रत्नावली नाटिका (सम्राट हर्षवर्धन - शास्त्रीय नाटिका रत्न सम्पूर्ण ४ अङ्क सान्वय सटीक)

INTRODUCTION iii
has been attempted to be dramatized with its all details of events
and episodes. So the dramatic plot should have relative brevity
compressing all minute details to a few that may suit the purpose
of contributing to the main action of the play.
2. Characterization—Next comes in importance the method
of characterization upon which the plot the of drama really
depends. With respect to the character, as Saintsbury holds, four
things are to be aimed at by the poet. First, it must be good—
which means that whatever disposition a character may
mainfest it must be good so far as the plot of the drama is con-
cerned. Secondly, the character should have propriety. The
manly character and bravery and fineness cannot be attributed
with propriety to a woman. The third requisite is versimilitude
and the fourth is consistency. The playright should be careful
to represent his persons as consistent throughout however, in-
consistent they might be in the original. Apart from these the
most important factor in the dramatic characterization is
what is called impersonality. The dramatist is to keep himself
entirely aloof from mingling his own personality in his men and
women and passing his own judgment as the author of the
fictions are allowed to do. Dramatic art being objective in its
nature, all subjective elements which mar the universality of
Art, are to be eliminated ; and with a view to doing so the
playwright should stand apart and give free scope to his
characters to move in their own natural way in revealing their
personalities through the medium of the plot. So there must
be everything direct concerning the characters and nothing
should be reserved as poet's own. For this reason the Sanskrit
Dramaturgy tacitly refers—
प्रत्यक्षनेत्रचरितो रसभावसमुज्ज्वलः ।
भवेदगूढशब्दार्थः क्षुद्रचूर्णकसंयुतः ।
प्रत्यक्षचित्रचरितैर्यु'क्ती भावरसोद्भवैः ॥ साः दः ( ६ परि )