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50 CHARACTER understandable her later assistance in the elopement. (Scene 26. A-5. Scene 29. A-6.) There is no elaborate attempt to show that Ruth appeals to the maid to help her. We see in that first scene that the maid feels much as her mistress does. Later actions are per- fectly understandable. No special scene has been required. 6. Perhaps your story runs that your heroine marries the first man who asks her hand merely to escape her miserable home. If she merely snatched at the first man to propose, the action would not be clear, but if you first show that her home life is miserable because her father is a brute, a drunkard or a miser, then you make it understood that this treatment has formed her character. By estab- lishing the fact, you help to establish her character and also aid the motivation of the story. If the girl marries without love and for no apparent reason you show her a man-struck little fool. Having clearly established the reason for the marriage we can become inter- ested in the outcome of the marriage. 7. Should you wish to show that this man she marries is a brute, you do not write in a series of scenes wherein he goes about breaking cripples' crutches and stealing pennies from little children. In drawing, caricature is but an exaggeration of natural line, and in drama travesty is but an overemphasis. In sketching character there is a tendency to overdo that will result in caricature instead of proper line and turn your scenes to travesty. Instead of this gross emphasis, you write into some exisiting scene a bit of business wherein the husband runs into and knocks down an old man. Instead of apolo- gizing and assisting him to his feet, he rushes on, shouting back a curse. Now we know that the man is altogether a brute and that his attitude toward his wife is not due to his dislike for her but is merely a manifestation of his general character. There is now no question as to whether or not his treatment of her is not due in some measure to her attitude toward him. If we merely show that he is brutal to her the reason for that brutality might be found m her feeling of repulsion toward him. 8. To draw character you must know what the character of each of your personages is and have them act always in consonance with their characters. You cannot show your heroine a frisky, frothy young person in one scene and in the next show her a woman of strong emotions and great depth of feeling. You cannot, on the other hand, introduce her as a woman of fine mental development and great depth of feeling and later show her leaving her husband on the impulse of the moment. The frothy young woman would leave her husband because he tried to break a plate with the biscuit she baked, but the woman of more mature temperament would not act in this manner; she would require great and long-continued provocation. You must match action to modes of thought and not have your play- people act at variance with their established characteristics merely to help you out of a hole. 9. It is all very well to explain to yourself that a great moment