Predominant in the ancient dramas is the discordance between duty and desire; in the modern, that between desire and performance.  Let us, for the present, consider this decisive difference among the other contrasts, and see what can be done with it in both cases.  Now this, now that side predominates, as I have remarked; but since duty and desire cannot be radically separated in man, both motives must be found simultaneously, even though the one should be predominant and the other subordinate.  Duty is imposed upon man; “must” is a hard taskmaster; desire (das Wollen) man imposes upon himself; man’s own will is his heaven.  A persistent “should” is irksome; inability to perform is terrible; a persistent “would” is gratifying; and the possession of a firm will may yield solace even in case of incapacity to perform.

We may look at games of cards as a sort of poetic creation; they, too, consist of these two elements.  The form of the game, combined with chance, takes the place of the “should” as the ancients recognized it under the name of fate; the “would,” combined with the ability of the player, opposes it.  Looked at in this way, I should call the game of whist ancient.  The form of this game restricts chance, nay, the will itself; provided with partners and opponents, I must, with the cards dealt out to me, guide a long series of chances which there is no way of controlling.  In the case of ombre and other like games, the contrary takes place.  Here a great many doors are left open to will and daring; I can revoke the cards that fall to my share, can make them count in various ways, can discard half or all of them, can appeal from the decree of chance, nay, by an inverted course can reap the greatest advantage from the worst hand; and thus this class of games exactly resembles the modern method in thought and in poetic art.

Ancient tragedy is based upon an unavoidable “should,” which is intensified and accelerated only by a counteracting “would.”  This is the point of all that is terrible in the oracles, the region where Oedipus reigns supreme. Sollen appears in a milder light as duty in Antigone.  But all Sollen is despotic, whether it belongs to the domain of reason, as ethical and municipal laws, or to that of Nature, as the laws of creation, growth, dissolution, of life and death.  We shudder at all this, without reflecting that it is intended for the general good. Wollen, on the contrary, is free, appears free, and favors the individual. Wollen, therefore, is flattering, and perforce took possession of men as soon as they learned to know it.  It is the god of the new time; devoted to it, we have a dread of its opposite, and that is why there is an impassable gulf between our art, as well as our mode of thought, and that of the ancients.  Through Sollen, tragedy becomes great and forceful; through Wollen, weak and petty.  Thus has arisen the so-called drama, in which the awful power of Fate was dissolved by the will; but precisely because this comes to the aid of our weakness do we find ourselves moved if, after painful expectation, we finally receive but scant comfort.