 
 
 4 Die Natiirliche Tochter, V, 6. 
 
 5 Faust, Part II, i, opening sol. 
 
66 
 
 Faust's opening soliloquy in the fourth act is another instance 
 of lyric beauty. Other speeches however lack the saving grace 
 of formal beauty, as, e. g., Mephisto's soliloquy in the second 
 act: 
 
 " Blick' ich hinauf, hierher, hiniiber, 
 
 Allunverandert ist es, unversehrt; 
 
 Die bunten Scheiben sind, so diinkt mich, triiber, 
 
 Die Spinneweben haben sich vermehrt; 
 
 Die Tinte starrt, vergilbt ist das Papier; 
 
 Doch alles ist am Ratz geblieben; 
 
 Sogar die Feder liegt noch hier, 
 
 Mit welcher Faust dem Teufel sich verschrieben. 
 
 Ja! tiefer in dem Rohre stockt 
 
 Ein Tropflein Blut, wie ich's ihm abgelockt."^ 
 
 Purely narrative soliloquies are infrequent, and it is ex- 
 ceptional to find such an ad spectatores speech as Sickingen's : 
 " Es geht alles nach Wunsch ; sie war etwas bestiirzt iiber 
 meinen Antrag und sah mich vom Kopf bis auf die Fiisse an; 
 ich wette sie verglich mich mit ihrem Weissfisch. Gott sei Dank, 
 dass ich mich stellen darf. Sie antwortete wenig und durch- 
 einander; desto besser!"^ Epimetheus's second soliloquy in 
 " Pandora," in which he relates his first meeting with Pandora 
 at some length is entirely narrative. But generally the narra- 
 tive passages are brief and form but a portion of some other 
 type of soliloquy, as in " Iphigenie," where this narrative bit is 
 incorporated in a reflective soliloquy: 
 
 "Jetzt gehn sie, ihren Anschlag auszufiihren, 
 Der See zu, wo das Schiff mit den Gefahrten 
 In einer Bucht versteckt aufs Zeichen lauert, 
 Und haben kluges Wort mir in den Mund 
 Gegeben, mich gelehrt, was ich dem Konig 
 Antworte, wenn er sendet und das Opfer 
 Mir dringender gebietet." » 
 
 Marthe's recital of her husband's desertion,* Brackenburg's 
 mention of his attempted suicide,^ Sophie's mention of her 
 
 1 Faust, Part II, II, beg. 
 
 2 Gotz, III, 4. 
 
 8 IV, I. 
 
 4 Faust, I, p. J 28, ed. by Heinemann. 
 
 5 Egmont, I, end. 
 
67 
 
 marriage with Seller/ Breme's narration of his plans,^ are 
 other instances of the above mentioned amalgamation of a nar- 
 rative passage with a reflective or some other type of soliloquy. 
 Soliloquies whose prime purpose is to acquaint us with the 
 speaker's intention are infrequent. For the most part the in- 
 tention is the result of reflection or inner conflict and is made ai 
 mere appendix to a soliloquy of that type, as was the custom in 
 Lessing and Schiller. Egle's soliloquy in " Die Laune des 
 Verliebten " illustrates the purely intentional type : 
 
 " Schon gut ! Wir wollen sehn ! Schon lange wiinscht' ich mir 
 Gelegenheit und Gluck, den Schafer zu bekehren. 
 Heut wird mein Wunsch erfullt; wart' nur, ich will dich lehren 
 Dir zeigen, wer du hist ; und wenn du dann sie plagst ! "^ 
 
 Or Gotz's : " Wir wollen ihre Geduld fiirn Narren halten, und 
 ihre Tapferkeit sollen sie mir an ihren eigenen Nageln ver- 
 kauen."* Practically every drama has examples of soliloquies 
 with intentional appendices, generally soliloquies of the re- 
 flective type.^ In " Gotz," e. g., Franz after comparing Maria 
 and Adelheid in a reflective soliloquy ends with : " Mein Herr 
 muss hin! Ich muss hin! Und da will ich mich wieder ge-- 
 scheit oder vollig rasend gaffen."® Or Mephistopheles, after- 
 reflecting about reason and science and Faust's character, an^ 
 nounces his intention as follows: 
 
 " Den schlepp' ich durch das wilde Leben, 
 Durch flache Unbedeutenheit, 
 Er soil mir zappeln, starren, kleben, 
 Und seiner Unersattlichkeit 
 Soil Speis' und Trank vor gier'gen Lippen schweben ; "'' 
 
 1 Die Mitschuldigen, I, 3. , 
 
 2 Die Aufgeregten, I, 5. 
 
 3 Die Laune des Verliebten, Sc. 8. 
 
 4 Gotz, III, 17. 
 
 5 Die Laune des Verliebten, Sc. 5. Die Mitschuldigen, I, 7 ; II, 5. 
 Gotz, I, 2 ; I, s ; I, end ; II, 7 ; IV, 4. Clavigo, IV, beginning. Die Ge- 
 schwister, Fabrice's sol., p. 344, ed. Bibliographisches Inst. Egmont, III, 
 beg. Iphigenie, I, 2 ; II, end. Tasso, III, 5 ; IV, 3. Naturliche Tochter, 
 II, 2; V, 8. Faust, I, second sol. in scene: Nacht: Studierzimmer (2), 
 Faust, II, V, end of scene : Mittemacht. 
 
 6 Gotz, I, end. 
 
 7 Faust, I, Studierzimmer (2). 
 
68 
 
 The remaining examples of soliloquies containing the speaker's 
 intention are mostly conflict soliloquies in which a decision is 
 reached and the plan of action announced.^ 
 
 Practically all of the reflective soliloquies just mentioned are 
 infused witli dramatic life by the judicious employment of ex- 
 clamations, apostrophes, and the dialog form. This is true even 
 of the later poetic dramas, where the atmosphere of lyric beauty 
 aflForded more than a passing temptation to cast the speaker's 
 reflections in a lyric rather than a dramatic mold. With the 
 exception of a few isolated passages, so notably in " Faust,"^ 
 Goethe successfully combats this temptation and infuses the 
 soliloquies with dramatic vigor. The opening soliloquy in the 
 fourth act of "Tasso" is a splendid example of the dramatic 
 reflective type : 
 
 " Bist du aus einem Traum erwacht, und hat 
 Der schone Trug auf einmal dich verlassen? 
 Hat dich an einem Tag der hochsten Lust 
 Ein Schlaf gebandigt, halt und angstet nun 
 Mit schweren Fesseln deine Seele? Ja, 
 Du wachst und traumst. Wo sind die Stunden hin, 
 Die um dein Haupt mit Blumenkranzen spielten? 
 Die Tage, wo dein Geist mit freier Sehnsucht 
 Des Himmels ausgespanntes Blau durchdrang? 
 Und dennoch lebst du noch, und fiihlst dich an, 
 Du fiihlst dich an, und weisst nicht, ob du lebst." 
 
 Many of the purely reflective soliloquies are short, as, e. g., 
 Margarete's : 
 
 " Du lieber Gott ! was so ein Mann 
 Nicht alles, alles denken kann ! 
 Beschamt nur steh' ich vor ihm da 
 Und sag' zu alien Sachen ja. 
 Bin doch ein arm unwissend Kind, 
 Begreife nicht, was er an mir find't."^ 
 
 Sententious bits are not very numerous except possibly in 
 *'Die Mitschuldigen," where there is a liberal sprinkling of 
 
 1 Tasso, III, 3. Grosscophta, IV, i ; IV, 8. 
 
 2 Faust, I, V, 6o2-s; 634-639; 640-651; 672-675; 682-685. 
 
 •3 Faust, I, 3211-3216; others 1526-29; 2678-83; 2862-64; 3677-86. 
 
69 
 
 homely practical truths: " Ein Madchen ist wahrhaftig iibel 
 dran ! etc." :^ 
 
 " Es braucht's nicht eben just, dass einer tapfer ist; 
 
 Man kommt auch durch die Welt mit Schleichen und mit List. "2; 
 " Es ist ein narrisch Ding um ein empfindlich Blut ; 
 
 Es pocht, wenn man auch nur halbweg was Boses tut."^ 
 " Ja, folgt der Liebe nur ! Mit f reundlichen Geberden 
 
 Lockt sie euch an fangs nach — 
 
 Doch wenn ihr einmal den Weg verliert, 
 
 Dann fuhrt kein IrrHcht euch so schlimm, als sie euch fiihrt."* 
 " Wenn man was Boses tut, erschrickt man vor dem Bosen."^ 
 
 Weislingen's : " So gewiss ist der allein gliicklich und gross, 
 der weder zu herrschen noch zu gehorchen braucht, um et^vas 
 zu sein;"® Lerse's: " So geht's in der Welt, weiss kein Mensch, 
 was aus den Dingen werden kann,^ etc. ;" Margarete von Par- 
 ma's : " O was sind wir Grossen auf der Woge der Mensch- 
 heit? Wir glauben sie zu beherrschen, und sie treibt uns auf 
 und nieder, bin und her,"® are on a somewhat higher plane and 
 show a maturer mind. 
 
 Philosophical passages in the soliloquies are infrequent. 
 Faust's second soliloquy includes the following philosophical 
 passage : 
 
 " Ach ! unsre Taten selbst, so gut als unsre Leiden, 
 Sie hemmen unsres Lebens Gang. 
 Dem Herrlichsten, was auch der Geist empfangen, 
 Drangt immer fremd und fremder Stoff sich an; 
 Wenn wir zum Guten dieser Welt gelangen, 
 Dann heisst das Bess're Trug und Wahn. 
 Die uns das Leben gaben, herrliche Gefiihle, 
 Erstarren in dem irdischen Gewiihle. 
 Wenn Phantasie sich sonst mit kuhnem Flug 
 Und hoffnungsvoll zum Ewigen erweitert, 
 So ist ein kleiner Raum ihr nun genug, 
 
 U, 3, V. i8i. 
 2 11, I, V. 337. 
 8 II, 2, V. 377. 
 4 n. 3, V. 398 ff. 
 
 B III, I, V. 540. 
 
 8G6tz, I, 5. 
 
 7 Gotz, III, 19. 
 
 8 Egmont, I, 2. 
 
70 
 
 Wenn Gliick auf Gliick im Zeitenstrudel scheitert. 
 
 Die Sorge nistet gleich im tiefen Herzen, 
 
 Dort wirket sie geheime Schmerzen, 
 
 Unruhig wiegt sie sich und storet Lust und Ruh ! ; 
 
 Sie deckt sich stets mit neuen Masken zu, 
 
 Sie mag als Haus und Hof, als Weib und Kind erscheinen, 
 
 AIs Feuer, Wasser, Dolch und Gift; 
 
 Du bebst vor allem, was nicht trifft, 
 
 Und was du nie verlierst, das musst du stets beweinen?"i 
 
 Another splendid example is found in Faust's opening solilo- 
 quy in the second part, v. 4704-4714. 
 
 Soliloquies of violent inner conflict are far more numerous 
 than the calmer and purely mental deliberative soliloquy which. 
 as a matter of fact, is very scarce indeed. Weislingen's delib- 
 eration after agreeing to remain at Bamberg incidentally de- 
 picts the working of his conscience : " Du bleibst ! Sei auf deiner 
 Hut, die Versuchung ist gross — Doch ist's nicht recht, die vielen 
 Geschafte, die ich dem Bischof unvollendet liegen liess, nicht 
 wenigstens so zu ordnen, dass ein Nachfolger da anfangen 
 kann, wo ich's gelassen habe. Das kann ich doch alles thun, 
 unbeschadet Berlichingen und unserer Verbindung. Denn 
 halten sollen sie mich hier nicht. — Ware doch besser gewesen, 
 wenn ich nicht gekommen ware. Aber ich will fort — morgen 
 oder iibermorgen."- 
 
 In " Die Mitschuldigen," Soller, who needs money to pay his 
 gambling debts, solves the predicament as follows : 
 
 " Ich weiss nicht aus noch ein. 
 Wie war's? . . . Alcest hat Geld . . . und diese Dietrich' schliessen. 
 Er hat auch grosse Lust, bei mir was zu geniessen ! 
 Er schleicht um meine Frau, das ist mir lang' verhasst: 
 Eh nun ! da lad' ich mich einmal bei ihm zu Gast. 
 Allein, kam' es heraus, da gab's dir schlimme Sachen — 
 Ich bin nun in der Not, was kann ich anders machen? 
 Der Spieler will sein Geld, sonst priigelt er mich aus. 
 Courage, Soller! Fort! es schlaft das ganze Haus."^ 
 
 1 Faust, I, 632-651. 
 
 2 Gotz, II, 7. 
 
 3 1, 7. 
 
71 
 
 Eugenie, on the point of embarking, stops to weigh the pros and 
 cons and decides to remain : 
 
 " Und solche Sorge nahm' ich mit hiniiber? 
 Entzoge mich gemeinsamer Gefahr? 
 Entflohe der Gelegenheit, mich kuhn 
 Der hohen Ahnen wiirdig zu beweisen, 
 Und jeden, der mich ungerecht verletzt, 
 In boser Stunde hiilfreich zu beschamen? 
 Nun bist du, Boden meines Vaterlands, 
 Mir erst ein HeiHgtum, nun fiihl ich erst 
 Den dringenden Beruf, mich anzuklammern."^ 
 
 "Die Mitschiildigen " contains two splendid examples^ of the 
 dramatic conflict soHloquy. Although everything points to 
 Sophie's guilt, Alcest is loth to believe that such a noble crea- 
 ture is capable of the theft and is racked by doubt. The open- 
 ing line of the first soliloquy stamps it as an expression of inner 
 dissension : 
 
 " Solch einen schweren Streit empfand dies Herz noch nie." 
 
 In the second soliloquy he is still in the throes of conflict : 
 
 " Nun waren wir gescheit ! Das ist ein tolles Wesen ! 
 Der Teufel mag das Ding nun auseinander lesen ! . . . 
 Hier ist ein Fall, wo man beim Denken nichts gewinnt; 
 Man wird nur tiefer dumm, je tiefer dass man sinnt." 
 
 Fernando's terrific mental struggles are admirably portrayed 
 in " Stella," V, 2 : " Lass mich ! Lass mich ! Sieh ! da f asst's 
 mich wieder mit all der schrecklichen Verworrenheit ! — So kalt, 
 so grass liegt alles vor mir . . . als war' die Welt nichts . . . 
 ich hatte drin nichts verschuldet . . . Und sie ! — Ha ! bin ich 
 nicht elender als ihr? Was habt ihr an mich zu fordern? . . . 
 Was ist nun des Sinnens Ende? — Hier! und hier! Von einem 
 Ende zum andern! durchgedacht ! und wieder durchgedacht ! 
 und immer qualender ! immer schrecklicher ! . . . Wo's zuletzt 
 widerstosst ! Nirgends vor, nicht hinter sich ! Nirgends Rat 
 
 1 Natiirliche Tochter, V, 8. 
 
 2 III, 7; III, 9. 
 
72 
 
 und Hiilfe! . . . Und diese zwei? Diese drei besten weib- 
 lichen Geschopfe der Erde elend durch mich! " 
 
 Iphigenie's two conflict soliloquies, IV, 3, and IV, 5, are 
 characterized by a dignified repression which is quite in accord 
 with her nature and fully as forceful as the wild outbursts of 
 an unbalanced nature would be. In the first of the above men- 
 tioned speeches she is agitated by the emotions aroused by the 
 base deceit which Pylades urged her to use against her bene- 
 factor. After Pylades had persuaded her to adopt his plan 
 Arkas reminded her of the many kindnesses which the king had 
 shown her, and unsettled her: 
 
 " Nun hat die Stimme 
 Des treuen Manns mich wieder aufgeweckt, 
 Dass ich auch Menschen hier verlasse, mich 
 Erinnert. Doppelt wird mir der Betrug 
 Verhasst. O bleibe ruhig, meine Seele ! 
 Beginnst du nun zu schwanken und zu zweifeln?" 
 
 In the second speech her wish to leave guiltlessly, so that she 
 may purify her home, struggles against the desire to save her 
 brother and his friend, a course of procedure which involves 
 sacrilege and gross ingratitude. In " Tasso " Leonore passes 
 through a struggle between her selfish and her altruistic Ego, 
 the former demanding that she abduct Tasso, thus depriving 
 the princess of his presence, the latter insisting that she is 
 richly blessed with the good things of this world. After an 
 uninterrupted series of nine questions uttered by her better self 
 her selfish nature presents its arguments in defense of the ab- 
 duction and is victorious. 
 
 "Ach, sie verliert — und denkst du zu gewinnen? 
 Ist's denn so notig, dass er sich entfernt? 
 Machst du es notig, um allein ftir dich 
 Das Herz und die Talente zu besitzen, 
 Die du bisher mit einer andern teilst, 
 Und ungleich teilst? Ist's redlich, so zu handein? 
 Bist du nicht reich genug? Was fehit dir noch?"i 
 
 The soliloquy is an excellent specimen of a talking to one's 
 self, of a dialog between two well defined characters within one 
 soul. 
 
 1 Tasso, III, 3. 
 
73 
 
 In discussing the emotional soliloquies only the more note- 
 worthy examples will be mentioned, as space forbids a detailed 
 analysis of this numerous type. Love's awakening and relent- 
 less rule are most beautifully depicted in " Faust." Faust's 
 soliloquy beginning: 
 
 " Willkommen siisser Dammerschein ! 
 Der du dies Heiligtum durchwebst. 
 Ergreif mein Herz, du siisse Liebespein ! 
 Die du vom Tau der Hoffnung schmachtend lebst, etc." ^ 
 
 poetically describes his awakening passion; Gretchen's exqui- 
 site lyric: 
 
 " Meine Ruh' ist bin, 
 
 Mein Herz ist schwer; 
 
 Ich finde sie nimmer 
 
 Und nimmermehr" ^ 
 
 pictures Gretchen in the grip of an overwhelming passion. 
 Subdued grief prevades Iphigenie's opening soliloquy, passion- 
 ate grief Clavigo's final outburst^ and Stella's impassioned utter- 
 ance, V, I. A mixture of impassioned grief and fear charac- 
 terizes Gretchen's pitiful appeal in the "Zwinger" scene: 
 
 "Wer fiihlet, 
 Wie wiihlet 
 
 Der Schmerz mir im Gebein? 
 Was mein armes Herz hier banget, 
 Was es zittert, was verlanget, 
 Weisst nur du, nur du allein ! "* 
 
 Jealousy is of infrequent occurrence and is rather gentle than 
 violent, so, e. g., Brackenburg's speeches, I, end, and V, 3,° and 
 Wilhelm's outburst in " Die Geschwister." Three powerful 
 instances of fear are Weislingen's deathbed speech,* Egmont's 
 horror of approaching death,^ and Gretchen's terror-filled wails 
 in the cathedral.® 
 
 1 Faust, Pt. I, 2687-2728. 
 
 2 Faust, I, 3374-3412. 
 8 Clavigo, V. 
 
 4 Faust, I, 3581-3620. 
 
 5 Egmont. 
 
 6 Gotz, V, 10. 
 
 1 Egmont, V, 2. 
 8 Faust, I, Dom. 
 
74 
 
 Exuberant joy is the predominating emotion in Tasso's deli- 
 rious outburst, II, 2, in Stella's soliloquy, IV, i, and in Eu- 
 genie's speech, II, 4.^ Deep despair hovers over several of 
 Tasso's soliloquies, notably IV, i, and IV, 5, as well as Klar- 
 chen's^ and Brackenburg's^ hopeless laments in " Egmont." 
 
 Thoas's angry outburst, V, 2, Iphigenie's anxious speech, IV, 
 I, Fernando's remorseful soliloquy, III, end,* Stella's flash of 
 hatred, V, i,^ aptly illustrate a few more of the commoner 
 passions. 
 
 In classifying the above mentioned emotional soliloquies the 
 predominating passion has been the deciding factor. There 
 are comparatively few soliloquies in which but one emotion is 
 portrayed; quite the contrary is true. The speaker usually 
 veers from one emotion to another or from thought to emotion 
 and vice versa. So in Faust's opening soliloquy we find hope- 
 lessness, dissatisfaction, longing, hatred, disgust, despair to- 
 gether with reflective passages. To be sure we do find solilo- 
 quies in the crude drama of the early periods which are purely 
 expositional or purely emotional and do not show a combina- 
 tion of thought and feeling. But such instances in classical 
 drama are rare indeed. The division into thought soliloquies 
 and emotional soliloquies, accordingly, has been made solely for 
 the purpose of discussion. In every instance the classification 
 has been made with reference to the predominating element. 
 As Dr. Arnold aptly expresses it : " In the soliloquy, as in every 
 human document, there is a natural intermingling of thought 
 and feeling, and therefore the segregation of thought and passion 
 is an arbitrary arrangement for convenience of discussion."^ 
 
 To sum up, the gradual elimination of the soliloquy in the 
 later dramas, as in the case of Schiller, is not a characteristic 
 of Goethe's craftsmanship. Quite the contrary is true and we 
 find a larger number of soliloquies in the later dramas than 
 those of the earlier period. Another marked difference is the 
 
 1 Natiirliche Tochter. 
 
 2V,3. 
 
 3V,3. 
 
 4 Stella. 
 
 5 Ibid. 
 
 6 Arnold, The Soliloquies of Shakespeare, p. 162. 
 
76 
 
 style of the soliloquies of the verse dramas of the two poets. 
 As opposed to the natural diction and the comparative absence 
 of rhetorical embellishments in the soliloquies of Schiller's 
 verse dramas, Goethe's later soliloquies delight in rhetorical 
 figures, stylistic beauty and philosophic reflection. This great 
 formal beauty, however, does not exclude dramatic force and 
 life in all instances, as the soliloquies in "Tasso" and some of 
 those in "Faust," which have already been cited, conclusively 
 prove. Roughly speaking, practically all the soliloquies occur- 
 ring in the dramas prior to " Egmont " are dramatic and natural 
 in diction, with the possible exception of the soliloquies in 
 " Stella," which are somewhat florid, perfervid and hypersenti- 
 mental. In " Egmont " the hero's two-page soliloquy, V, 2, is 
 an example of the logically developed and styhstically polished 
 soliloquy that casts vraisemblance ruthlessly aside and aims 
 only at producing a beautiful literary passage. Egmont's pre- 
 monition and fear of death is the underlying thought, but we 
 are not convinced that a man who can give expression to such 
 figurative and highly embellished language is greatly worried. 
 The other soliloquies of the play are not open to this criticism. 
 Of the dramas following "Egmont," "Tasso" has the most 
 dramatic and least embellished soliloquies, " Iphigenie " and 
 "Die natiirliche Tochter" more highly ornate specimens, and 
 at the same time less dramatic, and "Faust," especially the 
 second soliloquy of the First Part and most of the soliloquies of 
 the Second Part, the most beautiful and embellished but at 
 the same time least dramatic soliloquies. The successful em- 
 ployment of the dialog form (sich mit sich selbst besprechen), 
 of apostrophes and a judicious infusion of passion into the 
 soliloquies, raises very many of them to the level of dialog. 
 Those of the soliloquies which are undramatic, notably the de- 
 scriptive soliloquies, are doubtless dramatic slips, but they have 
 the saving grace of being beautiful errors. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 The Romantic Drama 
 
 I. Heinrich von Kleist 
 
 Inasmuch as Tieck, Arnim and Brentano produced only 
 closet dramas there is nothing to be gained by subjecting this 
 dramatic output to an examination. Let us turn then to the 
 real dramatists of the period, beginning with Kleist. 
 
 Kleist's latest biographer, H. Aleyer-Benfy, in discussing 
 his dramatic technic as applied to the soliloquy, writes : " Kleist 
 differs from all earlier forms of the drama by the remarkably 
 sparing use of the soliloquy. Neither Shakespeare nor Schiller 
 has been his model in this respect. He has consistently 
 scorned the convenient and superficial expedient of French 
 drama, viz., conversations with a confidant. It is greatly to his 
 credit that he got along practically without soliloquies in spite 
 of this fact. It is one of the most noteworthy advances which 
 dramatic art owes to Kleist, an advance which for the time 
 being exerted no influence and which the mature Ibsen there- 
 fore had to acquire anew."^ 
 
 This must be taken with a grain of salt. The statement con- 
 cerning the scarcity of soliloquies certainly does not apply to 
 " Kathchen von Heilbronn " which not only discloses a goodly 
 supply of soliloquies, more than Schiller's " Tell," e. g., but 
 also a painful crudeness in the technic of the same. That Kleist 
 got along without a confidant is true, to be sure, but does this 
 place him on a higher plane than his predecessors ? Lessing made 
 use of this expedient only in his early unimportant dramatic 
 efforts, which were under French influence, discarding it in his 
 later works. Schiller did not employ it and Goethe only in 
 " Gotz," in which Adelheid's maid may be regarded as a confidant. 
 Kleist deserves credit for his avoidance of the confidant, but it 
 is not necessary to make so much ado about it. To what fact 
 
 1 Das Drama Heinrich von Kleists, Vol. i, p. 96 ff. 
 76 
 
77 
 
 is the scarcity of soliloquies to be attributed? To the fact that 
 the characters are people of action rather than people given to 
 thought and reflection. In such characters thought soliloquies 
 are naturally out of place. Would Kleist have written 
 " Tasso " without soliloquies ? 
 
 In "Der zerbrochene Krug" no soliloquies occur, although 
 there are as many as sixteen asides. The lack of soliloquies is 
 a necessary outgrowth of the action, all of which takes place in 
 a courtroom in which two or more characters are always pres- 
 ent, so that the number of people on the stage makes a soliloquy 
 impossible. In " Penthesilea," that undramatic portrayal of 
 passion run riot, there are also no soliloquies, although a few 
 short speeches of Penthesilea might be regarded as such, inas- 
 much as she pays absolutely no attention to those about her. 
 This is especially true when she is at the height of her frenzy, 
 so e. g. in scenes 19 and 20. Accordingly only four plays, viz., 
 " Die Familie Schroffenstein," " Kathchen von Heilbronn," " Die 
 Hermannsschlacht," " Prinz von Homburg," and the fragment 
 " Robert Guiskard " need be considered. 
 
 At the beginning of the second act of " Die Familie Schrof- 
 fenstein " Agnes delivers a rather puzzling speech. At first 
 sight it seems to be a soliloquy which the speaker delivers for 
 the benefit of Ottokar, who has entered, and has been observed 
 by the speaker. Inasmuch as the stage directions tell us that 
 Ottokar has his back turned when she espies him and that she 
 continues as though she had not noticed his approach, the object 
 of the speech seems to be to create the impression in Ottokar's 
 mind that he is overhearing a bona fide soliloquy. This of 
 course would be an arrant absurdity, as thought can not very 
 well be overheard. As a matter of fact two passages in this 
 speech : " Da ist, zum Beispiel, heimlich jetzt ein Jiingling," and 
 " Ja, dieser Jiingling, wollt' ich sagen, ist heimlich nun herange- 
 schlichen," show that she intends the speech to be a declaration 
 of love, roguishly delivered to Ottokar, who knows that she is 
 aware of his presence because of these allusions to him. R. 
 Franz, who condemns this speech as a most inexcusable type 
 of soliloquy, evidently overlooked these lines. ^ 
 
 1 R. Franz, Der Monolog und Ibsen, p. 54. 
 
Meyer-Ben fy states that Kleist scorns the soliloquy through- 
 out this drama and thereby proves himself an independent artist 
 and born dramatist.^ Elsewhere, however, he admits that there 
 are two short soliloquies^ in the work and proceeds to laud 
 them to the skies because they are such splendid link solil- 
 oquies ! It has been pointed out in the discussion of Lessing 
 that link soliloquies are an expedient of an immature dramatist. 
 Secondly Meyer-Benfy overlooks a third and rather long solil- 
 oquy delivered by Ottokar when he is shut up in the paternal 
 dungeon,^ and a fourth soliloquy which Barnabe delivers 
 while she is chanting her incantations over the witches' kettle.* 
 Ottokar's soliloquy, IV, 3, deserves special mention. He has 
 interrupted Barnabe in her incantations and suddenly makes a 
 discovery (a child's finger in the broth) which greatly arouses 
 him. He is so overcome with emotion that he finds it absolutely 
 essential to his happiness to unburden himself of a soliloquy, 
 but unfortunately he can not do it legitimately with Barnabe on 
 the stage. How does he meet the dilemma? He politely re- 
 quests her to leave, repeats his invitation twice, and, when she 
 ignores his three invitations, pushes her out of the room and 
 proceeds to deliver himself of his soliloquy, now that the con- 
 ditions are suitable. This surely is a remarkable advance in 
 the technic of the soliloquy! It remained for Kleist to show 
 that a fitting place for a soliloquy may be created ad libitum by 
 the enforced exit of one's partner. 
 
 In " Kathchen " we find two soliloquies that display all the 
 naive crudity of the old shrovetide plays, soliloquies that almost 
 lead one to the belief that Kleist had no well-defined ideas on 
 the subject of the soliloquy and that the good features are 
 merely accidental. In the first, IV, 2, Count von Strahl takes 
 the audience into his confidence and narrates a conversation 
 just held with his servant, then adds a few reflections and ends 
 with a reversion to his interview with the servant: " Gottschalk, 
 der mir dies Futteral gebracht, hat mir gesagt, das Kathchen 
 
 1 op. cit., p. 170. 
 
 2 P. 97. 
 
 3 IV, 5. 
 
 4 IV, 3. 
 
79 
 
 ware wieder da. Kunigunde zog eben, weil ihre Burg nieder- 
 gebrannt ist, in die Thore der meinigen ein ; da kommt er und 
 spricht: unter dem Hollunderstrauch lage sie wieder da und 
 schliefe ; und bat mich, mit thranenden Augen, ich mochte ihm 
 doch erlauben, sie in den Stall zu nehmen. Ich sagte, bis der alte 
 Vater, der Theobald, sich aufgefunden, wiird' ich ihr in der 
 Herberge ein Unterkommen verschaffen ; und indessen hab' ich 
 mich herabgeschlichen, um einen Entwurf mit ihr auszufiihren. 
 ..." Later : " Doch rasch, ehe Gottschalk kommt und mich 
 stort. Dreierlei hat er mir gesagt: einmal, dass sie einen 
 Schlaf hat wie ein Murmeltier; etc." In the second soliloquy, 
 V, 2, the emperor very naively supplies us with expositional 
 matter: "Das Madchen ist, wie ich hore, fiinfzehn Jahr alt; 
 und vor sechzehn Jahren weniger drei Monaten, genau gezahlt, 
 feierte ich, der Pfalzgrafin, meiner Schwester, zu Ehren, das 
 grosse Turnier in Heilbronn ! Es mochte ohngefahr elf Uhr 
 abends sein, und der Jupiter ging eben mit seinem funkelhden 
 Licht im Osten auf, als ich, vom Tanz sehr ermiidet, aus dem 
 Schlosstor trat, um mich in dem Garten, der daran stosst, uner- 
 kannt, unter dem Volk, das ihn erfiillte, zu erlaben ; etc." 
 
 In a long soliloquy at the beginning of the second act Count 
 von Strahl expresses his sorrow at his inability to marry the 
 plebeian Kathchen, as that would not be " standesgemass," his 
 great love for her and his decision to bear up heroically, in 
 language that is florid, unnatural and unconvincing : " Ich will 
 meine Muttersprache durchblattern und das ganze reiche Kapi- 
 tel, das diese Ueberschrift fiihrt: Empfindung, dergestalt pliin- 
 dern, dass kein Reimschmied mehr auf eine neue Art soil sagen 
 konnen: ich bin betriibt. Alles, was die Wehmut Riihrendes 
 hat, will ich aufbieten, Lust und in den Tod gehende Betriibniss 
 sollen sich abwechseln und meine Stimme, wie einen schonen 
 Tanzer, durch alle Beugungen hindurchfiihren, die Seele be- 
 zaubern ; und wenn die Baume nicht in der That bewegt wer- 
 den und ihren milden Tau, als ob es geregnet hatte, herabtrau- 
 feln lassen, so sind sie von Holz und alles, was uns die Dichter 
 von ihnen sagen, ein blosses, liebliches Marchen. . . . Kath- 
 chen, Kathchen, Kathchen ! etc." 
 
80 
 
 The four soliloquies^ in "Die Hermannsschlacht " are brief 
 and partially enlivened by the use of apostrophe. Two of the 
 four soliloquies^ in " Prinz von Homburg -' are apostrophes, one 
 to Fame, the other to Immortality, and both are cast in florid 
 style. The other two are reflective, that of the prince being 
 tinged with philosophic reflection: 
 
 " Das Leben nennt der Derwisch eine Reise, 
 Und eine kurze. Freilich ! Von zwei Spannen 
 Diesseits der Erde nach zwei Spannen darunter, etc."^ 
 
 Only one of the reflective soliloquies results in a decision, the 
 others having no direct bearing upon the action.* The open- 
 ing speech in the fragment " Robert Guiskard," a chorus by the 
 people, is nothing but a disguised expositional soliloquy, inas- 
 much as the committee to whom the speech is delivered is thor- 
 oughly conversant with all the facts therein set forth. 
 
 Not one of Kleist's soliloquies is a real talking to one's 
 self, and the dialog form which is so successfully employed by 
 the classic triad is nowhere in evidence. An occasional use of 
 the apostrophe is all that gives life to the soliloquies. Kleist's 
 sole claim to distinction therefore is his sparing use of the same 
 in three of the four plays. This is counteracted however by the 
 undramatic form of the same and the startling crudity of the 
 soliloquies in " Kathchen " mentioned above. 
 
 2. Franz Grillparzer 
 
 Unquestioning acceptance of the convention as exemplified 
 in the masterpieces of the classic period characterizes Grillpar- 
 zer's use of the soliloquy. Goethe's influence is visible in the 
 soliloquies of " Sappho," " Des Meeres und der Liebe Wellen," 
 and " Der Traum ein Leben." In " Sappho " the lyric warmth 
 and the formal beauty of " Iphigenie" and "Tasso" are par- 
 ticularly noticeable. Schiller's influence is frequently in evi- 
 dence, but most clearly so in " Blanka von Kastilien," the whole 
 style and atmosphere of which is Schilleresque. Rather full 
 
 1 IV, 8; V, 7; V, 17; V, 21. 
 
 2 1, end; IV, 3 ; V, 2 ; V, 10. 
 
 3 IV, 3. 
 
 4 Homburg, V, 2. 
 
81 
 
 stage directions throughout the soHloquies bespeak his obhga- 
 tion to Schiller, as well as the fact that most of the dramas 
 beginning with "Das goldene Vliess" curtail the powers of the 
 soliloquy, a practice which characterized the later dramas of 
 Schiller. 
 
 Initial exposition soliloquies are a favorite device of our 
 poet. J\iany of the fragments employ this metliod of attack, 
 so, e. g., " Rosamunde Clifford," " Robert, Herzog von der Nor- 
 mandie," " Drahomira," " Psyche " and " Rosamunde." His 
 two early playlets " Die Schreibfeder," and " Wer ist schnldig ? " 
 both have initial soliloquies, that of the former, however, being 
 very crudely narrative. All the other above-mentioned speeches 
 have the expositional material concealed by the emotional ad- 
 mixture. The same holds true of the dramas which employ 
 this device. In " Des IMeeres und der Liebe Wellen " the exu- 
 berant happiness of Hero cloaks the expositional matter; in 
 " Blanka " Fedriko's disgust ;, in " Die Ahnf rau " the count's 
 resignation and gloom ; in " Der Traum ein Leben " Mirza's 
 anxiety and unhappiness; in "Libussa" Primislaus's joy. 
 Apostrophes, exclamations, questions and the pervading emo- 
 tion are cleverly employed in these speeches. 
 
 Fedriko's exposition speech^ throws considerable light upon 
 his character and incidentally reveals his identit}' in the first 
 line: "Ha Fedriko, dies deine Bestimmung?" Both of these 
 types are infrequent. Erny's : 
 
 " Sie glauben, weil ich selten sprech' und wenig, 
 Ich konne mich nicht wehren, nicht verteid'gen, 
 Mein Vater sprach wohl oft : Sie hat's im Nacken ! 
 Ich hab es auch ! Ihr sollt noch wahrlich sehn ! "- 
 
 is a good example of self-characterization. Hero's opening solil- 
 oquy another instance of identification.^ 
 
 Narrative passages in the soliloquies are rather infrequent. 
 Jaromir's recital of his murder,* Zanga's account of the battle,^ 
 
 1 Blanka von Kastilien, I, i. 
 
 2 Ein treuer Dicner seines Herrn, II. 
 
 3 Des Meeres u. der Liebe Wellen, I, i. 
 
 4 Die Ahnfrau, V. 
 
 6 Der Traum ein Leben, III, beg. 
 7 
 
82 
 
 Gregor's repetition of his conversation with the king,^ Leon's 
 narrative of incidents on the return trip,- Isaak's account of 
 how he escaped the soldiers,^ are the most noteworthy. Of 
 these the last mentioned is crudely instructive : 
 
 "Ich habe mich versteckt, 
 Als sie nach Rauberart das Schoss durchsuchten. 
 Am Boden lag ich, in mich selbst gekriimmt, 
 Und diese Decke war mir Dach und Schirm." 
 
 Hero's and Jaromir's speeches are the only ones that have an 
 emotional admixture and thus escape being purely instructive. 
 Descriptive soliloquies and passages are much in evidence. 
 Among these there are some passages of wonderful beauty that 
 deserve quotation, especially two by Hero and another by 
 Mirza : 
 
 "Wie ruhig ist die Nacht ! Der Hellespont 
 Lasst, Kindem gleich, die frommen Wellen spielen. 
 Sie fliistern kaum, so still sind sie vergniigt. 
 Kein Laut, kein Schimmer rings; nur meine Lampe 
 Wirft bleiche Lichter durch die dunkle Luft."* 
 
 " Wie schon du brennst, O Lampe, meine Freundin ! 
 Noch ist's nicht Nacht, und doch geht alles Licht, 
 Das ringsumher die laute Welt erleuchtet. 
 Von dir aus, dir, du Sonne meiner Nacht."'' 
 
 " Abend ist's, die Schopfung feiert, 
 Und die Vogel aus den Zweigen, 
 Wie beschwingte Silbergklockchen, 
 Lauten ein den Feierabend, 
 Schon bereit, ihr siiss Gebot, 
 Ruhend, selber zu erfullen, 
 Alles folget ihrem Rufe, 
 Alle Augen fallen zu; 
 Zu den Hiirden zieht die Herde, 
 Und die Blume senkt in Ruh 
 Schlummerschwer das Haupt zur Erde. 
 
 iWeh dem, der liigt, I, i. 
 
 2 Weh dem, der liigt, V, i. 
 
 3 Die Jiidin v. Toledo, V, beginning. 
 
 4 Des Meeres u. der Liebe Wellen, III. 
 
 5 Des Meeres u. der Liebe Wellen, IV, 3. 
 
83 
 
 Feme her, vom dustern Osten, 
 Steigt empor die stille Nacht, 
 Ausgeloscht des Tages Kerzen, 
 Breitet sie den dunkeln Vorhang 
 Um die Haupter ihrer Lieben 
 Und summt sauselnd sie in Schlaf."^ 
 
 Zawisch's description of the queen, followed by a brief survey 
 of the state of affairs,^ is decidedly more dramatic, as is Phryx- 
 us's description of the unruly barbarians,^ and Jason's picture 
 of the vault he has entered.* Jaromir's description of the in- 
 terior of the chapel which is not visible to the spectator is inter- 
 esting.^ Accounts of what is going on off the stage also occur 
 in some of the soliloquies. In " Die Ahnfrau," II, beginning, 
 Jaromir repeats a prayer which Bertha is delivering in an ad- 
 joining room; in " Ottokar," II, i, Zawisch describes the ap- 
 proach of the queen; in "Der Traum ein Leben," II, i, Zanga 
 tells how Rustan is escorting the princess; in "Weh dem, 
 der liigt," III, 2, Leon describes the adjoining bedroom and its 
 snoring occupant, and later. III, 3, informs us that Atalus is 
 digging below the bridge on which he stands. 
 
 Purely intentional soliloquies are short and few in number. 
 Usually they form the appendix to a deflective soliloquy, as was 
 the case in classic drama. Naukleros's : " Noch geb' ich ihn 
 nicht auf. Die Freunde samml' ich, wir halten ihn, und war' 
 es mit Gewalt,"^ illustrates the purely intentional speech. 
 Sappho's soliloquy at the beginning of the fourth act is a good 
 example of a reflective soliloquy with an intentional ending. 
 After lengthy reflections about ingratitude and her plans with 
 regard to Phaon she decides to send Melitta away, inasmuch 
 as the latter had estranged Phaon from her : 
 
 " Nach Chios soil Melitta hin, ... So sei es ! Ha, so sci's ! " 
 
 1 Der Traum ein Leben, I, i. 
 
 2 Ottokar's Gltick u. Ende, III, beg. 
 
 3 Der Gastfreund. 
 
 4 Die Argonauten, I, 2. 
 
 5 Die Ahnfrau, V. 
 
 Des Meeres u. der Liebe Wellen, IV, 2. Other examples ; Libussa, I, 
 I. Die Argonauten, I, i, end; Der Traum ein Leben, IV, 4, Rustan's 
 speech. 
 
84 
 
 In " Die Jiidin von Toledo " the king interrupts his own reflec- 
 tions with the words : 
 
 "Allein was soil das Grubeln und Betrachten, 
 Gut machen heisst's; damit denn fang' ich an."^ 
 
 Jaromir's: "Ha, er geht, er geht! . . . Was soil ich? Sei es 
 denn ! . . . Nun Fassung, Fassung ! "^ is a noteworthy example 
 of conciseness, as the two lines contain, first, exposition, sec- 
 ondly a conflict, thirdly a decision, fourthly an exhortation to 
 himself to gain composure. 
 
 Hero's long soliloquy in tlie third act is a splendid example 
 of a dramatic reflective speech, dramatic in structure as it 
 abounds in apostrophes, exclamations and questions addressed 
 to herself, dramatic in content as it throws considerable light 
 upon her character. The fact that it is a thought soliloquy 
 is emphasized by the words : " Gedanken, bunt und wirr, durch- 
 kreuzen meinen Sinn." Bertha's sad reflective soliloquy, 
 " Ahnfrau," 'HI, i, illustrates the lyric type : 
 
 " Liebe, das sind deine Freuden, 
 Das, Besitz, ist deine Lust? 
 Wie sind dann der Trennung Leiden, 
 Und wie martert der Verlust?" 
 
 Medea's review of her past life, " Medea," IV, Milo's remarks 
 about Jason's changed character, " Argonauten," IV, 2, Leon's 
 reflections on the manner in which he has carried out the in- 
 junction not to prevaricate, " Weh dem, der liigt," V, are some 
 of the more striking examples of this type. 
 
 Sententious and philosophic ingredients are met with in many 
 of the soliloquies, both in the early works and the later dramas. 
 The unhappy lot of woman is the theme of a serio-comic out- 
 burst in "Wer ist schuldig?" tlie gist of which is embodied in: 
 
 "Genug! In Wien, wie in dem Lande der Chinesen, 
 Ist eine Frau das ungliicksel'gste aller Wesen ! "^ 
 
 as well as of Sappho's sad reflections begiruning : 
 
 iiV, 4- 
 
 2 I, near end. Other examples with intentional end : Des Meeres u. der 
 Liebe Wellen, IV, i, priest's soliloquy; Die Argonauten, I, i, Medea, 
 s I, beginning. 
 
85 
 
 " Nach Frauenglut misst Mannerliebe nicht, 
 Wer Liebe kennt und Leben, Mann und Frau."^ 
 
 Phaon's dictum on the realization of wishes,^ Medea's on the 
 folly of man,3 Primislaus's on the relative position of man and 
 woman/ the king's on honor and reputation,^ bishop Gregor's 
 sermon on truth,^ are some of the more striking illustrations. 
 Deliberative soliloquies of the type made famous by Nathan 
 and Posa do not occur in Grillparzer's dramas. The nearest 
 approach is the short speech of the escaping Queen in " Ein 
 treuer Diener seines Herrn " : 
 
 " Steir ich den Meutern mich 
 Als Konigin entgegen und als Frau? 
 Sie spotten mein und tun ihr blut'ges Werk. 
 Ergreif ich dieses Schwert, den Mantel bier 
 Und kampf als Mann um meine siisse Beute? 
 Zu schwach ! . . . O Gott ! Kein einzelner geniigt ! 
 Drum dort hinein ! "''■ 
 
 But even here we have an admixture of fear which removes 
 the speech from the plane of calm thought. The same holds 
 true for Ferdinand's soliloquy in " Ein Bruderzwist," in which 
 the line: " Mir ringen Zweifel selber in der Brust" points to an 
 inner struggle.® 
 
 Conflict soliloquies on the other hand are well represented. 
 Fedriko's, Maria's and the king's conflict speeches in " Blanka,"' 
 especially the first and last, are cast in highly dramatic mold. 
 Jaromir's soliloquy at the beginning of the fifth act of " Die 
 Ahnfrau" depicts him in terrible inner conflict caused by the 
 knowledge that he has murdered his father. The hopeless 
 attempt to appease his accusing conscience is powerfully 
 presented, 
 
 1 Sappho, III, beginning. 
 
 2 Sappho, II, beginning. 
 
 3 Argonauten, I, i. 
 
 4 Libussa, III, beginning. 
 6 Jiidin v. Toledo, II. 
 
 6 Weh dem, der liigt, I. 
 
 7 IV. 3. 
 8V. 
 
 IV, 3 ; V, 5 ; V, 7. 
 
86 
 
 The mention of a few representative emotional soliloquies 
 will suffice. Bertha's rapturous expression of joy,^ Sappho's 
 beautiful lyric portraying her grief,^ Melitta's speech of grief 
 and longing,^ Ottokar's outburst of remorse,* Hero's two ex- 
 pressions of her love for Leander,^ Matthias's hopeless resig- 
 nation,® are some of the more striking examples found in the 
 plays. 
 
 The language of the soliloquies in " Blanka " is extravagantly 
 florid and rhetorical, in " Die Ahnf rau " it becomes lurid and 
 feverish : 
 
 "Und die Angst mit Vampirriissel 
 Saugt das Blut aus meinen Adern 
 Aus dem Kopfe das Gehirn.'"^ 
 
 In Sappho formal beauty characterizes the style. In the re- 
 maining plays 'the tendency towards beautiful expression pre- 
 dominates, although unadorned style is occasionally met with. 
 Occasional examples of repression at times of great emotional 
 stress are interesting forerunners of modern technic. Their 
 scarcity, however, seems to show that they are accidental rather 
 than the result of careful planning. In " Ottokar," IV, i, the 
 hero, after hearing the insulting remarks of Zawisch and the 
 queen, remains silent and after he has stared at the ground for 
 some time in silence says laconically: " 1st das mein Schatten? 
 — Nun, zwei Konige. . , ." When Bancban sees his mur- 
 dered wife Erny, he contents himself with a laconic : " O, 
 Erny ! O, mein Kind, mein gutes, f rommes Kind ! "^ But this 
 is due not so much to the overwhelming grief that befalls him 
 as to the lack of good red blood in his veins. On the whole, 
 then, one is justified in saying that Grillparzer does not reach 
 
 1 Die Ahnfrau, I. 
 
 2 Sappho, I, end. 
 
 3 Sappho, II, 3. 
 
 4 Ottokars Gliick, V, 5. 
 
 5 Des Meeres u. der Liebe Wellen, III, IV, 3. 
 8 Ein Bruderzwist in Habsburg, V, end. 
 
 ''' II, beginning. 
 
 8 Ein treuer Diener, III, end. 
 
87 
 
 the level set by Schiller and Goethe in the technic of the solilo- 
 quy, firstly because of the numerous narrative and descriptive 
 soliloquies, secondly because of the infrequency of the dialog 
 element and thirdly because more thought is bestowed upon the 
 garb of the soliloquies than upon their appropriate content. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 Forerunners of Modern Realistic Drama 
 
 I. Friedrich Hehhel 
 
 "Hebbel is rightly considered the originator (Stammvater) 
 of the new drama. The endeavor to mirror life in its entirety 
 in drama, to pursue man's inner life to its most secret impulses., 
 proceeds from him. In his technic he remained a follower of 
 the classic writers in the fullest sense of the word."^ This last 
 statement applies especially to Hebbel's use of the soliloquy. 
 The striking feature of his plays is the frequency of soliloquies 
 and the still greater prevalence of asides. And the cause? 
 Hebbel's proneness to morbid introspection and self-analysis, 
 which is faithfully reflected in his dramas. For him the drama 
 is an opportunity to analyze the characters, to reveal every 
 fiber of the soul, to dissect every emotion and thought. We 
 find practically all the characters suffering from this morbid 
 surveillance of their inner self. The result is that the dramas 
 make a mental rather than an emotional appeal. " The fre- 
 quency and explicitness of the soliloquies is due to the intro- 
 spection and especially the self-criticism of the characters. 
 With characters who are so constantly occupied with themselves 
 and pursue their emotions and actions with skeptical scrutiny, 
 it is natural to give expression to their inner life in soliloquy 
 form. Seldom is a soliloquy in d^-ama so justified by the char- 
 acter of the people as in the tragedies of Hebbel. The monologi- 
 cal outpourings necessarily belong to the character portrayal of 
 such reflecting, problematic natures."^ "The greater part of 
 their torments would remain unknown if we did not know how 
 their thoughts acquit and accuse each other in every moment 
 when they are alone."^ One can not help but feel that this 
 
 1 R. Weszleny, Hebbels Genoveva, Berlin, 19 lo, p. 145. 
 
 2 C. Pfeffer, Die Psychologic der Charaktere in Hebbels Tragodie, pp. 
 112, 113. 
 
 3 Hanstein, Ibsen als Idealist, p. 52. 
 
morbid introspection is carried too far, that we are listening to 
 the author and not to the character in the play, and that the 
 action suffers from a needlessly exaggerated characterization. 
 But even though we should yield a point and accept these 
 revelations of thought and feeling, we must protest against the 
 numerous epic ingredients in the soliloquies. There are 
 altogether too many bits of self-characterization, too many 
 anecdotes and personal experiences embodied in these speeches. 
 
 Hebbel's theory with regard to the use of the soliloquy is set 
 forth in three entries in his diary. In 1838, two years before 
 the completion of "Judith," he made the following entry: 
 " Wenn der Dichter Charaktere dadurch zu zeichnen sucht, dass 
 er sie selbst sprechen lasst, so muss er sich hiiten, sie iiber 
 ihr eigenes Inneres sprechen zu lassen. Alle ihre Ausserungen 
 miissen sich auf etwas Ausseres beziehen: nur dann spricht 
 sich ihr Inneres farbig und kraftig aus, denn es gestaltet sich 
 nur in den Reflexen der Welt und des Lebens." This splendid 
 theory was unfortunately ignored all too often in the frenzy of 
 composition. In 1843 we find this entry: " Monologe im 
 Drama sind nur dann statthaft, wenn im Individuum der Dual- 
 ismus hervortritt, so dass die zwei Personen, die sonst immer 
 zugleich auf der Biihne sein sollen, in einer Brust ihr Wesen 
 zu treiben scheinen." If Hebbel had only borne this injunction 
 in mind we should have been spared many undramatic solilo- 
 quies. We do find examples of this type in his works, but 
 infrequently. His last entry on this topic is made in 1861 : 
 " Monologe ; laute Atemziige der Seele." This is diametric- 
 ally opposed to his earlier definition and indicates a dramatic 
 retrogression. Of course, no objection can be raised to this 
 dictum as a definition, since soliloquies are thoughts and emo- 
 tions made audible, but it seems to be, in a measure, a justifi- 
 cation of self-revealing soliloquies whether cast in dramatic or 
 undramatic mold. Inasmuch as this utterance was made after 
 the completion of all his plays, Hebbel may have had in mind 
 the many lyric soliloquies of the Golo type. 
 
 In "Judith" the reflections of Holofernes strike a specially 
 discordant note. He indulges in them both when alone and in 
 the presence of his retinue, at the same time realizing their 
 
90 
 
 incongruity, for he turns to his followers with the words : " Ihr 
 wundert euch iiber mich, dass ich aus meinem Kopf eine Spindel 
 mache und dem Traum- und Hirnknauel darin Faden nach 
 Faden abzwirne wie ein Biindel Flachs. Freilich, der Gedanke 
 ist der Dieb am Leben."^ His long self -characterizing speech 
 in the first act, as well as his reflective and descriptive soliloquy 
 in the fifth act, are also artistic blemishes. Nor must we over- 
 look Mirza's loquaciousness, which regales us with anecdotes 
 in the most approved Sachsian manner.^ 
 
 " Genoveva " is fairly swamped with soliloquies and unnatu- 
 rally long asides, more than a dozen of each variety being deliv- 
 ered by Golo. Of these Berger says: " Er (Hebbel) hat Golo 
 nur halb als objektive Gestalt gebildet, denn dieser Char- 
 akter war auch ein Gefass, in das er die subjektive Leiden- 
 schaft ergoss, die er sich vom Leibe schafFen wollte. Daher 
 die lyrischen Monologe, die zuweilen sogar als breite Aparte 
 den bewegt hinstiirmenden Dialog unterbrechen."^ Weszleny* 
 also condemns these soliloquies : " Die haarspalterische Seelen- 
 qualerei in die Hebbel mit Golo hineingeraten ist, Hess ihn 
 auch haufig, haufiger als in jedem andern seiner Werke, der 
 Versuchung, sein Wesentlichstes allein oder beiseite auszu- 
 sprechen, erliegen. Das Schlimme an den Monologen ist, dass 
 sie durchweg Selbstpsychologie enthalten. Es ist nicht die 
 Selbstberatung, nicht das Uberstromen unzahmbaren Gefiihls 
 wie bei Hamlet, sondern die angstliche Selbstbeschauung eines 
 seelischen WoUustlings, das besonders in den Scenen mit Geno- 
 veva storend eingreift." 
 
 Initial exposition soliloquies are scarce. The unimportant 
 playlet "Michel Angelo," — which is directed against the nar- 
 row-mindedness of critics who approve only of the products of 
 artists such as already occupy a niche in the Hall of Fame and 
 consistently condemn products of contemporary artists, — opens 
 with a long soliloquy which is for the most part reflective, show- 
 ing us Michel's attitude towards art and critics. The exposi- 
 
 1 Judith, IV. 
 
 2 Judith, III, beg. ; IV. 
 
 3 A. V. Berger, Meine Hamburgische Dramaturgic. 
 
 4 R. Weszleny, Hebbels Genoveva, p. 143. 
 
91 
 
 tional maiterial contained in it is highly attenuated, the long 
 anecdote which he relates with great relish having absolutely 
 no bearing on the play. The opening soliloquy in " Agnes 
 Bernauer " does little but inform us of the apprentice's jealousy. 
 A belated expositional soliloquy is found in the second scene of 
 " Ein Trauerspiel in Sizilien," which is also marred by an inter- 
 woven anecdote of no consequence. 
 
 Holofernes's self-characterizing speech has already been 
 alluded to. In " Genoveva " Siegfried indulges in a beautifully 
 worded bit of character drawing : 
 
 " Ich glaub' ein Mann zu sein, was es auch gilt, 
 Nur wenn's zum Scheiden geht, bin ich es nicht, 
 Da geiz' ich nach dem tiefsten Schmerz, wie nie 
 Nach Lust, da bohr' ich mich in Leid und Qual 
 Hinein, wie Bienen in den Bliitenkelch, 
 Und dann erst, wenn ich, zwischen meinem Weh 
 Und dem des andern stehend, wahlen kann, 
 In welchen Abgrund ich versinken will, 
 Besinne ich mich wieder auf mich selbst, 
 Und reisse mich, als war's vom Leben los."^ 
 
 But beauty of form does not justify such an undramatic method 
 of presentation. Count Bertram's violent denunciation of him- 
 self at least has the redeeming feature of being dramatically 
 expressed : " So ist's, Jammermensch, so ist's ! Bilde dir nicht 
 ein, dass du dich zu tief herabsetzen kannst ! Du bist solch ein 
 Aber der Menschheit, das sie knirschend hinzufiigt, wenn sie 
 ihre Casaren und Napoleone aufgezahlt hat. . . . Was bleibt 
 dir? Nichts als die HofTnung, dass es vielleicht noch irgendvvo 
 ein Loch in der Welt gibt, wo ein Kerl wie du, der nur noch 
 ein Ding ist, hingestopft werden kann wie ein Fetzen in einen 
 Fensterriss."^ Benjamin's portrayal of his good qualities is 
 also enlivened by the use of the dialog form.^ Instances of one 
 person characterizing another in soliloquy are fairly numerous. 
 Purely narrative passages are altogether too frequent and 
 crude. Hebbel is especially fond of weaving anecdotes and 
 
 1 Genoveva, I, i, end. 
 
 2 Julia, I, 6. 
 
 3 Der Diamant, I, 4. 
 
92 
 
 personal experiences that have absolutely no dramatic justifi- 
 cation into the soliloquies. A quotation of one of the numer- 
 ous examples^ will serve our purpose. In " Maria Magda- 
 lena," I, 3, Klara, after narrating what she sees from the 
 window and indulging in a few reflections, suddenly inserts the 
 following : " Einmal sah ich ein ganz kleines katholisches Mad- 
 chen, das seine Kirschen zum Altar trug. Wie gefiel mir das ! 
 Es waren die ersten im Jahr, die das Kind bekam, ich sah, wie 
 es brannte, sie zu essen! Dennoch bekampfte es seine un- 
 schuldige Neugierde, es warf sie, um nur der Versuchung ein 
 Ende zu machen, rasch hin, der Messpfaff, der eben den Kelch 
 erhob, schaute finster drein, und das Kind eilte erschreckt von 
 dannen, aber die Maria iiber dem Altar lachelte so mild, als 
 wiinschte sie aus ihrem Rahmen herauszutreten, um dem Kind 
 nachzueilen und es zu kiissen ! Ich tat's f iir sie ! " 
 
 Golo's account of how he climbed to the top of the tower,^ 
 Genoveva's account of her son's behavior,^ Benjamin's narra- 
 tive of the trouble the stolen gem is causing him,* Preising's 
 two instructive speeches in the fourth act of "Agnes Ber- 
 nauer,"^ Agnes's report of the conversation that is being carried 
 on off the stage,^ are some of the numerous narrative soHlo- 
 quies found in the plays. 
 
 There is a goodly number of descriptive soliloquies, though 
 they are not as frequent as those of the narrative type. Holo- 
 fernes's unsavory description, "Judith," V, Golo's description 
 of Genoveva as she lies in his arms unconscious,^ his account of 
 her confession in the chapel,^ Maria's description at the win- 
 dow,^ Leonhard's characterization of Mary's father,^*' Jacob's 
 
 1 Judith, III ; V. both by Mirza. Michel Angelo, beginning. Der Dia- 
 mant, I, 4. Maria Magdalena, III, 7. Der Rubin, II, 4. Trauerspiel in 
 Sizilien, I, 2. 
 
 2 Genoveva, II, 2. 
 
 3 Nachspiel zur Genoveva, beg. 
 
 4 Der Diamant, II, 2. 
 
 5 Agnes Bernauer, IV, i, IV, 3. 
 
 6 Ihid., IV, 9. 
 
 7 Genoveva, I, 2. 
 
 8 Genoveva, III, end. 
 
 9 Maria Magdalena, I, 3. 
 10/fctd., I, 4. 
 
93 
 
 description of his wife and the jewel/ are some examples of 
 this type. Most of these are enlivened by the use of exclama- 
 tions, apostrophes and an admixture of emotion. 
 
 Intentional soliloquies occur, as well as intentional appen- 
 dices to reflective and conflict soliloquies. The former type is 
 epic and undramatic, as the following will show : 
 
 Golo. " Kein Vaterunser will ich sprechen mehr, 
 Kein Ave, wie ich sonst doch gerne sprach, 
 Wenn morgens cine erste Lerche stieg, 
 Wenn abends cine feme Glocke klang. 
 Von jetzt an soil mir zum Legendenbuch 
 Das Leben Siegfrieds dienen, meines Herrn, 
 Gedenken will ich all der Tugenden, 
 Der Tapferkeit, des hohen Edelmuts, etc."^ 
 
 Herod's two conflict soliloquies, 1, 4, and III, both ending with 
 a decision, are hig'hly dramatic. Judith's morbidly introspective 
 soliloquy. III, culminates in her decision to kill Holof ernes ; a 
 reflective and descriptive soliloquy of the latter concludes with 
 a statement informing us of his intentions.^ 
 
 Reflective soliloquies of the retrospective type outnumber the 
 philosophic variety. Occasionally the two types, neither one 
 of which is dramatic, are blended into one speech. " Geno- 
 veva" and "Julia" are well supplied with reflective speeches 
 of all three varieties.* The following speech by Alberto illus- 
 trates the intermingling of the two types : " Hatt' ich's vorher 
 gewusst, ich hatte mich widersetzt ! Nun ist's zu spat ! Aber 
 der hat seine Tochter nie geliebt! Nur das Bild, das er sich 
 von ihr macbte ! Freilich wer liebt anders ! Es ist nun einmal 
 das Schicksal des Menschen, dass man ihn wegen Eigenschaften 
 verebrt und anbetet, verabscheut und hasst, die er gar nicht 
 
 1 Der Diamant, I, 2. 
 
 2 Genoveva, II, 3. Other examples: Judith, III, 2. Diamant, I, 5 ; V, 
 4. Gyges, II, end. 
 
 3 Judith, V. Other examples: Genoveva, III, 12; Maria Magdalena, III, 
 i; III, 7. Herodes u. Mariamne, I, 2; IV, 7; Gyges u. sein Ring, III, by 
 Rhodope. 
 
 4 Genoveva, II, 4; III, 6; III, 16; V, 7. Julia, I, 4; II. i; III, 3. 
 Others: Judith, I; Herodes, I, 2; IV, 6. Agnes B., I, 12; III, 5. Sieg- 
 frieds Tod: II, 4; in, 5; IV, 13; Kriemhilds Rache: I, 3 ; I, 7 ; H. 6- 
 (All of these soliloquies in the Nibelungen trilogy are short and retro- 
 spective.) 
 
94 
 
 besitzt, die ihm von anderen nur geliehen werden ! "^ Golo's 
 soliloquy after he has murdered Drago illustrates the philo- 
 sophic type : 
 
 "Ein Mord! Was ist ein Mord? Was ist ein Mensch? 
 Ein Nichts ! So ist denn auch ein Mord ein Nichts ! 
 Und wenn ein Mord ein Nichts ist, dien' er mir 
 Als Sporn fiir das, was wen'ger als ein Mord, 
 Und also wen'ger als ein Nichts noch ist ! "^ 
 
 It is noteworthy that the six soliloquies in " Siegfrieds Tod," 
 four of them reflective, are only thirty-three verses long and 
 that the total length of the six soliloquies in " Kriemliilds 
 Rache" is likewise only thirtynthree verses (four of these are 
 reflective) . 
 
 The philosophical element usually forms but a small compo- 
 nent part of a reflective soliloquy, and a long outburst such as 
 Golo's on remorse, V, 7, is scarce. 
 
 Although deliberative soliloquies are very rare, Alexandra's 
 speech, II, 2,^ furnishes a good example, conflict soliloquies are 
 rather numerous. Golo's inner conflicts are sometimes laid 
 bare in unpardonably long and unnatural asides,* again in solil- 
 oquy form." The asides, however, splendidly illustrate Heb- 
 bel's idea of a justifiable soliloquy, viz., that two characters 
 should appear to be speaking. Maria's two conflict soliloquies 
 II, 6, and III, 8,® as well as Herod's two previously mentioned 
 speeches,^ are splendid examples of dramatic craftsmanship. 
 One quotation may be pardoned : 
 
 "Warum tu' ich's denn nicht? Werd' ich's nimmer tun? 
 Werd' ich's von Tag zu Tag aufschieben, wie jetzt von Minute 
 zu Minute, bis — Gewiss! Darum fort! . . . Fort! Und doch 
 bleib ich stehen! Ist's mir nicht, als ob's in meinem Schoss 
 bittend Hande aufhobe, als ob Augen . . . Was soil das? Bist 
 du zu schwach dazu? So frag' dich, ob du stark genug bist, 
 
 1 Julia, I, 4. 
 
 2 III, 16. 
 
 3 H erodes und Mariamne. 
 
 4 11, 4; III, 4; III, 10. 
 
 5 11, s; HI, 5. 
 
 6 Maria Magdalene. 
 
 7 Herodes und Mariamne, I, 4 ; III, end. 
 
95 
 
 deinen Vater mit aufgeschnittener Kehle . . . Nein! Nein! 
 . . . Vater unser, der du bist im Himmel . . . Geheiliget werde 
 dein Reich . . . Gott, Gott, mein armer Kopf . . . ich kann 
 nicht einmal beten . , ."^ 
 
 A few of the more striking emotional soliloquies aside from 
 those occurring in " Genoveva," which illustrate practically 
 every phase of love and jealousy, are Rhodope's beautiful out- 
 cry of grief in " Gyges," III, i, IV, i, Klara's pathetic outcry of 
 remorse, II, 2, her despairing soHloquy, II, 6, and Judith's mor- 
 bid introspective speech, III, in which she tabulates all the emo- 
 tions that have swept over her since the beginning of the siege. 
 
 Hebbel makes it plain that some of his soliloquies are to be 
 regarded as thought soliloquies, while others must be taken as 
 speech soliloquies. So Leonhard interrupts a conflict soliloquy 
 with: "Da kommt jemand! Gott sei Dank, nichts ist schmah- 
 licher, als sich mit seinen eigenen Gedanken abzanken mtissen ! 
 Eine Rebellion im Kopf, wo man Wurm nach Wurm gebiert 
 und einer den anderen frisst oder in den Schwanz beisst, ist die 
 Schlimmste von alien ! "^ Alexandra, while delivering a solilo- 
 quy, stamps it as a speech soliloquy when she says : 
 
 "... Das nicht ! Sprich wie du denkst, 
 Der Pharisaer lauscht nicht vor der Tiir ! "^ 
 
 On the whole, then, the faults of Hebbel's soHIoquies out- 
 weigh their virtues, the many crudities striking a discordant 
 note. His technic of the soliloquy is on a considerably lower 
 level than that of the immortal triad. 
 
 2. Otto Ludzmg 
 
 Ludwig's name is usually associated with that of Hebbel as a 
 forerunner of modern realistic drama. From the mass of his 
 plans, sketches and fragments, a veritable mountain of ruins, 
 but two dramas stand out as really great productions : " Der 
 Erbforster " and " Die IMakkabaer." The continual conflict 
 between objectivity, which he admired so greatly in Shake- 
 
 1 Maria M., Ill, 8. Other examples: Diamant: I, 4; IV, 2; V, 4. 
 Julia, II, 12. Agnes B., I, i. 
 
 2 Maria Magdalena, III, 5. 
 
 3 Herodes u. Mariamnc, II, 2. 
 
96 
 
 speare and sought to press into service, and his natural subjec- 
 tivity resulted in indecision and unproducitivity. 
 
 Several of his utterances in his dramatic studies point to 
 Ibsen's technic, especially when he says : " Die giinsitigste Hand- 
 lung ist ein einfacher Stoff, in dem eine nichit zu grosse Anzahl 
 durch Gemiitsart, Intentionen usw. scharf kontrastierter Per- 
 sonen vom Anfang bis zum Ende auf einen moglichst engen 
 Raum zusammengedrangt sind."^ Another interesting dictum 
 defines a good drama as really nothing but a catastrophe and its 
 careful motivation through characters and situations.^ 
 
 His theory regarding the soliloquy is set forth in his studies 
 at frequent intervals. Witbouit exception tliese expressions 
 shovvr him to be a warm friend and admirer of this convention 
 when it acquaints us with the secret thoughts and emotions of 
 the speaker. In a chapter entitled " Der Monolog " he writes : 
 " Wie sehr man iiber das Wesen des Dramatischen im Irrtum 
 ist, kann die jetzt geltende Kegel zeigen: so wenig als moglich 
 Monologe! Es kann keinen grossern Missverstand geben als 
 diesen: denn in Wahrheit lahmt ein Monolog so wenig, dass 
 eben die Monologe das eigentlich Dramatische sind. Nur frei- 
 lich Monologe im rechten Sinne."^ He considers a soliloquy 
 proper only when its object is to represent the ethical and psy- 
 chological content of an event. But when a little later on he 
 states that Shakespeare's and Lessing's dramas are only a series 
 of soliloquies with intervening motives one can but smile at 
 this reductio ad absurdum. 
 
 Ludwig boldly assents that mere pantomime can not reveal 
 the speaker's thoughts and emotions. Shakespeare's charac-. 
 ters think aloud as it were, according to him. He goes on to 
 say that in reality only a part of one's thoughts and emotions 
 are expressed, but that Shakespeare brings all this to utterance. 
 " Blosse Gebarden des Schauspielers tun es nicht (die inneren 
 Zustande zu versinnlichen und dem Zuhorer mitzuteilen) , und 
 der Phantasie des Zuschauers kann man nicht zumuten, die 
 Patisen zu erganzen."* 
 
 1 Dramatische Studien, in chapter: Dramatische Stofife. 
 
 2 Ibid., Entwicklung der Situation. 
 
 3 Ibid., Der Monolog. 
 
 4 Ibid., p. 92, ed. by A. Eloesser. 
 
97 
 
 How thoroughly he realizes that the soliloquy is a convention 
 is made clear when he says : "Wo die Natur im hochsten Grade 
 desAffekts stumm ist oder nur einen Hauch, eine Interjektion 
 hervorbringt, da iibersetzt Shakespeare den Hauch, den Seuf- 
 zer, das Stohnen in einen plastischen langern Ausruf, der die 
 GefiJhle zusammenfasst in einen pragnanten Satz."^ And 
 again : " Die Entwicklung eines interessanten Charakters ist nur 
 in Monologen moglich."^ 
 
 Before considering Ludwig's technic of the soliloquy in his 
 masterpieces a glance at his earliest dramatic venture, " Hans 
 Frei," a comedy dealing with medieval Niirnberg conditions, 
 is of interest. His technic of the soliloquy in this play is ex- 
 ceedingly crude, the comedy fairly teeming with soliloquies and 
 asides in the most approved Sachsian manner. Compared with 
 this play Ludwig's masterpieces show decided progress both in 
 the character of the soliloquy as well as in the remarkably tem- 
 perate use of same. 
 
 In "Die Makkabaer" the second, third and fifth acts are 
 entirely devoid of soliloquies though not of asides. Lea's two 
 soliloquies in the fourth act are powerful and dramatic depic- 
 tions of the emotions that surge through her breast. The first 
 of Judah's two soliloquies, I, end, is reflective and permeated 
 with disgust; the second IV, i, is descriptive, emotional and 
 intentional and withal dramatic in form, a real talking to 
 himself: 
 
 " Wie Sicherheit hier mit bequemem Fliigel, 
 Dies Lager briitet. Kein Verhau! Kein Graben ! 
 Ist Judah tot? Ist er ein Tor geworden, 
 Dass man ihn hohnen darf? Geduld, bis dir 
 Die ausgefallnen Schwingen wieder wachsen ; 
 Dann zahl' die neue Schuld ihm mit der alten. 
 Nun nach Jerusalem ! " ^ 
 
 The empty stage at the beginning of the fifth act of "Der 
 Erbforster," followed by considerable pantomime, is an inter- 
 esting forerunner of present day realistic methods. The short 
 
 1 Dramatische Studien, p. 138. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 139. 
 
 3 IV, I. 
 
98 
 
 soliloquy which follows is a dramatic translation of her anxious 
 thoughts into words. The eight soliloquies are all short and 
 dramatic. Exclamations, questions, often a real talking to 
 one's self, characterize these soliloquies. The expositional ele- 
 ment is very infrequent/ most of the speeches being reflective 
 or emotional. The announcing of the approaching actor is a 
 favorite device, as it was with Lessing. Stein's soliloquy, II, 
 beginning, illustrates many of the above mentioned charac- 
 teristics : 
 
 " Verwiinschter alter Eigensinn ! Der ganze schone Tag ver- 
 dorben. Jetzt sassen wir bei Tisch, Recht mag er schon haben, 
 dass das Durchforsten nicht i-augt. Aber muss er mich desshalb 
 so in Rage bringen? Freilich ich miisste kliiger sein als er. 
 Meine Hitze war auch mit schuld. — Mich dauert nur die Forsterin 
 — und die Kinder. Ich will auch — (Steht auf, setzt sich wieder). 
 Was denn? Eine Torheit mit der andern gut machen? So un- 
 iiberlegt im Xachgeben sein, wie ich's im Uebelnehmen war? 
 Alter Sprudelkopf ! Aber das soil mir eine Lehre sein. — (Kleine 
 Pause, dann steht er wieder auf, nimmt Hut und Stock und wirft 
 beides wieder hin.) Nein, es geht nicht; es geht durchaus nicht. 
 Was? Das war eine Blamage, nie wieder gut zu machen. Dies- 
 mal muss er kommen; ich kann ihm nicht helfen. Aber er hat 
 vielleicht schon . . . ist das nicht Moller?" 
 
 Summing up then, Ludwig's soliloquies are short, dramatic 
 and legitimately used, i. e., to convey thoughts and emotions 
 which would otherwise remain unexpressed. His fidelity to 
 the convention stamps him as a conservative adherent to classi- 
 cal tradition not as an innovator. Credit is due him however 
 for the avoidance of the crude makeshift of the expositional 
 soliloquy. 
 
 3. Ltidzi'ig Ansengniber 
 
 " Through his healthy realism Anzengruber paved the way in 
 a striking manner for the naturalistic movement that followed, 
 although he has nothing in common with its perversities."' 
 According to R. M. Meyer, Anzengruber was recognized as 
 the foremost dramatist in Germany at the time of his death. 
 " With his dramas realism entered upon the stage. His serious 
 
 1 IV, 7, Der Erbforster. 
 
 2 Max. Koch, Geschichte der deutschen Literatur, p. 483. 
 
99 
 
 realistic drama is entitled to a position alongside of the serious 
 classical drama, his ' volkstiimliche ' comedy deserves a place 
 beside the classical comedy of Grillparzer and Kleist.''^ 
 
 Examining four representative plays, viz., " Der Pfarrer von 
 Kirchfeld," " Der Meineidbauer," " Die Kreuzelschreiber " and 
 " Das vierte Gebot," we find that Anzengruber's technic of the 
 soliloquy is essentially that of the classical period and in no 
 manner foreshadows the technic employed by the naturalists 
 who followed him. Although he avoids purely expositional 
 speeches, we do find epic admixtures occasionally, and, what is 
 worse, disproportionately long speeches in the dialog which con- 
 vey expositional material, as, e. g., in " Der Meineidbauer." 
 The gradual presentation of expositional material in the last 
 mentioned play reminds one of Ibsen's technic, but Anzengru- 
 ber's method is crude and transparent as compared with that 
 of the Scandinavian. 
 
 1 Die deutsche Literatur des 19. Jahrhunderts, R. M. Meyer, p. 659. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 Recent Developments 
 
 I, Hauptmann 
 The technic of the modern German realistic drama, notably 
 that of its chief exponent, Gerhart Hauptmann, is indebted to 
 such an extent to Ibsen's technic, that a brief discussion of 
 Ibsen's technic and its influence upon German drama will not 
 be amiss. This influence is set forth in a very illuminating 
 manner by A. von Berger: "Of the different elements which 
 are amalgamated in Ibsen's mental physiognomy and impart to 
 it the modern expression, the scientific point of view and man- 
 ner of presentation and everything connected with it have ex- 
 erted the most stimulating and fruitful influence upon German 
 drama. Ibsen, accordingly, was the source of the entire flood 
 of realistic psychological milieu dramas which has poured over 
 Germany since the middle of the eighties and has not subsided 
 yet. Perhaps ' Ibsen's significance and service for German 
 poetry is best expressed by saying that he created a form of art, 
 a style and a technic which has proven itself capable of appro- 
 priating life as it unfolds itself when seen by modern observ- 
 ers and analyzed by modern psychologists. The essence of this 
 technic consists in the exclusion of all theatrical conventions 
 from the dramatic form which do not correspond to reality. 
 Its aim is the impression as though we were witnesses of scenes 
 from life and conversations which are given as though they 
 were not being listened to. The characters of the old drama 
 do not entirely ignore the spectator; they say many things for 
 the sake of the spectator which real people who are thoroughly 
 engrossed in their affairs could not possibly say. The charac- 
 ters in Ibsen's plays do not seem to suspect that they are fig- 
 ures in a drama performed for an audience. Everything that 
 smacks of the theater is to be rejected. Above all, then, the 
 monolog, but also many other things that resemble the mono- 
 100 
 
101 
 
 log: asides, conversations in which the characters tell each 
 other things they already know, merely so that the audience 
 will be informed, characterization which in the last analysis is 
 nothing more than the assurance by some one that he has this 
 or that characteristic. The German realists since the eighties 
 have adopted Ibsen's technic and adapted it to their needs. 
 
 Striking fidelity to reality, absolute spontaneity, exact moti- 
 vation even to the most minute detail, these three things define 
 the essence of the dramatic form that has its origin in Ibsen. 
 This form made possible the formation of the realistic milieu 
 drama, whose chief exponent is Hauptmann."^ 
 
 Ibsen shows a decided preference for the analytical drama, 
 in which the action is practically ended before the curtain rises 
 and the greater part of the play devoted to the unfolding of 
 the expositional material — Archer refers to it as the retro- 
 spective method — ^but he also uses the synthetic form in which 
 the action is developed and takes place in the drama, and a 
 combination of the two methods. " Ghosts," " Rosmersholm," 
 " The Wild Duck," and " John Gabriel Borkmann " are types 
 of the analytical drama; "The Comedy of Love," "The Pre- 
 tenders," " Brand," " Peer Gynt," " Emperor and Galilean " and 
 " The League of Youth " are types of the synthetic drama, and 
 "A Doll's House," "Hedda Gabler," "Little Eyolf" and 
 "The Lady from the Sea" show a mixture of the two types. 
 Ibsen's analytical drama in which the conditions of the soul, 
 "etats d'ames," rather than outward conditions, "etats des 
 choses," are represented, exerted a powerful influence upon 
 Hauptmann. 
 
 Ibsen's technic in his early historical and fantastic plays 
 in verse was on a friendly footing with the soliloquy. When 
 he turned to the prose tragedy of every-day life, however, a 
 change of technic is noticeable. Beginning with " The Pillars 
 of Society," the soliloquy is almost entirely dropped. To be 
 sure a few short soliloquies occur in the last mentioned play 
 and in "A Doll's House," but these cases are exceptional. 
 Here and there we find short outbursts by persons left alone on 
 
 1 A. V. Berger, " Uber Drama u. Theater," p. 2^ fF., Leipzig, 1900. 
 
102 
 
 the stage, as, e. g., when Hedda burns up the manuscript, end 
 of act III; Hilde, end of act II of "The Alaster Builder"; 
 Mrs. BorkmanfTat the beginning of "John Gabriel Bork- 
 mann"; Werle at the end of Act I, and Hjalmar in Act V of 
 "The Wild Duck." To all intents and purposes, then, the 
 later plays, the plays whose technic influenced the dramatists 
 of other countries, are devoid of soliloquies. 
 
 Ibsen, however, was not the only dramatist who influenced 
 Hauptmann's technic. The influence exerted by the joint pro- 
 duction of Holz and Schlaf, "Die Familie Selicke," upon 
 Hauptmann was profound. Especially " Vor Sonnenaufgang," 
 which incidentally is dedicated to Holz and Schlaf, is greatly 
 indebted to the above mentioned tour de force. " Die Familie 
 Selicke" unrolls a page from the seamy side of life just as it 
 might be enacted before an invisible spectator. The natural- 
 istic portrayal of conditions as set forth in this play eschews 
 soliloquies, asides and all remarks ordinarily made for the bene- 
 fit of the spectator. Both the minute and painstaking depic- 
 tion of conditions as well as the avoidance of the convention 
 of the soliloquy have undoubtedly left their impression upon 
 Hauptmann's work. A gripping psychological drama, " Meis- 
 ter Oelze," written by Schlaf after the dissolution of the liter- 
 ary partnership, deserves mention. The treatment is natural- 
 istic throughout and but two short outbursts under the stress 
 of the greatest emotion occur. 
 
 In discussing Hauptmann's technic of the soliloquy, I shall 
 confine myself to the realistic dramas. With the exception of 
 short emotional outbursts by characters who are left alone on 
 the stage, similar to those found in Ibsen's later dramas, nothing 
 remotely resembling a soliloquy occurs. Bearing in mind that 
 the soliloquy is a convention, we can hardly refer to these brief 
 utterances as soliloquies, inasmuch as it is quite common in 
 every-day life to give vent to short ejaculations when overcome 
 with some emotion. " It happens rather frequently that an ex- 
 cited person soliloquizes. But cases in which this is in accord- 
 ance with reality are not soliloquies in the technical sense, and 
 even the naturalists raise no objection to them. Only such 
 speeches can be regarded as soliloquies which are delivered on 
 
103 
 
 the stage with the assumption that that which we hear is only 
 thought and not really spoken."^ 
 
 What takes the place of the soliloquy in Hauptmann? Are 
 the substitutes which he offers for expositional soliloquies, 
 soliloquies of thought and emotion and conflict, satisfactory? 
 In conveying the exposition Hauptmann follows in the foot- 
 steps of Ibsen, who shows remarkable skill in that particular. 
 Setting aside the crude expositional soliloquy, many playwrights 
 resort to the convenient French confidant. Not so Ibsen. Nor 
 does he resort to the naive expedient of having persons on the 
 stage converse about things which are absolutely familiar to 
 themselves merely to acquaint the audience with them. The 
 return of a friend or acquaintance who has not kept up the 
 correspondence and naturally has to be informed of what has 
 occurred during the interim is a favorite device of Ibsen. Lona 
 Hessel and John Tonnesen return after a long absence in " The 
 Pillars of Society," Mrs. Linde in " The Doll's House," Pastor 
 Manders and Oswald in "Ghosts"; Kroll meets Rebekka 
 after a long interval in " Rosmersholm ; " in " The Lady of the 
 Sea" Arnholm and the Stranger return; in " Hedda Gabler" 
 Tesman and Hedda return from a trip, while Thea and Eilert 
 appear after years of absence, etc. This device is also em- 
 ployed by Hauptmann in several of his plays. In " Vor Son- 
 nenaufgang" Alfred Loth visits Hoffmann after an interim of 
 ten years; in "Das Friedensfest " Dr. Scholz as well as his 
 son Wilhelm returns after a long absence ; in " Einsame Men- 
 schen " Anna Mahr enters a household and disrupts it. 
 
 What of the speaker's secret thoughts and aspirations, the 
 torturing doubts and racking conflicts that beset his soul ? How 
 are they made known to the audience now that the soliloquy is 
 out of the question? By means of pantomime and facial ex- 
 pression! Elaborate stage directions, sometimes a page in 
 length, are inserted by the author ostensibly for the actor's 
 guidance in the interpretation of inner thoughts, emotions and 
 conflicts by means of facial expression and pantomime. But 
 if as a matter of fact some of the demands made upon facial 
 
 1 Hans Sittenbcrger, Die Wahrheit auf dcr Biihnc, p. 31. Vienna, 1893- 
 
104 
 
 expression are impossible of execution, as I shall shortly dem- 
 onstrate, then the stage directions, in part at least, are intended 
 for the reader and are epic, not dramatic. Although pardon- 
 able in a closet-drama, this method of procedure is entirely out 
 of place in a drama intended for the stage. And even where 
 the stage directions are capable of execution, the spectator sees 
 things more or less through a veil and has to indulge in con- 
 jecture as to what the author is really driving at. I venture to 
 suggest that the actual thoughts, the conflicting emotions them- 
 selves are of more interest to the spectator than the mere knowl- 
 edge that the actor is thinking or passing through an inner 
 conflict. 
 
 Some of Hauptmann's stage-directions cannot possibly be 
 executed, while others must certainly tax the ingenuity of the 
 actors to the utmost. In "Vor Sonnenaufgang," e. g., Frau 
 Krause on one occasion is asked to be " blaurot vor Wut," on 
 another "puterrot." In "Das Friedensfest " he makes a de- 
 mand which only an actor with the characteristics of a chamel- 
 eon can suitably interpret : " Seine Farbe wechselt oft." Here- 
 upon the much abused face is to show plainly how conflicting 
 emotions rack his soul and how his previously made resolution 
 begins to weaken : " Hierauf is deutlich wahrzunehmen wie 
 Stromungen fiir und wieder in ihm kampfen, — wie er in seinem 
 Entschluss wankend wird." Not indistinctly mark you, but 
 plainly ! Then, when his father appears, he is asked to portray 
 a violent inner struggle by means of pantomime : " Wilhelm 
 scheint einen Seelenkampf physisch durchzuringen." At the 
 end of the first act of " Einsame Menschen," the stage direc- 
 tions tell us that: "In Kathe ist etwas vorgegangen !" What? 
 And how is this mysterious something to be presented to the 
 audience ? 
 
 Again the stage-directions are filled with characterizing and 
 descriptive bits which suggest the spurned characterizing solilo- 
 quy. The action itself ought to bring out these characteristics. 
 The author is making use of the prerogatives of the novel, he 
 employs the epic method, inasmuch as these statements are 
 intended for the reader, not the spectator in the theater. The 
 directions at the beginning of " Die Weber " are the best ex- 
 
105 
 
 ample of this undramatic method of procedure : " Die meisten 
 der harrenden Webersleute gleichen Menschen, die vor die 
 Schranken des Gerichts gestellt sind, wo sie in peinigender 
 Gespanntheit eine Entscheidung iiber Tod und Leben zu er- 
 warten haben. Hinwiederum haf tet alien etwas Gedriicktes, dem 
 Almosenempfanger Eigentiimliches an, der, von Demiitigung zu 
 Demiitigung schreitend, im Bewusstsein, nur geduldet zu sein, 
 sich so klein als moglich zu machen gewohnt ist. Dazu kommt ein 
 starrer Zug resultatlosen, bohrenden Griibelns in alien Mienen. 
 Die Manner, einander ahnelnd, halb zwerghaft, halb schulmei- 
 sterlich, sind in der Mehrzahl flachbriistige, hiistelnde, armliche 
 Menschen mit schmutzigblasser Gesichtsf arbe : Geschopfe des 
 Webstuhls, deren Kniee infolge vielen Sitzens gekriimmt sind. 
 Ihre Weiber zeigen weniger Typisches auf den ersten Blick; 
 sie sind aufgelost, gehetzt, abgetrieben, wahrend die Manner 
 eine gewisse klagliche Gravitat noch zur Schau tragen und zer- 
 lumpt, wo die Manner geflickt sind." In " Vor Sonnenauf- 
 gang" we are informed that Mrs. Krause's deportment and 
 clothing betray pride, stupid arrogance and absurd vanity, also 
 that her face is hard, sensual and wicked ; that Hoffman's ex- 
 pression is " verschwommen " ; that Kahl would like to play 
 both the gentleman as well as the man of wealth, that his fea- 
 tures are coarse and his expression mostly " dummpfiffig." 
 
 The most striking example of epic treatment is shown in a 
 direction at the beginning of the second act of the same play 
 which reads: "hierauf die feierliche Morgenstille ;" Even a 
 past master of stage effects might well be perplexed at this 
 demand. It would also tax his ingenuity to present a sultry 
 day towards the end of May, called for in the introduction to 
 " Die Weber." 
 
 2. Sudermann 
 
 In contrast to Hauptmann, who devoted the greatest atten- 
 tion to the portrayal of existing conditions, the milieu, Suder- 
 mann's chief aim is a stirring exciting action. Opposed to the 
 negative, passive heroes of the former, Sudermann presents us 
 with positive, active protagonists. In contrast to the messen- 
 ger from the outside world who attempts to relieve conditions 
 
106 
 
 in Hauptmann's dramas, Sudermann has the hero himself 
 return from distant parts to stir up a conflict between two con- 
 tending points of view, as in "Die Ehre," "Die Heimat," 
 " Gliick im Winkel " and others. 
 
 What as to his technic of the soliloquy? In "Die Ehre," 
 his first dramatic venture, we find three short soliloquies^ and 
 numberless asides; six in the first act, eleven in the second, 
 twelve in the third and six in the fourth, a total of thirty-five. 
 The soliloquies are of the reflective type with an intentional end- 
 ing, thus having some dramatic justification as they affect the 
 action. The chief blemish of the play are the long didactic 
 speeches of Trast, the mouthpiece of the author, in the style 
 of the French raisonneur. 
 
 In " Sodom's Ende " soliloquies are fairly numerous. The 
 author aims this satirical thrust at the soliloquy, when he has 
 Adah say, I, lo, " Ich iiberlasse Sie dem Monolog, Herr Pro- 
 fessor, den Sie sogleich iiber unsere Verderbtheit halten wer- 
 den." Whereupon the professor does deliver a soliloquy, 
 although he avoids the type suggested. The soliloquies are for 
 the most part reflective,^ with one very dramatic conflict solil- 
 oquy by Willy between his baser and his better self, ending in 
 a victory for the latter.^ 
 
 In " Die Heimat," his most effective stage play, the soliloquy 
 does not occur at all and but three asides are found. The same 
 holds true of "Johannes," in which but one aside occurs. 
 " Teja " and " Fritzchen " eschew both soliloquies and asides. 
 
 When we turn to the idealistic drama, however, we meet 
 with the customary technic of the soliloquy. In Hauptmann's 
 "Die versunkene Glocke," Sudermann's "Die drei Reiher- 
 federn," Fulda's " Der Talisman," all symbolic dramas, the 
 convention is employed as it was in the dramas of the classical 
 period. There seems to be a tacit admission, then, on the part 
 of the modern realistic playwrights that the soliloquy, however 
 out of place in realistic drama, has a perfectly justifiable place 
 in idealistic drama. 
 
 HI, 10 ; III, 4; IV, 3. 
 
 2 IV, s; IV, :6; IV, 17; end of the play. 
 
 3 III, 17. 
 
107 
 
 To round out this discussion it will be necessary to consider 
 briefly two new tendencies in modern German drama, one re- 
 vitalizing the Greek drama, the other the Romantic Drama. 
 Hugo von Hofmannsthal's " Elektra " and " Oedipus " furnish 
 the best examples of the former movement. Of the two, 
 " Elektra " shows the closer resemblance to Sophocles's drama 
 of the same title upon which it is based. Strictly speaking, the 
 presence of the chorus in Sophocles's drama makes a real solil- 
 oquy impossible, but as a matter of fact, Elektra is so overcome 
 w^ith grief when she delivers her outbursts of sorrow, that she is 
 entirely oblivious of the presence of the chorus and therefore, 
 to all intents and purposes, delivers genuine soliloquies. Later, 
 in the third Epeisodion, when Orestes gives her an urn sup- 
 posed to contain her father's ashes, Elektra again gives vent to 
 her feelings as though no one were present. In the classic 
 drama we accordingly have what amounts to three soliloquies. 
 In Hofmannsthal's version we find a long morbidly passionate 
 soliloquy, which corresponds to Elektra's first soliloquy in 
 Sophocles's version. It is dramatic in form, practically all of 
 it being addressed to her dead father. Compared with the 
 original, it shows the following points of difference. The com- 
 parative calm and dignity of the original is translated into 
 torrid passion writhing in lust for blood : 
 
 " So wie aus umgeworfnen Kriigen wird's 
 aus den gebundnen Mordern fliessen, rings 
 wie Marmorkriige werden nackte Leiber 
 von alien ihren Helfern sein, von Mannern 
 und Frauen, und in einem Schwall, in einem 
 geschwollnen Bach wird ihres Lebens Leben 
 aus ihnen sturzen." 
 
 The description of the murder is given in greater detail and the 
 call for revenge in the original gives way to a bloody descrip- 
 tion of the manner in which she will avenge her father. Sev- 
 eral asides and a short soliloquy of regret occur later in the 
 version. 
 
 In " Oedipus " there is little similarity in the two versions, as 
 Hofmannsthal in his drama gives us only the Vorgeschichte of 
 
108 
 
 the classical play. Numerous soliloquies occur in this drama, 
 some with a great deal of expositional material in a rather un- 
 dramatic mold, others reflective and emotional, in which excla- 
 mations, apostrophes and questions are employed to good effect. 
 
 Hardt's " Tantris der Narr " and Stucken's Grail series con- 
 sisting of " Gawan," " Lanval " and " Lanzelot," will illustrate 
 the other modern movement. The splendor of medieval knight- 
 hood and chivalry, enchanted woods and chapels, moonlit val- 
 leys and vile sorcerers are revived in these plays. Soliloquies 
 are not numerous in these dramas. In " Lanzelot," e. g., none 
 whatever occur, the author preferring to let his character in- 
 dulge in pantomime, where the setting is most propitious for a 
 soliloquy, as in III, 5 : " After Lanzelot has gone, Elaine falls 
 upon her knees beside the bed, shaken with sobs. Then she 
 rises, wipes away the tears and goes to the alcove on the right, 
 where she hastily dresses. Suddenly she stops to listen and 
 hurries to the door in the background. Carefully she opens 
 the door and looks out." Occasionally long epic narratives 
 are found, as in " Gawan." Expositional material is not often 
 met with in the soHloquies, which are generally cast in very 
 dramatic form, as, e. g., Gawan's sleep soliloquy, III, his con- 
 flict soliloquy, IV, 2, Lanval's longing for his fairy wife, IV, i. 
 
 In the initial expositional soliloquy in " Gawan," delivered 
 by Artus, there is a beautiful descriptive passage addressed to 
 the Virgin : 
 
 " Schon warst Du Marie, so erschrocken und kindlich hold ! 
 Alabaster Dein Kinn, Deine Locken gesponnenes Gold, 
 Und Dein Augenpaar zwei Seen mit blauen Tiefen, 
 Die selbst nie die Perlen gesehen, die drunten schliefen. 
 Dein Schneeleib war durchbebt von des Wunders Schauer." 
 
 In Hardt's " Tantris," there is but one dramatic soliloquy, in 
 his " Gudrun " four occur, three of them reflective, the other 
 an outburst of anger and grief. Apostrophes and exclamations 
 and occasionally the dialog form are very effectively employed 
 in many of the soliloquies. 
 
109 
 
 Conclusion 
 
 Has the recent drama gained in artistic effectiveness by its 
 disuse of the soHloquy? Is dramatic technic improved by the 
 elimination of the convention of the sohloquy? The answer 
 to these questions, which were touched upon in the discussion 
 of Hauptmann, will round out this investigation. 
 
 " The history of the drama is the long record of the effort of 
 the dramatist to get hold of the essentially dramatic and to ca=t 
 out everything else."^ The naturalistic dramas have cast out 
 the soliloquy and the aside because they have felt both to be 
 unnatural. Their attitude is that of Archer, who says : " A 
 drama with soliloquies and asides is like a picture with inscribed 
 labels issuing from the mouths of the figures. The glorious 
 problem of the modern playwright is to make his characters re- 
 veal the inmost W'orkings of their souls without saying or doing 
 anything that they w^ould not say or do in the real world."- A 
 glorious problem, indeed ! But unless we are endowed with a 
 sixth sense that will enable us to become proficient mind- 
 readers, I fear that these inmost workings of the soul will be 
 shrouded in impenetrable darkness. But, the naturalist will 
 retort, a pause, a look of the eye, facial expression, the actor's 
 actions and pantomime, will convey to the audience what is 
 going on in the mind of the character. It is undeniable, " that 
 for the practical purposes of dramatic presentation, the symp- 
 toms of passion can be mechanically mimicked with tolerable 
 precision."^ 
 
 The simple or primary emotions, such as grief, joy, terror, 
 "which have immediate and characteristic outward symptoms"* 
 can undoubtedly be revealed to the audience. But what of the 
 more complex and habitual emotions which are rather attitudes 
 of mind and have no characteristic outward symptoms, such as 
 love, hatred, jealousy? Neither the character's attitude nor 
 the conflicting emotions that surge through his soul at a crisis, 
 
 1 B. Matthews, The Development of the Drama, p. 321. 
 
 2 W. Archer, Playmaking, A Manual of Craftsmanship, London, 1912, 
 
 p. 305. 
 
 3W. Archer, Masks or Faces, London, 1888, p. 199. 
 * W. Archer, op. cit., p. 207. 
 
110 
 
 to say nothing of his inner thoughts, can be revealed to 
 the audience by means of facial expression or pantomime. 
 " The conflicting emotions of a hero at the crisis of his fate can 
 not possibly be made known except out of his own mouth."^ 
 " The soliloquy in which a character speaks boldly of his most 
 secret thoughts lets a tortured hero unpack his heart ; it opens 
 a window into his soul and it gives the spectator a pleasure not 
 to be had otherwise."^ I quite agree with Robert Hessen when 
 he says : " I have witnessed enough pantomimes in my lifetime 
 to know that they are significant only where nothing at all is to 
 be expressed and every laboring man would understand the 
 crude stuff. Where something worth while is to be conveyed 
 the understanding ceases and the libretto is pressed into serv- 
 ice. And along this line lies the development of the drama 
 when every soliloquy is dropped. On the stage pantomime; 
 the audience with their noses buried in books, that is known by 
 the name of ' modern dramas.' "^ Speaking of a performance 
 of " Francillon " he says : " The impersonator of Lucien groped 
 about the stage for minutes in absolute silence and the audience 
 sat there with gaping mouths without having the slightest idea 
 of what it was all about."^ 
 
 If, accordingly, a character's inmost thoughts and his inner 
 conflicts can not be expressed even adequately by means of the 
 substitute which the naturalists have offered, viz., pantomime, 
 then the dramatist is handicapped by the loss of the soliloquy, 
 and dramatic technic is made less effective. If the drama loses 
 in artistic power by the elimination of this convention, it is high 
 time that the dramatists of today protest against its disuse and 
 emphasize the protest by again employing it. " Artistic and 
 art-loving painters and sculptors woiild scornfully reject such 
 a proposition as the following : * Yes you may paint, but you 
 must no longer use blue or yellow,' or, * Yes, indeed, you may 
 make statues of women, but only with a veil, like the fellah 
 women in Egypt. The upper part of the nose and the eyes 
 may be visible, but no more. If you are any sort of artist you 
 will be able to make a very expressive face in spite of this re- 
 
 1 B. Matthews, A Study of the Drama, pp. 148-149. 
 
 2 Dr. Robert Hessen (Avonanius), Dramatische Handwerkslehre, Ber- 
 lin, 1902, pp. 232-233. rtj, 
 
Ill 
 
 striction.' "^ The simple fact that naturalists have lost their 
 taste for soliloquies is no reason why every one else should dis- 
 like them. Their reiteration of the demand that everything on 
 the stage should be a faithful copy of life is absurd, inasmuch 
 as practically everything connected with a performance on the 
 stage rests upon conventions. Even in a prose play based upon 
 every-day life, there is readjustment of the plot, a compression 
 as it were, so that it will fit into the two or three hours set 
 aside for the performance, the elucidation of the plot so that it 
 becomes clear to the spectator, the condensation and heighten- 
 ing of the dialog. Then there is the removal of the fourth wall, 
 the raising of the actor's voices, the selection and heightening 
 or emphasizing of gesture and facial play. " Everyone knows 
 that the actor is not necessarily a mere copyist of nature; he 
 must always imitate, though we may permit him to steep his 
 imitation, so to speak, in a more or less conventional atmos- 
 phere." " He plays naturally," or, in other words, " He imi- 
 tates well " is our highest formula of praise even for the oper- 
 atic tenor or the French tragedian, who may not deliver a single 
 word or tone exactly as it would be uttered in real life.^ 
 
 Inasmuch as the convention of the soliloquy, then, is but one 
 of many, the singling out of, and the attack upon, this one con- 
 vention is uncalled for and illogical. If the characters must 
 not do or say anything that they would not do or say in the 
 real world, then let the gentlemen of the naturalistic school be 
 consistent and eliminate all the other numerous conventions. 
 No defense of the expositional soliloquy is intended or implied 
 in the preceding remarks. It is, as Mr. Archer aptly calls it, 
 a slovenliness, and all critics are agreed that it must be shunned. 
 But when Mr. Archer suggests that "a conversation on the 
 telephone often provides a convenient and up-to-date substitute 
 for a soliloquy,"^ does he suppose that an up-to-date audience 
 will fail to see through the thin disguise and not regard this 
 makeshift with an amused smile? 
 
 It is interesting to note that Mr. Archer, after denouncing 
 the soliloquy as a " slovenliness " and " a disturbing anachro- 
 
 1 R. Hesscn, op. cit., p. 2Z2. 
 
 2 W. Archer, Masks or Faces, p. 196. 
 8W. Archer, Playmaking, p. 305. 
 
112 
 
 nism," suffers a change of heart and champions the poor down- 
 trodden outcast by approving of the emotional and conflict 
 soliloquy. His attitude, especially if it reflects the point of 
 view of the naturalists, augurs well for the future of the solilo- 
 quy and points to a new lease of life for it. In answer to his 
 question : " Are there in modern drama any admissible solilo- 
 quies ?"^ he writes : " A few brief ejaculations oi joy or despair, 
 are, of course, natural enough and none will cavil with them. The 
 approach of mental disease is often marked by a tendency to 
 unrestrained loquacity, which goes on while the sufferer is 
 alone, and this distressing symptom may, on rare occasion, be 
 put to artistic use. (Gryphius was the first to advance this 
 idea.) Short of actual derangement, however, there are cer- 
 tain states of nervous excitation which cause even healthy 
 people to talk to themselves, and if an author has the skill to 
 make us realize that his character is passing through such 
 a crisis, he may risk a soliloquy, not only without reproach but 
 with conspicuous psychological justification."^ The last part 
 of this statement bears out Brander Matthews's remark that 
 " the conflicting emotions of a hero at the crisis of his fate can 
 not be made known except out of his own mouth." The vul- 
 nerable part of his dictum lies in the fact that he attempts to 
 convert a convention into a faithful reproduction of life. The 
 thoughts and emotions of a character at a crisis would rarely 
 if ever be expressed in real life other than by gestures and 
 facial expression and possibly by brief ejaculations. If then, 
 the character on the stage indulges in a soliloquy, it is because 
 the author is making thought audible for our benefit by means 
 of the convention of the soliloquy which permits inaudible 
 thought to become audible. At any rate, Mr. Archer has seen 
 the necessity of informing the audience of what goes on in the 
 minds of the characters, and that is a decided step in advance 
 of the naturalists, who have been unsuccessful in conveying 
 such information by means of pantomime. 
 
 It is to be hoped that the dramatic authors of today and 
 tomorrow will realize that the elimination of the soliloquy of 
 thought and feeling is a loss to the drama and that their restora- 
 tion will increase its artistic effectiveness. 
 
 1 W. Archer, Playmaking, p. 306 ff. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 Anzengruber, L., Dramas of. 
 
 Archer, W., English Dramatists of Today, London, 1882. 
 
 Masks or Faces, London, 1888. 
 
 Playmaking, London, 191 2. 
 Arnold, L. M., The Soliloquies of Shakespeare, N. Y., 191 2. 
 Ayrer, J., Selected Plays of. 
 Berger, A. v., Meine Hamburgische Dramaturgic, Wien, 1910. 
 
 tjber Drama und Theater, Leipzig, 1900. 
 Creizenach, W., Die Schauspiele der englischen Komodianten, 
 Berlin, 1889. 
 
 Geschichte des neueren Dramas, Halle, 1893. 
 Devrient, E., Geschichte der deutschen Schauspielkunst, 1848. 
 Drama des Alittelalters, 3 vols., ed. by R. Froning Stuttgart, 
 
 1891. 
 Diisel, F., Der dramatische Monolog in der Poetik des 17 und 18. 
 
 Jahrhunderts und in den Dramen Lessings, Hamburg, 
 
 1897. 
 Franz, R., Der Monolog und Ibsen, Marburg, 1907. 
 Freytag, G., Technik des Dramas, loth edition, Leipzig, 1905. 
 Fulda, L., Der Talisman. 
 Gartelmann, H., Dramatik, Berlin, 1892. 
 
 Gengenbach, P., Die Totenfresser. Die zehn Alter dieserWelt. 
 Glock, A., Die Buhne des Hans Sachs, Passau, 1903. 
 Goethe, J. W., Dramas of. 
 Gottschall, R. v., Zur Kritik des modernen Dramas, Berlin, 
 
 1900. 
 Gottsched, J. C., Versuch einer kritischen Dichtkunst, 1730, 
 
 Cato. 
 Grillparzer, F., Dramas of. 
 Gryphius, A., Dramas of. 
 
 Hamilton, C., Theory of the Theatre, N. Y., 1910. 
 Hardt, E., Tantris der Narr. Gudrun. 
 Hauptmann, G., Dramas of. 
 
 9 113 
 
114 
 
 Hebbel, F., Dramas of. 
 
 Tagebiicher, 
 Hedelin, The Whole Art of the Stage Made English, 1684. 
 Heinrich Julius, Dramas of. 
 Henderson, A., The Evolution of Dramatic Technic, North 
 
 Am. Rev., March, 1909. 
 Hennequin, A., The Art of Playwriting, 1890. 
 Hessen, R., Dramatische Handwerkslehre, Berlin, 1902. 
 Hofmannsthal, H. v., Elektra. Oedipus. 
 Holz, A., Die Familie Selicke. (Holz und Schlaf.) 
 Ibsen, H., Dramas of. 
 Kleist, H., Dramas of. 
 
 Klinger, P., Sturm und Drang. Die Zwillinge. 
 Leisewitz, J., Julius von Tarentum. 
 Lenz, J., Der Hofmeister. Die Soldaten. 
 Lessing, G, E., Dramas of. 
 
 Hamburgische Dramaturgie. 
 
 Beitrage zur Historic und Aufnahme des Theaters. 
 Lohenstein, C, Cleopatra. Ibrahim Sultan. 
 Ludwig, O., Dramas of. 
 
 Shakespeare Studien. 
 
 Dramatische Studien. 
 Matthews, B., The Development of the Drama, N. Y., 1906. 
 
 A Study of the Drama, N. Y., 1910. 
 
 Concerning the Soliloquy, Putnam's Monthly, Nov., 1906. 
 Meyer, H., Das Drama H. v. Kleists, Gottingen, 191 1. 
 Miiller, Maler, Golo und Genoveva. 
 Mundt, T., Dramaturgie, Berlin, 1848. 
 Paull, H. M., Dramatic Convention with Special Reference to 
 
 the Soliloquy, Fortnightly Review, May, 1899. 
 Pfefifer, C, Die Psychologic der Charaktere in Hebbels Tra- 
 
 godie, Leipzig. 
 Rebhuhn, P., Susanna. 
 
 Robertson, J. G., Zur Kritik Jakob Ayrers mit besonderer 
 Riicksicht auf sein Verhaltnis zu Hans Sachs und den 
 englischen Komodianten, Leipzig, 1892. 
 Sachs, Hans, Fastnachtspiele ; Comedies and Tragedies, selec- 
 tion of. 
 
115 
 
 Schiller, F., Dramas of. 
 
 Schlaf, J., Meister Olze. Die Familie Selicke. 
 
 Schlag, H., Das Drama, Essen, 1909. 
 
 Schlegel, J. E., Hermann. 
 
 Shrovetide Plays of the fifteenth Century, ed. by Keller, Stutt- 
 gart, 1858. 
 
 Sittenberger, H., Die Wahrheit auf der Bithne, 1893. 
 
 Stachel, P., Seneca und das deutsche Renaissance Drama, 
 Berlin, 1907. 
 
 Stucken, E., Gawan. Lanval. Lanzelot. 
 
 Stiirmer und Dranger, ed. by A. Sauer, Berlin, 1885. 
 
 Sudermann, H., Dramas of. 
 
 Wagner, H., Die Kindermorderin. 
 
 Waldis, B., Der verlorene Sohn. 
 
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 Masaniello. 
 
 Weszleny, R., Hebbels Genoveva, Berlin, 1910. 
 
INDEX 
 
 The Index contains the titles of works and the names of authors 
 mentioned in the text or footnotes of the foregoing treatise. 
 
 Abhandlung vom Trauerspiele, Sn 
 
 8n. 
 Ablasskramer, Der, 
 
 25. 
 
 Aesthetik, Hegel's, 8n. 
 Aesthetik, Vischer's, pn. 
 Ain guot Vasnachtspil, 25. 
 Alsfelder Passionsspiel, 21, 22, 23. 
 Anzengruber, L., 98, 99. 
 
 Kreuzelschreiber, Die, 99. 
 
 Meineidbauer, Der, 99. 
 
 Pfarrer von Kirchfeld, Der, 99. 
 
 Vierte Gebot, Das, 99. 
 Archer, W., 7, loi, 109, in, 112. 
 Aristotle, 41. 
 Arnim, A. v., ^6. 
 Arnold, L. M., in, 3, 4, 8, 9, 18, 74. 
 Art of Playwriting, The, 3n. 
 Augustine, St., 2. 
 Ayrer, J., 31, ZZ- 
 
 Comedia von der schonen Sidea, 
 33. 
 
 Batteux, C, 6. 
 
 Berger, A. v., 90, 90n, 100, loin. 
 
 Bodmer, J., 2n. 
 
 Brentano, C, ^6. 
 
 Briefe iiber die Wienerische 
 
 Schaubiihne, 6. 
 Brittanica Encyclopedia, 3. 
 Brockhaus, Konversationslexikon, 
 
 3- 
 Biihne des Hans Sachs, Die, 27n. 
 
 Concerning the Soliloquy, iin. 
 Corneille, P., 9, 40, 41. 
 Creizenach, W., 3 in. 
 
 Delius, N., 9. 
 De Sommi, 6. 
 
 Destouches, P., 45. 
 
 Deutsche Literatur des 19. Jahr- 
 
 hunderts, in, 99n. 
 Deutsche Schaubiihne, 9, 40. 
 Development of the Drama, The, 
 
 in, ion, 109. 
 Devrient, E., 24n, 27n. 
 Diderot, D., 5, 8. 
 Dostojev^rsky, F., 5. 
 Drama, Das, sn, 9n. 
 Drama H. v. Kleists, Das, 76n. 
 Drama des Mittelalters, Das, 20n. 
 Drama der Reformationszeit, Das, 
 
 25n. 
 Dramatic Convention with Special 
 
 Reference to the Soliloquy, 
 
 3n, 5n. 
 Dramatik, 5n, 9n. 
 Dramatische Handwerkslehre, no. 
 Dramatische Monolog in der Poe- 
 
 tik des 17. und 18. Jahrhun- 
 
 derts und in den Dramen Les- 
 
 sings, Der, 7n, 8n, i8n, 41 n. 
 Dramaturgic, 9n. 
 Dryden, J., 3n. 
 Diisel, R, 7, 8n, 18, 4in. 
 
 Einleitung in die schonen Wissen- 
 
 schaften, 6n. 
 Engel, J. J., 8. 
 
 English Dramatists of Today, 7n. 
 Essay on Dramatic Poesy, 3n. 
 Essay on Poetry, 6n. 
 Etymological Dictionary, 2n. 
 Evolution of Dramatic Technic, 
 
 The, 3n, Sn. 
 
 Fastnachtspiele aus dem 15. Jahr- 
 
 hundert, 23, 25, 28n. 
 Fastnachtspiele von Sachs, I3n. 
 
 116 
 
117 
 
 Francillon, no. 
 
 Frankfurter Passionsspiel, 22, 23. 
 Franz, R., in, 4n, 5n, Qn, ^^. 
 Freytag, G., 7, 8, 17, 28. 
 Froning R., 2on, 24, 24n, 25n, 26n. 
 Fulda, L., 106. 
 
 Der Talisman, 106. 
 
 Gartelmann, H., 5, 9. 
 Gengenbach, P., 25. 
 Die Totenfresser, 25. 
 Die zehn Alter dieser Welt, 25. 
 Geschichte der deutschen Litera- 
 
 tur, gSn. 
 Geschichte der deutschen Schau- 
 
 spielkunst, 24n, 27n. 
 Geschichte des neueren Dramas, 
 
 6n. 
 Glock, A., 27n. 
 
 Goethe, J. W., 13, 42, 5i, 62-75, 
 ^6, 80, 87. 
 Aufgeregten, Die, 63, (>T. 
 Bruchstiicke einer Tragodie, 63. 
 Clavigo, 67n, ^2>^ 
 Egmont, 64, 65, 66, 67n, 69, IZ^ 
 
 74, 75- 
 Faust, 13, 16, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 
 
 67, 68, 69, 70, 73, 75- 
 Geschwister, Die, 62, 63, 67n, 73. 
 Gotz, 14, 62, 64, 66, 67, 69, 70, 
 
 73, 76. 
 Grosscophta, Der, 68n. 
 Iphigenie, 13, I5, 62, 64, 66, 67n, 
 
 12, 72' 74, 75, 80. 
 Laune des Verliebten, Die, 67. 
 Mitschuldigen, Die, 62, 66, 67, 
 
 68, 69, 70, 71. 
 
 Natiirliche Tochter, Die, 14, 65, 
 67n, 70, 74, 75- 
 
 Nausikaa, 63. 
 
 Pandora, 63, 64, 66. 
 
 Stella, 64, 65, 71, 72, 7i' 74, 75- 
 
 Tasso, 67n, 68n, 72, 74, 75, 77< 
 80. 
 Gottschall, R. v., 2, 8n, 9. 
 Gottsched. J. C, 6, 9. 25, 40, 41, 42. 
 
 Cato, 40. 
 
 Gottsched, Luise, 9, 40. 
 Grande Encyclopedic, La, 3. 
 Grillparzer, F., 13, 80-87. 
 
 Ahnfrau, Die, 13, 81, 82, 83, 84, 
 85, 86. 
 
 Argonauten, Die, 83, 84, 85. 
 
 Blanka von Kastilien, 80, 81, 85, 
 86. 
 
 Bruderzwist in Habsburg, Ein, 
 85, 86. 
 
 Gastfreund, Der, 83. 
 
 Goldene Vliess, Das, 81. 
 
 Jiidin von Toledo, Die, 82, 84, 85. 
 
 Konig Ottokars Gliick, 14, 83, 86. 
 
 Libussa, 16, 81, 83, 85. 
 
 Medea, 84. 
 
 Meeres und der Liebe Wellen, 
 Des, 13, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 86. 
 
 Psyche, 81. 
 
 Robert, 81. 
 
 Rosamunde, 81. 
 
 Rosamund Clifford, 81. 
 
 Sappho, 16, 80, 83, 84, 85, 86. 
 
 Schreibfeder, Die, 81. 
 
 Traum ein Leben, Der, 13, 80, 
 81, 82, 83. 
 
 Treuer Diener, Ein, 81, 85, 86. 
 
 Weh dem, der liigt, 82, 84, 85. 
 
 Wer ist schuldig, 81, 84. 
 Grune Heinrich, Der, 5n. 
 Gryphius, A., 4, U. 34-38, 39, 4i. 
 112. 
 
 Cardenio und Celinde, 34, Z7- 
 
 Carolus Stuardus, 13, 35- 
 
 Catharine von Georgien, 34, 36. 
 
 Geliebte Dornrose, Die, 38. 
 
 Horribilicribrifax, 38. 
 
 Leo Armenius, 34, 37- 
 
 Papinianus, 13. 35. 36- 
 
 Peter Squenz, 38. 
 
 Hamburgische Dramaturgic, 
 
 Meinc, 9on. 
 Hamilton, C, i. 
 Hanstcin, A., 88n. 
 Hardt. E., 108. 
 Gudrun, 108. 
 
118 
 
 Tantris der Narr, io8. 
 Hauptmann, G., 12, 14, 100-105. 
 
 Einsame Menschen, 103, 104. 
 
 Florian Geyer, 14. 
 
 Friedensfest, Das, 103, 104. 
 
 Versunkene Glocke, Die, 106. 
 
 Vor Sonnenaufgang, 102, 103, 
 104, 105. 
 
 Weber, Die, 104, 105. 
 Hebbel, R, 8, 8&-95. 
 
 Agnes Bernauer, 13, 91, 92, 9311. 
 
 Diamant, Der, 91, 92, 93, 9311. 
 
 Genoveva, 14, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 
 93n, 94, 95. 
 
 Gyges und sein Ring, 93n, 95. 
 
 Herodes und Mariamne, 93, 93n, 
 94, 95- 
 
 Judith, 89, 90, 92, 93, 93", 95- 
 
 Julia, 91, 93, 93n, 94- 
 
 Kriemhilds Rache, 93n, 94. 
 
 Maria Magdalene, 92, 93n, 94, 
 95- 
 
 Michelangelo, 13, 90. 
 
 Nibelungen, Die, 93n. 
 
 Siegfrieds Tod, 93n, 94. 
 
 Tagebiicher, 8n, 89. 
 
 Trauerspiel in Sizilien, Ein, 91. 
 Hebbels Genoveva, 88n, 90n. 
 Hedehn, 6, 7, 12, 41. 
 Hegel, G., 8. 
 Heinrich JuHus, 18, 31-33. 
 
 Buhler und Buhlerin, 32. 
 
 Konig von Schottland, 31. 
 
 Susanna, 32n. 
 
 Von einem Edelmann, 32n. 
 
 Von einem ungerathenen Sohn, 
 
 Henderson, A., i, 3, 5, 7. 
 Hennequin, A., 3. 
 Hermann, 41. 
 Herodes, 40. 
 Hessen, R., no, in. 
 Heyse, P., 5. 
 Hofmannsthal, H. v., 107. 
 
 Elektra, 107. 
 
 Oedipus, 107. 
 
 Holberg, 40. 
 Holz, A., 12, 102. 
 Die Familie Selicke, 102. 
 
 Ibsen, H., i, 2, 10, 46, y6, 96, 100, 
 loi, 102, 103. 
 
 Brand, loi. 
 
 Doll's House, A, 46, loi, 103. 
 
 Emperor and Gahlean, loi. 
 
 Ghosts, 46, loi, 103. 
 
 Hedda Gabler, loi, 103. 
 
 John Gabriel Borkmann, loi, 
 102. 
 
 Lady from the Sea, loi, 103. 
 
 League of Youth, i, loi. 
 
 Little Eyolf, loi. 
 
 Love's Comedy, loi. 
 
 Master Builder, 102. 
 
 Peer Gynt, loi. 
 
 Pillars of Society, loi, 103. 
 
 Pretenders, loi. 
 
 Rosmersholm, 46, loi, 103, 
 
 Wild Duck, loi, 102. 
 Ibsen als Idealist, 8Sn. 
 
 Keller, A. v., 23n, 25n, ZZ^^. 
 
 Keller, G., 5- 
 
 Kihan, E., 9. 
 
 Klaj, J., 40. 
 
 Kleist, H. v., 4, 76-80. 
 
 Familie Schroffenstein, Die, 77, 
 78. 
 
 Hermannsschlacht, Die, 77, 80. 
 
 Kathchen von Heilbronn, 14, 77, 
 78, 79, 80. 
 
 Penthesilea, 77. 
 
 Prinz von Homburg, 77, 80. 
 
 Robert Guiskard, 77, 80. 
 
 Zerbrochene Krug, Der, 77. 
 Klinger, Max, 10. 
 KHnger, F., 10, 51. 
 
 Die Zwillinge, 51, 52. 
 Koch, M., 98n. 
 
 Larousse Nouveau, 2n. 
 Leisewitz, J., 51. 
 
119 
 
 Julius von Tarentum, 51, 53- 
 Lenz, J., 51. 
 
 Der Hofmeister, 51, 53. 
 Lessing, G. E., 5, 8, 15, 41, 42-51, 
 96,98. 
 Alte Jungfer, Die, 42, 4311, 44, 
 
 45n. 
 Beytrage zur Historie u. Auf- 
 
 nahme des Theaters, 4Sn. 
 Damon, 42, 44. 
 Emilia Galotti, 13, 14, 16, 46, 47, 
 
 48, 49- 
 Freigeist, Der, 42, 43, 44, 45- 
 Hamburgische Dramaturgie, 8n, 
 
 46, 50. 
 
 Juden, Die, 42, 44, 45- 
 
 Junge Gelehrte, Der, 4, 42, 44- 
 
 Minna v. Barnhelm, 14, 46, 48, 
 
 50. 
 Misogyn, Der, 42, 44. 
 Miss Sara Sampson, 14, 46, 48, 
 
 49- 
 Nathan der Weise, I4n ,16, 46, 
 
 47, 48, 49, SO, 58. 
 Philotas, 13, 16, 46, 47, 48, 50. 
 Schatz, Der, 42, 43, 44, 45- 
 
 Lohenstein, C, 39- 
 
 Cleopatra, 39. 
 
 Ibrahim Sultan, 39. 
 Ludwig, O., 9, 95-98. 
 
 Dramatische Studien, 96, 97- 
 
 Erbforster, Der, 95, 97, 98. 
 
 Hans Frei, 97. 
 
 Makkabaer, Die, 95, 97- 
 
 Shakespeare Studien, 9", 9^, 97- 
 
 Marienklage, 22. 
 
 Marivaux, P., 45- 
 
 Marmontel, J., 5- 
 
 Masks or Faces, I09n, iiin. 
 
 Matthews, B., i, 2, 4n, 10, n, 15. 
 
 i7n, 109, no. 
 Medea, 34. 
 
 Mediaeval Church Plays, 20-25. 
 Mendelssohn, M., 8. 
 Merlin, 5n. 
 
 Meyer-Benfy, H., ^(i, 78. 
 Meyer, R. M., in, 98, 99. 
 Meyer, Konversationslexikon, 3. 
 Moliere, 9, 40, 41. 
 
 Comtesse d'Escarbagnnes, 9. 
 
 Critique, 9. 
 
 Impromptu, 9. 
 Monolog und Ibsen, Der, in, gn, 
 
 77n. 
 Mulgrave, Earl of, 6. 
 Muller Maler, 51, 52. 
 
 Golo und Genoveva, 51, 52, 53. 
 Mundt, T., 9- 
 
 Nicolai, C, 5- 
 
 Oxford Dictionary, 2. 
 
 Paul, Jean, 4, 5- 
 Paull, H. M., 3, 5, 10. 
 Pfeffer, C, 88n. 
 Playmaking, logn, inn, Ii2n. 
 Poe, E. A., 7- 
 Poetique, 5. 
 Pope Joan, 24. 
 Pratique du Theatre, 6n. 
 Proelss, J., ZT. 
 
 Psychologie der Charaktere in 
 Hebbels Tragodie, Die, 88n. 
 
 Racine, J. B., 40. 
 
 Ramler, S. K. W., 6. 
 
 Rebhuhn, P., 26. 
 
 Redentiner Osterspiel, 13, 22, 23. 
 
 Regnard, J., 45- 
 
 Robertson, J. G., ZZ, 33n. 
 
 Roman Comedy, 4- 
 
 Sachs, H., 12, 13, 16, 17, i8, 26-31, 
 ZZ- 
 Bauer im Fegfeuer, Der, 17, 30. 
 Boss Weib, Das, 29. 
 Eulcnspiegel, 29. 
 Fortunatus, 29, 30. 
 Hoffgsindt Veneris. Das, 29. 
 Hornen Seifrit, Der, 30, 31- 
 Schon Marina, Die, 29, 30. 
 
120 
 
 Teuffel mit dem Kauflfmann, 
 
 Der, 29. 
 Vier ungliickhafften Liebhaben- 
 den, Die, 29. 
 Sanftes Weib, Ein, 511. 
 Sauer, A., 51, 5111. 
 Schauspiele der englischen Komo- 
 
 dianten, Die, 3111. 
 Schauspiele des Herzog Heinrich 
 
 Julius, Die, 3211. 
 Schiller, F., 42, 51, 53-62, 76, 80, 
 87. 
 Braut von Messina, Die, 55, 57n, 
 
 60. 
 Demetrius, 59. 
 Don Karlos, 16, 57, 58, 59, 60, 
 
 61. 
 Fiesco, i6, 55, 57, 59,' 60, 61. 
 Jungfrau von Orleans, Die, 13, 
 
 54, 55, 57n, 59, 60. 
 Kabale und Liebe, 15, 55, 57n. 
 
 61. 
 Maria Stuart, 54, 55, 57, 60. 
 Piccolomini, Die, S7n. 
 Rauber, Die, 13, 14, 16, 51, 53, 54, 
 
 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61. 
 Wallensteins Tod, 16, 54, 55, 57, 
 
 59, 60, 61. 
 Wilhelm Tell, 15, 16, 57, 58, 60, 
 76. 
 Schlaf, J., 102. 
 Die Familie Selicke, 102. 
 Meister Olze, 102. 
 Schlag, H., 5, 9. 
 Schlegel, A. W., 8. 
 Schlegel, J. E., 9, 41. 
 Seneca, L., 34. 
 
 Seneca und das deutsche Renais- 
 sance Drama, 34n. 
 Shakespeare, W., 76, 96, 97. 
 Sittenberger, H., I03n. 
 Skeat, W. W., 2n. 
 Soliloquies of Shakespeare, The, 
 
 in, 3n, 4n, 74n. 
 Sonnenfels, J. v., 6. 
 Sophocles, 107. 
 
 Stachel, P., 34, 34n. 
 Standard Dictionary, 2. 
 Stucken, E., 108. 
 
 Gawan, 108. 
 
 Lanval, 108. 
 
 Lanzelot, 108. 
 Study of the Drama, A, i, 15, no. 
 Stiirmer und Dranger, 5in. 
 Sudermann, H., 12, 105, 106. 
 
 Drei Reiherfedern, Die, 106. 
 
 Ehre, Die, 106. 
 
 Fritzchen, 106. 
 
 Gluck im Winkel, Das, 106. 
 
 Heimat, Die, 106. 
 
 Johannes, 106. 
 
 Sodoms Ende, 106. 
 
 Teja, 106. 
 Susanna, 26. 
 
 Technik des Dramas, 7n, 8n, I7n. 
 
 Theory of the Theatre, in. 
 
 Thomas, C, 26. 
 
 Tieck, L., 76. 
 
 Titan, 5n. 
 
 Tittmann, J., 32n. 
 
 Trierer Osterspiel, 2in. 
 
 Uber Drama und Theater, loin. 
 
 Verlorene Sohn, Der, 26. 
 Versuch einer Critischen Dicht- 
 
 kunst, 6n. 
 Vischer, F., 9. 
 Vondel, J., 34- 
 Voltaire, 40. 
 
 Wagner, H., 51. 
 
 Die Kindermorderin, 51, 53. 
 Wahrheit auf der Biihne, Die, 
 
 I03n. 
 Waldis, B., 26. 
 Weise, C, 39, 40, 4i- 
 
 Baurische Machiavellus, Der, 39, 
 40. 
 
 Bose Catharine, Die, 39. 
 
 Masaniello, 39, 40. 
 
121 
 
 Weszleny, R., 88n, 90. Zur Kritik des modernen Dramas, 
 Whole Art of the Stage, The, 311, 211, 8n, 911. 
 
 8n. Zur Kritik Jakob Ayrers, 3311. 
 Wiener Passionsspiel, 2i. 
 
VITA 
 
 The author, Erwin W. Roessler, was born near Stuttgart, 
 Germany, March 17th, 1880. He attended the elementary and 
 high schools of Chicago, 111., and took his A.B. degree at the 
 University of Chicago in the summer of 1900. From 1900- 
 1901 he took graduate work in Latin at the University of Chi- 
 cago; from 1906-1911 he pursued courses in the department of 
 Germanic Languages and Literature of Columbia University. 
 In 1904 he became instructor of modern languages in the New 
 York High School of Commerce; since 1908 he has been chair- 
 man of the department. 
 
 The author is indebted to Professor Calvin Thomas for valu- 
 able suggestions given during the preparation of the dissertation. 
 
 '4^ 
 
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