Hello and welcome to the Discourse. We will move now to discuss one of the most vivid section of English literature, the Elizabethan Drama.
First, we will discuss the nature of Drama, its historical background, and origin and then we will go through the works of some of the greatest dramatists of all times that belonged to the Elizabethan Era of English literature.
Drama, Definition, Types, and Effect
Drama can be defined as an articulate story presented in action. The story must be articulated or presented in spoken words and it must be in action too. Unlike pantomime, it is spoken and it includes the act of mimicry.
The story must be articulate as presented in spoken words and it must be in action too. Thus it includes acting. A drama can be effective or it can be ineffective. For a drama to be effective, it must have some conflict. There must be some clash between man and his surroundings or situations.
If that conflict is a trivial one, presented with a sense of slapstick humor, it is known as FARCE.
If the conflict is a serious and important one, and the drama ends happily for the hero and heroine, it is known as COMEDY. A comedy includes quaint circumstances, unusual characters, and witty remarks.
If the conflict is serious but the drama has an unhappy ending, it is known as TRAGEDY In such Dramas, the protagonist has a Tragic flaw that leads to his downfall.
A MELODRAMA is an exaggerated drama, it is sensational and it appeals directly to the senses of audience, Just like a Farce, its conflict is trivial.
A Musical Drama includes music and dances too.
Historical Background of Drama
The origins of drama can be found in Ancient religions including the Greeks, Indian, Chinese & Egyptian religions. The drama was an essential part of Greek religious ceremonies associated with Dionysus, God of life and death, God of wine, and the God of fertile Earth.
Greek Theater
In Ancient Greece, there used to be groups of 12-50 people who used to sing dithyrambs, ancient Greek hymns to praise and please Dionysus. These groups were known as the chorus. These groups used to compete with each other. Initially, they didn’t have any leader or Hero.
By 532 BC, Thespis arouse as the leader of the chorus and he became the first recorded actor of ancient Greek drama.
Gradually mew playwrights and techniques of acting were developed and we had some great Greek dramatists such as Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euphorian, Euripides, and many more.
Drama in Roman Civilization
Romans continued the culture of Greek drama but now they had varied subjects and were not limited to religious subjects. They were Farce and they included clowns performing obscenities, poetic meter, mocking, and other nuances, The influential Roman dramatists of Roman Farce included Novius and Pomponius.
Greeks and Romans used to have architectural structures for the performances of Dramas that included Theatron, Skene, Orchestra, Acoustics.
Dramas in Old and Middle English Period
Roman dramas were corrupt forms of Greek dramas and they were further corrupted by the end of late Roman Empire.
As Christianity arose and the Church got hold of power, all dramas and theaters were banned and dismantled. However, the Church soon realized that to suppress drama is akin to suppress laughter and tears and it is not workable. So, the Church started utilizing drama for its own purpose. This is the reason why it is a common and acceptable saying that “the cradle of the drama rested on the altar.”
1st stage of English Drama
The Church promoted religious forms of dramas to proselytize common people and to spread doctrines of the Bible.
Miracles and Mysteries
Initially, Gospel stories were depicted by a series of living pictures in which the performers acted the story but didn’t speak. Gradually, the actors started dialogues and they acted their parts.
Most of the playwrights during the Old English period were written by the clergy and hence they were in Latin or in Norman or vernacular French language. These plays were either Mysteries or Miracles.
Mysteries were plays whose stories were taken directly from the Bible and other scriptures while Miracles were the stories from the lives of saints and martyrs.
The drama of the middle English period included a juggler, a jester, and a tumbler to offer modest hilarity and amusement. Debate poetry such as The Owl and the Nightingale promoted drama.
The Church used drama to promote religion and the Mass were the occasions when Mysteries and Miracles were played in the Church.
The first Miracle that was depicted was Lucas de Santa Katherina.
2nd Stage
Mysteries and Miracles were not only helping in the spread of Christianity, these were the only source of mass amusement during those times. People started to gather in large numbers just to watch Miracles and Mysteries. So, in the fourteenth century, the Church decided to entrust some guilds to perform dramas in Market-place outside of the Churchyard. Each guild used to perform a play representing their particular trades. For example, the guild of fishermen used to perform the Flood, a mystery based on the Bible.
Since the times of Greeks, Masks were used in drama to offer allegorical essence. A monstrous head with movable jaws was used to represent Hell or Satan. The actors used different symbols to represent other aspects. The white Papal was used to represent God and godliness.
Gradually, Miracles became more popular, they were more successful than Mysteries. Each big town used to have its own cycle of plays to be performed annually. The plays were all religious in nature and they were used to be performed on scaffolds in open space. The Church was losing its grip and by the end of the Thirteenth-century Guilds were becoming more active in dramas. There were four main cycles of Dramas, the York cycle, Towneley Cycle, Chester Cycle, and Coventry Cycle.
The York Cycle
York cycle consisted of 48 plays that have been preserved till the present day. They were written in Northumbrian dialect and were staged in the York town. The first play dealt with the creation of the World and Fall of Lucifer, the next three plays showed Fall of Man, and then Story of Cain and Abel, 8th and 9th plays dealt with the making of Arc, the Flood, and so on.
The Towneley Plays
These were performed near Wakefield and hence are also known as Wakefield plays. Five of the plays of the Towneley cycle were similar to that of the York cycle. The Towneley cycle consisted of 32 plays starting with the Creation of World and ending with the Hanging of Judas.
The Chester Cycle
There were 25 plays in Chester cycle and these were more serious plays. The series started with the Fall of Lucifer and then, the creation of World, Fall of Man, and so on.
The Coventry Cycle
It had 42 plays and these were divided in two parts and were used to be played in alternate years. The first part contained 28 plays to be played first and the second contained the next 14 plays to be played in the second year. The last performance of the Coventry cycle was done in 1591.
3rd Stage
In the third stage, the drama was parting ways from religious scriptures. Mysteries and Miracles were replaced by Moralities and Interludes.
Morality Plays
Moralities were serious plays, didactic, dealing in allegory and abstractions. The characters of Moralities used to represent Sin, Grace, Repentance, Virtues etc. Hero of Moralities always depicted mankind.
The first morality play was Play of Lord’s Prayer. Other popular moralities included Magnificence and Necromancer. Moralities completely replaced Mysteries and Miracles during the reign of Henry VI. The Church had lost power. The characters of moralities were allegorical, symbolical or abstract. One of the earliest moralities was The Castle of Perseverance.
The most popular Morality play was Everyman in which God sends Death to summon every creature to give an account of their life, their good deeds, and the bad, in this world. Everyman contained allegorical characters and at the end, a Doctor explains the conclusion.
The Interludes
The interludes were the last step in the making of regular English Drama. Interludes didn’t have allegorical characters. Moralities were sermons in disguise but Interludes were aimed at the amusement of the audience. The interludes of John Heywood were very popular during the reigns of Henry VIIIth who continued to perform interludes in the reign of Queen Mary too. John Heywood was a friend of Thomas More. He wrote many popular interludes including The Merry Play between Johan Johan, Sir John the Priest, Tib and his Wife, and others.
Small companies of actors were formed and these companies were employed by houses of Nobility for the amusement of noblemen and women. When leave was granted to these actors, they used to play for the public. Thus the pure motive of public entertainment by drama was gradually taking its roots.
4th Stage
In the fourth stage, English tragedy dramas were developed. This stage was influenced by the renaissance and the Church had lost power. Play writers of these days we're influenced by Seneca’s tragedies and the result was the first English Drama Gorbuduc written by Thomas Sackville and Thomas Norton. It was performed by the Gentlemen of the Inner Temple in front of Queen Elizabeth I on 18th January 1561.
Gorbuduc is a pure Tragedy. The story is, Gorbuduc, the king of Britain divided his realms in his lifetime to his sons Ferrex and Porrex. The sons fell to dissension. The younger son killed the elder one. The mother that more dearly loved the elder, for revenge, killed the younger. The people moved with the cruelty of the fact, rose in rebellion, and slain both father and mother. The nobility assembled and most terribly destroyed the rebels; and afterward for want of issue of the Prince, whereby the succession of the crown became uncertain, they fell to civil war in which both of them and many of their supporters were killed and the land for a long period remained almost desolate and miserably wasted.
5th Stage
Since interludes were performed for the nobility, they gave rise to better set up of stage, curtains and other impressive innovations in dramatic acts and that gave rise to the English Theaters. Playhouses were established. Some of the major playhouses were
1) The Theater, opened in 1576, established just outside the city of London by James Burbage.
2) The Curtain Theater (1577)
3) The Rose (1587)
4) The Swan (1595)
5) The Globe (1599)
6) The Fortune (1600)
7) Red Bull (1604)
So this was all about the History of Drama, we began with Greek tragedies and moved to Roman Farce to Old and Middle English period Mysteries and Miracles. We learned the development of Moralities and Interludes and we learned the summary of the first English drama Gorbuduc. We also discussed the development of the stage and the establishment of Elizabethan theaters. In the next section, we will continue our discussion on Elizabethan Drama and Dramatists. Thanks and regards.
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