51. The Climax. — In a novel, the climax is generally somewhat diffused, and it may not always be possible to locate it in a single paragraph or sentence. In some cases it is quite central; in others, nearer the catastrophe than the initial point- the fall of the action being more rapid than the rise.1 In all novels it is likely to be marked historical by some striking external event or incident often in historical fiction, social in the novel of manners, etc. In fiction in which character is supreme, this external climax is always accompanied by an intellectual or moral crisis in the important characters. In novels of philosophical quality, it is frequently emphasized by some generalized reflection, as in Janet's Repentance: "There are moments when, by some strange impulse, we contradict our past selves - fatal moments, when a fit of passion, like a lava stream, lays low the work of half our lives." (Chapter XIV.) While the entire plot before the climax is in a sense a preparation for it, the immediately preceding movement is usually more specifically preparatory, falls into well-marked stages, and is likely to be somewhat accelerated. The ideal climax is one which is definitely common to all the single actions; but often the separate actions have somewhat divergent climaxes, in which case the closest approach to true "plot-climax" is found in the climax of the principal action. EXAMPLES In Silas Marner, the whole of Chapter XII is a climax. It includes one of the very few striking external events of the plot, but is even more distinctly an inward experience of the soul. In the immediate event it concerns primarily the Silas Marner action, but in a very clear manner it is a culminating point in both the main actions, and the chief 1 In the drama, Freytag and Moulton find it, usually, close to the center. motivating force of both throughout the further development of the plot. A more specific location might find a climax at the point in which the 'counter-play" (see glossary) becomes "play"; the moment when Silas Marner ceases to be passive under his fate, and begins to mould his own fortunes - “Marner stooped to lift it on his knees." In Pride and Prejudice, the exact point of climax is again found only in the principal action, but it is obviously a real turning-point for the other main actions. Especially does the tragic force, Darcy's letter, relate causally to the future of Jane and Bingley and Wickham, as well as Elizabeth and Darcy themselves. This climax is a definite external event, striking enough to the two characters immediately concerned, though not so exciting to the reader; but its deeper quality is clearly psychological — it is a distinct crisis in the moral development of both lovers. It may be noted that this climax is curiously near the center of the novel. The tragic force is emphasized by the epistolary form, and followed by one of the few significant soliloquies of the novel"How despicably have I acted,” etc. 52. The Catastrophe. — The climax is sometimes very faintly indicated, perhaps omitted altogether; the very nature of artistic narrative demands a more or less emphatic catastrophe. While art must deviate somewhat from life at this point, and very often degenerates into artificiality, catastrophe has a foundation in actual experience. The statement of certain realistic critics that nothing comes to an end outside of fiction, is true only in a limited sense. Scientifically, we may perceive the continuity of material and social forces, but our imaginative and moral interpretation of experience locates certain points which are, for our purposes, final. The Emancipation Proclamation may be considered almost the beginning of the "negro problem," in the current sense, but it is not therefore a mistake to consider it as the close of the history of slavery in America. Every death, and, in spite of its hackneyed treatment in the novel, every marriage, is a real catastrophe in the lives of a group of people — it concludes certain episodes conveniently if not logically viewed as detachable unities of experience. Artificiality in novelistic catastrophe takes many forms. Forced pessimism or optimism, whether due to the wilfulness of the author or his slavery to the reading public, are unfortunately common. An artifice of less ethical significance is the forced ensemble, whether the characters actually meet, or are assembled merely in the imagination of the novelist. While life shows its own group catastrophes, it is not so common in ordinary social experience as in fiction to find a single event distinctly final, introductory to a permanent situation, and equally significant for a considerable number of people. Frequently the artificiality lies not so much in the mere event of the catastrophe as in the motivation, or the speed with which it is approached. Representative types of catastrophic event are separation or reunion of characters; discovery of mistaken identity; discovery and punishment of crime; marriage, and death. Perhaps the grandest catastrophe ever conceived by human imagination is the judgment day. This has found a place in the religious drama; but even in the broadest, most "epic," of historical romances, the final event rarely reaches such dimensions. The modern realistic tendency is to find the most significant catastrophe as well as climax, in the moral experience of the individual. Modern imagination cannot unify the moral experiences of the whole human race so easily as did the medieval imagination. The novel is generally less hurried than the drama in conclusion as well as beginning. The technical catastrophe is often at some little distance from the final paragraph, as indicated in the diagrams of Section 50. In Silas Marner the author follows the Shakespearian method of introducing a passage of comparative calm after the more intense conclusion of the tragic movement; though in the dramatist such passages are always much more brief than the "Conclusion" of Silas Marner. EXAMPLES Ivanhoe. The catastrophe includes marriage, conversion (of Rebecca), reconciliation, discovery of identity. Last of the Mohicans. The catastrophe is mainly in the external history of the characters; including death, freedom from captivity, separation of friends. Quo Vadis. The historical quality of the plot is emphasized by the epic breadth of events, and the death of Nero and Petronius; the religious quality by the conversion of Chilo and the death of Peter. Pride and Prejudice. Jane Austen has here varied the common formula by making the engagements instead of the marriages of the sisters the chief events. The engagement of Elizabeth comes last, emphasizing her predominance in the whole plot. After the real catastrophe, there follow two leisurely chapters giving the final situation with comparatively little movement. 53. Motivation. This is a technical term to denote the causation of the plot-movement, especially in reference to its conscious artistic management. It is to be distinguished from "motif" and "motive," the purpose of a character; an important but by no means the only type of motivating force. Some critics have attempted to distinguish between the dramatic and epic narrative in respect to motivation. Zimmerman writes: "The dramatic imagination falls under the category of causality, the epic only under the presentation form of time"; including the novel under the epic. This statement does not agree with the practise of the greater novelists or with representative modern theory of novelistic plot. Walter Scott gives a higher and more accept 1 Esthetik. able view, though without any statement of æsthetic principle, in this passage: "The most marked distinction between a real and a fictitious narrative [is] that the former, in reference to the remote causes of the events it relates, is obscure, doubtful, and mysterious; whereas in the latter case, it is a part of the author's duty to afford satisfactory details upon the causes of the separate events he has recorded, and, in a word, to account for everything." Scott's last phrase, however, is too strong, as he himself points out elsewhere in reference to Mrs. Radcliffe's catastrophic explanation of her mysteries of plot. Esthetically considered, the main function of motivation is to increase the illusion of reality, which might be destroyed if every incident were given definite and clear causal explanation; for life itself is not so simple. When Eppie comes to Silas Marner, we know why her mother died, why the baby crept to the cottage, why Silas did not see her at first, etc.; but in the novel, as it might have been in life, it seems purely a chance coincidence that the mother's death occurs just at that particular furze bush near the weaver's home. Again, there is no special explanation given to account for Eppie and Aaron falling in love so conveniently. Structurally, motivation may be given in mass, or in solution; before, with, or after the effects; by one continuous force, or many changing forces; through the plot itself or the characters, or from the outside, as it were. It naturally receives special attention at the main points of the dramatic line. The catastrophe is often an occasion for a general massing of motive forces, either by way of review, or of explanation not previously given. In relation to their results, motive forces may be adequate, insufficient, or excessive. Many effects of tragedy, irony, and caricature are obtained by subtle treatment of these relations. 54. Motivating Forces. The most important influences. shaping the plot-movement of a novel are nature, society, |