Turning now to Ibsen, let us draw up an act-scheme for the simplest and
most straightforward of his plays, _An Enemy of the People_. It might
run as follows:
ACT I.--THE INCURABLE OPTIMIST.--Dr. Stockmann announces his
discovery of the insanitary condition of the Baths.
ACT II.--THE COMPACT MAJORITY.--Dr. Stockmann finds that he will
have to fight vested interests before the evils he has discovered
can be remedied, but is assured that the Compact Majority is at
his back.
ACT III.--THE TURN OF FORTUNE.--The Doctor falls from the pinnacle
of his optimistic confidence, and learns that he will have the
Compact Majority, not _at_, but _on_ his back.
ACT IV.--THE COMPACT MAJORITY ON THE WARPATH.--The crowd, finding
that its immediate interests are identical with those of the
privileged few, joins with the bureaucracy in shouting down the
truth, and organizing a conspiracy of silence.
ACT V.--OPTIMISM DISILLUSIONED BUT INDOMITABLE.--Dr.
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