All the plays touched upon in the last four paragraphs are in intention
realistic. They aim, that is to say, at a literal and sober
representation of life. In the other class of plays, which seek their
effect, not in plodding probability, but in delightful improbability,
the long arm of coincidence has its legitimate functions. Yet even here
it is not quite unfettered. One of the most agreeable coincidences in
fiction, I take it, is the simultaneous arrival in Bagdad, from
different quarters of the globe, of three one-eyed calenders, all blind
of the right eye, and all, in reality, the sons of kings. But it is to
be noted that this coincidence is not a crucial occurrence in a story,
but only a part of the story-teller's framework or mechanism--a device
for introducing fresh series of adventures. This illustrates the
Sarceyan principle above referred to, which Professor Brander Matthews
has re-stated in what seems to me an entirely acceptable form--namely,
that improbabilities which may be admitted on the outskirts of an
action, must be rigidly excluded when the issue is joined and we are in
the thick of things.
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