I cite the case as a typical instance
of the problem, apart from the merits or demerits of the solution.
It may be said that the difficulty of bringing home to us the reality of
a revulsion of feeling, or a radical change of mental attitude, is only
a particular case of the playwright's general problem of convincingly
externalizing inward conditions and processes. That is true: but the
special importance of a conversion which unties the knot and brings the
curtain down seemed to render it worthy of special consideration.
* * * * *
[Footnote 1: _Of Dramatic Poesy_, ed. Arnold, 1903, p. 51.]
[Footnote 2: In Mr. Somerset Maugham's _Grace_ the heroine undergoes a
somewhat analogous change of heart, coming to love the husband whom she
has previously despised. But we have no difficulty in accepting her
conversion, partly because its reasons are clear and fairly adequate,
partly because there is no question of convincing the husband, who has
never realized her previous contempt for him.
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