He has no breadth
of view, but he has a clear view; he makes his choice out of human
nature deliberately, and he deals in his own way with the materials that
he selects. Before saying to himself: what would this particular person
say or do in these circumstances? he says to himself: what would it be
effective on the stage for this particular person to do or say? He
suggests nothing, he tells you all he knows; he cares to know nothing
but what immediately concerns the purpose of his play. The existence of
his people begins and ends with their first and last speech on the
boards; the rest is silence, because he can tell you nothing about it.
Sophy Fullgarney is a remarkably effective character as a
stage-character, but when the play is over we know no more about her
than we should know about her if we had spied upon her, in her own way,
from behind some bush or keyhole. We have seen a picturesque and amusing
exterior, and that is all. Lord Quex does not, I suppose, profess to be
even so much of a character as that, and the other people are mere
"humours," quite amusing in their cleverly contrasted ways. When these
people talk, they talk with an effort to be natural and another effort
to be witty; they are never sincere and without self-consciousness; they
never say inevitable things, only things that are effective to say.
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