I suggest, then, that the modern tendency to take lightly Aristotle's
demand that the drama should have a "beginning, a middle, _and an end_,"
arises from the nature of things, and implies, not necessarily, nor even
probably, a decline in craftsmanship, but a new intimacy of relation to
life, and a new sincerity of artistic conscience. I suggest that the
"weak last act," of which critics so often complain, is a natural
development from which authors ought not, on occasion, to shrink, and of
which critics ought, on occasion, to recognize the necessity. To elevate
it into a system is absurd. There is certainly no more reason for
deliberately avoiding an emphatic ending than for mechanically forcing
one. But authors and critics alike should learn to distinguish the
themes which do, from the themes which do not, call for a definite,
trenchant solution, and should handle them, and judge them, in
accordance with their inherent quality.
Let us, however, define our terms, and be sure that we know what we are
talking about.
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