Change

ISBN: 9781331616405 出版年：2018 页码：173 J O Francis Forgotten Books

There is nothing more fraught with the elements of tragedy than a tradition which battles against change; nothing more likely to Win our sympathy than youthful response to a powerful call for a new order of things. Following in the footsteps of Ibsen's The Masterbuilder, the stage has been given a number of dramas that have exalted the younger generation. Especially in the so called new drama of England has the topic been a favourite one. Such plays as the late Stanley Houghton's The Younger Generation, Bliss Githa Sowerby's Ruth erford Son, and Mr. F rancis's Change have brought to bear on the subject all the minuteness of observation which characterizes their school. But there is an ethical difference between Mr. Francis and the other dramatists mentioned; he carries the art of the realist to a very high pinnacle by being eminently fair; by allowing his sense of justice full swing. After a close reading of Change, one cannot help but feel that all of the characters have been given a fair chance to express themselves upon their most poignant interests, and in accordance with their separate training and tradition. It is only toward the end of his play that Mr. Francis throws the weight of his sympathy on the side of Gwen, and adds the saving human grace to an otherwise earnestly conceived problem of change.