For instance, the game of chess
between King and Chancellor ends with a victory for Becket, who says--
"You see my bishop
Hath brought your king to a standstill. You are beaten."
The symbolical game of chess is a well-worn dramatic device. Becket,
moreover, seems to feel some vague disquietude as to what may happen if
he accepts the archbishopric; but there is nothing to show that he is
conscious of any bias towards the intransigent clericalism of the later
act. The character-problem, in fact, is not only not solved, but is
ignored. The obligatory scene is skipped over, in the interval between
the Prologue and the first act.
One of the finest plays of our time--Sir Arthur Pinero's _Iris_--lacks,
in my judgment, an obligatory scene. The character of Iris is admirably
true, so far as it goes; but it is incomplete. The author seems to have
evaded the crucial point of his play--the scene of her installation in
Maldonado's flat. To perfect his psychological study, he was bound to
bridge the chasm between the Iris of the third act and the Iris of the
fourth.
Pages:
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344