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CHAPTER L 257 drama should happen because it intimately concerns the protagonist. In an example in this chapter it was stated that a battle scene should be used only as a background for the hero. That same suggestion holds good throughout. For the purpose of your drama the world was created simply to serve as a background and place of residence for your chief character, and no action that does not have a direct bearing upon his fortunes or interests should be permitted to intrude. 28. Even a single seemingly unimportant lapse may ruin your play by taking interest from the hero. Yearly scores of plays are rendered worthless through some little incident written in the action or inter- polated by the director. You must study each action and the proba- ble results of that action. In one play, for example, a dog ran into the scene, wagging his tail and making the hero welcome. The inci- dent was not planned, and as the quickest way out of the trouble the leading man kicked the dog to make him go away. It cost him the favor of most persons who saw the story released, for the scene was kept in instead of a retake being ordered. This w^as the fault of the director, but the author may write and the director overlook some trifling piece of business that will have the same effect. 29. Another thing to be avoided is the improper objective. If the struggle is devoted to the achievement of some unlawful or immoral end, the play must have an unhappy ending. It will be .better to change the protagonist and gain the happy ending through the de- feat of this object by making that defeat the objective. The very essence of drama is that we wish a thing to happen because we are interested in the person who desires this result. If the desire is un- lawful we cannot take an interest in the person who has such a de- sire and we cannot become interested in a play wherein the achieve- ment of an object will be distasteful to us. We will be interested in John's courtship of Mary, but could not take the same interest if his object was not marriage but merely the unlicensed gratification of desire. In the same way we cannot be interested in the success of a bank burglar. We can become interested in a detective who seeks to apprehend the thief. 30. It has been said at the opening of this chapter that the drama story to a considerable extent will carry the action. This is true, but it must be qualified by the provision that while the story will carry the action, the story must be capable of being told in clear and vivid action. The more striking and dramatic the visual action, the greater will be the interest in the story since the chief appeal to the brain is made through the medium of sight. Do not tell your story in lead- ers and illustrate it with action. Have the action tell the story and tell it in the most strikingly dramatic manner possible. It is seldom that but a single course of action is available in the recital of a story. There may ,be two or more developments to each scene. Study to get the best. 31. Take as an example a woman who is planning to elope. As she and her companion are leaving the house the husband, approach-