Dramatic Theory and Criticism: A Clarification

Video Games, Theater, and the Paradox of Fiction

“…You cry over Old Yeller's death, though you know very well that no real dog has died. Writing of the famous actor Thomas Betterton, an incredulous George Farquhar articulated the paradox as early as 1702: “[The] whole audience at the same time knows that this is Mr. Betterton who is strutting upon the stage and tearing his lungs for a livelihood, and that the same person should be Mr. Betterton and Alexander the Great at the same time is somewhat like an impossibility in my mind” (Dukore 383). And yet, the fact that we may cry over Alexander's untimely death on stage (if that's what happens) indicates that the same person is, indeed, in our experience, Betterton and Alexander at the same time.…”