the frame of the picture are as exceptional as
those in which Shakespeare does not do so.

Ibsen's practice in this matter has been compared with that of the Greek
dramatists, who also were apt to attack their crisis in the middle, or
even towards the end, rather than at the beginning. It must not be
forgotten, however, that there is one great difference between his
position and theirs. They could almost always rely upon a general
knowledge, on the part of the audience, of the theme with which they
were dealing. The purpose even of the Euripidean prologue is not so much
to state unknown facts, as to recall facts vaguely remembered, to state
the particular version of a legend which the poet proposes to adopt, and
to define the point in the development of the legend at which he is
about to set his figures in motion. Ibsen, on the other hand, drew upon
no storehouse of tradition. He had to convey to his audience everything
that he wanted them to know; and this was often a long and complex
series of facts.

The earliest play in which Ibsen can be said to show maturity of
craftsmanship is _The Vikings at Helgeland_. It is curious to note that
both in _The Vikings_ and in _The Pretenders_, two plays which are in
some measure comparable with Shakespearean tragedies, he opens with a
firmly-touched _einleitende Akkord_. In _The Vikings_, Ornulf and his
sons encounter and fight with Sigurd and his men, very much after the
fashion of the Montagues and Capulets in _Romeo and Juliet_. In _The
Pretenders_ the rival factions of Haakon and Skule stand outside the
cathedral of Bergen, intently awaiting the result of the ordeal which is
proceeding within; and though they do not there and then come to blows,
the air is electrical with their conflicting ambitions and passions. His
modern plays, on the other hand, Ibsen opens quietly enough, though
usually with some more or less arresting little incident, calculated to
arouse immediate curiosity. One may cite as characteristic examples the
hurried colloquy between Engstrand and Regina in _Ghosts_; Rebecca and
Madam Helseth in _Rosmersholm_, watching to see whether Rosmer will
cross the mill-race; and in _The Master Builder_, old Brovik's querulous
outburst, immediately followed by the entrance of Solness and his
mysterious behaviour towards Kaia. The opening of _Hedda Gabler_, with
its long conversation between Miss Tesman and the servant Bertha, comes
as near as Ibsen ever did to the conv