Misunderstanding Art: The Freezing Coachman Reflections on Art and Morality

Abstract

Tolstoy tells the story of an aristocratic woman at the theatre weeping at the imaginary tragedy enacted on the stage. At the same time, outside in the cold, a real tragedy is taking place. Her old and faithful coachman, awaiting her in the bitter winter night, is freezing to death. The point of Tolstoy’s story is obvious: art does not necessarily make people better behaved, or more considerate. The woman was a hard-hearted bitch and art served only to deceive her as to her true nature, to give her the impression that she was a sensitive soul.

When an artist wants to be more than an artist — for example the moral awakener of his people — he at last falls in love, as a punishment, with a monster of moral substance. The Muse laughs, for, though a kind-hearted Goddess, she can also be malignant from jealousy. Milton and Klopstock are cases in point.

(Nietzsche)