The World as Will and Idea, Vol. I — Arthur Schopenhauer, trans. Haldane & Kemp

Our explanation of the sublime applies also to the ethical, to what is called the sublime character. Such a character arises from thisj "that the 'will is hot excited Ejr objects which are well calculated to excite it, but that knowledge retains the” upper hand in their presence. ^ man ^ si^lime character will accordingly consider men in a purely objective way, and not' with reference^ to the relations which they might have to his will ; he will, for e.xample, observe their faults, even .their, hatred and injustice to himself, without being himsglf excited to hatred; he will behold their happiness without envy ; he will recognise their good q^ualities without desiring any

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THB WORLD AS IDEA.

BK. III.

closei relations with them ; he will perceive the, beauty of women, ¥ut he will not desire His personal happiness or unhappiness will not ^eatly affect him, he will rather be as Hamlet describes Horatio : —

“ . . . for thou h.ast been,

As one, in suffering all, that suffers nothing ;

A man that fortune’s buffets and rewards Hast ta’en with equal thanks,” &c. (A, 3. Sc. 2.)

For in the course of his own life and its misfortunes, he wil]_consider less his individual lot than that of humanity mgener^ and wiU therefore conduct himself in its regard, rather as knowing than as suffering.

§ 40. Opposites throw light upon each other, and therefore the remark may be in place here, that the proper opposite of the sublime is something which would not at the first glance be recognised, as such : the charming or aUractive. By this, however, I understand, that which excites the will by presenting to it directly its fulfilment, its satisfaction. We saw that the feeling of the sublime arises from the fact, that something entirely unfavourable to the will, becomes the object of pure contemplation, so that such contemplation can only be maintained by persistently turning away from the will, and transcending its interests ; this constitutes the suMmity of th^character. The charming or attractive, on the contrary, draws the beholder away from the pwe contemplation which is demanded by all apprehension^ 9f..the beautiful, because it necessarily excites this will, by b^e'cts which directly appeal to it, and thus he no longer remains pure subject of Knowing, but becomes the needy and dependent subject of will. That every beautiful thing which is bright or cheering should be called charming, is the result of a too general concept, which arises from a want of accurate discrimination, and which I must entirely set aside, and indeed condemn. But in the sense of the word which has been given and explained, I

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find only two species of the charming or attractive in the province of art, and both of them are unworthy of it.

The one species, a very low one, is found in JDuteh paintings of still life^ when they err by represen^g articles of foodp which by their deceptive likeness necessarily ^m{e~~tE?^appetite for the things they represent, and thw IS j^t ^excitement of the wiU, which jpute an end to all aesthetic contemplation of the object Fainted ^uir is yet admissible, because we may regard it as the further development of the flower, and as a beautiful product of nature in form and colour, without being obliged to think of it as eatable ; but unfortunately we often find, represented with deceptive naturalness, prepared and served dishes, oysters, herrings, crabs, bread and butter, beer, wine, and so forth, which is altogether to be condemned.

In historical painting and in sculpture the charming consists in naked figures, whose position, drapery, and general treatpaient are ^Iculated to excite the passions of the beholder, and thus pure aesthetical contemplation is at once annihilated, and the aim of art is defeated. This mistake corresponds exactly to that which we have just censured injyiie Dutch paintings.

The ancients are almost always free from this Tault in their ~represehtatidns of beauty and complete nakedness of form, because the artist hiins^elF cfealeir them lh a purely objective spirit, filled with ideal beauty, not in the spirit of subjective, and base sensuality. The^ chafmmg is thus eveiywhere to be avoided in art.