challenging his father to a second conflict, in Cornwall. Arthur,
feeling that his sins have found him out, would gladly make peace; but,
stung by Mordred's defiance, he follows him into Cornwall. There both
armies are destroyed and Mordred is slain, though in his death he
mortally wounds his father. After the battle his body is brought before
Arthur, in whom the sight awakens yet more fiercely the pangs of
remorse. The play closes immediately before Arthur's own mysterious
departure.

Here is all the material for a great tragedy. The point for beginning
the story is well chosen, though in obvious imitation of _Agamemnon_.
Attention is concentrated on the catastrophe, no alien element being
admitted to detract from the melancholy effect. It is sought to
intensify the gloom by recourse to Seneca's stage Ghost; thus, the
departed spirit of the wronged Gorlois opens the play with horrid
imprecations of evil upon the house of Uther, and, at the close, exults
in the fullness of his revenge. From his mouth, as well as from the lips
of Arthur, and again from the Chorus (which closes the acts, as in
_Gorboduc_) we learn the great purpose beneath this overwhelming ruin of
a king and kingdom--to show that the day and the hour do come, however
long deferred, when

Wrong hath his wreak, and guilt his guerdon bears.

As before, all action is rigorously excluded from the stage, to be
reported, at great length and with tremendous striving after vividness
and effect, by one who was present. Dumb Shows before each act continue
the attempt to balance matters spectacularly. Clearly the only hope of
dramatic advance for disciples of the Senecan school lay in improved
dialogue. This was possible in four directions, namely, in more stirring