downward note, with conflicts resolved unsuccessfully, perhaps even with the death of a hero or heroine. A comedy, by contrast, ends on an upward note, with the success of the hero/heroine. Difficulties are overcome; conflicts are resolved; things turn out well.17 One need think only of the plots of Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella to see the difference. So what is the plot of the Book of the Twelve? Paul R. House argues that the Twelve is shaped around a sequence of events seen as significant to
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