CYCLE EIGHT
1. To distinguish the tragic from the comic on
the basis of an objective/subjective dichotomy between that which, appertaining
to the female side of life, is rooted in a vacuum, and that which, appertaining
to its male side, is centred in a plenum.
2. Thus to distinguish the tragic from the comic
on a gender-conditioned basis in which that which is rooted in a vacuum stands
tragically aloof from whatever is centred in a plenum.
3. If the female side of life is tragic and its
male side comic, then tragedy is divisible, on a noumenal/phenomenal
basis, between evil and good, while comedy, by contrast, is divisible, on a
phenomenal/noumenal basis, between folly and wisdom.
4. Evil and good would therefore qualify as
tragic attributes of a female, or objective, disposition (with straight-line
divergence and/or convergence), whereas folly and wisdom would qualify as comic
attributes of a male, or subjective, disposition (in which divergence and/or
convergence was curved).
5. Hence the tragedy, relative to evil and good,
of crime and punishment, as against the comedy, relative to folly and wisdom,
of sin and grace.
6. Generally speaking, women seek deliverance
from evil in good, crime in punishment, whereas men
seek deliverance from folly in wisdom, sin in grace.
7. Either way, tragedy is a woman's lot and
comedy a man's, pretty much as if women were fated for
work and men for play.
8. Neither can one escape
the correlation between work and the State on the one hand, and play and the
Church on the other hand, since the one is arguably female and the other male.
9. In literary terms,
poetry and drama correspond, when most genuine, to the tragic side of life,
while fiction and philosophy, their subjective counterparts, correspond to its
comic side when most genuine.
10. Just as the most genuine poetry will always be
tragic in relation to beauty and the most genuine drama tragic in relation to
strength, so the most genuine fiction will always be comic in relation to
knowledge and the most genuine philosophy comic in relation to truth.
11. Just as the Devil and woman share a tragic
disposition with regard to objectivity, which hails from a vacuum, so man and
God share a comic disposition with regard to subjectivity, which issues from a
plenum.
12. Likewise both science and politics are tragic
disciplines, whereas economics and religion are comparatively comic, as of
course are economists and priests in relation to
scientists and politicians.
13. As an expression of
comedy, laughing is essentially a male prerogative; just as crying is basically
a female one!
14. One could distinguish, in addition to the
above, between the smiling of gods in relation to wisdom and the laughing of
men in relation to folly, thereby distinguishing the noumenal
from the phenomenal, grace from sin, on the basis of an upper-class/lower-class
male dichotomy.
15. Similarly, if conversely, one could
distinguish the scowling of devils in relation to evil from the crying of women
in relation to good, thereby distinguishing the noumenal
from the phenomenal, crime from punishment, on the basis of an
upper-class/lower-class female dichotomy.
16. Be that as it may, both smiling and laughing
are comic attributes, whereas scowling and crying are demonstrably tragic ones.
17. Just as smiling confirms wisdom and laughing
confirms folly, so scowling confirms evil and crying confirms good.
18. As inconceivable to conceive of a wise man who
doesn't smile as to conceive of a fool who doesn't laugh!
19. As inconceivable to conceive of an evil woman
who doesn't scowl as to conceive of a good one who doesn't cry!
20. No less than the wise man is a philosophic god
whose smile epitomises grace, so the evil woman is a poetic devil whose scowl
epitomises crime, the generality of men and women, however, approximating to
fiction and drama in their respective fixations upon folly and goodness, sin
and punishment.
