GREEK TRAGEDY.*
MISS MATTHAEI defines the aim of these studies, founded on lectures delivered to students of Newnham College, as an attempt to analyse "the qualities which make the Tragic Spirit" in four plays that interested her. True tragedy is always founded on conflict between persons or principles, though the two aspects are combined in a curiously subtle way by the Greek tragedians. The analysis is her own. She does not insist that the authors themselves consciously set out to describe these conflicts ; they were probably more concerned with the persons of their plays and with the indi- vidual struggle than with a systematic and deliberate philosophy of tragedy. Miss Matthaei lays down certain canons of tragedy. It must pursue truth at all costs. (Later on in her study of the Hecuba she vehemently contends for the admission of the horrible. "It cannot be that there is anything in the world which tragedy cannot claim.-) It is the concern of every one, as we are all involved in conflict, the essentials of humanity have not altered, and the greatest conflict of all is that between Man and Circumstance.
The study of the Prometheus l'inclus, the first play chosen, opens with an account of the debt of the Greek tragedians to Homer, who in his survey of the relations of men, gods, and Moira admitted the force of Circumstance, but also the possibility of moral hope, without attempting a full solution. In the drama under considera- tion the loss of the companion-plays reduces us to conjecture, except in so far as the solution is inherent in the first. The problem, as conceived by Miss Matthaei, is the conflict between the activities and endurance of Man (as shown in Prometheus and Io) and Present Circumstance, ruthless, unapproachable, vindictive, and indifferent (as typified by Zeus). The notion of complete forgiveness on the part of Prometheus is ruled out. It is Christian, but un-Greek. Prometheus cannot condone the injustice of Zeus. The recon- ciliation can only be brought out by progress on both sides ; by the lessening of Prometheus's anger, by the change of his secretive and vindictive attitude to one of prophetic confidence in the future, and by his belief that even Zeus will learn to be pitiful ; and, on the other hand, by the progress of Zeus towards harmony with man, it being "a cardinal point of the Aeschylean conception of the Moral order that man must co-operate with the Divine Principle to bring about a better state of things." The study of the Ion of Euripides is more subtle and elaborate, but here too Miss Matthaei discovers the same conflict between Circumstance and Man, and the same moral—that in the unequal struggle Man must accept and co-operate with Circumstance and not condone it. The satire on Apollo's meanness is trenchant and unmistakable, but much remains behind ; "even to Euripides Apollo does not altogether cease to be a god. Apollo is a double conception, and in BO far as he repre- sents Circumstance, Euripides will take note that Circumstance may be good and have that in it which may truly be called divine." The interaction of humanity and Circumstance is illus- trated by the success of the Chorus in defeating Apollo's scheme of partial reparation. Kreusa is prepared to accept the " Provi- dential " explanation of phenomena, which always arouses Miss Matthaei's resentment from its "tremendous assumptions." Not so Ion, who, once disillusioned, decides to force an explanation from Apollo, and, though he does not quite succeed, still the principle of free will is established. Euripides is " no determinist," but clearly indicates the need and justification of the rebellion of humanity to reform deity. The final words of the Chorus, "in the end the good receive their desert, while the evil will never prosper," are condemned as "a platitude, and an untrue one at that. Is it really consonant with the art of a great thinker like Euripides to believe any such nonsense ? His whole aim has been to educate us out of it." The quiet, matter-of-fact ending to a play almost too ingenious and sensational in its plot is defended as a legitimate concession to our weakness. We need relief ; a sentimental ending would be useless, and Euripides shows courage in declining to kill off his heroes when they are at the height of their heroism. "No one is a tragic hero for more than a few hours of his life."
The essays on the Hippolytus and the Hecuba are avowedly inspired by Mr. A. C. Bradley's exposition of the Hegelian theory of tragedyas a conflict, not between good and evil, but between two principles, each good, but neither of them perfect ; each striving to reach the supreme or perfect good, and in the course of the conflict recognizing the good in the other. Aphrodite plays much the • Studies in Greek Tragedy. By Louise E. mattliad, lett Classical Lecturer and Fellow of Newnhani College, Cambridge. Cambridge : at the University Press. 191. net.1 BOMB part as Apo!loin the ion, but while malignant and degraded in the Prologue, in the body of the play she stands for something higher—the call of Nature—and greater than a god. Miss Matthaei combats the " superficial " view of the conflict as between Austerity and Passion, on the ground that Phaidra never wholly loses her self-control, that Hippolytus does lose his for a while, and that even in Phaidra's final attempt to ruin Hippolytus by the lying tablets there is an element of good, though a perverted element—the remnants of real love, and the desire to appearraosal, to rebel againsta condemnation not wholly deserved. Though no ultimate solution. is reached, the two "goods," Passion and Austerity, are reconciled to the extent of being shown to be both limited sides of an unlimited whole. In the Hecufia, while admitting the force of Hermarue destructive criticism, the author boldly challenges his defence of the Aristotelian view that there is no tragic satisfaction in the downfall of the utter villain," because the " utter villain "does not exist, or is untypical of humanity. This runs wholly counter to her opinion of the material of tragedy. For the rest, the study is-a clever exposition of the conflict between the opposing principles of
formal, community or social Justice, partly to be defined as Conventional Justice, and instinctive, individual, personal Justice, sometimes to be called Natural Justice." Both are "goods," both are pressed to extremes by their representatives. The detioarnent is perplexing. Admitting, &sillies Matthaei does, that the rule of instinct results in something worse than the rule of reason, however severe, she seems to think that Euripides deliberately meant to lay greater stress on the cruel, narrow, and pitiless side of State necessity, and thus to assert the absolute value of each individual life, and to rescue it from the insistent pressure of the community by a kind of divine rebellion.
The volume concludes with an interesting study of the place of accident in tragedy. Miss Matthaei's view is that to accept accident as absolute master of life is to misrepresent life as much as to eliminate it altogether. She notes that Aristotle's theory rules out alike the supremacy of accident and the " Providential " or malignant view of Destiny, and that, while more strict in his limitation of the use of accident than the moderns, he goes so far as to admit the use even of the "absurd "—the extreme of im- possibility—if it can be made plausible, hence justifying the intro- duction of the fairy-tale or miraculous element. She then discusses the use of accident in literature, modern as well as ancient, from Homer to Anthony Trollope, under four forms, showing by happy illustrations that even unprepared and improbable accidents can be made convincing by the art of the writer. Her final conclusion is that accident not only may but must have its place in tragedy or any vital reflection of human life, but that it must be organic- ally part of the action and not disregard the dramatic unity of the play ; i.e., that it may alter and deflect but not break the working of the human will.
. It will be seen from the foregoing outline that there is much that is suggestive and illuminating as well as disputable in these sttulies. Miss Matthaei brings enthusiasm and eloquence as well as learning to her task. Perhaps she might have illustrated her favourite doctrine of the two "goods" by showing less contempt for the upholders of conventional morality.
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