The Age of Elizabeth - Drama

The Age of Elizabeth - Drama

Introduction:

     The age of Elizabethan or Renaissance is divided into four parts,

During the renaissance, many types of literature has produced, like, The New Classicism, The New Romanticism, translations, spirit of independence, the development of drama, the popularity of poetry and prose and novel. Different kinds of poetries were produced like, dramatic poetry, lyrical poetry, descriptive and narrative poetry religious and satirical poetry.

Origin of Drama:

As per W. J. Long,

"Drama is but an old story retold to the eye, a story put into action by living performers, who for the movement "make believe" or imagine themselves to be the old heroes"

There are three period of drama,

1. The Religious Period:

       Same as Greece, Europe also contains the origin of drama in religion. First characters were from 'New Testament'. First there were dramas upon moral lessons of good and evil. The church later divided the plays into Mysteries and Miracle plays.

Miracle plays:

      In France, the name miracle is given to any play which represents the lives of saints. In England, the distinction was different, the Miracle denotes the plays based on Bible or the lives of saints.

Mystery plays:

         The word mystery refers to the plays, which represents the life scenes from the life of Christ. In England Mystery plays used for distinguishing different class of plays, which were not religious.

       Among these both kinds of plays, Miracle was famous and the first Miracle play was "Ludus de Sancta Katharina" in Dunstable. Four centuries after the Miracle plays got fame and popularity. From the starting plays were allowed to perform in church because of religious purpose but after that people have started enjoying it and then it was for the purpose of entertainment and then it was replaced by the Elizabethan Drama.

The Miracle plays started taking popularity and then divided into two parts, 

1. At Christmas: plays on birth of Christ

2. At Easter: plays on death and triumph of Christ

       This cycle of drama represents human life from birth to death. The authors of Miracles were priests and their chosen assistants and they were carefully selected and trained. There were movable theatres, each of these theatres consisted of a two-story platform, set on wheels. The lower story was the dressing room for actors and the upper story was the stage proper.

      The plays were written according to general outline of the Bible stories, no change was tolerated, the only variety was in new songs and jokes, and in the pranks of devil. 

2. The Moral Period:

      This period of moral drama came in existence because of Morality plays. In this the characters were connected with the themes of - Life, Death, Repentance, Goodness, Love, Greed and other virtues and vices. To include charm to Morality plays, the devil of Miracle plays was introduced in Morality plays. There was also a character Vice, and the important role of this character was to protect 'virtues' by mischievous pranks, and especially make devil's life a burden by beating him with bladder or a wooden sword. The Morality playd generally ended in the triumph with virtue.

      There were two best authors of Morality plays, John Skelton who wrote "Magnificence" and "The Necromancer"; the second author is Sir David Lindsay, he used to write in a satirical style, he used to make rulers uncomfortable by telling them unpleasant truths. 

The Interludes:

       These plays were grew after Morality plays and the best part of these plays were that it was short, witty and with simple plot. In the early part of the sixteenth century political subjects began to be used, and public officials were satirized under allegorical names. The interludes originated, undoubtedly, in a sense of humor. John Heywood is an important writer who contributed in Interludes to the distinct dramatic from known as a comedy.

3. The Artistic Period:

     This is the final stage of the development of English drama. The chief purpose of this form of drama was to present human life as it is.

     The first play of this period was comedy named "Ralph Royster Doyster" by Nicholas Udall, and first acted by his schoolboy before 1556. The play is an adaption of the 'Miles Gloriosus', a classic comedy by Plautus. The next play was "Gammer Gurton's Needle", it is a domestic comedy, which represents peasant class. The first wholly English comedy was by William Stevenson "Dyccon of Bedlam" in 1552.

    The first tragedy was "Gorboduc" by Thomas Sackville and Thomas Norton, and was acted in 1562. This was the first play written in blank verse.

Classical influence upon Drama:

      In fifteenth century, English teacher has began to let their students (boy) to act on Latin plays, just to increase their interest, and those plays were the part of their reading of literature. Seneca was the favourite Latin author, and between 1559 and 1581, his tragedies were translated in English. In the same time, English playwrights were also writing plays.

Dramatic unities:

   There were three unities in the classic drama,

          Unity of time, place, and action were strictly observed. Time and place in the play must remain same from the starting to the ending. The play should be completed within twenty - four hours. The characters should be the same from the starting to ending, and the scenes of bloodshed and crime were not allowed to perform on stage. There was a strict line between comedy and tragedy.

      

          The English drama was different. it has started representing whole life in a single play. They have presented characters not at a single place, on limited time and with one action.

       

        There were two schools of English drama, the university wits, and popular playwrights. They have disregarded the unities to present the real life plays and its experience. The first plays of English literature were of romantic types. The first playhouse known as "The Theatre" was built in 1576 by James Burbage in Finsbury Fields, in London. A Dutch traveller, Johannes de Witt, who visited London in 1596, has given new interior of the theatre. They were built of stones and wood, in round octagonal shape, and without a roof. The stage in all the theatres was an uncovered platform, with a curtain. 

         Before Shakespeare, there were many dramatists, the plays performances started by the school masters and their trainings, then the choir-masters, there was a dramatization of Chaucer's stories, and finally English drama got regular playwrights like, Kyd, Nash, Lyly, Peele, and Marlow and after that there was Shakespeare. 

Works Cited

Long, W. J. "English Literature." Long, W. J. English Literature. n.d.