Introduction
The origins of drama have
always been deeply rooted in the religious instincts of mankind. Greek
drama had arisen out of the rituals observed in connection with the
worship of Dionysius, the god of fertility. In England too drama was an offshoot
of the liturgy but it must be noted that there was no connection at all between
the ancient classical drama of Greece and Rome and drama in medieval Europe or
England.
Elementary mimetic action could be
found at the popular mummings at great festivals, morris dancing and simple
dramatization of events from the life of Robin Hood or Saint George,
performances of wandering tumblers, jongleurs and acrobats containing impersonation
and imitation.
In the Middle Ages the
Church was the dominant institution in English society. It was eager to provide
both for the people’s delight and their spiritual uplift. The Church brought
before the congregation salient facts of the testaments. It was from the
‘antiphon’ which contained rudimentary dialogue that the actual evolution of
liturgical drama began. Words were invented to fit the church music. Thus
around 1000 A.D. the ‘tropes’ came into being. They permitted an extension in
music and language of the church ceremonies.
The
Miracle Play
Out of these tropes arose the
Miracle Play. The first of these was the Easter Play or the Quem Quaeritis which represented the empty tomb of Christ
with dialogue between the priest personating the angel guarding the tomb of Christ,
and three others personating the three Maries who come in as if seeking
something. Here was present the embryo of drama with all the essentials –
setting, the presentation of fictional persons and the use of dialogue.
Journey of Indian English Drama
Gradually there took place growth
in different directions. The time taken by the speeches was lengthened. The
three Maries were split into individuals with separate speeches. Various
subsidiary episodes were added, for instance, there was introduced the episode
of the Maries buying spices for anointing Jeans. Attempts were also made at
introducing scenery.
Four types of plays now
evolved: (1) Peregrinus, (2) Ascen (3) Pentecost and (4) Passion plays which
treated various scenes the Bible and life of Christ and Mary. Other tropes
started developing such as the Nativity and Epiphany in which the Magi, the
shepherds and the angel appeared. In the Prophet’s Play the prophets appeared
and prophesied the birth of Christ.
From the 11th century the
performances became even more elaborate, the vernacular crept into the
dialogue, minor clerics and laymen were introduced as actors. Medieval people
had very little entertainment and they flocked to see these liturgical
performances.
The church could not accommodate
them and by the twelfth century the plays moved into the open. Organization
also began to pass from ecclesiastical to lay hands. Being performed
outside, these plays began to lose connection with liturgical services.
Ultimately vernacular became the usual medium, and only the most sacred parts
were in Latin. Thus secularization of the plays took place and in an
edict of 1210 the clergy was forbidden to take part in the plays.
Immediately the laity seized upon
the drama and expanded the plays both in form and content.
The term Mystery play was commonly applied to scriptural stories
while Miracle plays dealt with incidents in the lives of Saints and
Martyrs. Control of the plays passed on from the clergy to social guilds and
then to the trade guilds. Each guild would take on a different cycle
suited to its own interest. Thus mariners took the Flood scene.
Growing popularity of the plays and
elaborate presentation now led to the evolution of the ambulatory cycle where
each episode would be performed on a double-decked cart or pageant. These carts
or wagons performed at several appointed places in the town, (twelve spots in
York). One wagon performed one scene and moved the next spot while the next
wagon came up with the following scene.
These plays were also known
as Corpus Christi plays because summer festivals were more suitable
for such elaborate outdoor presentations. The Corpus Christi feast was
held in May or June when hours of daylight were long. Spectators would
throng in from neighbouring villages, and Corpus Christi day became a great
public holiday. Realizing these plays to be effective
Christian propaganda
the Medieval church gave its blessings to the Cycle plays throughout
the Middle Ages.
Each town or city had its own
cycle. Four of these have been preserved – those of (i) Chester (ii) York (iii)
Wakefield and (iv) Coventry. Besides these, there are two separate plays, from
the Coventry cycle, two plays of Abraham and Isaac, a group of three plays
known as the Digby plays and the Shrewsbury fragments.
1. Chester Cycle: These are the
oldest (1350-1450) and consist of 24 plays of which one is lost. They deal with
the main facts of the scheme of salvation – Incarnation, Crucifixion and
Resurrection and are mainly written in eight-line stanzas.
2. York Cycle: This had 48 episodes
written in three distinct stages. They follow the Biblical narration very
closely though with occasional introduction of Apocryphal legends. The
individual episodes have a subtle appeal and devoutness of tone.
3. Wakefield Cycle: This had
32 plays out of which six are common with the York Cycle. They are also called
the ‘Towneley’ plays as the only manuscript in which they exist was in the
possession of the Towneley family for a very long time. The Wakefield master is
remarkable for his pungent humour and realism as in Noah’s plays and the two
Shepherds’ plays.
4. Coventry or Ludus Coventriac
Cycle: This had 42 plays long theological passages. These were acted on fixed
stages. In these plays three standard bearers recited the prologue and acted
announcers.
The basic themes of the Cycles were
supplied by Biblical episodes but though the audience was devout, the plays
unconsciously sought for ways of escape from piety in all
manner of license. Humour was used
to represent evil and the ‘fallen state of man.’ It was only in the comic parts
that the authors had full independence. Herod, Pilate Pharaoh etc. were
developed as popular comic figures.
When these pageants came to an end
in the reign of Elizabeth I, it was not because they had lost
their popularity but because they were suppressed by Reformist zeal reinforced
by State authority to their alleged idolatry and superstition.
Morality
Plays
From the Mystery and Miracle plays
it was but one step to the Morality plays, though Mysteries and Miracles
continued to be performed well into the 16th century. Even in the Mystery plays
occasionally such abstractions as Dolor or Misery intruded, and the Morality
merely extended this principle to all characters. The conflict in the psyche of
man between the two antinomies – good and evil – was externalized and projected
on stage. It was thus essentially a non-naturalistic mode.
The themes were frankly didactic
and not taken from any Biblical source. Common characters in Morality
plays were Good Deeds the Good and Bad Angel, Justice, Gluttony Vice, Death, Old Age etc. Vice
was a popular comic character whose primary duty was to tease the devil.
Some of the well-known Morality plays are The Castle Perseverance, Mankind, Wisdom
and Nature, Everyman etc. The hero is usually a personification of humanity. He is called Everyman
or Humanum Genus or Mankind and the dramatic action consists in his attempted
corruption by vices and the final salvation by virtue. Every member of the
audience was expected to suffer with the hero and rejoice in his salvation.
Historical
Importance of Morality Plays
1. The Morality with its artificial manner of presentation was not really a
throwback in the dramatic tradition. The Mystery and the Miracle
plays had characters with individual names and though primitive in
execution, it was a drama rooted in reality. However, by moving into a world of
allegory, the Morality playwright paradoxically came closer to the world around
them; giving to the characters contemporary features.
2. The spiritual struggle of the
hero later became a marked characteristic of Elizabethan tragedy. Faustus is
often called an Elizabethan Morality
3. The Moralities are better
constructed and have a better unity of form than the Mystery and Miracle plays.
Thus, they definitely mark a step forward in the development of drama.
Interludes
They were so called as they were
performed between the courses of a feast in the houses of gentry or between the
acts of a longer play: They flourished around the middle of the 16th century.
They were necessarily very short plays, characters included commoners like
Citizens and friars, there were set scenes, coarse farcical humor and no
allegorical figures.
Sir John Heywood’s The Four
P’s is one of the best-known interludes. It is about a lying match
between a Palmer, a Pardoner, a Pedler and a Pothecary, Johan Johan the
Husband, Tyb his wife and Sir John the
Priest is another notable play by Heywood, full of witty sayings.
Historical
Importance of Interludes
1. They were more popular than the
Moralities.
2. The authors of the Interludes
made use of native dramatic material and paved the way for Elizabethan comedy.
No doubt, these English dramas at
the introductory stage gets a good stride afterward and developed through
Renaissance Plays, Restoration Comedy, modern drama and the dramas of the
present time. But the essence is fully untilled by University Wits and William Shakespeare in the Elizabethan England.
What is the first tragedy in
English literature?
The first tragedy written in English literature is Gorboduc (1561)
written by Thomas Sackville and Thomas Norton.
What is the first comedy in English literature?
The first comedy written in English
literature is Ralph Roister Doister (1551) by Nicholas Udall.
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