To this end the act-division is--not, perhaps, essential,
since the rhythm may be marked even in a one-act play--but certainly of
enormous and invaluable convenience. "Si l'acte n'existait pas, il
faudrait l'inventer"; but as a matter of fact it has existed wherever,
in the Western world, the drama has developed beyond its rudest
beginnings.
It was doubtless the necessity for marking this rhythm that Aristotle
had in mind when he said that a dramatic action must have a beginning, a
middle and an end. Taken in its simplicity, this principle would
indicate the three-act division as the ideal scheme for a play. As a
matter of fact, many of the best modern plays in all languages fall into
three acts; one has only to note _Monsieur Alphonse, Francillon, La
Parisienne, Amoureuse, A Doll's House, Ghosts, The Master Builder,
Little Eyolf, Johannisfeuer, Caste, Candida, The Benefit of the Doubt,
The Importance of Being Earnest, The Silver Box_; and, furthermore, many
old plays which are nominally in five acts really fall into a triple
rhythm, and might better have been divided into three.
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