One can imagine a
long opening scene between Helmer and Nora in which a great deal of the
necessary information might have been conveyed; while it would have
heightened by contrast the effect of the great final duologue as we now
possess it. Such information as could not possibly have been conveyed in
dialogue with Helmer might, one would think, have been left for Nora's
first scene with Krogstad, the effect of which it would have enhanced.
Perhaps Mrs. Linden might with advantage have been retained, though not
in her present character of confidant, in order to show Nora in relation
to another woman.]
_CHAPTER VII_
EXPOSITION: ITS END AND ITS MEANS
We have passed in rapid survey the practices of Shakespeare and Ibsen in
respect of their point and method of attack upon their themes. What
practical lessons can we now deduce from this examination?
One thing is clear: namely, that there is no inherent superiority in one
method over another. There are masterpieces in which the whole crisis
falls within the frame of the picture, and masterpieces in which the
greater part of the crisis has to be conveyed to us in retrospect, only
the catastrophe being transacted before our eyes.
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