ABSTRACT
Given the hazards of dramatic confrontation, it seems that anyone should be able to lay out some rules for avoiding situations in which one is likely to be made a villain or a fool. People must direct their attention, therefore, to the prevailing villain types. Plainly there are laws that, if flouted, lead to ruin, in drama no less than in physics. This chapter explores the surest routes to becoming a fool or villain or making somebody else, and how can they be avoided. It considers the conditions that make a villain and then the more laughable predicaments of the fool. A dramatic law of the utmost consequence finds expression in the generalization that the hatred an individual receives bears little relationship to physical realities (to consequences, real causes, actual deeds, or real qualities of the man).
