Help--Dramatic structure?

[Stephanie Dobler]

I'm trying to remember the wording and source of a
quotation about dramatic structure and playwrighting. It
goes something like, "If a character picks up a gun in Act
I, somebody'd better be shot by Act III." Can anyone
help?

Gratefully,
Stephanie

ObQuote:
George B. Cohan said that a movie has three parts: first
you put your main character ("the hero") up a tree, then
you throw rocks at him, then you get him out of the tree.
(Or her.) If the main character is still alive, it's a
comedy; if dead, it's a tragedy.

quoted in C. Deemer's "Dramatic Structure" web page,
http://www.teleport.com/~cdeemer/Structure.html

[Joshua Luskin]

Stephanie Dobler (dob...@psc.edu) wrote:

: I'm trying to remember the wording and source of a quotation about

: dramatic structure and playwrighting. It goes something like, "If a
: character picks up a gun in Act I, somebody'd better be shot by Act
: III." Can anyone help?
: Gratefully,
: Stephanie

If my memory serves, the playwright Chekov said this in an interview,
something like "If there is a gun on the mantelpiece in Act I, it must be
used to shoot someone by Act III" or some such. I don't know where or
when, though, any more than I can tell you the exact phrasing.

: ObQuote:

: George B. Cohan said that a movie has three parts: first
: you put your main character ("the hero") up a tree, then
: you throw rocks at him, then you get him out of the tree.
: (Or her.) If the main character is still alive, it's a
: comedy; if dead, it's a tragedy.

That's a good one; hope you don't mind if I steal it.

: quoted in C. Deemer's "Dramatic Structure" web page,
: http://www.teleport.com/~cdeemer/Structure.html

[Robert Brown]

In article <314887...@psc.edu> Stephanie Dobler <dob...@psc.edu> writes:
>From: Stephanie Dobler <dob...@psc.edu>
>Subject: Help--Dramatic structure?
>Date: Thu, 14 Mar 1996 15:53:28 -0500

>I'm trying to remember the wording and source of a
>quotation about dramatic structure and playwrighting. It
>goes something like, "If a character picks up a gun in Act
>I, somebody'd better be shot by Act III." Can anyone
>help?

The quote is from Chekhov, I don't know the exact source. The way I have
heard it, it's more like "If there's a gun over the mantlepiece in Act One,
it had better go off by Act Three," the idea being that a well-structured
drama does not bring in and drop extraneous details.

[William C Waterhouse]

In article 1E...@psc.edu, Stephanie Dobler <dob...@psc.edu> writes:
> I'm trying to remember the wording and source of a
> quotation about dramatic structure and playwrighting. It
> goes something like, "If a character picks up a gun in Act
> I, somebody'd better be shot by Act III." Can anyone
> help?

As others have already said, it's Chekhov. The entry in the
latest Bartlett's gives two forms, one in writing and one recalled:

"One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no one is
thinking of firing it."
---Letter to A. S. Lazarev-Gruzinsky, Nov. 1, 1889.

"If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging
on the wall, in the second or third chapter it must absolutely go
off. If it's not going to be fired, it shouldn't be hanging there."
--- from the _Memoirs_ of Shchukin (1911).

William C. Waterhouse
Penn State