Some of the scenes which Tieck rejects are Hodges' picture of the melancholy Jacques, and the murder of the princes in "Richard III." Neither of these is acted out on the stage. From the "Merry Wives" he proposes Falstaff's three adventures: the basket scene, the Witch of Brentford scene and the final torturing of Falstaff by the practical jokers. These giv a chance for variety of grouping and a gradation of expression in all the chief characters of the play. The scene in which the two women read identical letters from Falstaff, Tieck regards as the worst possible, for reasons that he says he need not recall but which are obviously those of lack of stress on the main character.
The scenes that Tieck recommends were actually chosen by the artists whose work appears later in the series and so Tieck's judgment is, in a way, confirmd. These scenes are the skeleton of the farce element and bring out the structure of the Falstaff plot which Tieck evidently regards as the main theme. It is interesting to note, however, how little the choice of subject has to do with the artistic merit or demerit of the plates. The subsequent plates, which would hav fully satisfied Tieck's requirements as to the moment of presentation are artistically among the worst in the series.
The two scenes from "As You Like It" suggested by Tieck, the one where Adam admonishes Orlando (II, 3) and the scene in the forest where Orlando enters bearing Adam on his shoulders (II, 7) hav not the same structural relation to the whole as hav those from the "Merry Wives." These moments lend themselves very well to representation but are chosen on another basis of judgment. They show that for Tieck Orlando was of more importance than Rosalind, for he suggests no scene with her in it as especially representativ of the play. In the first of these two scenes, the action has already begun; the scene is the culmination of the episode containing the first relation of the brothers. It is in itself not a vital part of the action. The scene in the forest, on the other hand, has more of the qualities demanded by Tieck: a variety of characters and an important moment. This is a moment—tho not the initial one—when Orlando's fortunes mend and he comes to his frends. The scene in which he first meets the Duke's party is of more significance. It seems as if the governing principle is contrast rather than a desire for elucidation of structure in serial arrangment. Orlando and Adam, ill-fortune and good luck, are juxtaposed.
Tieck conjectures that the eavesdropping scene from "Much Ado" (III, 1) is included in the collection because it was played by popular actresses of the contemporary English stage. Tieck misses the structural importance of the scene. It is apart of the intrigue; it has a direct effect on Beatrice who comes from it a changed woman. To Tieck, however, it ment as little as the similar eavesdropping scene from "Love's Labor Lost" (IV, 3), in which play he claims there is no suitable scene for representation.
The scene from "Winter's Tale" in which Perdita welcomes the disguised Duke (IV, 3), offering him flowers the while, is condemd in favor of the one immediately following in which the Duke discloses himself. Here again Tieck stresses the contrast and wishes a climax, a dramatic moment. So he praises such scenes as the putting away of Hero at the altar and the deth of Beauford, however much he derides the execution of the latter, by Reynolds.
For the sake of bringing out the wretchedness of this execution, Tieck points out that tho he has often before bewaild the choice of moment, he cannot do so in this case for no better could hav been selected. He details the good points in the scene: "Man denke sich einen Bösewicht auf dem Todtenbette, den die Verzweifelung wahnsinnig gemacht hat, der keine Seligkeit hofft; diesen besucht in seiner Todesstunde Heinrich, der junge gefühlvolle König, ein Schwarmer in der Religion, der von diesem Anblick auf das tiefste gerührt wird; Warwick und Salisbury, zwei männliche Krieger, begleiten ihn hierher. Beauford ist die Hauptperson, alle Zuschauer haben ihre gauze Aufmerksamkeit auf ihn gerichtet. Der Künstler hätte hier rühren und erschüttern können; ich sehe in Gedanken den weichen Heinrich Thränen vergiessen, im schönsten Contrast mit dem Cardinal, der ihn, in der Abwesenheit seines Geistes, kalt und ohne Bewusstsein anstarrt. Warwick und Salisbury, weniger gerührt, aber doch interessante Physiognomien, die durch leichtere Nuancen von einander unterschieden sind. So sehe ich in der Phantasie das schönste tragische Gemälde ..."
In "Romeo and Juliet" the choice of the ball scene meets with Tieck's disapproval. The scene is "Ohne Wirkung." Tieck's main reason why the scene is not good is that the painter has interpreted literally the metafor, "My lips two blushing pilgrims stand" and has represented Romeo in the garb of a pilgrim to correspond to Juliet's anser, "Good pilgrim." As Tieck rightly points out, there is no need for such a gise. The choice of the more highly keyd situation at the supposed deth of Juliet meets with Tieck's approval and shows that where there is a choice, the emfasis of his selection is apt to be on the superlativ moment.[39]
One other idea seems to be in Tieck's mind and it is hard to believe that he was not unconsciously influenced by the stage presentation of the plays when formulating it. That is the desire to hav a number of people in the picture. Nearly all the plates that he condems hav but few characters and his dictum of variety demands a reasonable number to choose from. This dramatic point of view is in accord with his attitude in all other fases of the discussion. It has been pointed out how rarely the artistic makes the prime appeal to him.
Tieck's second point in regard to choice of subject is that the comedies offer a wider field and a better opportunity than the tragedies. The general basis for this notion is allied to his theory of the worthlessness of caricature, that is, that there is an exaggeration, an overacting of the part possible in tragedy that is less likely to occur in comedy.
The statement of the evils of exaggeration is very sweeping and includes in some of its details both comedy and tragedy: "Der dramatische Dichter hat Momente in seinen Schauspielen, die kein Pinsel oder Griffel jemals darstellen kann; ich meine jene Sprünge und überraschenden Wendungen des Affectes, jene fürchterlichen Blitze des Genies, bei denen der Zuschauer zusammenfährt, wo der Dichter unerwartet durch eine neue verdrängt: diese Momente sind oft die glänzendsten des Schauspiels, und bei keinem Dichter finden sie sich so häufig als bei Shakspeare in seinen Tragödien." Tieck's illustration for this is the passage from Lear beginning, "No, I will weep no more," etc. He continues, "welcher Maler wird es wagen, wenn er den Sinn ganz durchdringt, ... diese Stelle auf die Leinwand zu werfen? So innig diese Verse beim Lesen oder bei der Darstellung rühren, so frostig würden sie vielleicht als ein Gemälde dargestellt erscheinen: oder wenn sie auch hier rührten, so würde das Gemälde doch nie jene Erschütterung in uns erregen, jenes Anschlagen von hundert Gefühlen. Man würde immer nur den weinenden Lear sehen oder den erzürnten Vater, der sich zur Kälte zwingt; das Ineinanderschmelzen dieser beiden Empfindungen, verbunden mit der Verstandesschwäche, die dem Schmerz endlich ganz erliegt und Wahnsinn wird, wäre selbst ein Rafael unmöglich: hier steht ein grosser Grenzstein zwischen dem Gebiet des Malers und des Dichters."