Excerpt from Poetic Justice in the Drama: The History of an Ethical Principle in Literary Criticism Prominent among the subjects which must be thought of by any one who makes a study of the problem of poetic justice, is that which takes into consideration the aim and end of art. In order to accept or reject the dogma of rewards and punish ments in literature, one must carefully consider whether or not it is the aim and end of art to instruct. It was not necessary, however, that the writer should ofier any very specific and final answer to this large question. The doctrine of poetic justice has been understood in different ways by literary critics, and has been applied so rigorously by some writers, that the rejection of the doctrine does not necessarily imply a denial that instruction should be the chief aim of literary art. This much may be said as pointing towards an answer: on the one hand the gross violation of the principle of poetic justice, as ordinarily understood, is highly inartistic in its effect; and, on the other hand, absolute conformity to extreme form of poetic justice works against the best interests of art. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

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