In the
theatre, indeed, there is little distinction between them: history is
legend, and legend history. A dramatist may, if he pleases (though it is
a difficult task), break wholly unfamiliar ground in the past; but where
a historic legend exists he must respect it at his peril.
From all this it is a simple deduction that where legend (historic or
otherwise) associates a particular character with a particular scene
that is by any means presentable on the stage, that scene becomes
obligatory in a drama of which he is the leading figure. The fact that
Shakespeare could write a play about King John, and say nothing about
Runnymede and Magna Charta, shows that that incident in constitutional
history had not yet passed into popular legend. When Sir Herbert Tree
revived the play, he repaired the poet's omission by means of an
inserted tableau. Even Shakespeare had not the hardihood to let Caesar
fall without saying, "The Ides of March are come" and "Et tu, Brute!"
Nero is bound to fiddle while Rome burns, or the audience will know the
reason why.
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