To
say that such-and-such a factor is necessary, or highly desirable, in a
dramatic scene, is by no means to imply that every scene which contains
this factor is good drama. Let us take the case of another heroine--Nina
in Sir Arthur Pinero's _His House in Order_. The second wife of Filmer
Jesson, she is continually being offered up as a sacrifice on the altar
dedicated to the memory of his adored first wife. Not only her husband,
but the relatives of the sainted Annabel, make her life a burden to her.
Then it comes to her knowledge--she obtains absolute proof--that
Annabel was anything but the saint she was believed to be. By a single
word she can overturn the altar of her martyrdom, and shatter the
dearest illusion of her persecutors. Shall she speak that word, or shall
she not? Here is a crisis which comes within our definition just as
clearly as the other;[8] only it happens to be entirely natural and
probable, and eminently illustrative of character. Ought we, then, to
despise it because of the element it has in common with the
picture-poster situation of preposterous melodrama? Surely not.
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