This article is exclusively available for ninemsn Encarta Premium Subscribers. Already a subscriber? Sign in above.
Scene for a Play
Almost all plays, whatever their apparent theme or subject, begin with some human situation being out of balance. The action of the play reveals either how things are put right (Shakespearean comedy) or, because the initial situation is so desperately wrong, prove too much for the characters to resolve, and so end in disaster (Shakespearean tragedy).