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Hume and the Theory of Tragedy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

J. Frederick Doering
J. Frederick Doering*
Affiliation:
Anderson College and Theological Seminary
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Extract

Behind nearly all English literary criticism, particularly that relating to the Neo-classic drama, lies the Poetics of Aristotle. Some writers have been greatly affected by this epochal work; others have come under its sphere of influence to a lesser degree. However, there are few authors of importance upon whom the Poetics has failed to make some profound and enduring impression. Despite the fact that its influence permeates all English literature, excessive emphasis is laid sometimes upon the effect of Aristotle's teachings, to the detriment of such prominent critics as Horace, Vida, Trissino, Giraldi, Boileau, and Fontenelle. This applies especially to commentators on Hume. Indeed, the Scottish philosopher, historian, and critic subscribed to the majority of Aristotle's tenets, but the doctrines of Tully, Horace, Boileau, and Corneille made an equally impressive and indelible imprint upon his mind.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 52 , Issue 4 , December 1937 , pp. 1130 - 1134
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1937

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References

1 Hume is careful to point out that this is no disparagement of Locke's ability as a philosopher or writer.

2 David Hume, Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary, ed. T. H. Green and T. H. Grose (London, 1898), ii, 5.

3 “De Poetica,” tr. Ingram Bywater, The Works of Aristotle, ed. W. D. Ross (Oxford, 1924), xi, 1447. No pagination.

4 Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism, ll. 118–140.

5 Blackwell's comments on Trissino reveal, nevertheless, that he deplored servile imitation of the ancients. See Thomas Blackwell, An Enquiry into the Life and Writings of Homer (London, 1735), p. 32 ff.

6 In spite of the fact that Johnson's remarks sometimes identify him with the cult of original genius, his own practice is sufficient to prove that he endorsed the imitation of ancient writers, his verse satires being imitations of Juvenal.

7 H. L. Snuggs, Classical Theory and Practice in the Comedies of Ben Jonson (Duke University Master's thesis; Durham, N. C., 1928), p. 35.

8 Hume, Essays, i, 159.

9 The Works of John Dryden, ed. John Mitford (New York, 1854), ii, 237–239. See also P. Corneille, Œuvres (Paris, 1862), i: “Au Lecteur,” “Les Trois Unités,” “Discours de la Tragédie,” and “Discours de l'utilité et des parties du poëme dramatique.” Dryden must have been cognizant of the difficulties arising from the judging of a work from a translation, even though it resembles closely the original; yet he condemned Corneille without having witnessed the drama on the French stage.

10 Hume, Essays, i, 258.

11 See Aristotle's Poetics, caput. 1447–49.

12 Corneille, Œuvres, i, 15.

13 Hume, op. cit., i, 258. Hume seems, however, to agree with Scaliger that real tragedy is always concerned solely with the serious. See J. C. Scaliger, “Poetices Libri Septem,” in Bibliopolio Commeliano (1617), i, 6.

14 “Preface to Samson Agonistes,” in English Poems by John Milton, ed. R. C. Browne (Oxford, 1877), ii, 204. For another angle of the pity and fear question, see G. G. Trissino, Tutte le Opere (Verona, 1729), ii, 95.

15 Corneille, Œuvres, i, 53.

16 See G. E. Lessing, Laokoon (London, 1914) or Walter Pater, Renaissance.

17 See Allan H. Gilbert, “The Aristotelian Catharsis,” in Philosophical Review, xxxv (July, 1926), 301 ff.

18 Lord Kames (Henry Home) claims that Aristotle would confine tragedy too much. See An Abridgement of Elements of Criticism, ed. John Frost (N. Y., 1850), pp. 248–249.

19 Hume, Essays, i, 258.

20 Hume, nevertheless, seems to agree with Giraldi that only illustrious actions have a place in tragedy. See G. B. Giraldi Cinthio, Scritti Estetici: De'Romazi, delle Comedie, e delle Tragedie, ecc. (Milano, 1864), ii, 6.

21 Hume, Essays, i, 261.

22 Ibid., i, 263–264.

23 Ibid., ii, 209.

24 Hume, Essays, i, 263. Hume points out that the half-finished productions of the ancients give pleasure. Cf. K. Jex-Blake, The Elder Pliny's Chapters on the History of Art (London, 1896), lib. xxxv, cap. 11.

25 Hume, Essays, i, 263.

26 Corneille, Œuvres, xcv, 16–17.

27 Lane Cooper, An Aristotelian Theory of Comedy (New York, 1922), p. 174.

28 See Aristotle, op. cit., cap. 1448.

29 Compare with the attitude of Piccolomini; see J. E. Spingam, A History of Literary Criticism in the Renaissance (New York, 1908), p. 12.

30 Hume, Essays, ii, 21–22.

31 Cf. Karnes, Elements of Criticism, p. 68 ff.

32 Hume, Essays, i, 262.

33 David Hume, Essays and Treatises on Several Subjects (London, 1772), i, 233.