Dramatic Piece with No Inter-actor Verbal Communication: On the Dramaturgical Structure of Goethe's Proserpina

Abstract

It is well known that Jean-Jacques Rousseau's scène lyrique Pygmalion developed to form a theatrical genre called melodrama in France and in Germany, but in different fashions in each country. As to German melodrama, its main features can be summarized by four characteristics: independence between text and music; emphasis on visual elements such as pantomime and tableau; style of composition as monodrama; lack of dramatic complications. Focusing especially on the last two features, this article analyzes monologues in Proserpina, the melodrama written and staged by Johann Wolfgang Goethe in Weimar in 1815, and examines the dramaturgical structure of the plot which has almost no intrigue. This short piece has only one decisive dramatic event at the end, which is preceded by a long epical monologue that depicts the inner world of the tortured heroine, without advancing the action. Goethe characterizes such a type of action as a “retarding” type. This analysis shows the structural basis on which German melodrama as short tragedy can be composed, which was Goethe's aim with Proserpina. The same structure is found applied to the genre of ballet, which has no dialogue either, for example, in Lilac Garden by Antony Tudor, a short psychological study in dance.