Three Acts of a Common Cold

I had a brush with a cold recently.  It started out with sniffling, then came wheezing with a scratchy throat, followed by bouts of coughing; after going through them the cold was gone.  It then occurred to me that a good three-act play is constructed in the same way.  There is a little bit of stirring among the characters while being given individual traits in Act I, followed in Act II with some disturbances among the personages, and then in Act III we are given dramatic actions which are brought to resolution in the final scene.

最近、一寸風邪を引きましたけど、最初は鼻水をすする程度。その後は喉がちくちく、ぜいぜい、やがては咳が出続けてごほんごほん、でもそうするうちに元の健康。それで気が付いたのは、良くできた三幕ものの脚本は、同じ様に、先ず第一幕で人物が個性を得るうちに少し動揺が起こり、第二幕で、人物の関係に緊張、あるいは葛藤、があり，第三幕に至って、行動なり感情なりに劇的な紛争が生じ、最後の場面で適当に解決を得るという構造ですね。