It may be added that this rule holds good both for _Coriolanus_
and for _Julius Caesar_, in which the keynote is briskly struck in
highly animated scenes of commotion among the Roman populace.
Let us now look at the practice of Ibsen, which offers a sharp contrast
to that of Shakespeare. To put it briefly, the plays in which Ibsen gets
his whole action within the frame of the picture are as exceptional as
those in which Shakespeare does not do so.
Ibsen's practice in this matter has been compared with that of the Greek
dramatists, who also were apt to attack their crisis in the middle, or
even towards the end, rather than at the beginning. It must not be
forgotten, however, that there is one great difference between his
position and theirs. They could almost always rely upon a general
knowledge, on the part of the audience, of the theme with which they
were dealing. The purpose even of the Euripidean prologue is not so much
to state unknown facts, as to recall facts vaguely remembered, to state
the particular version of a legend which the poet proposes to adopt, and
to define the point in the development of the legend at which he is
about to set his figures in motion.
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