(Wilson & Goldfarb, 1999) The 18th century view generally held that people are good and that people could retain virtue by appealing to virtuous human feelings as expressed in Sheridan, Goldsmith, and Sir Richard Steele. Thus, this signaled the end of the aristocratic, brittle Restoration hero and heroine. Yet the return of the theater to the people also caused German theatrical aspirants such as Goethe to creator works such as "Faust," ambitious plays that addressed larger spiritual concerns of the people, and political ideologies that spanned far wider than the immediate social concerns of the court. "Faust," for all its pretensions, represents individuals within its characters, such as the heroine Gretchen, who come from ranks beyond the academic and social elites of the French and English 17th century theater. Once again, the European theater, by turning back to a popular audience, found a new voice. By embracing a wider range of political,...

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