pathetically sublime

...two main conditions must be met for the pathetically sublime: first, a vivid image of suffering, in order to awaken the emotion of compassion with the proper strength, and second, an image of the resistance to the suffering, in order to call into consciousness the mind's inner freedom. Only by virtue of the first condition does the object become pathetic, only by virtue of the second condition does the pathetic become at the same time something sublime.

From this basic principle flow the two fundamental laws of all tragic art. These are first: portrayal of the suffering nature; second, portrayal of moral independence in the suffering.