Chapter 21 The Birth of Tragedy Chapter Seven

birth of tragedy Chapter VII Now we must use all the above-mentioned principles of art in order to find our way through the so-called "labyrinth" of the origin of Greek tragedy.I think I have good reason to say that the question of the origin of tragedy has not hitherto been seriously raised, let alone resolved.According to ancient legends, this tattered garment was once mended, but it was torn again and again.The ancient traditions tell us quite clearly that Greek tragedy arose out of the tragic chorus, which at first was only a chorus, and nothing but a chorus.So it is our duty to look into the heart of this tragic chorus as a genuinely primitive drama.In any case we cannot be content with the prevailing artistic theories that the chorus is the ideal audience, or that the chorus represents the people against the aristocratic elements of the play.The latter explanation, exciting to the ears of many statesmen, held that the Athenian populace embodied the infallible laws of morality in the popular chorus, which often overcame the furious brutality and tyranny of the emperors.Although this statement can be elucidated powerfully by a passage from Aristotle, it has little effect on the question of the origin of tragedy, because all antagonisms between people and emperors, in short, in any social and political sphere, lie in the purely religious aspects of tragedy. beyond the source.However, considering the classical form of the chorus of Aeschylus and Sophocles, we may even think that it would be "blasphemous" to say that the poet anticipated "constitutional national representation," but there are those who are not afraid Blasphemy.The ancient political systems did not have constitutional national representation in praxi, and it is not surprising that they did not "anticipate" it in tragedy.

A. W. Sohlegel's theory is more famous than the political origin of the chorus; he advises us to think of the chorus as the quintessence of the audience, the so-called ideal audience.This view, compared with the traditional view that tragedy is nothing but a chorus, reveals the truth and appears to be a superficial, unscientific, but majestic and eye-catching theory.However, the grandeur of this statement is only due to its general epigrammatic form, and the fact that the Germans have a real preference for everything that is called "ideal" makes people suddenly startled.But when we compare the theater audience we are familiar with with the ancient Greek chorus, and see if we can imagine a situation similar to the tragic chorus from today's audience, we must be puzzled.We will tacitly deny this statement, not only doubting that Hilleger's assumption is too bold, but also not believing that the Greek audience would have characteristics completely different from those of today's people.We always believe that the real audience, no matter who they are, always knows that they are appreciating a work of art, rather than facing the reality of experience.But the Greek chorus had to treat stage figures as real people.The chorus who plays the daughter of Poseidon must really believe that they saw Prometheus with their own eyes, and think that they are the true god in the play.If the audience, like the daughter of Poseidon, thinks that Prometheus is the true god who appeared on the scene, are they the highest and purest audience?Is it the duty of the so-called ideal spectator to step onto the stage and free Prometheus from torture?We believe in the audience's aesthetic ability; we believe that the more an audience can see a work of art as art, that is, from an aesthetic point of view, the more qualified an audience is.However, Hilleger's statement tells us: the perfect and ideal audience does not treat the world in the play with an aesthetic attitude, but actually participates in it by practicing it.We cannot help sighing: Greeks, you have overthrown all our aesthetics, but now that we are familiar with this, when we talk about the chorus, we will refer to Hilleger's words.

However, unambiguous ancient legends refute Hilleger.The original chorus did not have a stage.The chorus of this tragic primitive form is therefore not to be confused with the chorus of the ideal audience.May I ask what kind of art is derived from the concept of audience?Is there any true form of art that is equivalent to the spectator at ease?The audience without drama is a self-contradictory concept.We believe that the birth of tragedy can neither be explained by the masses’ emphasis on moral thought nor by the concept of audience without a play; this problem is too profound, and such a superficial generalization does not even touch its edge.

In the preface to the famous "Bride of Messina", Schiller revealed a very valuable insight into the meaning of the chorus. He believed that the chorus is a living fence, which tragedy uses to surround itself and isolate itself from the chorus. The real world to preserve its ideal realm and poetic freedom. With this important weapon Schiller fought against the vulgar conception of naturalism, against the delusions generally demanded of dramatic poetry.While it is clear that stage time is no more than artificial, that scenery is merely a symbol, and that metered language is clearly of an ideal quality, there is still a widespread misconception that we should not regard these stage conventions as the mere prerogative of poetry. be tolerated.However, these "conventions" are the essence of all poetry.The adoption of the chorus was a decisive step in order to declare war openly against all naturalism in art. ——I think it is precisely because of Schiller's views that our self-proclaimed era has come up with the slanderous term "pseudo-idealism".However, on the other hand, I am afraid that today's worship of nature and reality has reached the other extreme opposite to all idealism, in other words, it has entered the realm of wax figure showrooms.Waxwork is an art, as are some popular novels today.However, although some people advocate using this kind of art to overcome Goethe Schiller's "pseudo-idealism", we don't have to worry about it.

Schiller's view is correct. He believes that the state in which the Greek satyr chorus, the chorus of primitive tragedy, often travels is indeed an "ideal" state, a state far beyond the behavior of ordinary people. For this chorus the Greeks conjured up a castle in the air of a hypothetical state of nature, and placed upon it hypothetical natural figures.Tragedy develops on this basis, so of course it has been spared from the beginning of painful reality.However, it is not a fantasy world randomly placed between heaven and earth, it is as real and credible as the Greeks believed in Olympus and its gods.Satyr, the Dionysian song-and-dance dancer, lives in a reality recognized by religion under the guarantee of myth and worship.Greek tragedy begins with the satyr, the mouthpiece of the wisdom of Dionysian tragedy—a phenomenon that is as inconceivable to us as it is to understand that tragedy has its origin in the chorus.

I try to put forward the proposition that this hypothetical natural creature, Satyr, is to educated people what Dionysian music is to Greek civilization;—we may find a starting point for our research here.Regarding Greek civilization, Richard Wagnner once said: Music has taken away its brilliance, just as fire under the sun has no light.In the same way, I believe that the educated Greeks would have felt ashamed before the Satyr chorus, and that, under the immediate influence of the Dionysian tragedy, the barriers between city-state and society, and, in short, between men, were eliminated, leaving A strong sense of oneness, rooted in the spirituality, reigns.Here I have pointed out that every true tragedy always leaves us with a detached consolation, making us feel that, despite the fluidity of everything, life itself is indestructible and lovable after all.This consolation is clearly manifested in the satyr chorus, the chorus of natural persons, who seem to exist deeply rooted in the background of each national culture, and despite the shift of time and the replacement of nations, they still exist forever and remain unchanged.

The thoughtful Greek comforted himself with this chorus.The characteristics of this kind of people are sentimental, compassionate, and can only see the terrible cruelty of the so-called world history with insight, silently observe the cruel violence of nature, and always desire to imitate the Buddha's despair.Art saves them, and life saves itself through art. In the carnival of intoxication, once the rules and regulations of daily life are broken, there will be a kind of blurred artistic conception during this period, which will drown out all personal past experiences.It is this ditch of forgetfulness that separates the world of everyday life from the reality of drunkenness.However, as soon as we become aware of the ordinary world again, we can't help but feel disgusted with it, and a feeling of resignation and despair arises from it.In this sense, people in drunkenness are quite like Hamlet. These two kinds of people finally see the truth of the world, and when they suddenly realize it, they hate all actions; because their actions can never change the eternal truth of the world; From their point of view, fortune is bad and the world is declining. It would be ridiculous and shameful to expect them to change customs.True knowledge kills behavior, and behavior needs to be blinded by illusions; this is the lesson Hamlet taught us, and it is by no means the false wisdom of the drunken dreamer who is worried about gain and loss, at a loss, and finally achieves nothing.This is by no means worrying about gains and losses, no, this is insight, it is insight into the bleak reality, it is the deliberation of all motives that lead to actions, as it is in Hamlet, and it is the same with people in drunkenness.At this juncture, all consolations are useless.His longing has already surpassed the afterlife after death, and also surpassed the gods in the dark. He has already abandoned existence, even the gods, immortality, and the glorious life reflected on the other side.Once he realizes the truth he has seen, Hamlet looks back and sees the horror or absurdity of existence, and he suddenly understands the symbolic meaning of Ophelia's fate; now he can understand the wisdom of Silenus, the mountain spirit, and his world-weary mood.

However, just when the will is in great danger, art comes to be the fairy who rescues the suffering. Only she can turn the world-weary thoughts caused by the horror and absurdity of existence into appearances, so that people can live on it.These appearances are the sublime and the comic, the sublime is the art of overcoming the horror, the comic is the art of getting rid of the loathsome absurdity.The satyr chorus of Dionysus is the achievement of Greek art in curing diseases and saving lives; in the buffer world of Dionysus, the above-mentioned outbursts of passion can be vented as much as possible.