Emilia Galotti

Inasmuch as Emilia Galotti belongs to that class of tragedy in which the hero is driven to decisive action not by his own passions, but by those of other persons, it is necessary that the play should open with the persons of secondary importance. Hence it is the Prince and Marinelli with whose characters the poet has to make us acquainted and whose motives for plotting against Emilia he must reveal to us.