Dramatic Elements in American Indian Ceremonials 27 



Such is the substance of the Pawnee reHgious drama as em- 

 bodied in the Hako. In frankly designating it a drama, we do 

 not presume too much. The underlying theme is of universal 

 significance. It is developed clearly and in a dramatically unified 

 manner, growing steadily to a climax or turning point, the pure 

 religious exaltation of which gives promise of the joyous calm 

 achieved in the final act. In point of fact, the Hako mystery 

 meets the basic requisites of the five act drama, for, after all, 

 from the standpoint of dramatic technique, the public inter- 

 lude itself is an organic part of the drama proper. Following 

 the third ritual, it fulfills the true function of a fourth act, " the 

 period of preparation," essential to any serious drama. The 

 joyous nature of this public performance forestalls more definitely 

 the happy ending, promised in the third ritual. 



The Hako mystery presents by analogy a strange complex of 

 the Shakespearean drama and the classic Greek tragedy. The 

 impersonal nature of the subject matter is suggestive of both, 

 though the concentrated nature of the situation is more indicative 

 of the Greek. Again, the typically climactic nature of the third 

 episode is characteristic of both the Greek and the Shakespearean 

 drama. But the five stages of theme progress as designated by 

 rituals, coincides with Shakespeare's dramatic form. The abso- 

 lute attention to the unified development of abstract idea in action 

 at the expense of any individual character development, points 

 to the Greek way of doing things. The nature of the two cho- 

 ruses with their respective leaders, the scarcity of qualified actors 

 would seem to establish this Greek analogy, were it not for the 

 typically Shakespearean psychology evinced in the fourth act, in 

 which man is brought back to earth and human relations rees- 

 tablished. The religious awe surrounding the central mystery of 

 the oriole's nest is strongly suggestive of the atmosphere of awe 

 and religious exaltation enshrouding the supernatural end of the 

 CEdipus in Sophocles' " CEdipus at Colonos." It is not neces- 

 sary to go back to the Eleusinean mysteries for this analogy. The 

 Greek tragedy as a finished art affords it. The final act would 

 seem to bear out this judgment, leaving the abiding calm and 

 tranquility of a wholly clarifying and satisfying solution, such 



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