e carefully than the
minor; and much may therefore be said, on this ground, in defence of
Dickens's habit of drawing humanly only the leading characters in his
novels and merely sketching in caricature the subsidiary actors.

=5. Emphasis by Inverse Proportion.=--It is sometimes possible, in
special cases, to emphasize ironically by inverse proportion. An
author may deliberately devote several successive pages to dwelling on
subsidiary matters, only to emphasize sharply a sudden paragraph or
sentence in which he turns to the one thing that really counts. But
this ironical expedient is, of course, less frequently serviceable
than that of emphasis by direct proportion.

=6. Emphasis by Iteration.=--Undoubtedly the easiest means of
inculcating a detail of narrative is to repeat it again and again.
Emphasis by iteration is a favorite device of Dickens. The reader is
never allowed to forget the catch-phrase of Micawber or the moral look
of Pecksniff. In many cases, to be sure, the reader wishes that he
might escape the constantly recurrent repetition; but Dickens
occasionally applies the expedient with subtle emotional effect. In "A
Tale of Two Cities," for example, the repeated references to echoing
footsteps and to the knitting of Madame Defarge contribute a great
deal to the sense of imminent catastrophe.

Certain modern authors have developed a phase of emphasis by iteration
which is similar to the employment of the _leit-motiv_ in the
music-dramas of Richard Wagner. In the Wagnerian operas a certain
musical theme is devoted to each of the characters, and is woven into
the score whenever the character appears. Similarly, in the later
plays of Henrik Ibsen, certain phrases are repeated frequently, to
indicate the recurrence of certain dramatic moods. Thus, in
"Rosmersholm," reference is made to the weird symbol of "white
horses," whenever the mood of the momentary scene foreshadows the
double suicide which is to terminate the play. Students of "Hedda
Gabler" need not be reminded of the emphasis flung by iteration on the
phrases, "Vine-leaves in his hair," "Fancy that, Hedda!", "Wavy-haired
Thea," "The one cock on the fowl-roost," and "People don't do such
things!" The same device may be employed just as effectively in the
short-story and the novel. A single instance will suffice for
illustration. Notice, in examining the impressive talk of the old lama
in Mr. Kipling's "Kim," how much emphasis is derived from the
cont