The Social Ideas in Hauptmann's Plays

The Social Ideas in Hauptmann's Plays

uI Sarah Josephine Battle

v CP— THE SOCIAL IDEAS IN HAUPTLIANK'S PLAYS by Sarah Josephine 3attle

A Thesis submitted for the Degree of MASTER OB1 ARTS in the Department of MODERN LANGUAGES

THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA April, 1925. INTRODUCTION

To understand the conditions in the last decade of the nineteenth century in Germany which gave rise to the social drama of the naturalistic school, one must go back and trace the epoch-making changes which had been effected in Europe throughout the century. The old world order was becoming practically revolutionized by inventions and scientific discoveries. In the wake of the inventions and improvements of machinery, came business on a large scale, resulting in the influx of thousands of laborers into the cities which sprang up around the centres of industry. At first there was no supervision of the workers in the factories, and labor was ruthlessly exploited. The living conditions of the proletariat were deplorable, and the problem of the over-crowded disease- breeding slums was accordingly accentaated. The exploita­ tion of labor, however, was not confined to the cities. In the country there were many instances of sweated labor, and the misery of the Silesian weavers was particularly acute.

A new class consciousness came into being with the great contrast between large fortunes, and the poverty of the underpaid workers, through whose toil this wealth had been amassed. The doctrines of Karl Llarx and the other socialistic writers of the period were an evidence of an ever growing social sympathy. 2. On the scientific side exhaustive research and microscopic analysis had brought about a great improvement in scientific methods.

in 1859 appeared Darwin's revolutionary work, "The Origin of Species." "Tith the conception of men as a product of his inherited tendencies, and the circumstances in which he found himself, science definitely broke with the tradition­ al religious and ethical beliefs. In place of moral responsibility and moral guilt, the theories of environment and heredity were substituted. Mail was no longer a free agent, but the unfortunate victim of a social system. As a result of the purely materialistic interpreta­ tion of evolution, men began to doubt the doctrine of the existence of tne soul. Man was merely a superior animal with certain highly developed nerve connections. This view fostered a materialistic conception of life, which was intensified by the luxuries made possible through increasing material prosperity. The study of man as a biological and as a social organism threw emphasis on the physical, one phase of which was a greater interest in sex. The application of scientific research and - lalytical methods to literature was first effected by Zole . i,s man was merely the product of his environment, it wai necessary to describe that environment in the greatest detail, omitting nothixag, however depressing or revolting. This reaction from over-idealization swung too far. i'he naturalists, to 3. use Matthew Arnold's famous phrase. "Mid not see life steadily, nor see it whole." The "truth" which they were so eager to depict, was not the whole truth. While insisting on the "Sohattenseiten" of life, they forgot that the good and the beautiful have a place in the scheme of things. This new literary movement, which Zola called Naturalism, was not confined to France, however. Phases of it were evident also in the great writers of Russia and Scandinavia, who, together with Zola, exerted a Rreat in­ fluence on the young generation of that time in Germany. After the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, the first effort of a united German people was to become a cultured nation. In the eighties a new spirit in philosophy crept in. Many thinkers reverted to the doctrines of Kant, and the pessimism of Schopenhauer lost its grip. This change in philosophical thought was due principally to the great in­ fluence whioh Friedrich Nietzsche exerted over his contem­ poraries. Mr. J. G. Robertson, in his "Literature of Germany," says, "Nietzsche renounced pessimism and what was still harder for him, broke with his most intimate friend Richard Wagner; and in the place of the old order of things, he set a vigorous optimism which has acted on contemporary Germany like a tonic." 1- It was, however, a barren time for literature. As if in revenge for the German victory upon the field of battle, the

1. J. G. Robertson, literature of Germany," p.p.235-236. 4. trench "3oulevardstuck'' ruled the German stage. There were very few plays which were not French translations or imita­ tions after the model of Dumas, fils. These pieces had good technique, wit, and were apparently free from the "bourgeois morale," At the same time they were devoid of any real thought, and they were entirely frivolous. As a reaction against this insipid form of drama, a little coterie was formed in Berlin under the guidance of Holz and Schlaf. To this group came the young idealist and dreamer, Gerhart Hauptmann, who was destined to become the recognized leader of the naturalistic movement in Germany. Hauptmann was born in Silesia in 1862. He sprang from the people. His father was an hotel-keeper in Obersalz- brunn, and his grandfather had been a common wearer in the forties when the Silesian weavers, groaui ag noddy their hideous grievances, revolted against their masters. At an early age Gerhart heard the stories of the down-trodden weavers from his father. His youthful imagination was kindl­ ed in sympathy with the oppressed workers whose sufferings he afterwards made immortal in "Die Weber." The family of Hauptmann's mother, the Straehlers, had been for generations hard-working, God-fearing peasants. His mother was very religious and she reared the young Gerhart in the pietistic faith. In these teachings lie the root; of Hauptmann's sympathy and innate goodness, which permeate all his plays. Hauptmann was always a very poor student. He 5. struggled through the village school at Salzbrunn, and the Gymnasium at Breslau. The only subjects in which he showed promise were drawing and composition. At sixteen he was sent to his uncle Schubert to learn farming; but he had no taste for the soil. He decided that he would be a sculptor, and accordingly, in 1880, he became an art student in Breslau. At the art school Hauptmann remained only two years. He came to realize that sculptur­ ing would not be his life's work. He was always reaching out for a wider horizon, and groping for a more complete means of self-expression. Yet we cannot say that his time was wasted during these two years. AS an art student he learned the value of exact observation. When later on he came to write his dramas, this training stood him in good stead. 3y means of his quickened powers of observation, he was able to create living breathing flesh-and-blood people, not merely puppets to prate his ideas in dramatic form. From Breslau Hauptrnann went to the University of Jena, where his brother Carl was studying. Here he followed a course in the history of the Blench Revolution, and one in natural science under Haeckel. AS a result of these lectures he began to consider the great social questions of his age, particularly in the light of the new scientific ideas. These studies, and the experience he had gained from the art school, together with his natural sympathy and quick imagination, gave him an understanding and an insight into the suffering of people outside his own limited circle of 6. experience. At the University of Jena, Hauptmann "became a member of a certain socialistic society called "Gesellschaft Ikarien. The members of this organization had extreme Utopian ideas, and they even went so far as to found a socialistic colony in America. This venture ended in disaster. The society came under police surveillance, and was speedily brought to an end. One of their members, Heinrich Lux, was sent to prison for a year, as a warning to the rest. in 1883 Hauptmann started out to see something of the world. The story of his adventures is set down in the collec­ tion of poems which he called "Promentidenlos ." This was his first work to be published. The "Hauptmotiv" of the poem is Hauptmann's compassion for the suffering humanity which he saw in Italy and in Spain, in contrast to the beauties of the scenery, the misery and wretchedness of the proletariat seemed intensified. The secondary thought in ,TPromentidenlosrT is the struggle going on in Hauptmann the man - the struggle between the sculptor and the poet for the ascendency. In spite of the obvious faults of "Promentidenlos," the sincere moral earnestness, and the social sympathy which find expression here, more than make up for the halting verse, and the labored metre. As a revelation of the poet himself, it ranks among the most interesting first works of any modern author. But the conflict between sculptor and poet was not yet at an end. Gerhart took a studio in Rome and continued 7. his artistic studies. The Roman climate did not agree with him, however, and after a siege of fever, he was forced to return to Germany. In 1885, at the age of twenty-two, he married Marie Thienemann, the daughter of a rich merchant. The young couple settled in Berlin and now Hauptmann, for the first time, devoted himself to literature. Freed from the pressure of economic necessity by his wife's fortune, he was able to choose the medium and the subjects which most appealed to him; and so he appeared under the banner of naturalism, espousing the cause of humanity's oppressed and unfortunate. In 1889 Hauptmann1s first play, "Vor Sonnenaufgang," was produced at the "Preie Biihne." Its performance occasion­ ed an uproar of condemnation and praise in literary circles, but when the vehemence of the controversy had somewhat abated, Hauptmann was acclaimed the leader of the Naturalistic school in Germany. 8.

CHAPTER I Hauptmann's Social Dramas.

In considering Hauptmann's social dramas. T intend, as far as it is possible, to follow his own classification which divides his plays into groups. in the first he has put his social dramas, or those plays which deal with purely social questions; and in the second, the domestic dramas, which are really closely connected with the first group in that they take up the same problems, but they are less universal and deal with a more restricted circle. It is interesting to note that Hauptmann's social dramas are all concerned with the proletariat, while his domestic dramas are confined to the bourgeoisie. According to Hauptmann, the first group includes: "Vor Sonnenaufgang;"1- "Die Weber;"2- "Der Biberpelz;"3* "Der rote Hahn;"4, "Fuhrmann Henschel," and "Rose Bernd,"^- to which I propose to add "Die Ratten , "^3 "Hanneles Himmel- fahrt."°* it was difficult to classify these last two plays, for "Die Ratten'' is concerned very largely with Hauptmann's conception of art, and "Hanneles Himmelfahrt" is a curious mixture of dream phantasy and the most extreme realism. The portion of both these plays which deals with social ideas,

1. Fischer, Berlin, 1918. 5. Fischer, Berlin, 1919. 2. Fischer, Berlin, 1920. 6. Fischer, Berlin, 1920. 3. Fischer, Berlin, 1922. 7. Huebsch, Hew York, 1913. 4. Fischer, Berlin, 1901. 8. Fischer, Berlin, 1920. 9. has a proletariat setting, and for this reason I am including them in the first group. In this thesis I am not concerned with the technical side of Hauptmann's plays, but rather with the social ideas which I find expressed in them. Arno Holz had offered to collaborate with Hauptmann on his first play, but this proffered aid was very wisely refused. In writing his first naturalistic play, "Before Sunrise," Hauptmann went for his inspiration to the region he knew best, his native province of Silesia. Through the discovery of coal fields in this district, many farmers had suddenly become millionaires, and this unexpected wealth completely turned their heads. Their extravagance and self-indulgence overstepped all bounds, but the condition of their servants was even worse than before. In the play, "Before Sunrise," Alfred Loth, an idealistic young reformer, came to this district to make investigations concerning the living conditions of the miners. Here he meets an old school chum, Hoffmann by name, who has married a daughter of the rich farmer mine-owner, Krause. Hoffmann's wife has inherited the weakness of her reprobate father for drink, and we learn that the death of her first child was due to alcoholism. Mrs. Krause is an extremely vulgar, pnd an almost illiterate woman, who is carrying on an illicit love affair with her nephew, i/ilhelm Kahl, whom she is trying to persuade her step-daughter

L 10. Helene to marry. Helene has been educated at a pietistic school in a neighboring town, and she has, accordingly, escaped this environment of vice and degeneracy. She is young and idealistic, and on her return from school she is horrified to discover the moral depravity which pervades her home. Loth shows himself to be a man of high principles and honor, and Helene very naturally falls in love with him, almost at their first meeting. Loth returns her youthful ardor. A convinced eugenist, he sees in her a charming young girl with high spirits and good health, who will become the mother of fine healthy children. This happy escape for Helene, however, never takes place. Loth learns from the Krause physician, Dr. Schimmel- pfennig, that Helene comes of a family of dipsomaniacs, and he cites the example of Helene's sister and the death of her first child. This is enough for Loth, the eugenist. Although the doctor tells him that he has known of cases in which such inherited evils had been suppressed, Loth is resolved to go away before he has another chance to see Helene. And so, having left a note for her, he departs. Helene had looked to Loth to rescue her from the intolerable conditions at home, and when he forsakes her, she abandons all hope. .tether than continue the unequal struggle alone, she commits suicide. Hauptmann's socialistic friend, Heinrich Lux of 11. "Ikarier" fame, was the prototype for Loth. The character of Loth is not very convincing. He is an idealistic dreamer, an unpractical socialist whose activities principally consist in talk. He preaches against the horrors of war and intoxicating liquors, and he is in favor of the emancipation of women. But when a real issue arises, he ignominiously abandons the girl he loves. Hauptmann tries somewhat to excuse Loth's conduct, for earlier in the play Loth says: „Nur, wer mich zum Verrather meiner selbst machen wollte, uber den miisste ich hinweggehen. "1 • To be false to his sincere belief in Eugenics, would have made him "betray his most ideal self," and so he sacrifices Helene. To the average reader this does not seem sufficient motivation for Loth's departure, especially when he has learned from the doctor that Helene is in danger of amorous advances from her brother-in-law, and even from her drunken father. There is nothing startlingly new about Loth's doctrines, in 1892 they were probably very advanced, but today they are almost truisms. Loth is not a self-portrait of Hauptmann, as many critics would have us believe, but there is a great deal of the young Hauptmann in Loth. The socialistic ideas which are expressed here were Hauptmann'8 radical ideas in 1892, and so the play is interesting from the point of view of Hauptmann's development.

1. Vor Sonnenaufgang, p.109. 12. The one distinctly original creation in "Before Sunrise" is Helene. As Beatrice Llarshall said in her article in the 'Fortnightly Review," "All the wrongs of suffering humanity seem synthetized in the pathetic figure of Helene."1 Hauptmann has concentrated all his infinite sympathy and understanding in creating the charaoter of Helene. '.7e are made to feel the helplessness of this poor girl who is a victim to heredity and to her environment. On the whole, "Before Sunrise" is not a very satisfactory play. Its defects, however, are the defects of Naturalism in general. It is unnecessarily revolting and the wills of the hero and heroine are weak, for circumstance conquers the will, and the victim dies, orushed by the hand of fete. As a first play, however, it remains an extremely interesting one. As I have already intimated in the introduction, Hauptmann's grandfather and great grandfather had been weavers in the district of Silesia- As a child Hauptmann heard stories of the grinding poverty of the weavers and of their daily struggle with the grim enemy, starvation. In the forties Gerhart's grandfather had participated in the riots, when the weavers, made reckless by despair and hunger, stormed the houses and factories of their capitalistic oppressors. This revolt, however, proved futile. The soldiers were called out, the riot put down with a severity 1. Beatrice Marshall on Dr. Paul Schlenter in "The Fortnightly Review", 1921, Vol.2, p.464. 13. out of all proportion to the offense, and conditions remained exactly as they had been before. Again there was sullen, dull acquiescence on the part of the workers. When Hauptmann, actuated by sympathy for oppressed humanity, determined to put the true condition of the Silesian weavers before the public in dramatic form, he turned to the historian Zimmermann for an accurate account of the uprising. There he found documentary evidence of the "Blutgericht" or Marseiliaise of the weavers, which set forth their grievances, and vowed vengeance on their masters. In 1892 Hauptmann went to Silesia to observe the living conditions of the weavers at first hand. He discover­ ed that they were in reality little better off than they had been in the forties, for evidences of poverty, wretchedness and want were to be seen everywhere. "The Weavers" was the first modern play to deal with the life of the proletariat. The theme of "The Weavers," which describes the momentary futile outburst of a group of workers goaded past endurance by their capitalistic oppressors, was more universal than any of Hauptrnann'S former plays, and for this reason it had more of a cosmo­ politan appeal. i do not altogether agree with Friedrich Spielhagen when he says that the hero of "The Weavers" is Hunger. Hunger is undoubtedly the theme, but it is the weavers in the mass who constitute the hero. With striking vividness 14. we see their helplessness and we feel how hopeless is their struggle against a system which is draining their life blood. in this play Hauptmann has no set socialistic pur­ pose, for he always remains the dramatist and never the explicit reformer. .Moreover, a drama of liberation of the oppressed weavers was ruled out by the very nature of the historical material which he was careful to follow. Haupt­ mann merely reveals the conditions as they exist, and the audience finds the indictment for a social system which would permit human beings to live in such degradation. The amount of feeling which was aroused by a presentation of "The weavers," is evident from the attitude which the German government took towards the play. It was kept off the stage for three years, until the highest court of appeal had rendered a favorable verdict. When the play was finally produced at the "Deutsches Theater," the raiser announced that he would patronize the theatre no longer. in spite of the indignation which this drama aroused in higher circles, it can be truthfully affirmed that Hauptmann has played on no class sympathies, and that the characters and incidents have not been exaggerated. In fact, according to all accounts, when Hauptmann pictured Dreissiger and his tool Pfeifer as representative of the capitalistic oppressors, he was far from showing any unjust prejudice towards the manufacturing class of that day. "The Weavers'' is considered by some critics to be Hauptmann's best play. It is certainly his greatest 16. contribution to naturalism. He portrays the misery of an entire class in a masterful way, and be succeeds in making a powerful appeal to the emotions and sympathy of the audience. Hauptmann showed his indifference to Imperial con­ demnation vtfien in the same year, 1692, he wrote "Der Biberpelz," a comedy of thieves, which has a strong vein of satire directed towards the German methods of administering Justioe. Mrs. Wolff, the heroine of this play, is ostensibly an honest, hard-working washwoman, in reality, however, she Is a very clever thief, who finds no difficulty In hood­ winking the pompous magistrate, von Wehrhahn. This official spends all of his time looking for political agitators and radicals, while flagrant thefts pass unpunished. Mrs. Wolff first steal8 a load of wood, and then, made bold by her success, she steals a beaver coat from Mr. Krueger, her erstwhile employer. To avoid suspicion, Mrs. Wolff appears in court with a parcel containing a waist-coat belonging to Mr. Krueger, Wiich she said she found by the railway station. An important wi tness , Dr. Fleischer, whose evidence would probably convict UTS. Wolff, is not given a fair hearing, for the magistrate considers Fleischer a dangerous radical. Mrs. Wolff, accordingly, goes free, and her employer, needless to say, never recovers his beaver coat. This play was written when the ant 1 -social 1st persecution under the Hohenzollerns was at its height. A 16. man like Dr. Fleischer who read a great many books, sub­ scribed to radical newspapers and absented himself from the Kaiser's birthday celebration, was sure to be a "thoroughly dangerous person." The portrait of von Wehrhahn, a typical Prussian official, is excellently drawn. He is bigoted, self-impor­ tant and overbearing toward everyone. His failure to find evidence enough to convict the innocent Dr. Fleischer of treason, worries him much more than the theft of the beaver coat. He expresses this idea very clearly at the end of the play when he says: ,,Das ist namlich hier unsere fleissige Waschfrau. Die denkt, alle Menschen sind so wie sie. So ist's aber leider nicht in der Welt. Sie sehen die Menschen von aussen an, Unsereins blickt nun schon etwas tiefer. Und so wahr es ist, wenn ich hier sage: die Wolffen ist eine ehrliche Haut, so sag ich ihnen mit gleicher rJestimmthei t: Ihr Doktor Fleischer, von dem wir sprechen, das ist ein lebensgefahrlicher KerlJ"1* Mrs. Wolff is a thoroughly delightful character. According to her own conception, she is a good mother, for she works unceasingly for her family and she has great ambitions for her two daughters. At the same time she sees no harm in taking some o C the superfluities of the rich, providing one is clever enough not to be caught. So popular did the character of Mrs. Wolff become

1. Der Biberpelz, pp. 521-522. 17. with the theatre-going public, that six years later Hauptmann wrote a sequel to the piece, which he called "Der rote Hahn." This play is rather disappointing for we do not see Mrs. Wolff or von Jehrhahn from any new angle. Mr8. Wolff, after the death of her first husband, has married J'ielitz, a shoemaker and a spy. Her former success in outwitting the law has made her bolder, and now she plans to burn their house to get the insurance money. She has laid her plans very cleverly so that suspicion will fall upon a half-witted boy. tier villainy, however, did not help her very much for she died a poor woman. m "Der Biberpelz" there was already a certain amount of needless repetition. Mrs. V,rolff stole first some wood, and then a beaver coat, and in the sequel, as an incendiary, she is shown in precisely the same light - that of a clever thief. One feels that the second play was somewhat superfluous. it is doubtful whether "Der 3iberpelz" or "Der rote Hahn" will long survive the disappearance of the social and political conditions which they so successfully ridicule . in 1898 Hauptmann again turned to his native Silesia for inspiration for the tragedy "Fuhrmann denschel," which has been called a drama of peasant psychology. nenschel is a great simple-hearted teamster, the personification of "Gemutlichkeit." He is very gentle with 18. his bedridden wife and a good father to their small daughter. 'Then his wife feels that the end is near, she makes Henschel promise that when she dies he will not marry their servant, Hanna Sohal. tie gives the desired promise and his wife dies in peace. But henschel is no match for tianna, who is a brutal, unscrupulous woman. She knows that tienschel depends on her to care for his motherless child, and in an attempt to get him to marry ner, she threatens to leave. The ruse succeeds. Henschel is the more easily persuaded that his wife's request was the jealous whim of a neurotic woman, for Hanna has a strong physical attraction for him. From the moment that Henschel marries Hanna, every­ thing goes wrong with him. Hanna proves faithless from the very first, and on account of her criminal neglect, his child dies. From a happy man, he becomes morose and brooding it seems to him that his dead wife haunts him. finally he can stand it no longer and in desperation he kills himself. Henschel has felt no resentment toward Hanna. He believed that he had brought this terrible misfortune on himself by breaking his promise, that all blame lay with him. Hauptmann holds himself artistically aloof from any judgment in the matter. He is merely giving us a powerful character-study of a simple soul, and his reaction to a guilty conscience. This play is naturalistic in that it shows a "slice 19. of life" in all its accurate details, but it is an advance artistically on Hauptmann's previous naturalistic plays, for the plot is simple, powerful and well-knit. There is some force outside his environment which drives Henschel to desperation, and finally to suicide; a force of his own making, let us say, but the consequences are none the less tragic. In general, the women in Hauptmann's dramas are considered far superior to his male characters. The case of "Fuhrmann Henschel" is a notable exception. Henschel pulsates with life. We are moved to pity and compassion for this man's unreasoning mental anguish. Those critics who maintain that no real tragedy has been written since Shakespeare, should be referred to this play. "Rose Bernd" which Hauptmann completed in 1903, is the tragedy of a modern "G-retchen." Rose is a pretty, robust peasant girl who is sought after by three men. She is affianced to a pious bookbinder, but she has put off the marriage as long as possible, for she is in love with Christopher Plamm. Plamm is a man at the height of his powers, married to a woman who is older than himself, and who is confined to a wheel-chair. Mrs. Flamm has suffered a great deal and she possesses understanding and sympathy; it was she who cared for Rose when her own mother died. When Rose was yet a child, Flamm was her ideal, and as she developed into a pretty young woman, the mutual

• 20. attraction proved too strong. Streckmann, a dissipated engineer, discovered the liaison and he threatened to reveal Rose's relations with ?lamm in order to secure her for himself. Rose goes to him to beg him to keep silent and he falls on her like a bird of prey. Later on, when he is drunk, Streckmann reveals every­ thing. When Mrs. Flamm discovers that Rose is about to bear her husband a child, with characteristic magnanimity, she offers to care for and protect her. Rose is overcome with shame and remorse and when her child is born, in a moment of insanity, she kills it. This story, with all of its naturalistic details, would be almost revolting if it were not for Hauptmann's art. Nothing which is intensely human seems to him sordid. There is no new idea expressed in this play; the Gretchen tragedy has often been presented, but Hauptmann has differed from his predecessors in the manner of presentation. The author is not concerned here with moral responsibility but with the problem of pain. The whole social structure which per­ mits such suffering and persecution, is brought before the bar of Justice. Hauptmann's character-studies in this play are remarkable. He gets at the heart of things which prompt men's actions. As James Huneker says of him: "Hauptmann began life as a poet-sculptor, and he has been modelling human souls ever since.n±' In this tragedy theme is only one character who has no redeeming features, that of Streckmann. Plamm is not held up as a villain - he is merely weak. He believed him­ self in love with Rose and he could not resist her youth and vitality, which was such a contrast to his bed-ridden wife. August Keil, Rose's unattractive fiance, is a conscientious, pious man, though rather weak and ineffectual- Yhen he discovers all that Rose has suffered, he proves himself a true Christian, for, conquering his own feelings of resentment at her conduct, he says: nDas Madel . . . was muss die gelitten hanl"2. The reaction of Rose's father is the purely conventional one. He is righteously indignant and he thinks only of the disgrace which Rose has brought upon him.

The character of Rose must be very difficult to play, for she seldom speaks except in monosyllables; yet Hauptmann, with his deep understanding of human nature, has managed to give us a portrait of her which is truly masterful. Without any sentimental pathos, he has shown her the victim of circumstances and of her surroundings, as well as of her own nature. "Die Ratten" is one of the least satisfactory of Hauptmann's plays. It is noteworthy because the author in this drama has given us his ideas on art; but for this 1. Huneker, "Iconoclasts," p.210 2. "Rose Bernd," p.154. 2 very reason one feels that it is a "made play." The plot, which is rather incoherent in structure, is used for the purpose of proving Hauptmann's theory that a barber or a scrub-woman might as fittingly be a protagonist of a tragedy as Lady Macbeth or King Lear. Hauptmann sets out to prove that Mrs. John, the charwoman who cleans the studio of Harro Hassenreuter, a theatrical manager, is a veritable tragic figure. Mrs. John is childless, her son having died when a baby. This is the great sorrow of her life, that her maternal longings cannot be satisfied. She meets Pauline Pipercarcka, a servant girl abandoned by her lover, who is about to become a mother. Mrs. John promises to befriend the girl, and to give her a sum of money if, in return, Pauline will give Mrs. John her baby when it is born. The girl agrees to these conditions and Mrs. John passes the baby off as her own. After a time, however, Pauline regrets the bargain she has made. She returns to Mrs. John with the money and demands the return of her child. Mrs. John becomes desperate. She has lavished all her mother-love upon the child, and she feels it would kill her to give it up. She tells Pauline to come again for the baby, and when Pauline returns, she finds that Mrs. John has placed a neighbor's child in the cradle and has taken her child away with her. Pauline calls the police and a search is made. Mrs . 23. John, fearing that she will be made to part with the child, begs her brother Bruno, a vicious degenerate, to get Pauline out of the way. Bruno's method is very simple. He lures Pauline away and then kills her. The polioe, who for sometime have been on Bruno's trail, discover the murder and the whole story comes out. LIrs. John, crazed with grief, rushes out into the street and is run over by an omnibus. I think most readers will agree that I.Irs. John is a tragic figure. Hauptrnann has shown us the soul of a very lonely woman, her great longing for a child on which to lavish her love, and her tragic failure. When one realizes that Hauptrnann has obviously set out to prove a thesis, however, one feels that the play has distinctly lost artistically. James Huneker, in his discussion of "Hannele," says: "In this play Hauptrnann is a realist, an idealist, a religionist and a natural philosopher. On the v/hole, it is the work of a transcendental realist."1. It is only the realistic side of "Hannele" with which I am concerned in this thesis. In this play we see how the human sympathy out of which Hauptrnann's first social dramas arose, can be applied to one individual as well as to a whole down-trodden class. Hannele is a poor little waif who has been shame­ fully abused by her drunken step-father, Mattern. Her one

1. Huneker, "Iconoclasts," p.193. 24. desire is to die and to find her mother in Heaven and Jesus, who she knows is kind to little children. In an attempt to end her misery, Hannele throws herself into a lake; but she is rescued by Seidel, a woodcutter, and brought to the poor- house for treatment. The rest of the play is devoted to the psychological study of the little outcast's delirious trances before her death. The persons in her sick-room, Gottwald, her beloved schoolmaster. Sister Martha, the nurse, and the dark figure of Mattern, are incorporated into her dreams. The creation of Hannele is a triumph of Haupt- mann's genius. Hannele's first words show her mental distress: itlch furcht mich soi" The dominant note is pity - pity for the needless suffering of a helpless child, and sympathy with her longing for material comforts, under­ standing and love, which should be the birthright of every child. 25.

CHAPTER II The Domestic Dramas of Hauptmann.

The domestic dramas include: "Las Friedensfest;"*' "Einsame Menschen;"2, "College Crampton;"3- "Michael Kramer," and "Gabriel Schillings Flucht."5, In these plays, which deal with Hauptmann's own class, the bourgeoisie, inner experience plays a more de­ cisive part in the dramatist's creative activity than was the case in his purely social plays. "Das Friedensf est," which appeared in 1890, pictures a family tragedy. The Scholz family are not addicted to drink or to vice, but their temperaments or rather their tempers, unfortunately clash. Dr. Scholz, a very clever physician, had married an unsophisticated country girl with little or no education. The gulf between them could not be bridged, for there was no mutual sympathy or understanding. The doctor was nervous and quick-tempered, and his wife hysterically quarrelsome. Out of this loveless union had come three children, who inherited the unhappy hypochondriacal dispositions of their elders. Robert is a selfish cynic; Augusta has become a prematurely soured old maid, and V/ilhelm, the best of the lot, has wandered around in dis­ grace for having struck his father in the face in chivalrous 1. Fischer, Berlin, 1912. 4. Fischer, Berlin, 1920. 2. Fischer, Berlin, 1919. 5. Fischer, Berlin, 1922. 3. Fischer, Berlin, 1918. defence of his mother. The doctor also left home after this quarrel. In his wanderings Ifllhelm met a young girl, Ida Buchner, and they became engaged. Ida and her mother were optimists; they believed that love and a little tact would work wonders in the Scholz household. 'Tilhelm brings Ida and her mother to visit his family and a reconciliation takes place. On Christmas eve the "Friedensfest," old Dr. Scholz, after years of absence, decides to return home. He has become practically a nervous wreck and he has taken to drink. Ida has made some small preparations for the Christmas festivities and Robert, secretly in love with her, and jealous of Wilhelm's good fortune, makes fun of the whole idea. This infuriates \7ilhelm, and the old family feud begins anew, in which the doctor also joins. 'Jilhelm starts toward his father to remonstrate with him, and Dr. Scholz, thinking that his son was going to strike him, becomes terrified. A stroke of paralysis ensues, which, later on, causes the doctor's death. On this sordid family wrangle, the almost maternal love of Ida for Vilhelm falls as a ray of sunshine. She is the exact opposite of loth, for when things look blackest, she stands by her fiance and assures him of her love. Robert, Augusta and ,/ilhelm are the product of their inherited tendencies and of their environments. Robert and 27. Augusta, following the line of least resistance, will probably continue as they have begun; but for Wilhelm there is a ray of hope. After a great deal of remorse and despair, he is given fresh courage for the battle of life through the regenerating love of Ida. Hauptmann treats the triangle question for the first time in "Einsame Menschen." The idea which we saw in "Das Friedensfest," that disparity in education between husband and wife brings unhappiness, is again evident in this play. Johannes Vockerat is a gifted young scholar, who has read Darwin and Haeckel and is "advanced." Kathe, his wife, is a sweet wholesome little housefrau, very much in love with her husband, ajid extremely proud of their baby. Kathe does not satisfy Johannes, however, for he does not consider her capable of understanding him or his work, and for this reason he has made himself thoroughly unhappy. His unhappiness is increased by reason of the constant friction with his strictly orthodox parents, who, although they were very fond of their son, could not approve of his liberal views on religion. Anna Mahr, a Russian girl who is a university student at Zurich, presents herself at the Vockerat house in search of Braun, an artist, who is a great friend of Johannes. The Vockerats are charmed with Anna and they ask her to stay a few days with them. Johannes is especially attracted to Anna, for he can talk to her of his work and she is capable of stimulating him mentally. Her visit is prolonged and ?rau Kathe is made very unhappy over her husband's growing infatuation for Anna. Finally things come to a crisis and Anna is forced to leave. At parting she gives Johannes a fraternal kiss and goes her way. Johannes lacks the strength to face the future with no one to understand him or to take an intelligent interest in his work, and he drowns himself. In presenting this triangle, Hauptmann holds him­ self aloof from any judgment in the matter. Anna Mahr is no home wrecker in the vulgar sense of the word, but she is intensely individualistic, showing strong evidence of Nietzsche's influence. She has often been compared with Ibsen's Rebecca V/est, but she doesn't love Johannes as Rebecca loves Rosmer. The attraction between Anna and Johannes was very strong and Johannes was not man enough to play with fire and retain his equilibrium. It seems to me that the presentation of this problem loses force on account of Johannes' weakness. There does not seem to be enough motivation to substantiate his claim to intellectual powers his weakness is the most noticeable thing about him. Anna is by far the strongest and the most interesting character in the play. The last three plays are concerned with life in 29. artistic circles. In the composition of these dramas Hauptmann has drawn upon his personal experiences with artists, which goes back to his student days in Breslau. In "College Crampton," published in 1891, Hauptmann shows his ability as a writer of comedy. This play has a local rather than a universal interest, and it adds nothing to Hauptmann's cosmopolitan reputation beyond showing his versatility in another field of composition. Crampton is a man of great artistic ability, but his advancement in the art academy has been painfully slow. In addition to this grievance, Crampton is very unhappily married to a woman who is always nagging him. In an attempt to drown his sorrows, Crampton has become a confirmed

drunkard, for, as Wilhelm Busch has cleverly put it: ,tWer Sorgen hat, hat auch Liqueur." Crampton's only friend is his daughter G-ertrud, who is devoted to him. Adolf Strahler, a student at the academy whom Crampton has befriended, is his ardent admirer, and the young man has fallen in love with Gertrud. Crampton, smarting under a particularly humiliating slight, can stand his life at the academy no longer, and he buries himself in the underworld of the town. His wife and children forsake him, all except Certrud, who is distracted with grief over the disappearance of her father. Adolf organizes a search and after some weeks he discovers Crampton, and persuades him to visit him in hie new studio. 30. There Crampton finds, to his amazement, that Adolf has purchased all of his personal effects which were sold at auction, and installed them in the studio. Gertrud then comes forward and tells her father that she is engaged to Adolf. The play closes with universal rejoicings. Beyond the sympathetic character study of the bibulous Crampton, this play contributes very little to Hauptmann's development as a social dramatist. Michael Kramer, in the play of that name, is a teacher in a royal art school. He has a son, Arnold, who possesses great artistic genius, but he is, unfortunately, deformed. On account of this misfortune, he has become cynical and untractable. Disregarding his genius, he spends most of his time in a cafe', and he has become enamoured of the proprietor's daughter, Liese Bansch- Liese, however, spurns her misshapen suitor and he becomes the butt of the habitues of the cafe7. One day they go too far in their persecution and Arnold, embittered with life, rushes out of the cafe' and commits suicide. The obvious technical faults in the construction of this play are lost sight of in the admirable delineations of character. It is difficult to decide whether Michael or Arnold is the hero of this drama. Both characters seem equally important. Michael has always longed to achieve something really worth while in art, but he lacks the spark of genius 33 necessary to create a masterpiece, and he has been hampered, retarded and disillusioned by the unappreciati on of his wife.

One is lead to SUSJB ct that the insistence on this theme of wifely unappreciati on has an element of personal experience in it. This is uncertain, however, for Hauptmann's biogra­ phers do not mention the cause of his estrangement and divorce from his first wife.

When Kramer's son was born with the great talent which he had always longed for, he places all of his hopes in his son. Arnold at least would make the name of Cramer famous. The tragedy of Michael's life was complete when Arnold turned out to be a lazy "Taugenichts," making no use of his genius. in spite of Arnold's unattractive nature, he en­ lists our sympathy. His was a sensitive, artistic nature, which was embittered by his deformity and his inability to evoke sympathy and love. in the last scene, when Cramer views his dead son, he seems to pour out his very soul. He was tortured with the thought that perhaps he had not been as patient as he should have been with Arnold, and had not tried to understand his son's peculiar disposition. He gives expression to his great love for his son, which he was never able to communic­ ate to Arnold. The soul of the painter is laid bare, and we realize that all of his dreams and aspirations have died with his son. 32. In this scene we see very clearly Hauptmann's concern with the spiritual. He has firm convictions about life and death, but one could scarcely call them orthodox. His conception of death is very beautiful. In speaking of it, he says: ..Der Tod ist die mildeste Form des Lebens: der ewigen Liebe Meisterstuck."!- This much to him is certain, but the reason behind it all, and our destiny after death, can be mere conjecture. The play ends with this note of p questioning. Michael says: nVYas wird es wohl am Ende sein." In "Gabriel Schillings Plucht," written in 1906, Hauptmann returns to the triangle play. Gabriel Schi-lling, an artist, is torn between two women. One is his wife, with whom he has nothing in common and whom he does not love, and the other is a Russian, Hanna Elias, who, in years gone by, he thought he loved. Gabriel makes his escape from these two women and he goes to his friends, Professor Maurer and Lucie Heil, who are spending a few weeks on an island in the Ostsee. Gabriel's health has been impaired for some time and Professor Maurer proposes that they all go to Greece, the home of the arts, where they will be inspired to produce something worth while. Hanna Elias, however, tracks Gabriel to his island haunt and she succeeds in getting him in her power once more. Professor MSurer's Grecian project sinks into the background, 1. "Michael Kramer," p.129 2. "Michael Kramer," p.130. and Gabriel becomes restless, dispirited and then seriously ill. Mlurer telegraphs to Berlin for their friend Dr. Rasmussen, and Gabriel's wife, on hearing the news, insists upon coming with him. Then ensues a struggle for the supremacy between Hanna and Mrs. Schilling. Each states that she has the greater claim on Gabriel, and in the heat of the argument the condition of the sick man is forgotten. Gabriel, weak and delirious, escapes the vigilence of the doctor and wanders down upon the shore and there dro wn s h ims el f . There is a great deal of mysticism in this drama. The sea exerted a strange influence over Gabriel; it seemed always to be luring him on. On the shore before he drowns himself, Gabriel sees a vision of his own funeral. }?rom the point of vi

Galsworthy, the ablest writer of social plays in England, and Hauptmann, the foremost social dramatist in Germany, offer very interesting points of comparison. Both dramatists seek to probe the sores of society. and to present an indictment of a man-made social system which clings to outworn creeds and conventions at the ex­ pense of the individual. Both express the idea that our slavish following of these rules and conventions, is due primarily to our lack of imagination and social sympathy. Each playwright, however, attacks the problem in his own individual way. in many cases there is a striking similarity in the material which both dramatists have employed as subject- matter for their plays; but I propose to discuss only two instances of this similarity, namely in a comparison of "Strife" with "The Weavers," and "The Silver Box" with "Der Biberpelz." In "Strife" and in "The Weavers, Galsworthy and Hauptmann are pioturing an industrial crisis which has been oooasioned by the workers' dissatisfaction with their living conditions. The difference in the theme will be at onoe apparent, however, when one realizes that Galsworthy is depicting the struggle of English workmen in the twentieth century, while Hauptmann is showing us the abject misery of the Silesian weavers in the forties. On the one hand the English workers were organized while on the other, the weavers were without any strong leader or any concerted means of defence against their task-masters. Whereas the weavers break out in open rebellion against their oppressors, "Strife," at its crisis, does not tend to violence but to conciliation. The latter play is really the tragedy of only two people - that of Roberts, the leader of the workers, and Anthony, who represents the capitalists. Both leaders are betrayed by their followers, and the result is a triumph for the labor union which, months before, had offered the same terms of conciliation wtiich were finally accepted. This is a very good example of Mr. Galsworthy's use of tragic irony, which recurs frequently in hi s plays. While Hauptmann seldom makes use of irony, we find a notable example of it in "The Weavers." Hilse, a pious old weaver, refuses to take part in the riot, for he believes all our misery is in accordance with the will of God, and those who submit to His will, receive their reward in Heaven. As he sits patiently at his loom, he is struck by a bullet vtfiich was aimed at the rioters, and he falls back dead. m contrast with "The Weavers," "Strife" is static 36. rather than dynamic. First the capitalist point of view, and then the demands of labour are given free expression. Galsworthy remains strongly impartial in presenting both oases, for, as he says: "It is the business of the artist to set down just what he sees and what he feels; to be negative rather than positive. At the same time the writer's own temperamental feeling gives the hint of a solution to his readers, but the solution is conveyed in flux."1*' In general. Galsworthy's persons seem to me to represent types rather than individual characters. The character-studies of Roberts and Anthony are notable exceptions to this general rule. It is the individuals, however, which are all important with Haup-taann. In "The Weavers'* Baumert, Ansorge, and old Hilse stand out from the rest of the characters with unforgetable vividness. Gals­ worthy, on the other hand, refuses to emphasize the individual tendencies in character in order to produce dramatic effects. Nothing must distract our attention from the problem which he is presenting. Mr. Galsworthy's impartiality and the almost mathematical precision with which he works out his plots, are apt to leave one rather cold. In reading "Die Weber." where Hauptmann has used all of his art with deep under­ standing of human nature to impress us with the wretchedness of the weavers, a much more powerful effect is produced.

l.cit. Archibald Henderson in "Changing Drama," p.177 In the "Silver Box," Galsworthy is satirizing our judicial system, while Hauptmann in "Der Biberpelz," is ridiculing the manner in which justice was administered by certain empty-headed officials, rather than condemning the entire judicial system. Galsworthy points out that there are two systems of justice: one for the rich, and one for the poor. When the son of a member of parliament becomes intoxicated and steals a woman's pocketbook, he is not even brought into court; but when the poor man, also under the influence of liquor, takes a silver box, he is sentenced to prison. His family is left to starve, for his wife can no longer get work as charwoman in the houses of the rich after her husband has been con­ victed of theft. In Galsworthy's plays we have a certain amount of comic relief, but it is comedy of character and dialogue rather than of incident. Even in his comedies the events remain grim, although the characters may be amusing. In the "Silver Box" what little comedy we find is comedy of dialogue. The wife of the member of parliament, Mrs. Barthwick, is very amusing when she comments upon the servant question and the treatment which should be accorded to the "lower classes," as are the remarks of the breezy unscrupulous detective, Mr. Snow. This entertaining dialogue is not put there for its own sake, however, or with any idea of character delineation, but it is used to enforce 38. the central theme. Hauptmann'8 art ie less conscious. One feels that he ie getting as much fun out of creating the wily Mrs. Wolff and von Wehrhahn, with his self-importance, and the insolent airs which he affects, as we do when we read hie exoellent comedy. Yet Hauptmann is not carried away by hi 8 character delineations to the extent that his dramas lose balance, or, to use Galsworthy's famous phrase, lack "a spire of meaning." It seems to me that the main difference between these two social dramatists is that Galsworthy appeals to the intellect and the reason in his plea for down-trodden humanity, while Hauptmann appeals to the heart. For this reason I believe that Hauptmarm's dramas will live longer than those of Galsworthy. Posterity will read the plays of Galsworthy for a picture of the social conditions of his day and generation, but they will be able to sympathize with Hauptmann's characters and to enter into their joys and sorrows. A faithful representation of human nature is sure to outlast any social conception or theory of drama. 3t.

CHAPTSH 17 Tht Iafluanca of Ibun.

Tbt lnfluanoa on Kauptaiann of Hanri* Ibaaa, lfc« grtttttt drteatiat tlaot Holllrt. otnnot b« orar-aatieattd to dltouatlng tblt influtnea l aa eoncarnad aartly with ia«aa tad not with ttobnlqua. Ibtta ravoltad agalnat tbt ourrtat idaa of "art for trt't aakt." Tbt draaa to bla bad t ttriout purpoaa. that of waking atn tblnk. Wltb bit adrant. tbt aodarn draaa of ldtat apptart, and wt btrt tbt nit ooaotptloa of "art for llfa't takt." At I bart triad to point out la ditoot ting BauptaaiuTt tooial plaja, ht alto tbtrtt thit profound ttriontnttt toward lift and art. Aroblbald Htndtrton la bit "Changing Draaa." tajm of Ibtta: "Hit playt art not canlpulatloat but orttttom of obaraottr, tbt intrlttblt trtntt of an attltudt toward Ufa, a point of rltw, a fraet of Bind, t ttaparaaantal ttaap."1 Bauptaann't attltadt toward lift, bit txtrasa tytcpathj for all tuffaring bnaanltj. it oltarlj or own in bla aalaotlon of unfortunata. unhappy paopla for tba protagonlatt of bit drtaaa. Following up tblt oonoaption. ibotn oraatad tba ao- oalltd draaa of Laaadlata Aotuall tp . t draaa iWJieh it concarn

1. Aroblbald Btadtrwoa. "Changing Prwaa,* p.?«. 40. ed, not with kings and queens of some bygone age, but with living people of today, shown in natural situations. Zola and Ibsen divide the honors in having given expression to the naturalistic conception that man was the creation of the historical moment, of his social environment and his physical heredity. As I have already shown, Hauptmann adopted these naturalistic principles in his earlier plays. An analogy may be drawn between "Friedensfest and "Ghosts." Both plays deal with inherited tendencies, and show how a similar tragedy may be repeated in the same family from one generation to another. In "Friedensfest," however, we catch a glimmer of hope which is totally lack­ ing in Ibsen's play. Ibsen's criticism of society is iconoclastic and it frequently takes the form of satire. Hauptmann, on the other hand, shows us the wrongs which a man-made society can inflict upon helpless individuals. On the whole, Ibsen is much more militant and radical than Hauptmann in his idea of social reform. Instead of analysing the motives which cause his fellow-creatures to act as they do, and sympathizing with their frailty, he holds society up to ruthless satire, and he is bent on unmasking human folly. Critics who prefer this method of social amelioration have accused Hauptmann of weakness and sentimentality. I cannot agree with this opinion. The reaction of the great majority of the Anglo-Saxon public when they read Ibsen, is 41. one of annoyance and irritation, and the fundamental ideas which he is trying to bring home pass over their heads. On the other hand, when they read Hauptmann's plays, their reaction is one of sympathy for life's unfortunates, and they begin to wonder what can be done to change a system which permits such an injustice. Ibsen's idea that the sacredness of a woman's personality equaled that of a man, had already been forecast in the works of his German predecessor, Hebbel. Hauptmann undoubtedly had this idea in mind when he created Rose Bernd. Though he does not espouse the cause of woman's complete emancipation, yet he exposes the double standard of morality in that drama, and he shows that Rose is the one who pays the price to established society for having broken its conventions. So that, though Hauptmann is not so virile or original in his ideas as Ibsen, nor indeed so great a genius, he yet seems closer to us as a man, intensely human in his sympathies, stirred even more than Wordsworth by the "still sad music of humanity." 42.

CONCLUSION

Throughout his social and domestic plays Hauptmann is concerned with various phases of the problem of pain, for he believes that "where there is suffering, there is holy ground."

True to his socialistic doctrines he deals with the problems of poverty, degeneracy in all its phaseB, exploited labour - in short, all the sores of society. He also gives expression, in his plays, to one of his most profound convictions, a hatred of war. (It was this refusal to glorify war and the fruits of war, which helped to make him so unpopular under the old regime, j The intensely human problem of sex concerned him deeply, in its finer as well as in its grosser aspects.

It is curious that Hauptmann, with his intense love for his f ellow-creatu res, has not given us one example of a great passion. Flamm's love for Rose is not very convincing, and the nearest approach to a great love is Ida's devotion to Wilhelm in "Priedensfest." Her affection, however, is tempered with sympathy and the result is something very akin to maternal love. One of Hauptmann's most interesting ideas, which runs through a great many of his plays, iB his conception of death. The most notable examples of the author's attitude toward this subject are to be found in "Vor Sonnenauf gang,"

J 43. "flanneles Hlmmelfahrt" and in ''Uichael Kramer." In "Vor Sonnenaufgang," Loth says: "The thought of death has nothing horrible in it for me. un the contrary, it seems like the thought of a friend. One calls and knows surely that death will come. And so one can rise above so many, many things - above one • s past, above one's future fate..."1* This statement, I think, maybe taken as Haup tularin's own view on the subject. The why and the where­ fore of this life is inexplicable; suffering, a oertalnty. but death is a refuge and a haven of rest. The idea that death is enobling is found in "Hannele" and in "Uichael Kramer.'* Hannele is a rather common-place little waif who has suffered too much; but it is the last moments before her death which make her a tragio character. She oatches a vision of heavenly splendor and she rises above her squalid surroundings of vice and cruelty• Michael Kramer sings Hauptmann's greatest paean to death when he views his dead son Arnold, it seems to Michael that through death the unfortunate side of Arnold's dis­ position has become purified, and that the innate dignity and nobility of expression which he always possesses are now, for the first time, visible in his face. He says: rtWas jetzt auf seinera (ieslchte liegt, das alles , Lachmann, hat In ihm gelegen. Das fuhlt' ich, das wusst' ich, das kannt ich in ihm und konnte ihn doch nlcht heben, den Sohatz.

1. "Vor Sonnenaufgang," p.103. 44. Sehen Sie, nun hat ihn der Tod gehoben. "•'•• In Hauptmann's plays we find no great struggle in which the protagonist triumphs, as in Schiller, or any- great character who meets his doom in defying established society, as in the tragedies of Hebbel. V/hat we do find is ordinary people in everyday life, possessing very little freedom of will, and who, for the most part, are weak mortals. iiauptmann does not condemn human weaknesses or follies, for in his conception it is not our fault if we are underlings. His compassion is big enough to understand our frailties, and his love strong enough to embrace erring humanity. "Tout comprendre, c'est tout pardonner." Hauptmann is never dogmatic, he is not trying con­ sciously to teach us certain lessons, and it is principally for this reason that he rarely finds a solution for the problems which he discusses. He poses the questions and it is for his readers to supply the solution- Whatever one's estimate is of Hauptmann as an artist, there can be no difference of opinion about him as a man. His great personal triumph on the occasion of the celebration in commemoration of his sixtieth anniversary in November, 1922, in which all Germany took part, is ample testimony of his universal popularity among the G-erman people. Under the republic it was possible to accord him honor viiich has seldom fallen to the lot of a poet during his life-time. This whol e-

1. "Michael Kramer," p.128. 45. hearted demonstration of an entire nation showed that they considered Hauptrnann not only a national poet, but a poet of the people. This must have been extremely gratifying to Hauptrnann, for in one of his earliest poems, in the "Griechischer ?ruhling," he defines what he considers the ideal status of a poet: „Was ware ein Dichter^ dessen Wesen nicht der gesteigerte Ausdruck der Volksseele ist?" Hauptrnann is probably as fine an artist as this age could produce; his work is a veritable triumph for the naturalistic school. The most serious charge that one could bring against him is that he lacks iron. Hauptrnann is concerned perhaps too completely with "the tears of things" as he gives expression to his innate sympathy for all humanity that suffers. Zola describes art as "a bit of life seen through the prism of a temperament," but Hauptrnann would probably describe it as a bit of life seen through the eyes of love and pity. One feels that Hauptrnann has been sincere in his art and true to his better self when he has reflected the sorrows of the world, for, in "Das bunte Buch," he exhorts the poet: v'fie eine Windes^Jiarfe Sei deine Seele, Dichter! Der laiseste Hauch Bewege sie. Und ewig mussen Die Saiten schwingen Im Atem des Weltweh's Denn das Weltweh 46.

1st die Wurzel Der Himmelsehnsucht. Also steht Deiner Lieder Wurzel begrundet Im Weh der Erde; Doch ihren Scheltel kr8net Himmelslicht. 47.

BI3LI0GRAPHY

Arnold, Robert Dae Uoderne Drama. TrQbner. Straseburg, 1912. Bieae, Alfred Deutsche Llteraturgeschlchte. Beok, Munich, 1912. Coar, J. C Studies In German Literature in the Nineteenth Centary, Mac mi 11 an . New York, 1903. Eller, William Henri .... Ibsen in Germany. Badger, Boston, 1918. Feohter, Paul Gerhart Hauptmann. Sibyllen, Dresden, 1922. Galsworthy, John H Inn of Tranquility. Scribners, New York, 1919. Hell er, Otto Studies in Modern German Literature, Ginn & Co., Boston. 1906. Henderson, Archibald... .The Changing Drama, Holt, New York. 1914. Haenisch, Konrad Gerhart Hauptmann and das deutoohe Volk. Dletz. Berlin. 1922. Kerr, Alfred Das neue Drama. Fischer, Berlin, 1917. Meyer, Richard Die deutsche Llteratur des neun- lehnten Jahrhunderts, Bondl. Berlin. T5W. Shaw, Bernard The Quintessence of Ibsenlsm, Constable, London, 1913. Sohlanther, Paul Gerhart Hauptmann Leben und •Yerke. Fischer, Berlin, 1922. Von der Leyen, Friedrioh...Deutsche Dichtung in neuer Zelt. Eugen Diederich, Jena, 1922. Witkowski, Georg... Die Sntwlcklung der deutschen Llteratur Belt lb30, Yolgtlgnder. Leipzig, 1912. 48.

Nitkowski , Georg Das deutsche Drama des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts, Teubner, Leipzig, 1909.