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CHARACTER GROWTH

The only thing that one rcally [nows about human natureis that it clangcs. Change is the one quality we canpredicatc ofit. The systems that fail are those that rely onthe permanency ofhuman nature, and not its gro*th anddevelopmenr

OscARwrrDr,so of MdflMler Socidlisn

Regardless of the medium in which you are working, you mustknow your characters thorougl y And you must know themnot only as they are today but as they will be tomoirow or years

Ivery'thing in nature changes human beings along with therest. A man who was brave ten years ago may be a coward norq forary number ofreasons: age, physical deterioration, changed {inan-cial status, to name a few

You may think you know someone who never has changed,and never will. But no such person has ever existed. A marr maykeep his religlous and political views apparendy intact through theyears, but close scrutinywill show that his convictions have eitherdeepened or become superficial. They have gone duough manystages, marry conflicts, and will continue to go through thern aslong as the man lives. So he does change, after all.

fvcn stone change'. alchough ir . di . inrcgrar ion n impercept i-

blq the earth goes through a slow but peristent transformarion:the sun, too, the sol::r sptem, the universe. Nations are born, pessthrough adolescence, achieve maahood, grow old, and then die, ei-rher violenr l l or by gradual dissolur ion.

$&y should man, then, be the only thing in nature whichfl €ver changes? Preposterousl

There is only one realm in which characters de!' natural lawsand remain the same the realm ofbad writing And it is the ffxednature ofthe characters which makes the wdting bad. Ifa charac-ter in a short story novel, or play occupies the same position atthe end as the one he did at the beginniry, that story nove1, or playisbad.

A character stands revealed through conflicq conflict beginswith adecisionj a decision is made because ofthe premise ofyourplay The character's decision necessarily sets in motion anotherdecision, fron his adversery And ir is these decisions, one result,ing from the other, which propel the play to its ultimare destina,tion: the prcving ofthe premise.

No marr ever lived who could remain the same through a seriesof conflicts which affected his way ofliving Of necessity he mustchange, arrd alter his aaitude toward life.

Even a corpse is in a state ofchenge: disintegration. And whilea marr is erguing with you, xttempring ro prove his chaagelessness,he is changing: growing old.

So we can safely say that any character, in any type oflitera,ture, which does not undergo a basic change is a badly drawn char,acter We can go further arld say that ifa character calnot change,any situation in which he is placed will be an unreal situation.

Nora, from A Dolli Horre, who starts as Helmer's "scaterbrarfl"and 'tinging bird," becomes a grown-up woman at the end of theplela She begins as a chjld, but the terible awakening catapults herinto maturity First she is bewildcred, then shocked, then about todo away with hersel{ and ffnally she revolts.

Atcher says:

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64 C HARACTIR

In all modern drama, there is perhaps no character who'de,velops," in the ordinary sense of the word, so startlingly asIbsen\ No/d.

Inok at any truly great play and you will see the same point il,lustrated. Molibre's Talr{lti, Shakespeate's uerchant of venice, andHdnlet, E'oripides' Meaet all build upon the constaat change arrddevelopment of chancter under the impact ofconflict.

Ot ello sterts with love, ends with jealouqa murder, and suicide.Ifu Bddl srars with animosity ends with love.IIeAAaGdbIer stafts\ith otism, ends with suicide.Mdrbet r srarts with ambition. ends with mutderThr Cherry ofthdrd srarr with irresponsibiliql ends with loss of

ProPerqrIxn /no1r starts with the longing to irlff11 a dream. ends with

a\.r.?kening to realiqaHarrlrt str rts with suspicion, ends with murderDeath oJd Sdlrsna st^rts .uy'lth illusions, ends in painfin knowl,

edge.Deal Erlsrarr' wirh po\ erry end. wirh crime.Tle sllxr Corl starts with domination, ends in dissolutioa.Crd&3 w!6 starts with overscrupulousness, ends with loneli-

Waititt[fot L{q s]"ftswith uncertainry ends with conviction.Cdt ofl dHo.Tln Roofstatts with frustration, ends with hope.The kelnntl Coneth staits wlth hopefulness, ends in despairCdrsel starts with hopelessness, endr in success and triumph.Roisin lfl iE Sutl sterts irth despair, ends with understandins

All these characters move relentlessly from one state of mind to-ward anotherj they are forced to change, grorr develop, becausethe dramatists had a clear,cur premise which it was their function

When a person makes one rnistake, he always follows up with

another. Usually the second mistake grows out ofthe ffrst and thethird from the second. Oryor' ir'Tdtt fe, made the grievous mis-tale of taking trtuffe into his home, believing in his saindiness.The second mistake wes entrusting Tirtuffe with a small boxcontaining papers "which, if they were brought to light might,for aught I knor cost my friend all his estate, and-if he werecaught his head."

Orgon believed in Tartuffe so far, but novr by putting this boxin his care, Orgon jeopardizes a hurnan life. Orgont growth fromtrust to adrniration is obvious, deepeningwith everyline.

rARrulr!: It is well hidden. frle lorl You may feel easy concern-ing it. As I do

oRGoN: Mybest ftiendl Whatyou have done is beyond all thanks.It has knit us even closer together than before.

rARTU!!!: Nothing could do that.oRcoN: One thirg could, as r have just seen, ifit could but be ac-

complished.rARTUrrr: A drrk saying, brother lxpound it, I pray you.oRGoN: You said a while ago that my daughter needed a husband

who rould keep her footsrep. from strrying.rARTUrrr: I did. And I cannot thinl that a worldling such as

M. ValereoRGoN: Nor L And this has lately been borne in upon me she

could have no safer, tenderer guide thtough the pidalls ofthislife than 1oa, beloved friend.

rARrurrr: [wro is genuiwly tafun bah Jor tw nonent) -lharL t,brotheri Oh, no. Nol

oRGoN: Whatl Would you refuse to be my son-in-law?TARru F Fr: It is ,n honor to which I have never dreamed ofaspir-

iry. And-and- I have some cause to think that I have foundno favor in the eyes of Mlle Matiane.

oRcoN: That matters little ifshe has found favor in lotrs-TARTuFFE: Eyes thxr are fired on Heaven, brother. have no regard

for the beauty that perisheth.

66 CH ^RAcTER

oRcoN: Tlue. brother, true but would you hold that a teason for

refusing a bride who is not without comelinessf

T^N-IuFFE: lwho is MTtlitlho\, tt flatidge' hh Mdtiafle wo d asist his

,lzsigtLs or r.lnirc) I wouid not say so. Many saintly men have

wedded comely rnaidens and sinned not. But to be Plainwith you- I fear that a mariage with your daughtcr might not

be altogether pleasing to Madame Orgon.

oRcoN: What ifit be not? She is only her stepmother and her

coNent is not needed. I might add that Mariane will bring

her husband an ample do,nry but that I lnow will not weigh

TARTUFFE: How srorl.J itf

oRGoN: But what, I hope. rlll weigh with you is that by declining

her hand you would disappoint me grievously.

TARTUTTT: IfI thought t dt, brother

oRGoN: More than that, I should feel that you did not think such

an alliance wort$ ofyou.TARTUFTE: It is I who am ,:nwortlry. lUe decides to tabe the isk) B]u.t,

rather than you should so misjudge me, t will yes, I ulJl over-

come my scruples.oRGoN:Thenyou consent to be my son-in-law?TARTUIII: Since you desire it, who am I that I should say you flay?

oRGoN: You have made me a happy man again.lI* *Us hdnlbelll

I will send for my daughter arrd tell her what I have arranged

forherTARTUFTE: lcolflg roltdl his door right] Meanwhile I will crave your

permission to retire. [Ar loor] If I may offer my counsei, it will

be better, Jn lalng this matterbefore her, to dwell less on arry

poor merits ofmy own than on yout wishes as a fathet [rre

oRGoN: [To ,lflie]l What humilityl

Orgon's third mistake is in trying to force his daughter tomarry this scoundrel. His fourth mistale js in deeding his wholeestate to ?rtuffe to manage. He sincerely believes that Tartuffe

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will save his wealth from his family who, he thinla, wants tosquander it. This js his most grievous mistake. He has sealed hisown doom. But the ridiculousness of this deed is only a naturaloutgrowth ofhis first mistale. Yes, Orgon grows perceptibly &omblind belief to disillusionmenl The author aclieved this withstep-by-step development in his chrracter

When you plant a seed, it seems for a while to lie dormant. Ac-tualll moisture aftacls it jmmediately sofiening thc shell oftheseed so that the chemical inhercnt in the seed, and those which itabsorbs frorn the soil, may cause it to sprout.

The soil above the seed is hard to push through. but this veryharldicap, this resistance to the soil, forces the young sproutto gather strength for the battle. Where shall it get this addi-tional strengthl Instead of fighting ineffectively against the top-soil, the seed sends ort delicate roots to gather more nourishment.Thus the sprout at last penetrates the hard soil arrd uns through

According to science, a singlc dristle needs ten thousandinches of root to support a thirty- or forty-inch stem. You crrrguess how many thousands of facts a dematist must unearth tosupport a single chancter

By way of parable, let a man represent the soilj ir his mind weshall plart a seed of corning conflict: ambition. perhaps. The seedgrows in hirn, though he may wish to squelch it. But forces withinand without the man exert greater and greater pressure, until thisseed of conflict is strong enough to burst through his stubbornhead. He has made a decision, arrd now he will act upon it.

The contradictions within a man and the contradictionsaround him create a decision and a conflict. These in turn forcehim into a new decision and anew conflict.

Marry kinds of pressures are required before a human beingcarr male a single decision. but the three main groups are the phys-iological, the sociological, and thc psychological. Irom these threeforces you can m::ke innumerable combinations.

lf you plarrt an acorn, you reasonably expect an oak saplirg,

68 CHAR,\crrR

and eventually an oak tree. Human character is the same. A certaintlpe ofcharacter will develop on his own line to fruition. Only inbad writing does a man change without regard to his characteris-tics. When we plant an acorn we would be justiffed in expecting anoak tree arrd shocked (at the very least) if it tumed out to be anapple tree

Every character a &amatist presents must have within it theseeds ofits future development. There must be the seed, or possi-bility of crime in the boy who is going to turn criminal at the endofthe plal,r

Although Nora. in a oolii aoase, is loving submissive, and obe-dient, there is in her the spirit of independence, rebellion, andstubbornness a sign ofpossible growth.

let us exarnine her charactef. We know that at the end oftheplay she is not only going to leave her husband, but her children aswell- In 1879 that was an almost unheard-of phenomenon. Shehad litde, ifarry precedent to go by She must have had within herth^r sonerhh& at the begitlllhg ofthe play whrch derelops into .theindependent spitit she has at the end. Let us see what this some-thing was.

\Vhen the plar operx. \ora enrer'. humming a rune A porrerfollows with a Chistmas tree arld a basLet.

PoRTrk Sirpence.NoRA: There is a shilling. No, keep the charrge-

She has been trying to save every penny to pey off her secretdebt yet still she is generous. Meanwhile she is eating macaroons,which she is not supposed to have. They are not good for her, andshe has promised Helmer that she will not eat sweets. So the fustsentence she says shows us that she is nor close with noney arrdthe frst thing she does shows her breaking a promise. She is child-lile.

Helmer entersl

HTTMER: Has my litde spendthrift been wasting money again?NonA: Yes, but Torvald, we may be a wee bit more reckless now

(Helmer cautions her It will be a whole quarter before he re-ceives his salary Nora cries out lile an impatient cldld: 'Poohl Wecarl borow till thent)

H ErMrR: Noral [IJ, lr l1l alled at herfeatherheadtdnes. He resentsthis"bor-rou."] Suppose, now. that I borrowed fffiy pounds today andyou spent it all in dre Christmas week, and then on New YeartEve a slate fell on my head and ki1led me, and . . .

(Just like Helmer He would not be at peace, even in the gtave,with one unpaid debt on his conscience. He is certainly a sticklerfor propriety Can you imagine his reaction ifhe were to discoverthat Nora had forged a namef)

NonA: lf that were to happen, I don't suppose I should carewhether I owed money or lrot. fshe hts heenhqt in peryetuil iyo'rance oJnoney nattus, and her retlction k inpeiaq' Helfiter k toleraflt,but not enough so toJorgo aletture.)

HELMIR: . . . There can be no freedom or beauty about a homelife that depends on borowing and debt. [At .tr's Nord n re,"] d6.co tdged- It seetfls thdt IIel er will wer nderstmlher.f

The two characters have been shaqly drawn. They are facingeach other clashing alread;r No blood has been drawn yet, but itinevitably will come.

(Ioving her as he does. Helmer now shifts the responsibilityto her father)

HELMTR: You're an odd little sou1. Very like your father You al-ways ffnd some ne$.way ofwheedling money out ofme, and,

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C HA R,4.c rr R

as soon es you have got it, it seems to melt in your hands. . - .Still, one must tale you as you are. lt is in the bloo{ for indeedit is true that you carl iflherit these things. Nora.

(With a ma$er stroke lbsen has sketched in Noras bacL,ground. He Lnows her ancestry befter than she does- Brt she lovesher father, arld is not slow to arlswer: "Oh. I wish I had inheritedmany of ?apa s qualities."

Right afier this she lies shamelessly about having eaten dremacaroons, like a child who feels that the prohibitions set down byher elders are necessadly senseless. There is no great harm in rhislying, but it shows what material Nora is made of)

Noru: I should not think ofgoing against yourwishes.HrrMEIt No, I am sure of that; besides, you gave me your word.

(Life arrd Helmern business have schooled him to think that agrven word is sacred. Here again, an insigniffcant thing showsHelmer's lack ofimagination, his complete inability to realize thatNora is arythingbutwhat she seems to be on the surface. He is un,aware ofwhat goes on behind his back at home. Every penny thatNora wheedles ort ofhim goes to the mofleylendea to pay offthedebt she has incured.

Nora is living a double life at the beginning of the play Theforgery was committed long before the play opened, and Nora hasbeen hugging her secret to hersell calm in the knowledge that herdeed was a heroic sacrifrce to save Helmer's life)

NoR : Wkingtohenchoohineftiend, LIrs. U lef Bltt itwas absolutelynecessrfy that he should not know! My goodness, can t youunderstand thatt It was necessary he should have no idea whata dangerous condition he was in. It wes to me thar the docto$crine Jnd .aid hj' tife wa. in danger and rhar r he onl) rhing rosave him was to live in the South. . . . I even hinted that hemight raise a loan. That nearly made him aogry Christine He

s:Lid I was thoughdess arrd that it was his duty as my husbaadnot to indulge me in mywhirns. . . . Verywell, I thought, youmust b€ saved and thatwashow I came to devise awayoutofthe difficulty.

(lbsen tales his time about starting the main conflict. Verypr€cious time is consumed by the scene in which Nora confesses toMrs. Linde what she did for Helmer There is something too coin-

cidental about Mrs. Linde s visit at this opportrlne momeflt, end

also Krcgstad's visit. But we are flot discussing Ibsen s deffciencies

here. We are tracing the completeness ofNoris development. Let

us see what else we can learn about her)

MRs. rrNDr: Do you mean never to tell him abo lt it? bheJaryerylNop.A:lMeditatiteb,d d ith ahalfsnib)Yes, someday perhaps. after

many years, when I am no longer as niceJooking as I em no'i:

(fhh throws a nteresnrylight or Nor4i ntoth,e. she eryects gathtdefor

ler leel.] Don t laugh at me I I mean, ofcourse, when Torvald is

no longer as devoted to me as he is now, when my dancing and

dressing up and reciting have palled on him, then it may be a

good thing to have something in reserre.

(Now we can surmise the tremendous shock Nora is in for

when Helmer denounces her as a bad wife and mother, instead of

ptaising her This, then, will be the turning point io her life. Her

childhood will die a miserable death. and with a shock she wiII see,

for the first time, the hostile world about her She has done every-

thiflg in her power to lrlake Helner live and bc happy and when

she needs him most he will turn against her Nora has all the neces-

sary ingredients for growth in ofle dircction. Helme( too, acts in

accordance with the chancter Ibsen has given him. l-isten to his

storm ofimpotent rage after learning ofthe forgery)

H!IM!R: \ rhat a hoffible awakeningl All these eight years-she

who was my joy alld pride a hnocrite, a lirr worse-

CH,TRAcTER

worse a cdminall The unutterable ugliness of it alll Fotshamel For shamel f"Nordk tileht dfldlooks dthinnealih. He stols ift

Jrort of her." Thue are lbseti ttale diftctiotis. No:,a k koki g nt Helnerflith horror, seeing d stante ma6 a nar who Jwgets her motire dnd thifihsottly oJ hinselJl I oqht to have suspccred that something ofthesort would happen. I ought to have foreseen it, all your father'swantofprinciple besilentl

(Apparently Noras sociologic.al baclgroLrnd helped Ibsendraw her mind. Her physiological nake-up helped, too she isaware of her bearty mentions it several times. She tnows she hasmany admirers, but they mean nothing to her until she malcs uphermind to leave)

HIIMTR: All youi fathert want of principle has comc out in you.No religion. no sense ofdury

All these things are disccrnjble in Norrs cha.acter at the be-ginning o{ the play She has brought upon herself everlthing thathappened. These things were in her character and they necessrilydirected her actions. Norat growh is positive. We can watch heriffesponsibility changc to an-riety her anxiety to fear, her fear todesperation. The climax leaves her at ffrst numh then shc slowlyunderstands her position. She makes her finai, irrevocable deci-sion, a decision as logical as the blooming of a flower a decisionwhich is the result ofsteadlr persistent evolutlon. Gro.mh is evolu-tion; climax is revolution.

Let us trace the seed ofpossible growth in anorher characterRomeo We want to know ifhe possesses the characteristics whichwill lead him to the inevitable end.

Roneo, in love with Rosalind, is walLing aroLrnd in a daze,when on the streethemects one ofhis relatives, Benvolio, who ac-

BINvoLIo: Good morniflg, cousin.RoMIo: Is the day so younglBr\vor rO Bur non srrurknine.RoMro: Ay mel Sad hours seem long.

Was that my father that went hence so fast?BENvorIo: lt was. What sadness lengthens Romeo's hous?RoMEo: Not having that which, having, makes them short.BrNvouoi In lovelRoMro: Out.BINvOrIO:Oflove?RoM ro Out olher fu!or, where | ,m in love

Romeo bitterly complains that his ladylove has "not been hitwith Cupid's arrow"

She is too fair, too wise, wisely too fair,To merit bliss by making me despair:She hath forsworn to love; and in thatvowDo I live dead, that live to tell it no.w:

Benvolio adyises him to "exanine other beauties,' but Romeocannotbe consoled.

He that is stricken 61ind cannot forgetThe previous treasure ofhis eyesight lost:

Farewell thou canst not teach me to forgel

But later, through a queer coincidence, he learns that hisbeloved Rosalind will be in the house ofhis family s deadly enemythe Capulets, where they are entertaining guests. He decides rc gqdefying death, to steal, if only a glance, at his love. And there,arnong the guests, he beholds a lady so enchanting that he has noeyes for Rosalind and breathlessly asks a seningm,n:

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C HAR^crER

What ladyt that. which doth enrich the harrd of yonderknightl

SIRVANT: I know not, sir,

nouror O, she doth teach the torches to burn brighr!It seems she hangs upon the cheel ofnightLike arichjewelin an lthiopt ear;Beauty too rich for use, for earth too deadSo shows a sno.ny dove trooping with crows.As yonder lady o er her fellows shows.The measure dove, I'11 watch her place ofstand,Arrd, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand.Did my heart lovc tlll now: Iorswear it, sightlFor I ne'er saw true beauty till rhis night.

And with this decision his dieis cast.Romeo is haqhrI imperuour. Finding that his true lovc js the

darghter of the Capulets, he does not hesitate to srorm this citadelofhate where murderous inrent is constant against him ahd hisfamily He is impatient, brooks no contradiction. His love for thefair Juliet has made him still more high strung. For his love, he iswilling even to humble hjmself No price is too greet for hisbeloved Juliet.

lfwe consider his death-def ing exploit jeopardizing his lifejust to have a glance at Rosalind then we may surmise what he iscapable ofdoing for Juliet. the true love ofhis life.

No other typc ofman could have faced so much danger with-out flinching. The possible growth was inherent in his chracterfrom the very begiming ofthe play

It is interestirg to nore that a cenain Mr Maginn in his Sfiale,ryear€ Pr'lers states thar Romeo s hard luck throughout his life wasattributable to rhe fact that he was "unluclqr" that had eny otherpessioa or pursuit occllpied Romeq he would have been as un,lucky as in hn love.

Mr. Maginn forgets that Romeo, liLe everyone else, acts as hischaracter dictates. Yes, Romeot downfall is inierenrr it does not

occur because he is "unludl" His impetuous temperament, whichhe cannot control, drlves him to do what another person couldea. i l ) have avoided.

Flis temperament, his background in shon, his characterwas the seed which ensured growth and proved the authortpremise.

The imponant thing we wish the reader to remember is thatRomeo was fashioned from that Lind of stuff which made himwhat he was (irnpulsive, and so on) and forced him to do what hedid later (murder arrd suicide) . This characteristic was apperent inthe first line uttered.

Another fine example of growth 1s fo:ond ln Mouning BeconesEbctra by lrqene O'Neill. Lavinia, the daughter of a brigadiergenerrl, Ezra Mannon, and his wife Christine, seys almosr at thevery beginning of the play when a young man who loves her al-

r,wrNrx: lstifenhg hus4clll I don't lnow aqthing about love. Idon't want to know anlthing. [rrfe"nfu] I hate love!

lavinia is the pivotal character, and lives up to this statementthroughout the play Her mother's illicit love affair made her whatshe became later relentless, vengefrrl to death.

We have no intetrtion ofstopping arryone from witing a pag-ernt or imitating the indefatigable Saroyen, who {'rites limpingcadences to the beauty ofJife. Any ofthese things can be moving,even beautitul to behold. We wouldn't eliminate Gertrude Stein,either, from the groaning arena ofliterature for the simplc reasonthxt we eflormously enjoy her vagaries arrd her sryle (although,we confess, ftequently we dont know what she is talking about) .From decay springs a new vibrant life. Somehow these formlessthings belong to life Without disharmony there could never beharmony But some plaryrights obviously write about characterafld want to build it into a well-constructed ediffce, and when itturns out to be a pageant or a pseudo-Saroyan, they insist that s.e

75

treat their work as a p1a]. We can't do that, no matter how hard wetry just as we can't compare the mental capacity of a child to anEinstein.

Robert E. Sherwoodt dlot3 DelQtt is such a work. Although itwon the Pulitzer Prize, it is far from being a well-constructed plala

Harry Van and Irene are supposed to be the leading charactersin this play butwe can't discern anypossible gro*th in them. Ireneis a liar and Harry is a good-natured. happy-go-lucky fello\{ onlyat the end we see some growth, but then the play is over

lavinia, Hamlet, Nora, and Romeo. even without a mag-nifitent production, are still characters: Jiving, pulsating, dlnamicpersonelities. They know what they want and ffght for it. Butpoor Herry and Irene just amble around without a visible goal to

What do you mean, expJicitly when you say "gro*th" I

76 CHARAcTTR

that seed was bound to bear. He never dreamed the fruit,

a.:For example, King Lear is rexdy to disribute his kingdonamong his daughters. This is a blunder, and the play mustprove to the audience thet it is fo1ly k does this throughshowing the effect of Lear's action on himsell his "growth,'or logical development, as a consequence ofhis mistake. Iirst,he lol6ts that the power he gave his children is being misused.Then he suspects that it is. Then he is sure, and becomeiifldignant. He is ftuious, next, ,rrd flies into a rage. He isstripped ofall authority arld is shamed. He wishes to Lill him-self In sharne and grief, he goes mad, and dies.

He planted a seed which grew and bore the Lind of fmit

would be so bitter but that is the result of his character,which caused his orlglnal mistake. And he pap the price.Would his erorl'th have been the same if he had chosen theright person-his youngest daughter-as the most trusr-worthylNaturally not. Ixch mistake and its reaction upon him-

a:

grew from the mistake before it. If lear had made the rieht

77

choice in the firct place there would have been no motivarionfor the later action. His first blunder was in deciding to investhis authority in his chil&en. He knew this authority vras great,coupled with the highest honor, and he never doubted theready assumrrce frorn his daughters that they loved arrdrcvered him. He was shocked by the relative coolness ofCordelia and so made his second mistake. He asked for wordsrather than deeds. Everlthing that happened thereafter grewfrom these roots.

Qi Weren t his mistales simply stupidityfI Yes, but don t forget that all blunders yours and mine are

stupid 4fer they are rnade. At the time they may grow outof pity generosiqr syrnpatba understanding. What we termstupid at the last may have been a beautifirl gesture at thefirst.

.Growthl is a character's reaction to a conflict in which heis involved. A character carr grow through making the correctmove, as well as the incorrect one but he nusr growi ifhe is a real

Tale a couple. They arc in lovc. Leave th€m for a while, arrdthey may produce the elements of a drama Perhaps drey driftapa rt, and there is conflict between them; perhaps thejr love growsdeepea arrd conllict comes from orti'le Ifyou asl. "Does real lovedeepen through adversity? or ifyou sa). "Even agreat love suffersin adversiqr" your characters will have a goal to achieve, arrd achance to grow to prove the premise. The proving of a premise ir-dicates growth on the part ofthe characters.

I I

Every good play grows from pole to pole.Let us examine arr old motion picture arrd see whether or not

this is true.

"PRorrssoR MAM!ocK"

(He', kofoln IsolatiotN, Pole I, to Collecttue Actiotl, Pole II)

srlp r. Isolation. He lvas unconcerned under the Nazi t]'rann)4 He

wrs ,n outstanding personalit)-j he fclt above Politics. He

nevcr dreamed that anyone could harm hnn. rlthough he saw

teror all around.srEp 2. Nazipowerrerhes intohisowndass and tortures his col-

leagues. l-le starts to worry But he still doesn't believe that

anything can happen to hirn. He sends away friends who beg

srll t. At lxst, he senses that a tragic fate might smash him, as it

did others. He calls his friends, and rationalizes that he had

been justified in being afl isolxtionist. He still is not ready to

give up thc ship.srlp 4. fear grips him. At last hc redizes that his Previous stand

was sheer blindness.srrr 5. He lvishes to escape, but docsnt know how or where to

srrP 6. He becomes l$leldte.

s'rEp 7 He jai s confloksttug\e against Nazism.

srlr 8. He becomes amemberofthe undergrotnd organization

srr.P 9.D$esryrdwysT ro. Collecnve action anddeath.

Let us now takc Nora and Helmer from noll's Horse.

Nor.Ai F/o,lr: submissive, happy-go-lucba naive, trustnlg-ro: cyrical, independent. adult, bitter, disillusioned

H MER: Frorr bigoted, domineering, sure ofhimsel{ practical,

precise, parronj zi ng, .onventional, rutllless

ro: bewildered,unsure.dlsillusioned.dependcnt,submissive, wea!, tolerant, considerate,contused

B{oft afftdi

r. lnsecurity2. Humiiiation

I. Rcsentment

4. Fu'y

BcJore esrtoi

2. Djsappointment

3. Doubt

4. Qgestioning

Ch6a.ter Grot th

l t I

HATRTD To Lovr

Cwtaik

5. Hatred6. caustug injury7 Satisfaction8. Remorse

9. Humilityro. Ialse generosjtyrr. Reevaluation12. Realgencrosityrt. Sacrificc14. Love

Lovr To HAT Rr D

79

Otrt,iin

5. Suspicion6. Tcsting

Z Hurt8. Realization

9. Bitternessro. Reevduation and failure to adjustii. Angcrr:. Iury (at self)rl. Fury (atobjcct)r.tr. Hate