We share his ethical likes and dislikes. As
an audience we are ready to laugh at his asides, and, on the first night
at least, to laugh at them even when they interrupt the play.
But our liking for the theses cannot alter the fact that _The Way of all
Flesh_ is a _roman a theses_. Not that there is anything wrong with the
_roman a theses_, if the theses emerge from the narrative without its
having to be obviously doctored. Nor does it matter very much that a
_compere_ should be present all the while, provided that he does not
take upon himself to replace the demonstration the narrative must
afford, by arguments outside it. But what happens in _The Way of all
Flesh_? We may leave aside the minor thesis of heredity, for it emerges,
gently enough, from the story; besides, we are not quite sure what it
is. We have no doubt, on the other hand, about the major thesis; it is
blazoned on the title page, with its sub-malicious quotation from St
Paul to the Romans. 'We know that all things work together for good to
them that love God.
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