THE DRAMATIC VALUES IN PLAUTUS

We say only "in large measure," because it is part of our endeavor
to settle accurately the position of our author in the dramatic scale,
considered of necessity from the modern viewpoint. "\7\[ e cannot
believe that he had any pretensions to refincd art in play building,
or rather rebuilding, or to any superficial elegance of style, or to
any moralizing pose. We believe him an entertainer pure and
simple, who never restricted himself in his means except by the
outer conventions and form of the Greek New Comedy and the
Roman stage, provided his single aim, that of affording amusement,
was attained. To establish this belief, and at the same time
to interpret accurately the nature of his plays and the means and
effect of their production, is our thesis.
If then we run the gamut of the dramatic scale, we observe that
as we descend from the higher forms, such as tragedy, psychological
drama and "straight comedy," to the lower, such as musical
comedy and burlesque, the license allowed playwright and actor
increases so radically that we have a difference of kind rather than
of degree. Certain conventions of course are common to a1l types.
The "missing fourth side" of the room is a commonplace recognized
by alL If we ourselves are never in the habit of communicating
the contents of our letters, as we write, to a doubtless
appreciative atmosphere, we never cavil at such an act on the stage.
The stage whisper and aside, too, we accept with benevolent
indulgence; but it is worth noting that in the attempted verisimilitude
of the modern "legitimate" drama, the aside has well
nigh vanished. As we go down the scale through light comedy and
broad farce these conventions multiply rapidly.
With the introduction of music come further absurdities.
Melodious voicing of our thoughts is in itself essentially unnatural,
to say the least. Grand opera, great art form as it may be, is
hopelessly artificiaL Indeed, so far is it removed from the plane
of every day existence that we are rudely jolted by the introduction
of too commonplace a thought, as when Sharpless in the English
version of "Madame Butterfly" warbles mellifluously : "Highball
or straight?" And when we reach musical comedy and vaudeville,
all thought of drama, technically speaking, is abandoned in
watching the capers of the "merry-merry" or the outrageous
"Dutch" comedian wielding his deadly newspaper.
It is important for our immediate purposes to note: first, (as
aforesaid), that the amount of license allowed author and actor
IS