But what is drama? Broadly speaking, it is whatever by imitative action rouses interest or gives pleasure.

But what is drama? Broadly speaking, it is whatever by imitative action rouses interest or gives pleasure.

No drama, however great, is entirely independent of the stage on which it is given.

Acted drama requires surrender of one's self, sympathetic absorption in the play as it develops.

What then is tragedy? In the Elizabethan period it was assumed that a play ending in death was a tragedy, but in recent years we have come to understand that to live on is sometimes far more tragic than death.

Out of the past come the standards for judging the present; standards in turn to be shaped by the practice of present-day dramatists into broader standards for the next generation.

There is no essential difference between the material of comedy and tragedy. All depends on the point of view of the dramatist, which, by clever emphasis, he tries to make the point of view of his audience.