_Marie._ (_Clasping her hands._) Don't hurt her!
(_Pauses with the door open. Magda is seen descending the stairs. She enters in travelling dress, hat in hand, very pale but calm._)
_Schwartze._ I have something to say to you.
(_She goes to the door left. Schwartze follows her. Marie, who has drawn back frightened to the dining-room, makes an unseen gesture of entreaty._)[62]
Now, any interview between Magda and her father will both unduly lengthen an act already long and bring the play well into its final climax. Stopping the act here creates superb suspense. Starting a new act under slightly different conditions keeps all the suspense created by Act IV and intensifies it by new details. The new act gives us the chance easily to introduce von Keller, who is needed if the play is to be more than another treatment of the erring daughter confessing her sin to her father. Just through him comes emphasis which gives special meaning to the play. Therefore, we gain by postponing the full confession from the end of Act IV till well toward the end of Act V.
Evidently, climax rests on (a) right feeling for order in presenting ideas; (b) a correct sense of what is weaker and what is stronger in phrasing emotions; and (c) just appreciation of the feeling of the audience toward the emotions presented. For both clearness and climax it is usually a wise rule to consider but one idea at a time. In the following illustration, column 1 shows confusion, because three subjects--the fan, the greeting, and the compliment of Lady Windermere--are started at the same time. In column 2, quoted from Miss Anglin's acting version of _Lady Windermere's Fan_, treating each of these subjects in its natural sequence brings both clearness and climax.
_Parker._ Mrs. Erlynne. _Parker._ Mrs. Erlynne.
(_Lord Windermere starts. (_Lord Windermere starts. Mrs. Erlynne enters, very Mrs. Erlynne enters, very beautifully dressed and very beautifully dressed and very dignified. Lady Windermere dignified. Lady Windermere clutches at her fan, then clutches at her fan, then lets it drop on the floor. lets it drop on the floor. She bows coldly to She bows coldly to Mrs. Erlynne, who bows Mrs. Erlynne, who bows to her sweetly in turn, and to her sweetly in turn, and sails into the room._) sails into the room._)