hat blinds
them. Othello, too, the semi-barbarian who does Desdemona to death,
has been goaded to madness by the machinations of Iago; and even this
last can plead his by no means gratuitous hatred. The disasters that
weighed so heavily on the lovers of Verona were due to the inexperience
of the victims, to the manifest disproportion between their strength
and that of their enemies; and although we may pity the man who
succumbs to superior human force, his downfall does not surprise us.
We are not impelled to seek explanation elsewhere, to ask questions of
fate; and unless he appear to fall victim to superhuman injustice, we
are content to tell ourselves that what has happened was bound to
happen. It is only when disaster occurs after every precaution is
taken that we could ourselves have devised, that we become conscious of
the need for other explanation.

17

We find it difficult, therefore, to conceive or admit as naturally,
humanly possible that a crime shall be committed by a person who
apparently is endowed with fullest intelligence and consciousness; or
that misfortune should befall him which seems in its essence to be
inexplicable, undeserved, and unexpected. It follows, therefore, that
the poet can only place on the stage (this phrase I use merely as an
abbreviation: it would be more correct to say, "cause us to assist at
some adventure whereof we know personally neither the actors nor the
totality of the circumstances") faults, crimes, and acts of injustice
committed by persons of defective consciousness, as also disasters
befalling feeble beings unable to control their desires--innocent
creatures, it may be, but thick-sighted, imprudent, and reckless.
Under these conditions there would seem to be no call for the
intervention of anything beyond the limit of normal human psychology.
But such a conception of the theatre would be at absolute variance with
real life, where we find crimes committed by persons of fullest
consciousness, and the most inexplicable, inconceivable, unmerited
misfortunes befalling the wisest, the best, most virtuous and prudent
of men. Dramas which deal with unconscious creatures, whom their own
feebleness oppresses and their own desires overcome, excite our
interest and arouse our pity; but the veritable drama, the one which
probes to the heart of things and grapples with important truths--our
own personal drama, in a word, which for ever hangs over our life--is
the one wherein