This is a solution which, at any rate, satisfies our
craving for crude justice, and is melodramatically effective.
Shakespeare probably ignored it, partly because it was not in his
sources, partly because, for some obscure reason, he supposed himself to
be writing a comedy. The result is that, though the play contains some
wonderful poetry, and has been from time to time revived, it has never
taken any real hold upon popular esteem.
The second glaring instance of a blind-alley theme is that of _Monna
Vanna_. We have all of us, I suppose, stumbled, either as actors or
onlookers, into painful situations, which not even a miracle of tact
could possibly save. As a rule, of course, they are comic, and the agony
they cause may find a safety-valve in laughter. But sometimes there
occurs some detestable incident, over which it is equally impossible to
laugh and to weep. The wisest words, the most graceful acts, are of no
avail. One longs only to sink into the earth, or vanish into thin air.
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