excelled unity of construction, its tremendous dramatic tension,
and its wonderful psychological analysis combine to make it a
masterpiece.

In Swedish its name is "Fordringsägare." This indefinite form may
be either singular or plural, but it is rarely used except as a
plural. And the play itself makes it perfectly clear that the
proper translation of its title is "Creditors," for under this
aspect appear both the former and the present husband of _Tekla_.
One of the main objects of the play is to reveal her indebtedness
first to one and then to the other of these men, while all the
time she is posing as a person of original gifts.

I have little doubt that Strindberg, at the time he wrote this
play--and bear in mind that this happened only a year before he
finally decided to free himself from an impossible marriage by an
appeal to the law--believed _Tekla_ to be fairly representative of
womanhood in general. The utter unreasonableness of such a view
need hardly be pointed out, and I shall waste no time on it. A
question more worthy of discussion is whether the figure of _Tekla_
be true to life merely as the picture of a personality--as one out
of numerous imaginable variations on a type decided not by sex but
by faculties and qualities. And the same question may well be
raised in regard to the two men, both of whom are evidently
intended to win our sympathy: one as the victim of a fate stronger
than himself, and the other as the conqueror of adverse and
humiliating circumstances.

Personally, I am inclined to doubt whether a _Tekla_ can be found
in the flesh--and even if found, she might seem too exceptional to