Essays On Literature

AII varieties of suffering are therefore the theme of drama, which promises to
create out of them pleasure for the spectator; whence arises the first condition
which this art form must fulfill, that it shall cause the spectator no suffering, and
that it must know how to com-pensate by means of the gratifications which it
makes possible for the pity which it arouses-a rule against which modern dramatists
have particularly often been offenders. But this suf-fering is soon restricted to
mental anguish only, for nobody wants to witness physical suffering who knows
how soon the bodily sensations thus stimulated put an end to all mental enjoyment.