Chapter XXII: Act 5: Faste's return as a victorious poet. He has found himself

It is a fine adventurous career to depict dramatically. But of course
you would have to get farther away from your story first. You perhaps
think this a barbarous and inhuman suggestion. But all your stories
have the making of a drama in them.[47]

In _The Princess and the Butterfly_,[48] Act I not only disposes of preliminary necessary exposition, but depicts different kinds of restlessness in a group of women at or nearing middle age. Act II does the same for a group of men, and in the proposed duel provides what later may be made to reveal to Sir George how much Fay Zuliani cares for him. Act III complicates the story by showing that Fay is not the niece of Sir George, and illustrates the growing affection between the Princess and Edward Oriel. Act IV reveals to Sir George and Fay how much each cares for the other. The fifth act shows how Sir George and the Princess, who have tried to be wise and restrained, impulsively and instinctively choose the path of seeming unwisdom but immediate happiness.

In _The Trail of the Torch_,[49] Act I states the thesis of the play and offers the first great sacrifice by Sabine for her daughter, Marie-Jeanne. Sabine gives up Stangy in order to be with Marie-Jeanne, only to find that her daughter is in love with Didier. Act II illustrates that a mother will make every sacrifice for her children: Madame Fontenais, the grandmother, when her daughter Sabine begs her to sacrifice her fortune in order that Marie-Jeanne's anxiety as to the finances of Didier may be set at rest, refuses, thinking to protect Sabine's future. In turn, Sabine, putting aside all pride, calls Stangy back to her, believing that he will give her the aid she desires for Marie-Jeanne. Act III shows the extremes of sacrifice to which a mother may go,--here the forgery, and the sacrifice by Sabine of her mother to her daughter. Act IV illustrates the retribution for Sabine: the revelation by Stangy that, after Sabine sent him away, he married; Marie-Jeanne's announcement to her mother that she is to go to America with her father and that Sabine cannot go; and the death of Madame Fontenais caused, at least indirectly, by Sabine.

In all three cases we have only the baldest outline of what the act must do. The illustrative dramatic action by which each act is to accomplish its task is either in hand as part of a clearly defined story in the mind of the dramatist, or must be found immediately. Granted that it has been discovered (see chap. III, pp. 47-72), then as each act is shaped up from this material it should have certain qualities. It should be clear. It should lead the hearer on to the acts which follow: in other words, it should at least maintain an interest already established, and in most cases should increase that interest. To put these requisites more briefly, each act should have clearness and movement. Movement in an act means that, while thoroughly interesting itself, the act leads a hearer on to its immediate successor and, above all, the finale. Good movement depends on clearness and right emphasis. The emphasis in each act and in the whole play should be such that ultimately it accomplishes the purpose of the dramatist. How may these qualities, clearness, right emphasis, and consequent movement be gained?

FOOTNOTES:

[1] _Essay on Comedy_, p. 8. George Meredith. Copyright, 1897, by
Chas. Scribner's Sons, New York.

[2] _The Trojan Women._ Translated by Gilbert Murray. G. Allen &
Sons, London.

[3] _Electra_. Von Hofmannsthal. Translated by A. Symons. Brentano,
New York.

[4] Introduction to _Miss Julia_. Translated by E. Bjorkman.
Copyright, 1912, by Chas. Scribner's Sons, New York.

[5] _Hamburg Dramaturgy_, p. 370. Lessing. Bohn ed.

[6] P. 13. Harper & Bros., New York.

[7] _Chief Contemporary Dramatists_, pp. 517-546. T. H. Dickinson,
ed. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston.

[8] For all these plays, _idem_.

[9] Belles-Lettres Series. W. Strunk, ed. D. C. Heath & Co., Boston
and New York.

[10] In the seventh edition, a scene, "The place of execution," is
inserted to replace the original brief final scene which apparently
took place in the "room." Belles-Lettres Series. Sir A. W. Ward, ed.
D. C. Heath & Co.

[11] _Letters of Bulwer-Lytton to Macready_, XXVIII. Brander
Matthews, ed.

[12] _The Influence of Local Theatrical Conditions upon the Drama of
the Greeks._ Roy C. Flickinger. _Classical Journal_, October, 1911.

[13] See p. 83.

[14] Introduction to _Macbeth_. Cambridge ed. Houghton Mifflin Co.,
Boston.

[15] Introduction to Marlowe's _Edward II_. Tatlock and Martin. The
Century Co.

[16] See _Play Production in America_. A. E. Krows. Henry Holt & Co.,
New York.

[17] _Plays_, pp. 33, 42. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York.

[18] J. W. Luce & Co., Boston.

[19] _Theatre Complet_, vol. I. Calmann Levy, Paris.

[20] Belles-Lettres Series. Sir A. W. Ward, ed. D.C. Heath & Co.,
Boston and New York.

[21] Not often does a dramatist succeed in making real and supposed
time agree as well as does Sir Arthur Pinero in Act III of _The Gay
Lord Quex_. From seven to nine pages of absorbing action come between
one chiming of the quarter hour and the next. Though a stopwatch
would quickly reveal the somewhat disordered condition of that
boudoir clock, an auditor, absorbed in the action of the moment,
merely feels his tension increase if he notes the passing of time.

[22] See p. 35.

[23] Eugene Scribe, adopted by Mrs. Burton Harrison. Dramatic
Publishing Co., Chicago.

[24] Mermaid Series. Chas. Scribner's Sons, New York.

[25] _Letters of Bulwer-Lytton to Macready_, LXIII. Brander Matthews,
ed.

[26] Belles-Lettres Series. C. F. McClumpha, ed. D. C. Heath & Co.,
Boston and New York.

[27] Walter H. Baker & Co., Boston; W. Heinemann, London.

[28] _Plays._ G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York.

[29] Walter H. Baker & Co., Boston; W. Heinemann, London.

[30] Everyman's Library. Plumptre, ed.

[31] Walter H. Baker & Co., Boston; W. Heinemann, London.

[32] R. H. Russell & Co., New York.

[33] _The Influence of Local Theatrical Conditions upon the Drama of
the Greeks._ R. C. Flickinger. _Classical Journal_, October, 1911.

[34] _Troilus and Cressida._

[35] Samuel French, New York.

[36] Hurst & Blackett, Ltd., London.

[37] Penn Publishing Co., Philadelphia.

[38] _Shakespeare's Library_, vol. VI. W. C. Hazlitt, ed. Reeves &
Turner, London.

[39] Penn Publishing Co., Philadelphia.

[40] Drama League Series. Doubleday, Page & Co., New York.

[41] _Life of Richard Steele_, vol. II, p. 368. G. Aitken. Wm.
Isbister, London.

[42] Methuen & Co., Ltd., London.

[43] _Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant._ Brentano, New York.

[44] _Plays._ G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York.

[45] _A Note on Act Division as practiced in the Early Elizabethan
Drama._ Bulletin of Western Reserve University.

[46] _Play-Making_, p. 136. Wm. Archer. Small, Maynard & Co., Boston.

[47] _Letters of Henrik Ibsen_, p. 236; to Jonas Lie.

[48] Walter H. Baker & Co., Boston; W. Heinemann, London.

[49] P. Hervieu. Drama League Series. Doubleday, Page & Co., New
York.