The theatre
therefore has always been a grammar school for the young, the
half-educated, and women, who still possess the primitive power of
being able to delude themselves and of allowing themselves to be
deluded, that is to say, receive illusions and accept suggestions
from the dramatist. *** Some people have accused my tragedy, 'The
Father' of being too sad, as though one desired a merry tragedy.
People call authoritatively for the 'Joy of Life' and theatrical
managers call for farces, as though the Joy of Life lay in being
foolish, and in describing people who each and every one are
suffering from St. Vitus' dance or idiocy. I find the joy of life
in the powerful, terrible struggles of life; and the capability of
experiencing something, of learning something, is a pleasure to me.
And therefore I have chosen an unusual but instructive subject; in
other words, an exception, but a great exception, that will
strengthen the rules which offend the apostle of the commonplace.
What will further create antipathy in some, is the fact that my
plan of action is not simple, and that there is not one view alone
to be taken of it. An event in life--and that is rather a new
discovery--is usually occasioned by a series of more or less
deep-seated motifs, but the spectator generally chooses that one
which his power of judgment finds simplest to grasp, or that his
gift of judgment considers the most honorable. For example, someone
commits suicide: 'Bad business!' says the citizen; 'Unhappy love!'
says the woman; 'Sickness!' says the sick man; 'Disappointed
hopes?' the bankrupt.
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