Changes of sentiment are much more important and more difficult to
handle. A change of will can always manifest itself in action but it is
very difficult to externalize convincingly a mere change of heart. When
the conclusion of a play hinges (as it frequently does) on a conversion
of this nature, it becomes a matter of the first moment that it should
not merely be asserted, but proved. Many a promising play has gone wrong
because of the author's neglect, or inability, to comply with this
condition.
It has often been observed that of all Ibsen's thoroughly mature works,
from _A Doll's House_ to _John Gabriel Borkman_, _The Lady from the Sea_
is the loosest in texture, the least masterly in construction. The fact
that it leaves this impression on the mind is largely due, I think, to a
single fault. The conclusion of the play--Ellida's clinging to Wangel
and rejection of the Stranger--depends entirely on a change in Wangel's
mental attitude, _of which we have no proof whatever beyond his bare
assertion_.
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