Page:The thirty-six dramatic situations (1921).djvu/40

 ABDUCTION

(The Abductor; the Abducted; the Guardian)

Or, the Great Bourgeois Romance! Was it not thus that Moliere used to put an end to his comedies, when he judged that the moment had arrived for sending his audience home satisfied? Sometimes he substituted a treasure-box for a girl, as in "Tartuffe," or arranged an exchange of the one for the other, as in "L'Avare."

We find in ABDUCTION one of the situations bearing upon Rivalry, and in which Jealousy appears, although not painted with so superb a coloring as in the Twenty-fourth.

In two of the following classes (B and C) we may remark the intrusion of the situations "Adultery" and "Recovery of a Lost Loved One." The same usage is quite possible in almost all the other situations. I would point out to those who may be interested in a more detailed analysis, that love is not necessarily the motive of Abduction (in Class D will be found friendship, faith, etc.) nor the reason of the obstacles raised by the guardian.

A — Abduction of an Unwilling Woman: — Aeschylus' and Sophocles' "Orithyies;" Aeschylus' "Europa" and "The Carians." "With Fire and Sword" (after Sienkiewicz, 1904). Comedy: "Le Jeu de Robin et de Marion" (Adam de la Halle). Historic and legendary : the Sabine women ; Cassandra. There appears to me to be tragic material in cases of extreme eroticism, of premeditated violation preceded by a mania of passion