The author of this paper discusses structure of plot, act and scene in Držić’s comedy Dundo Maroje. In studying the plot the author comes to the conclusion that Držić has orga- nized the events on the stage, their sequence and the turning-points in a way to keep his audience, or the reader, in uninterrupted suspense. In the development of action he »launches« certain stimuli, certain forces, but whenever — for various reasons — such a force runs towards a dead end, a new force will appear based on a previous stimulus continuing the action not only in its own direction but releasing at the same time the temporarily paralyzed previous force to continue the action with it, and by its help. Around the main forces Držić has grouped the single elements of the plot so that each event, happening, or dialogue excites the curiosity of the audience; every element inevitably raises the question: »What comes next?« The plot seerns to grow by itself in front of the audience. And like the plot, planned and organized to suštain the tension, the single act in its structure both answers the question raised in the previous act and at the same time puts new questions which will find their solution in the following act. The single events are not only justified by and closely linked with the preceding action and the basic idea of the comedy as a whole, but are also introduced at the very moment to produce a maximum of scenic effect. Držić excels in the structure of scenes. In Dundo Maroje the scenes are mostly complex, containing more separate parts organized in a way to illuminate the action in different directions and dimensions (a conspicuous example: act II scene 2). Both in dialogue and monologue the topic of discussion or meditation quite naturally moves from theme to theme; there are no jarring transitions between the units of speech. The writer has a reliable sense of proportion, intro- ducing a new element at the right moment, and moreover: every word, every movement and every allusion contributes to the creation of atmosphere, the development of action, or the presentation of characters, without revealing them completely, but always keeping something back in order to maintain the interest.
