and understand your Aristotle aright, now! He
observes very correctly that woman cannot be used in tragedy. And very
certainly her proper sphere is the pathetic and serious divertissement,
the half-hour farce, not the five-act drama. So then she dies. But
should she for that reason not be able to love again? Why not? - that
is, if it be possible to restore her to life. Now, having been restored
to life, she is of course a new being - another person, that is, and
begins afresh and falls in love for the first time: nothing remarkable
in that! Ah, death, great is thy power; not the most violent emetic and
not the most powerful laxative could ever have the same purging effect!
The resulting confusion is capital, if one but is attentive and does not
forget. A dead man is one of the most amusing characters to be met with
in life. Strange that more use is not made of him on the stage, for in
life he is seen now and then. When you come to think of it, even one who
has only been seemingly dead is a comical figure; but one who was really
dead certainly contributes to our entertainment all one can reasonably
expect of a man. All depends on whether one is attentive. I myself had
my attention called to it one day as I was walking with one of my
acquaintances. A couple passed us. I
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