Corneille - Yavanika

Pierrc Corneille2t1Nevertheless, rvhatcver difficultv there might be in finding this effcctiveand palpable purgation of the emotioDs bv merns of pity and terror, it iseasr, to reconcile ourselves uith Aristotlc. Wc have only to say tlrat by thisrvav of rvording it, hc did not mean that these trvo nrethods always attendedtogethcr, and that it suffices, according to him, for onc of the trvo to effcctthe catharsis, rvith this difference horvever, that pity cannot occur withoutterror and terror carrnot happcn rvithout pitv. The death of the Count does notcause eithcr h The Cid and it can still bcttcr purgc us of thc sort of arrogancethat is envious of the glorv of others, thaD all thc compassion thatuc fcel for Rodriguc and Chirrdnc purges the sentiments of that violentlove rvhich nakes thern both objects of pitr'. . . .To surn up this cliscoursc beforc noving to another ntatter, let us establishas a maxim that the perfection of tragcdv bcst consists in cxciting pitland tcrror bv means of a principal clraractcr, as Rodrigue is able to functionin T/re Cid and Placiclc rn Thiodorc, but that that is not so absolutcl_vnecessary that onc callnot make usc of diffcrcnt pcrsons to cngender thesecrnotions, as ir Rodogu?re,t ancl evcn to rllove tlie listener to one of thetn,o, as in Polyeucte, u'hose perfonrancc is nrar'kcd onil bv pit1, r,ithoutanv tcrror. That being set doru, let us find some mitigatiorr to the rigiditt'of thc philosopher's rules, or at least sonlc favorable interprctation, sn JSnot to be obligcd to condelrn some plavs that le have secn succeed inour thcatres.Aristotlc docs rrot \\ant a conrplctch good rran to fall into advcrsitvbcrurrrc. llral bcirre rl,,,rrrinahlc. it .',cltci' rrrore rndrgrrrlion rrglinsl llrcone uho persccutcs hirn than pitv for his misfortunc. Ncitlrcr clocs hc $,arta corrplctclv bad nran to fall, kcansc unl- lillr,,t fcrl pitr for I rnisfortnnethat he deserves or cngcnclcr tcrror of a likc misfortunc anong spectatorshc docs not rcscmble; but uten thcsc tu,o rc:tsons are not present, so thata good man u,ho suffcrs cxcites nrorc pitr'{or himsclf than indignation agrinstthe one u,ho rnaclc hin suffer. or thc punishrlent of a great crrnle caDcorrect in us sonrc irrPerfection rvhich has soncthing in comnon rvith it,I believc that it is not ncccssan, to raise obstacles to shosing on the stageverr good or r,erl batl nrcn in advcrsitr'. . .r1.lThe cncl of thc poct is to plcasc accorcling to the rules of his art. ln ,a7lordcr to plcasc. he sourctinres riecds to hcightcrr thc brilliancc of beautiful 21 1actions and to c\tcnuatc thc horror of fatal oncs.'lhese are sonre necessitiesof errtbellislrurent rvith rrhich hc rrar grcath shock particular probabilitvbv sornc litcratiol of histon but rlot so as to cxernpt hiurself fronr qcneralprobabilitt, exccpt rareir', .rnil for things that mat bc of rrtmost bcarrtr, andso brilliant tlrat tho dazzlc. Abor.c all, it shoulil nevcr he ncccssarr, tor l\1l plavs cited are bv Corneilie.