Tragic Drama in Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Shakespeare; An Essay

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1904. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER VIII Tragic Diction--continued Tragic diction in Shakespeare and Sophocles is (1) idiomatic; (2) concentrated; (3) dramatic; (4) simple; (5) sensuous (i.e. vivid, not prosaic); (6) passionate (i.e. emotional, not frigid). I Proceed to exemplify the points put forward in the preceding chapter, with reference to the text and interpretation (I.) of Shakespeare, and (II.) of Sophocles. Tragic diction, then, is (1) Idiomatic. Diction that is natural and expressive is preferred to that which is grammatically precise. Any reader of Shakespeare who examines closely the language of 'The Tempest, ' e.g. Act I. sc. ii., will find it bristling with anacolutha; yet these are hardly felt in a cursory perusal, except perhaps lines 99-102, 'Like one, Who having, into truth, by telling of it, Made such a sinner of his memory, To credit his own lie.' Emphasis through negation, the subtlest of all sources of fallacy, often leads to some disturbance of language. Sometimes this merely occasions obscurity, as in ' King Lear, ' I. i. 5-7: 'Equalities are so weighed that curiosity in neither can make choice of either's moiety'--Or in ' Cymbeline, ' I. i. 1: 'Our bloods No more obey the Heavens than our courtiers Still seem as does the King'; i.e. 'Our courtiers' looks reflect the King's countenance as surely as our bodily condition is influenced by the state of the sky.' More often some complication of negatives results in an illogical expression. 'Macbeth, ' III. vi. 8: 'Who oannot want the thought how monstrous It was for Malcolm and for Donalbain To kill their gracious father?' On this Malone observes that Shakespeare was careless of ' such minutiae.' More singular is the occasional confusion of 'less ' with 'more.' 'Coriolanus, ' I. iv. 13: 'Tullus Aufidius, is he withi