Dramatic Technique Part 14

_Aum._ I do beseech you, pardon me. I may not show it.

_York._ I will be satisfied; let me see it, I say.

(_He plucks it out of his bosom and reads it._) Treason! foul treason! Villain! traitor! slave!

_Duch._ What is the matter, my lord?

_York._ Ho! who is within there?

_Enter a Servant_

Saddle my horse.

G.o.d for his mercy, what treachery is here!

_Duch._ Why, what is it, my lord?

_York._ Give me my boots, I say; saddle my horse.

(_Exit Servant._) Now, by mine honour, by my life, by my troth, I will appeach the villain.

_Duch._ What is the matter?

_York._ Peace, foolish woman.

_Duch._ I will not peace. What is the matter, Aumerle?

_Aum._ Good mother, have content; it is no more Than my poor life must answer.

_Duch._ Thy life answer!

_York._ Bring me my boots; I will unto the King.

_Reenter Servant with boots_

_Duch._ Strike him, Aumerle. Poor boy, thou art amaz'd.

--Hence villain! never more come in my sight.

_York._ Give me my boots, I say.

_Duch._ Why, York, what wilt thou do?

Wilt thou not hide the trespa.s.s of thine own?

Have we more sons? Or are we like to have?

Is not my teeming date drunk up with time?

And wilt thou pluck my fair son from mine age, And rob me of a happy mother's name?

Is he not like thee? Is he not thine own?

_York._ Thou fond mad woman.

Wilt thou conceal this dark conspiracy?

A dozen of them here have ta'en the sacrament, And interchangeably set down their hands, To kill the King at Oxford.

_Duch._ He shall be none; We'll keep him here; then what is that to him?

_York._ Away, fond woman! Were he twenty times my son, I would appeach him.

_Duch._ Hadst thou groan'd for him As I have done, thou wouldst be more pitiful.

But now I know thy mind; thou dost suspect That I have been disloyal to thy bed, And that he is a b.a.s.t.a.r.d, not thy son.

Sweet York, sweet husband, be not of that mind.

He is as like thee as a man may be, Not like to me or any of my kin, And yet I love him.

_York._ Make way, unruly woman! (_Exit._)

_Duch._ After, Aumerle! Mount thee upon his horse; Spur post and get before him to the King, And beg thy pardon ere he do accuse thee.

I'll not be long behind; though I be old, I doubt not but to ride as fast as York.

And never will I rise up from the ground Till Bolingbroke have pardon'd thee. Away, be gone!

(_Exeunt._)

So far as the situation is concerned we might go directly from York's "fealty to the new made King" to his "What seal is that?" omitting some ten lines. We should lose, however, the deft touches which make the discovery all the more dramatic,--the words of York which show that he has no idea that his son is really involved in any disloyalty; the affectionate effort of the mother to draw the talk from unpleasant subjects; and the distrait mood of Aumerle. Again, the discovery of the contents of the seal might be made at once, but the fifteen intervening lines before York cries "Treason! foul treason!" increase our suspense by their clear presentation of the emotions of father, mother, and son.

Once more the situation is held when York does not declare at once the nature of the treason and the frantic mother demands again and again the contents of the paper before Aumerle says bitterly, and in perfect character with his first speeches of the scene,

"it is no more Than my poor life must answer."

Still again we should have the necessary action of the scene perfectly if York, as soon as he has his boots, flung out of the room, to be followed immediately by the d.u.c.h.ess, crying that she will follow him to the King and ask the boy's pardon. However, had Shakespeare's treatment here been that he used in the scene of Talbot and the Countess we should have lacked the perfect portrayal of the mother who loses all sense of right and wrong in fear that her loved child may die. Finally, do we not gain greatly by the characterization of the d.u.c.h.ess in the last lines of the scene? Five times, then, Shakespeare, by entering into his characters, "holds the situation."

The second act of _The Magistrate_,[28] by Sir Arthur Pinero, is in central situation broadly this. Cis Farringdon, represented by his mother to his stepfather, Mr. Posket, as fourteen, because she does not like to admit her own age, is really nineteen and precocious at that. He has brought Mr. Posket to one of his haunts, a supper room in the Hotel des Princes, Meek Street, London, where they are to sup together. As Mr.

Posket is a police justice, he has been induced to figure for the evening as "Skinner of the stock exchange." Shortly after the arrival of the two comes word that a frequenter of the restaurant twenty years ago, now returned to London, wants to sup in their chosen room for the sake of old times. Therefore Mr. Posket and Cis are put into an adjoining room. Colonel Lukyn, the returned stranger, and a friend, Captain Vale, enter. Just as they are ordering supper, a note comes to the effect that Mrs. Posket, with a woman friend, is below, begging to speak with her old acquaintance, Colonel Lukyn. As Mrs. Posket asks a private interview, Captain Vale is put out on the balcony. With Mrs. Posket comes her sister Charlotte. We have already learned from Vale that he is deeply depressed because he thinks Charlotte no longer cares for him.

Mrs. Posket has come to beg Colonel Lukyn, who knew her before she became a widow, not to reveal the truth about her age.

Watch now the permutations and combinations the author develops from this general situation. Cis is hardly in the room before Isadore presents his bill for past meals. Cis sees the chance, by borrowing from his stepfather, to settle a long postponed account. Three figures, moved in turn by shrewdness, trickiness, and gullibility, stir us to amus.e.m.e.nt, giving us Situation I. Even as the bill is paid, Cis asks Isadore to show Mr. Skinner the trick of "putting the silver to bed."

Three people amused or interested by a trick, amuse us--Situation II.

With the coming of the note from Alexander Lukyn, and the a.s.signment of the room adjoining to Cis and Mr. Skinner-Posket, there is a hint of future complication which amuses us--Situation III. Lukyn and Vale entering, the former sentimental over his memories of the place, and the latter comically depressed over what he thinks to be the faithlessness of Charlotte Verrinder, give us Situation IV. The note saying Mrs.

Posket is below with a friend, asking a private interview, produces Situation V, for it amuses us to think what may happen with Mr. Posket and Cis just on the other side of the door. Placing Vale on the balcony leads to Situation VI, for he goes with amusing regret for the delayed supper.

Up to this point the situations may be declared parts of the main situation, which must now itself be developed. Just after Blond, the proprietor, ushers in the ladies, the pattering of rain outside is heard.

_Lukyn._ Good gracious, Blond! What's that?

_Blond._ The rain outside. It is cats and dogs.

_Lukyn._ (_Horrified._) By George, is it? (_To himself, looking towards window._) Poor devil! (_To Blond._) There isn't any method of getting off that balcony is there?

_Blond._ No--unless by getting on to it.

_Lukyn._ What do you mean?

_Blond._ It is not at all safe. Don't use it.

(_Lukyn stands horror-stricken. Blond goes out. Heavy rain is heard._)--Situation VII.

As Mrs. Posket reveals to Lukyn the complications in which her lie is involving her, voices from the next room, not clearly distinguished by those on the stage, but known to us as the voices of Cis and Mr.

Skinner-Posket, are heard--Situation VIII. Just when Lukyn is straining every nerve to get the ladies away so that he may release Vale, Charlotte, overwhelmed by hunger, invites herself to supper--Situation IX. As the two women eat, Lukyn sits in anxious despair, at times forgetful of his guests. This brings Situation X, when Vale reaches out from behind the curtains of the balcony and pa.s.ses to the absent-minded Lukyn from the buffet the dishes Charlotte desires. When Charlotte, turning suddenly, sees the outstretched arm, we have Situation XI. When Vale reenters, thoroughly irritated and quarrels with Lukyn, we have Situation XII. The reunion of Charlotte and Vale makes the thirteenth.

That is, if six initial situations produced the situation when all the characters were upon the stage, Sir Arthur has developed seven new situations from the sixth. Now by adding a fresh complication through some new figures, he develops six more situations.