love, i.e. the love between a young woman and a young man, although
love-stories and love-lyrics were well known to them. The only play
which has come down to us where love is a predominant motive is the
_Trachiniae_. The love of Deianeira is the ardent longing of a
highly emotional young woman and mother, but its very intensity brings
disaster on both herself and her husband. Broadly speaking, love is a
legitimate motive for the dramatist when it is used, not as a purpose
in itself, but as a setting for something else. In the words of
Corneille, "l'amour ne doit etre que l'ornement, et non l'ame de nos
pieces," and this is how it is generally employed by the best
dramatists. The love of Benedict and Beatrice, for example, is simply
a setting for their witty talk and repartee. On the Spanish stage love
is often a setting for entertaining intrigue, as in Lope de Vega's
_El Perro del Hortelano_. In Schiller's _Wallenstein_ the
love of Max and Thekla is a refreshing breath of pure air through the
abyss of treachery and corruption; almost the same applies to _Romeo
and Juliet_, and in both the end is death. Of the Elizabethans,
Ford seems to have had a predilection for love-plots, but all, as far
as I remember, end tragically. I have selected, as they occurred to
me, a few representative plays from the dramatic literature of
different countries; an exhaustive inquiry would, I feel sure, only
confirm the view that a preference for love subjects for their own
sake is a sure sign of decadence in the drama. Goethe, who in his
youth swore to dedicate his life to the service of love,
and--unhappily--kept his vow; Goethe, who nauseates us with love in
his romances and lyrics, who even in the Eternal City cannot forget
his worship of "Amor" and his visits to his "Liebchen," never misuses
love in his dramas. He tells us sarcastically that on the stage, when
the lovers are at last united, the curtain falls quickly and covers up
the sequel.