_1. Gent._ Some twenty years.

_2. Gent._ That a King's children should be so convey'd, So slackly guarded and the search so slow, That could not trace them!

_1. Gent._ Howso'er 'tis strange, Or that the negligence may well be laughed at, Yet it is true, sir.

_2. Gent._ I do well believe you.

_1. Gent._ We must forbear; here comes the gentleman, The Queen and Princess. (_Exeunt._)[6]

Here Shakespeare trusts mere exposition to rouse interest. His speakers merely question and answer, showing little characterization and practically no emotion. Is this extract as interesting as the following?

_Fits Urse. (Catches hold of the last flying monk.)_ Where is the traitor Becket?

_Becket._ Here.

No traitor to the King, but Priest of G.o.d, Primate of England. (_Descending into the transept._) I am he ye seek.

What would ye have of me?

_Fits Urse._ Your life.

_De Tracy._ Your life.

_De Morville._ Save that you will absolve the bishops.

_Becket._ Never,-- Except they make submission to the Church.

You had my answer to that cry before.

_De Morville._ Why, then you are a dead man; flee!

_Becket._ I will not.

I am readier to be slain than thou to slay.

Hugh, I know well that thou hast but half a heart To bathe this sacred pavement with my blood.

G.o.d pardon thee and these, but G.o.d's full curse Shatter you all to pieces if ye harm One of my flock!

_Fitz Urse._ Seize him and carry him!

Come with us--nay--thou art our prisoner--come!

(_Fitz Urse lays hold of Archbishop's pall._)

_Becket._ Down!

(_Throws him headlong._)

_De Morville._ Ay, make him prisoner, do not harm the man.

_Fitz Urse._ (_Advances with drawn sword._) I told thee that I should remember thee!

_Becket._ Profligate pander!

_Fitz Urse._ Do you hear that? Strike, strike.

(_Strikes the Archbishop and wounds him in the forehead._)

_Becket._ (_Covers his eyes with his hand._) I do commend my cause to G.o.d.

_Fitz Urse._. Strike him, Tracy!

_Rosamund._ (_Rushing down the steps from the choir._) No, no, no, no.

Mercy, Mercy, As you would hope for mercy.

_Fitz Urse._ Strike, I say.

_Grim._ O, G.o.d, O, n.o.ble knight, O, sacrilege!

_Fitz Urse._ Strike! I say.

_De Tracy._ There is my answer then.

(_Sword falls on Grim's arm, and glances from it, wounding Becket._)

This last to rid thee of a world of brawls!

_Becket._ (_Falling on his knees._) Into thy hands, O Lord--into thy hands--! (_Sinks p.r.o.ne._)

_De Brito._ The traitor's dead, and will arise no more.

(_De Brito, De Tracy, Fitz Urse rush out, crying "King's men!" De Morville follows slowly. Flashes of lightning through the Cathedral.

Rosamund seen kneeling at the body of Becket._)[7]

The physical action of this extract instantly grips attention.

Interested at once by this action, shortly we rush on unthinking, but feeling more and more intensely. In this extract action is everywhere.

The actionless _Cymbeline_ is undramatic. This extract is intensely dramatic.

Just what, however, is this action which in drama is so essential? To most people it means physical or bodily action which rouses sympathy or dislike in an audience. The action of melodrama certainly exists largely for itself. We expect and get little but physical action for its own sake when a play is announced as was the well-known melodrama, _A Race for Life_.

As Melodramatically and Masterfully Stirring, Striking and Sensational as Phil Sheridan's Famous Ride.

Superb, Stupendous Scenes in Sunset Regions.

Wilderness Wooings Where Wild Roses Grow.

The Lights and Shades of Rugged Border Life.

Chinese Comedy to Make Confucius Chuckle.

The Realism of the Ranch and Race Track.

The Hero Horse That Won a Human Life.

An Equine Beauty Foils a Murderous Beast.

Commingled Gleams of Gladness, Grief, and Guilt.

Dope, Dynamite and Devilish Treachery Distanced.

Continuous Climaxes That Come Like Cloudbursts.

Some plays depend almost wholly upon mere bustle and rapidly shifting movement, much of it wholly unnecessary to the plot. Large portions of many recent musical comedies ill.u.s.trate this. Such unnecessary but crudely effective movement Stevenson burlesqued more than once in the stage directions of his _Macaire_.