A Little Literature!!
### Comment on Middle English Drama.
Nascent
was the stage for play in medieval England. By Chaucer’s times, the-then-known
‘drama’ had already slipped out of the womb of the liturgical church. The
members of craft guilds took over the clergymen. Hence, Corpus Christi, a cycle
of plays, came into being, since larger interests of the masses were taken into
consideration by doing away with the selected ‘events-for-the-sake-of-messages’
and adopting the whole ‘biblical-stories-for-the-sake-of-amusement’ in succession.
After
trope and liturgical plays, Mystery, Miracle, Morality plays developed, and the
transitional drama called Interlude marched way forward to the arena of Tudor
drama.
MYSTERY
PLAYS:
First performed by the clergy, these religious
plays dramatized the mystery of Christ's Passion. Later the plays were produced
by members of craft guilds, and they became known as CRAFT or MYSTERY PLAYS. Beginning
in the medieval period, the word mystery was used to describe a skill or trade known
only to a few who apprenticed and mastered its special techniques; it also referred
to religious mysteries.
By the fifteenth century, mystery plays and the
feast of Corpus Christi were popular almost everywhere in England and certain towns
produced exceptionally elaborate cycles with unusually complex and ambitious plays.
The CYCLES were groups of plays numbering from twenty-four to forty-eight. Four
cycles have been preserved: the Chester, York, Towneley (Wakefield), and N-Town
cycles, named for their towns of origin. N-Town plays were a generic version
of plays that any town could take and use as its own, although the plays were probably
written near Lincoln.
The plays were performed again and again during
annual holidays and feasts, and the texts were carefully preserved. Some of the
plays, such as The Fall of Lucifer, are very short. Others are more
elaborate in length and complexity and resemble modern plays: Noah,
from the Wakefield Cycle, which has been produced regularly in recent history; The
Slaughter of Innocents; and The Second Shepherds' Pageant, one of
the most entertaining mystery plays. The producers of the plays often had a
sense of appropriateness in their choice of subjects. For example, the
Water-Drawers guild sponsored Noah's Flood, the Butchers (because they
sold "flesh") Temptation, The Woman Taken in Adultery,
and the Shipwrights The Building of the Ark.
MIRACLE PLAYS:
Miracle plays, or Saint's plays,
are now distinguished from mystery plays as they specifically re-enacted
miraculous interventions by the saints,
particularly St. Nicholas or St. Mary, into the lives of ordinary
people, rather than biblical events; however both of these terms are
more commonly used by modern scholars than they were by medieval people, who
used a wide variety of terminology to refer to their dramatic performances.
Few examples of Miracle plays exist
today. Miracle Plays were eventually banned in England because of their Roman
Catholic leanings.
MORALITY PLAYS:
Continuing the development of
Medieval Drama, Morality Plays emerged during the 15th century. The Castle of Perseverance is
often described as the first and most complete Morality Play while Everyman is
the best known. Morality Plays differ from Mystery and Miracle in that they
focused neither on The Bible nor the saints but on the common man. The
main character in a Morality Play represents all humanity: Everyman, Mankind,
Humanum Genus. The theme of every Morality Play dealt with the struggle for
salvation – What can man do to be a Christian and save his soul? The main
character must make a conscious decision against temptation to be saved, thus
showing the free will of man. It's the universal battle between good and evil.
It was Vice versus Virtue. Which will mankind choose?
Morality Plays used allegory. Allegory
is often seen in Medieval Drama, where a message or meaning is expressed
through symbolic representation: ideas and values, vices and virtues become
personified. Some examples: the character of Knowledge in Everyman, The
Seven Deadly Sins in The Castle of Perseverance, Mercy and Mischief in Mankind.
And it is remarkable to note that these
Morality plays seeded in themselves, as times passed by, more pronounced
realistic and comic elements which, in the form of Interlude, gave birth to
secular Elizabethan drama.
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