No one cares to see it a second time; and spectators who happen
to have read the plot in advance, find its attraction discounted even on
a first hearing. But if we jump to the conclusion that the skilful
marshalling and development of the story is an unimportant detail, which
matters little when once the first-night ordeal is past, we shall go
very far astray. Experience shows us that dramatic _interest_ is
entirely distinct from mere _curiosity_, and survives when curiosity is
dead. Though a skilfully-told story is not of itself enough to secure
long life for a play, it materially and permanently enhances the
attractions of a play which has other and higher claims to longevity.
Character, poetry, philosophy, atmosphere, are all very good in their
way; but they all show to greater advantage by aid of a well-ordered
fable. In a picture, I take it, drawing is not everything; but drawing
will always count for much.
This separation of interest from curiosity is partly explicable by one
very simple reflection.
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