Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage by Jeremy Collier

Hello and welcome to the Discourse. Jeremy Collier was an English non-juror bishop and theologian who chose to be a strong English theatre critic during the Restoration period. He was born on 23^rd September 1950, and he experienced the days of the Protectorate when all theatres and other forms of entertainment were literally banned. A substantial part of the English citizenry always disapproved of English drama. They opposed the increasing profanities and immorality being depicted in the theaters during the times of Ben Jonson, Thomas Middleton, John Fletcher, and others. King Charles II was restored in 1660 and soon the stages of English drama began sparkling again. However, the opposition to theatres persisted. In 1698, Jeremy Collier published a pamphlet titled Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage.

Collier accused the English playwrights and theatre houses of debauching the English citizenry. His main targets whom he directly opposed were William Wycherly, John Dryden, William Congreve, John Vanbrugh, and Thomas D’Urfey. In place of targetting stage art historically, Collier attacked the recent and popular dramas of his time. In his essay, he offered numerous pieces of evidence suggesting how the dramas are affecting the populace and how stage poets use these dramas to profess support for immorality and profanities. He specifically targeted Restoration comedies and mentioned that all of the Restoration comedies lack poetic justice. Vulgar comedies and tragedies depicting clergymen in villainous roles had been a pattern during the Jacobean age too, however, poetic justice was maintained before the Puritans took hold of the crown. However, after the restoration, when the theatres were reopened, Collier complained that the new dramatists forbade the idea of poetic justice.

Poetic justice is the idea that logic always triumphs and logic suggests that ultimately, virtues should be rewarded and vices should be punished. Poetic Justice was recently termed coined by English dramatist Thomas Rhymer. However, the need for poetic justice has been consistent in classical authorities including Aristotle, Horace, Plutarch, and Quintillian. Even William Shakespeare floundered on the lines of poetic justice while Ben Jonson tried to maintain unity and poetic justice in his plays. During the Restoration period, flouted poetic justice by rewarding libertines and punishing dull-witted moralists became a trend. This could have been because during the Civil War, Puritans banned the theatres and after the Restoration, this faction got a chance to lampoon the clergymen. Jeremy Collier strictly opposed and attacked this behavior. He maintained that the only reason for which fiction can be allowed in a civil society is that of Poetic Justice. According to him, dramas should be a means to spread goodness among the people. Dramas should depict how vices are punished and virtues ultimately win. The playwrights of the Restoration period, on the other hand, were ignoring poetic justice in favor of cheap thrills. Collier condemns the characters of Restoration comedies as impious and wicked and he condemned the playwrights for failing to punish the playwrights’ wicked “favorites.” While his accusations were mild, they were comprehensive and he openly blamed William Wycherly, John Dryden, William Congreve, John Vanbrugh, and Thomas D’Urfey along with other playwrights for immorality, profanities, and blasphemy.

As a response, John Dennis published his pamphlet titled The Usefulness of Stage. John Dennis was another contemporary critic of Collier who maintained that dramas are useful for society. John Vanburgh wrote his own retaliation and published it under the title A Short Vindication of The Relapse and The Provok'd Wife From Immorality and Prophaneness in 1698. Vanburgh claimed that Collier is a clergyman and he is more upset by the unflattering depictions of clergymen than actual blasphemy. William Congreve vehemently opposed Collier’s accusation in his essay Amendments of Mr. Collier's False and Imperfect Citations published in 1698. Thomas D’Urfey preferred answering Collier in his upcoming play Campaigners (first performed in 1698) in which he lampooned Collier. Collier relaunched his attack on these playwrights in his next pamphlet titled Defence of the Short View published in 1699.

The comedies of the Restoration period were clearly sexually explicit, and Collier’s pamphlet did trigger a change of pattern. Furthermore, while the playwrights enjoyed free runs during the reigns of Charles II and then James II, William III, and Marry II were not so supportive of English drama.

So this is it for today. We will continue to discuss the History of English literature. Please stay connected with the Discourse. Thanks and Regards!