I am far from recommending the
revival of this practice; but it might be no bad plan for a beginner, in
sketching out a play, to have in his mind, or in his private notes, a
descriptive head-line for each act, thereby assuring himself that each
had a character of its own, and at the same time contributed its due
share to the advancement of the whole design. Let us apply this
principle to a Shakespearean play--for example, to _Macbeth_. The act
headings might run somewhat as follows--
ACT I.--TEMPTATION.
ACT II.--MURDER AND USURPATION.
ACT III.--THE FRENZY OF CRIME AND THE HAUNTING OF REMORSE.
ACT IV.--GATHERING RETRIBUTION.
ACT V.--RETRIBUTION CONSUMMATED.
Can it be doubted that Shakespeare had in his mind the rhythm marked by
this act-division? I do not mean, of course, that these phrases, or
anything like them, were present to his consciousness, but merely that
he "thought in acts," and mentally assigned to each act its definite
share in the development of the crisis.
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