]
[Footnote 6: Let me guard against the possibility that this might be
interpreted as a sneer at _The Dynasts_--a great work by a great poet.]
_CHAPTER II_
THE CHOICE OF A THEME
The first step towards writing a play is manifestly to choose a theme.
Even this simple statement, however, requires careful examination before
we can grasp its full import. What, in the first place, do we mean by a
"theme"? And, secondly, in what sense can we, or ought we to,
"choose" one?
"Theme" may mean either of two things: either the subject of a play, or
its story. The former is, perhaps, its proper or more convenient sense.
The theme of _Romeo and Juliet_ is youthful love crossed by ancestral
hate; the theme of _Othello_ is jealousy; the theme of _Le Tartufe_ is
hypocrisy; the theme of _Caste_ is fond hearts and coronets; the theme
of _Getting Married_ is getting married; the theme of _Maternite_ is
maternity. To every play it is possible, at a pinch, to assign a theme;
but in many plays it is evident that no theme expressible in abstract
terms was present to the author's mind.
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