Shaw's
_Devil's Disciple_, Oscar Wilde's _Importance of Being Earnest_, Mr.
Galsworthy's _Silver Box_. Widely as these plays differ in type and
tone, they are alike in this, that they do not attempt to present very
complex character-studies, or to probe the deeps of human experience.
The last play cited, _The Silver Box_, may perhaps be thought an
exception to this rule; but, though the experience of the hapless
charwoman is pitiful enough, hers is a simple soul, so inured to
suffering that a little more or less is no such great matter. The play
is an admirable genre-picture rather than a searching tragedy.
The point to be observed is that, under modern conditions, it is
difficult to produce a play of very complex psychological, moral, or
emotional substance, in which the whole crisis comes within the frame of
the picture. The method of attacking the crisis in the middle or towards
the end is really a device for relaxing, in some measure, the narrow
bounds of theatrical representation, and enabling the playwright to deal
with a larger segment of human experience.
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