317. THE TECHNIQUE OF SANSKRIT DRAMA 353

THE TECHNIQUE OF SANSKRIT DRAMA 353

arouses social feelings and emotions, which in no way differ from those aroused in the persons, who were actual perci- pients of the event as a whole, not as any one of those, involved in the situation, but as spectators of the whole. (b) There is accordingly less action in the former, because it is primarily a presentation of a basic mental state at its highest relishable pitch through successive stages. In the latter there is more action, because it tries to present the æsthetic configuration for the arousal of the social feelings and emotions; and the social interest can be aroused only by means of action. In English dramas also, where there is an attempt to present the intensity of feeling, the action comes to a stand-still. This is, for instance, what we find in the case of Hamlet. It is interesting to note that some critics, not knowing the psychological reason for Hamlet's inactivity, have criticised Shakespeare for lack of action in that portion of the drama.

(c) The methods of presentation, followed by the Sanskrit and the English dramatists, are accordingly different; the former present all that is necessary for the arousal of the basic mental state in the focus of the situation and through him in the audience. And because an emotion at a high pitch diminishes the capacity to act, if it does not totally inhibit it; there is not much presentation of action as such, but only as much of it as is necessary for the presentation of the basic mental state. And because the basic mental state does not admit of the objective cognition and can be realised subjectively only through identification with the focus of the situation, therefore, the presentation of all such things is avoided as will stop the progress of identification. Hence in Sanskrit dramas appeal is always to the highest æsthetic senses, the eye and the ear; and appeal to touch and taste is totally avoided. The 45