ingratiate themselves in spite, or perhaps because of their
insignificance, he is not to be compared with Grillparzer; nor, in the
capacity to create a poetic atmosphere, with Otto Ludwig. His language
is rugged and masculine; his style, frequently forensic. Taken as a
whole, his work furnishes more abundant food for thought than objects
of _naïve_ esthetic enjoyment; but, like Grillparzer's, his plays were
written for the stage; and proper enactment has seldom failed to produce
with them an effect of power worthy of his powerful personality, which
swam against the tide, knowing that the tide would turn and that the
flood would bear him to the haven.

* * * * *




_FRIEDRICH HEBBEL_

* * * * *



MARIA MAGDALENA


DRAMATIS PERSONÆ

Master ANTONY, _a joiner_

_His Wife_