The Plays of George Peele (1556-1596) UGC NET ENGLISH PAPER II, UNIT 1. MODULE 6

Plays of George Peele(1556-1596):
(About Peele: One of the seven university wits - studied at Oxford -a writer of plays, congratulatory  verse and pageant - presenting courtly and patriotic themes- known for his non dramatic blank verse)

1. The Arraignment of Paris (1584):

A pastoral play based on the myth of the judgement of Paris - the nymph Eliza and the phrase "our Zabeta fair" in the play referring to Queen Elizebath for whom the play was written - Story : Three goddesses Juno, the Roman goddess of marriage and finance,  Pallas, the goddess of wisdom and arts,  and Venus, the goddess of love meet at Mount Ida and a golden apple, with an inscription "it is for the most beautiful " is rolled out into their path by Ate, the goddess of Disccord. The three goddesses select the Trojan Prince Paris as umpire who but partially favors Venus who takes him from his wife Oenone. The raged goddesses bring him back to trial before other goddesses, among whom Diana the goddess of hunting, in her judgment, rewards the apple to the nymph Eliza, the most beautiful (representing Queen Elizabeth).

2. Edward I (1593):

A historical play focusing on the conflict between Edward I ( king of England from 1272 to 1307) and Llywelyn ap Gruffud whose rebellion is based on the story of Robin Hood - the Play divided into 23 scenes by Arthur Henry Bullen - Story: The Play mainly focuses on Edward I's fight and victory against Balioll, the King of Scotland and Llywelyn, Prince of Wales, and the death of Queen Elinor who reveals at the death bed that their Prince Edward, though fourth son,  is the only legitimate son to become Edward II.

3. The Battle of Alcazar(1594):

A play in the form of chorus - Abdelmelec is the rightful king of Morocco but his nephew Mully Mahamet also known the black Moor plots to capture the throne and gets the help of Sebastian, the King of Portugal by pretending to be honest. The emperror of East premises to help Abdelmelec. The battle of Alcazar (1578) starts and Abdelmelec is slain but it is concealed by his brother Mully Mahameth Seth to encourage the warriors and eventually Abdelmelec's  troops win and the Moor and Sebastian are killed. The Play ends with the coronation of Mully Mahameth Seth as the King of Morrocco.

4. The Old Wife's Tale (1595):

The Play as the first satire on romantic dramas of the Elizabethan Age - rich in music and magical invocations to influence Shakespeare's plays- resembling Milton's play Comus- Story: Three young men lost in the woods take shelter in the house of the blacksmith Clunch whose old wife Madge entertains the two of the three young men by telling a tale. The tale forms "a play within a play" in which Two young men and their sister are captured by the magician Sacrapant. The knight Euminides saves them from the magician with the help of the ghost of Jack the Giant-Killer whose funeral expense had been cared by the knight.

5. David and Bethsabe (1599):

A play in blank verse based on the biblical  story of David and Bathsheba (2.Samuel.11 and 12) -Story:  David, King of Israel, develops lust for bathing Bethsabe, the wife of Urias who works in David's army. After cunningly killing Urias in the war, having an illicit sick son through Bethsabe,  David marries her and gives birth to Salomon. Meanwhile,  Absalon, son of David kills his half brother Amnon for raping his sister Thamar and also wages war against David for Isarel's throne. Neglecting right advice from his Chief advisor Achitophel, misguided by Cusay, David's advisor, Absalon dies getting his long hair entangled in oak tree while fleeing from father's attack. Forced by Bethsabe and the prophet Nathan, David declares that Salomon be his next heir to the throne.

(Peele's another play "The Troublesome Reign of King John" became model and source for Shakespeare's King John)

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The Plays and Quotes from John Lyly UGC NET ENGLISH PAPER II, UNIT 1. MODULE 5

About University Wits:

1. University wits refers to a group of seven writers in the Elizabethan Age who studied either at Oxford or at Cambridge University.
2. Among them, John Lyly, George Peele and Thomas Lodge studied at Oxford University and Robert Greene, Thomas Nashe and Christopher Marlowe did their graduation at Cambridge University but Thomas Kyd, though included in the group, studied only at the Merchant Taylors School and didn't study at any University.
3. The name University Wits was given to them by the critic George Saintsbury (1845-1933).
4. Heroic themes, heroic treatment, splendid descriptions, long swelling speeches, use of blank verse, classical allusions, and tragic themes are common elements in their plays.
5. Among them, Robert Greene has attacked Shakepeare as an 'upstart crow 'in the pamphlet "Green's Groats- Worth of Wit" generally because it is known that all university wits didn't like the rise of actor-playwrights like Shakespeare who had no university education.

The Plays of John Lyly (1554-1606):
(About LYLY: best known for his prose romance "Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit " , first part in 1578 and second part "Euphues and his England" in 1580 - Euphues exemplifying the demoralised Italian society,  by using his wit for pleasures of wickedness rather than for the honors of virtues - Euphuism, referring to highly formalized distinct ornate style of writing to express the intelligence and wit of the speaker- his plays,  usually played by Children of the Chapel to the courtly people - known for attractive lyrics such as "Cupid and my Campaspe played" - Edward de Vere as his patron to whom the second part of Euphues dedicated )

1. Campaspe(1584)

A prose Comedy - theme : Alexander's victory over himself - Story: Campaspe is a beautiful Theban captive of Alexander the Great who, attracted by her beauty,  asks Apelles, a great painter to paint her portrait. Both Apelles and Campaspe fall in love with each other before the painting is completed. Alexander,  after discovering this,  leaves her to Apelles and returns to conquests by saying,  "It were shame Alexander should desire to command the world, if he could not command himself". The remaining part of the Play deals with Alexander's meeting with great philosophers such as Diogenes, Aristotle and Plato.

2. Sapho and Phao (1584):

A prose Comedy - first play to have allegorical reference to Queen Elizabeth, portraying her as virgin queen - Sapho representing Queen Elizabeth and Phao, standing for Duke of Alencon, Leicester who wooed the queen in vain till 1582 and left England for ever - Story : Sapho is the queen of Sicily and Phao, a ferryman,  but both are endowed with great beauty.  First Sapho's beautiful waiting women court him in vain.  Sapho and Phao both love at first sight but Venus, accidently struck by Cupid's arrows also falls in love with Phao. Venus requests her husband Vulcan and son Cupid to set right her issue.  Cupid makes Sapho forget Phao but lost in Sapho's charms,  in confusion, makes Phao disdainful of Venus. The Play ends with the disappointment of Phao who leaves Sicily for ever and Cupid stays with Sapho eternally.

3.Endymion, the Man in the Moon (1588):
An allegorical prose comedy loosely based on the myth of Endymion - Cynthia (moon), referring to Queen Elizabeth , Endymion, representing Leicester,  and Tellus (earth), standing for Mary, the queen of Scotland - a play in 5 acts,  with a prologue,  epilogue and dumb show or comic reliefs at the end of each act - Story: Endymion loves Cynthia in vain but her servant Tellus loves him with frustrations.  With the aid of the sorceress Dipsas, Tellus makes him fall in deep sleep for ever. Cynthia offended by Tellus puts her in prison and sends her lords Eumenides, Zontes and Panelion to Thesaly to find a remedy for Endymion. Taking the advantage of Corcites' love for her,  Tellus tries to bring Endymion to her but it's of no avail. After 40 years,  Zontes and Panelion bring Pythagoras and a soothsayer but their attempts to bring endymion back to life are thwarted.  Eumenides brings a solution and accordingly with a kiss from Cynthia, Endymion is brought back to consciousness and his youth is also restored. Tellus begs forgiveness and marries Corcites. Even the Sorceress Dipsas repents and abandons witchcraft.

4. Gallathea (1592):
A comedy by Lyly, the first play to present the theme of cross-dressing, women appearing in male's disguise - Story : A village near Lincolnshire, every five years once sacrifices the fairest virgin to respond to the curse of Neptune, the sea God.  To save Gallathea and Phillida, their fathers Tyterus and Melebeus send them to nearby Woods dressed in male's attire. Both girls falls in love with each other,  taking the other to be a young guy. On the other side,  Cupid is captivated by Diana for making her nymphs with his arrows to love disguised Gallathea and Phillida. The cheated and raged Neptune however withdraws his curse as a compensation for the release of Cupid. Even after realizations,  both girls still love and Venus decides to convert anyone of them into a guy. The shipwrecked three miller's sons and Raffe, Robin and Dicke and women in male's attire greatly influenced Shakespeare for his later plays.

5. Midas (1592):

A play based on the legend of Midas, King of Phrygia as in Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book XI - Story first part deals with how Midas is gifted with a boon of golden touch from Bacchus, the God of wine and how, after realizing his mistake,  gets relieved of it by taking a bath in the river of  Pactolus suggested by Baccus. The Second part treats how Midas got Ass's ears cursed by Appolo for favoring Pan on the judgement in the musical competition between them. Suggested by his daughter Sophronia after her visit to Delphi where Appolo's oracle is, King Midas goes there,  repents and gets cured of his auricular affliction and decides not to invade the island of Lesbos, the desire that tempted him with greed. The comic plot focuses on Motto, the barber of Midas who loses the golden beard of Midas to his Pages for making them calm not to reveal tihis spread of news of King's Ass ears to the public.

6. Mother Bombie (1594)

The only realistic play in which Lyly does not use classical allusions but deals with contemporary rustic life - Mother Bombie doesn't play any role on the stage but functions like a chorus advising characters and predicting events,  calling herself "cunning woman" - Story : Memphio and Stellio are rich fathers but have a foolish son Accius and a daughter Selina respectively. On the other side,  Candius and Livia are lovers but their fathers Sperantus and Prisius want their children to marry the rich Accius and Selina respectively.  The complication arises when the fools and lovers are disguised as their counterparts. The old nurse Vicinia but says in the climax that the fools are her son and daughter and the rich men's real offspring brought up by her, Maestius and Serena are not fools and they love each other, thinking their love is incestuous.  Finally fathers leave marriage to the idea of their children and the play has happy ending.

7. The Woman in the Moon (1597):

The only blank verse play from Lyly - theme: the struggle of shepherds in Utopia due to the nature a woman from Nature - The Play as a satire on woman and a typical example for male Chauvinism and sexism - Story : The time of the play is set in before the creation of woman as in Greek mythology.  The goddess Nature accompanied by her maiden Concord and Discord  creates the first woman by breathing life into a clothed statue at the request of shepherds on the pastoral Earth.  The woman named as Pandora receives gifts from seven planets who but decide to rule her one after another to show their malevolent power. Thus, influenced by Saturn, Pandora beats the kissed shepherds in melancholy mood and under the spell of Jupiter burns with ambition and vanity and drives the shepherds into competition of hunting a boar and winning her glove. Next is Mar's turn. Pandora now makes the shepherds quarrelsome and defeats them all with a spear.  Under Sun's power, she chooses the shepherd Stesias to marry and under Mercury, grows more false and cunning. Venus brings romantic interventions and finally controlled by Luna(moon), Pandora grows mad and now no shepherd wants her anymore. The seven planets compete to take her to heaven but Pandora selects Luna (representing mind) and Nature punishes Stesias for getting carried away by others' opinions and curses him to be Pandora's slave and follow her wherever she goes.

8. Love's Metamophosis (1601):

An allegorical pastoral poem - known sources : Ovid's Metamorphosis and Greene's pamphlet known as Greene's Metamorphosis - strikingly lacking comic elements and the usual witty pages-Ceres in the play referring to Elizebath-  Story: Three nymphs of Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture Nisa, Celia and Niobe are changed into a rock,  rose and bird by cupid  for not responding to the love of three shepherds Ramis, Moutanus and Silvestris. In the subplot, a rude peasant Erisichthon is transformed into a nymph Fidelia and punished by Ceres with famine for cutting a holy tree. His daughter Protea first sold to a merchant, escapes with her prayer to Neptune and gets the favor of Cupid by saving her lover Petulius from a Siren, a dangerous sea creature after getting disguised as the ghost of Ulysses. Finally both Ceres and Cupid release their spell on captives in a truce between them. Now the Three nymphs agree to marry the shepherds and the play ends with quadruple marriages.

Famous Quotes from Lyly:
1. All is fair in love and war.

"Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit"

2. Children and fools speak true.

"Endymion"

3. It is the eye of the master that fatteth the horse, and the love of the woman that maketh the man.

"Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit"

4. Fish and Guests in three days are stale.

Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit

5. A heat full of coldness, a sweet full of bitterness, a pain full of pleasantness, which maketh thoughts have eyes, and hearts, and ears; bred by desire, nursed by delight, weaned by jealousy, killed by dissembling, buried by ingratitude; and this is love.

"Gallathea"

6. The wound that bleedeth inward is most dangerous.

"Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit"

7. Time draweth wrinkles in a fair face,

but addeth fresh colours to a fast friend,
which neither heat, nor cold, nor misery,
nor place, nor destiny, can alter or diminish.
"Endymion, the Man in the Moon"

8. [Beauty is] a delicate bait with a deadly hook;
a sweet panther with a devouring paunch, a sour poison
in a silver pot.
"Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit"

9. Instruments sound sweetest when they be touched softest,
women wax wisest, when they be used mildest.
"Euphues and his England"

10. The measure of life is not by its length but by honesty. 
"Endymion, the Man in the Moon"


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Introduction to Dramas in Elizabethan and Jacobean Age (1550-1625) UGC NET ENGLISH PAPER II, UNIT 1. MODULE 4

Introduction to Elizabethan and Jacobean  Drama:

1. Forty-five years of the rule of Elizabeth I (1558-1603), and twenty-three years of the rule of James I (1603-1625) is considered as golden period of literature 
2. Queen Elizabeth herself was a poet,  orator and a patron of arts and further geographical and scientific discoveries influenced literature. 
3. Though poetry flourished,  drama was the dominant genre and many theatres were established -The Theater (1576), The Rose (1587),  The Swan (1595),  The Globe (1599) and Blackfriars Theatre(1596).
4. Elizabethan dramas broke away the convention of religious plays such as mystery and morality plays and popularised comedies and tragedies. 
5. Elizabethan dramas used five foot iambic pentameter (pairs of syllables unstressed followed by stressed syllables) 
6. Colonization of Americans with Walter Raleigh's excursions to the Atlantic and Sir Francis Drake's circumnavigation of the World and other discoveries  provided  rich sources for drama, poetry and prose.
7. Elezabethan dramas are chiefly divided into three categories: Tragedies, Comedies and History Plays
8. Play within a play, revenge themes as in Kyd's plays,  Comedy of humours as in Ben Jonson's plays, supernatural elements, soliloquy, masquerades and fools as in Shakespeare's plays were common elements in Elizabethan dramas

The First English Comedy: Ralph Roister Doister(1552)

Written by Nicholas Udall - Inspired by and resembling the comedies of Roman Dramatists Plautus and Terrence -Story:  Roister, prompted by mischievous Merygreeke woos in vain
the Christian widow Custance who is but already betrothed to an absent merchant Gawin Goodlucke.  While pompous attempts fail,  Roister plans to take away Custance by force but again fails and get driven away by her maids. The play ends with the return and reconciliation of Goodlucke with Custance.

The Second English Comedy : Gammer Gurton's Needle (1566)

Attributed to John Still or William Stevenson - First acted at Christ's College, Cambridge - consisting of the famous drinking song: "Back and side go bare, go bare, both foot and hand go cold/ But belly God and their good ale enough, whether it be new or old" - Theme: The discovery of the lost needle - Story: Gammer Gurton is an old woman who loses her needle while mending the breeches of her servant Hodge. The search for the needle by maid Tib and servant boy Cock, the arrival of the clown Diccon the Bedlam and his blame on Gammer's friend Dame Chat all lead to fuss and laughter. Dame Chat's maid Doll, Master Baily, and his servant Scapethrift add further humour to the play. Finally, Hodge hit by Diccon painfully remembers the needle left by Gammer Gurton in his breech itself.

First English Tragedy : Gorboduc (1561)

First three acts written by Thomas Norton and the next two by Thomas Sackville - modeled on Senecan tragedy - derived from the legendary chronicles of England - Gorboduc, also appearing in Spenser's Farie Queene - the play praised by Sidney in his Defense of Poetry as "full of stately speeches and well sounding phrases" - no action on the stage,  the story getting narrated in blank verse.
Summary of the Play : The two sons of Gorboduc (Ferrex and Porrex)  fight against each other in sharing the kingdom.   Porrex kills the elder brother Ferrex and is in turn revenged by the mother Videna. The raged people murder both the King and the Queen.  The Duke of Albany among other dukes Cornwall,  Logres and Cumberland tries to seize the throne and the civil war breaks out.  Deciding over the next king is left to the Parliament.

English Dramas in the Age of Revival (1400-1550)- UGC NET ENGLISH PAPER II UNIT 1, MODULE 3

Plays of Henry Medwall (1462-1502):

1.  Fulgens and Lucrece (1497) :

• Importance of the Play: first play written in vernacular language, first secular play in English literature,  first play to introduce a sub plot,  also first play to give importance to woman character - the play is but in debate form.

• Theme : Can nobility be with a common man? 

• Story: Lucrece, the daughter of a senator named Fulgens is wooed by an idle but man of high rank Publius Cornelius and a common but studious man Gaius Flaminius. Both debate to prove their worthiness to Lucrece  who finally chooses Gaius for his honest love for her,  in spite of the wealth and charms of Cornelius. 

• Subplot : The comic subplot deals with the debate between A and B, the servants of Cornelius and Gaius  to win the hand of Joan,  the handmaid of Lucrece. 

2. Nature: It is a morality play  by Medwall, dealing with the conflict between Virtues and Vices, with Nature as important personified character - published without name and date.

3. Of the Finding of Truth : An interlude by Medwall, best known as the first play to introduce fool that is to be popularized by Shakespeare later.

The Plays of John Rastell (1475-1536)

(About John Rastell : The First printer. of music,  playwright,  Member of parliament,  brother in law of Thomas More)

1. Four Elements (1520):  an interlude as well as a morality play- Theme: the conflict between good and evil - The four elements are Nature,  Studious,  Desire and Experience - Story : Nature,  the teacher of Humanity directs her subordinates to instruct Physics and Geography to Humanity but tempted by Ignorance and Sensual Appetite with a Taverner,  Humanity is carried away from his study to indulge in food, dance,  singing,  women,  drinking in a tavern,  and the play ends with the acknowledgment of guilt by Humanity and his repentance for the same.

2. Other Works of John Rastell:

• The Past time of People, Chronicles of the Realms of England (1529) : not a play but a chronicle dealing with the history from the earliest time to the time of Richard III
• Calisto and Melibea: Story: Based on a Spanish play, it deals with how Calisto develops his affair with Melibea with the help of Celestina,  an archetype character of procuress.  Their aim is love and sex,  not marriage.  The play,  in the form of dialogue,  ends with the death of Calisto in accident and eventual suicide of Melibea.
• Gentleness and Nobility(1525 to 1527) : The play presents a debate about nobility among three representatives of society,  A Knight of aristocratic birth,  a Merchant and a Plowman - much debate and little action.

The Plays of John Bale (1495 - 1563):

(About John Bale: the first dramatist to write a historical verse play on the life of King John - nicknamed as 'bilious Bale'and 'foul mouthed Bale' for his quarrelsome nature  - attracted and supported by Cromwell for his morality plays - best known as Bishop of Ossory rather than as a dramatist, though he is supposed to have written 24 plays, and 5 of them to have survived)

1. King Johan(1538): 

first historical verse play as well as morality play - the play as protestant propaganda -  based on the story of King John who ruled England in the 13th C. - first performed before King Henry VIII and later revised for the performance before Elizabeth - theme : King John 's fight against Roman Catholic and the Church of England Story: England, personified as a widow seeks the help of King John to get back her husband God who is driven out of her by Sedition. King's fight against Sedition and his companions Dissimulation,  Church,  Private Wealth and Usurped Power is of no avail.  The young son of England is also impoverished and blind.  Even his supporters Clergy,  Nobility and Civil Order leave him.  The another supporter Commonality,  the young son of England is also impoverished and blind.  Though the king is thus helpless,  he defies Pope and finally get assassinated by Sedition.

Other Works of John Bale: Though John Bale is known for his other works A Summary of Famous Writers of Great Britain,  Wales and Scotland,  and The Images of Two Churches(a detailed commentary on book of revelation) ,  they are not plays.

The Plays of  Niccolo Machiavelli (1469- 1527):

(About Machiavelli: an Italian playwright and historian of Florence -fsther of Modern Political Science - known for his Discourses on The First Ten Books of Titus, Florentine Histories, seven books on The Art of War and the greatest political treatise The Prince which is repeatedly pointed out in Elizebethan dramas, appreciated by Bacon and Marlowe - known for Machiavellian villains and anti-heroes - Machiavelli, himself appearing in Marlowe's Jew of Malta and George Eliot's Romola - a comedy entitled with his name Machiavelli by Richard Vetere)

1. The Mandrake ( or Mandragola): first performed in 1526 during carnival season - the action of the play set in 1504, at the time of Florentine Republic, covers 24 hours - Story: the hero Callimaco desires to sex with Lucrezia, the young beautiful daughter of an old fool Nicia who longs for a heir. Callimaco succeeds in persuading Nicia to drug Lucrezia with the hypnotic plant Mandrake that, as he warns, would improve fertility of Lucrezia but would kill  the first man who has sex with her. Convinced by her mother and husband, the innocent Lucrezia breaks her marriage vows as a divine plan and allows the disguised Callimaco to fulfill his desire, but only to take him as a permanent lover later.
The Plays of John Heywood (1497-1580):
(About Heywood : poet and playwright - used in his plays narrative and debate,  Not action and plot - a royal servant of Henry VIII,  Richard VI,  Mary I and Elizabeth I )

1. Johan Johan the Husband (1533) :
Summary : Tyb,  the wife of John John makes him a cuckold by having an affair with local priest Sir John who is invited for a supper and there too the wife sends her husband to fetch water,  repair the bucket so as to bed with Sir John.  Hero,  finally weakened throws both of them out only to watch again whether they are still the same out.

2.  The Play of Weather (1533):
Summary : Roman good Jupiter descends to England to know the ideal weather from citizens of all walks of life by directly accessing Gentleman and Merchant and getting reported by his messenger Merry Report about the views of other tradesmen - Ranger,  Water Miller,  Wind Miller,  Gentle Woman,  Laundress,  Young Boy.
Each one asks for a particular weather all round the year that will favor their trade. Jupiter declares the weather to continue as it was earlier so that no trade man will be affected and all will get at least sometimes to recreate and relax.

3. A Play of Love(1534):
An interlude in debate form dealing with pains and pleasures of love - Story : Lover Not Loved and Loved Not a Lover debate the pains of their love whereas Lover Loved and Neither Lover Nor Loved argue about the the supremacy of the pleasures of their love. Two strange judges who are couples declare that all love is inferior to divine love whatever the pleasure may be.

4. The Four Ps or PP (1544):
The tradesmen -Palmer,  Pardoner and Pothecary argue who among them is best and would go to heaven.  The fourth trader Peddler suggests a competition - the one who tells the greatest lie will be the best.  Seeing each one simply argue endlessly, the peddler asks them tell an incredible story to win the competition.  Pardoner tells a story of how he went to hell to save a woman who needed the help of priest.   Pothecary says of how he made a sick woman to fly and attack a castle by igniting gun powder with her.  Palmer says,  he has never seen a woman without patience during his pilgrimage, and wins the competition.

Other Works of John Heywood : a play written before 1533 The Merry play between Pardoner and Friar,   a play in the form of dialogue "Witty and Witless ", a satirical poem The Spider and the Fly (1556)

The Origin of English Drama, Mystery Plays, Miracle Plays and Morality Plays - UGC NET ENGLISH PAPER II UNIT 1, MODULE 2

The Origin of English Drama:

1. Drama originating in Greece, performed as religious rites to Dionysus, the God of Wine and Religious Ecstasy
2.  Aeschylus (father of Tragedy, only seven out of seventy of his plays survived), Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes and Menander as great dramatists of ancient Greece
3. The Persians as the earliest surviving Greek Tragedy by Aeschylus, winning first prize in Athens City Dionysia Festival in 472 BC
4. The Oresteia , a trilogy of Greek tragedies  by Aeschylus in the 5th century BC - dealing with the murder of Agamemnon by Clytemnestra, the murder of Clytemnestra by Orestes and the trial of Orestes - winning first prize in the same festival in 472 BC
5. Drama, then nurtured by Roman Empire in between 27 BC and 476 AD
6. Seneca, the Roman Stoic Philosopher and dramatist as the greatest master of that time - his nine plays as inspirations for the dramatists from England later - Phaedra produced before 54 C.E as his best drama
7. in the Medieval ages, Churches performing liturgical dramas based on biblical themes - Whom Do You Seek? as the earliest Medieval trope in 925
8. Hrostsvitha, the female dramatist in the 10th C, writing 6 dramas following Roman dramatist Terence's Comedies
9. The Play of Adam as the 12th C liturgical drama in Anglo Norman dialect dealing with the story of Adam and Eve and that of Adam's first two sons Cain and Abel
10. Robin and Marion (1282) as the earliest French secular play 

Mystery Plays, Miracle Plays and Morality Plays:

Mystery Plays: 

1. The term mystery derived from the term mestier that refers to the trade of the actors, not literally any mystery
2. Based on the events from the Bible from Creation to Ascension
3. Performed from 13th to late 16th C.
4. Usually performed on the occasion of Corpus Christi Day that refers to Thursday after Trinity Sunday
5. Each play, performed on a cart moving through the city, each cycle taking upto 24 hours and thus taking many days to complete a cycle - Only three cycles to have survived: York Cycle (48 plays), Chester Cycle (25 plays) and Towneley or Wakefield Plays (32 plays) - cycles named after the places where they were performed
6. Second Shepherds'Play as the best Mystery Play - dealing with sheep stealing by Mak and his wife who are put in trial by the shepherds Coll, Gib and Daw - Angel calling the shepherds to go to Bethlehem to see the new born Jesus -the theme: two fold nature of man's mundane life on Earth and the spiritual life

Miracle Plays:

1. a subdivision of mystery play, based on the miracles and lives of Saints in the Bible
2. The Conversion of St.Paul and the Play of Sacrament (written in East Midland dialect in 1461) as best examples of Miracle Plays

Morality Plays:

1. performed in the 15th C. with personified human qualities known as allegories 
2. The Castle of Perseverance (1425) as the earliest surviving complete Morality Play written in 3700 lines - one of the three plays forming a group called Macro plays ( the other two plays: Mankind and Wisdom) - divided into 4 parts deals with a battle between virtues and vices -  Story: man born in the castle of perseverance, becomes a servant to World who sends him to Seven Deadly Sins. Man after punished by Penance takes refuge in the castle again. Influenced by Backbiter, man's enemies World, Flesh and Devil try to siege the castle. Avarice succeeds in bringing back man to the worldly pleasures. At the advent of death, Man cries for Mercy. Though taken to Hell first, the four daughters of God, Truth,Justice, Peace and Mercy debate his case before God and brings Man to Heaven.
3. Everyman written in 921 lines between 1509 and 1519, as the best morality play- Popular lines: "Everyman, I will go with thee and by thy guide/ In thy most need to go by thy side" - Story: Every man neglecting Good Deeds in the beginning realises at the arrival of Death that his friends Fellowship, Kindred, Cousin  and Goods cannot come with him, but only Good Deeds.
4. Magnificence (1519) written by John Skelton in 2500 lines as the first political morality play - Story: Magnificience, the prince is wrongly guided by Liberality and Bad Counsellors is redeemed at the end by Good Hope and Perseverance - The play as a veiled attack on cardinal Wolsey.

INTRODUCTION TO DRAMA AND KINDS OF DRAMA - UGC NET ENGLISH PAPER II UNIT 1, MODULE 1

The Origin of Drama

1. Drama, drived from the word "chan" meaning "to perform" or "action on stage"
2. Definition: presentation of events on the stage through actions and dialogue
3. Originated from Greece in 5th Century BC
4. Greek dramas, based on religious  rites to Dionysus, God of life, death, wine and fertile earth
5. Whom Do You Seek Easter Trope as the earliest drama performed in 925

Classification of Drama:

SIX Types of Drama: Comedy, Tragedy, Melodrama, Tragic-Comedy, Farce,   and Opera

1. Comedy: dealing with brighter side of man's life and having happy endings 

• Sub divisions of Comedy: 
•  Romantic comedy (usually dealing with the tribulations and reunion of young lovers as in Much Ado About Nothing and A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare) 
• comedy of humours(concerned with one of the four humours dominating individual passion and man's nature as in Ben Jonson's Volpone and The Alchemist) the four humours: blood, phlegm, choler and melancholy or black choler
• comedy of manners (also known as anti-sentimental comedy and Restoration comedy satirising social standards and manners as in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest)
• Sentimental Comedy (As a reaction to the immorality of Restoration Comedy, dealing with the noble sentiments of man to bring him back to the moral path as in The Conscious Lovers by Richard Steele)
• The First Comedy Play in Verse: Ralph Roister Doister by Nicholas Udall performed in 1552
• The Second Comedy Play in Verse: Gammer Gurton's Needle by John Still and William Stevenson performed in 1566
• The First Comedy in Prose: Supposes by Gascoigne performed in 1566

2.Tragedy: dealing with darker side of man's life and having sad endings, especially with the death of protagonist - tragedy arising from the tragic flaws of protagonists or through the mysterious workings of fate - targeting sympathy, terror and purification (catharsis) of  the viewers -Aristotle's Poetics, defining the characteristics of tragedy - the fall of great men as common theme in tragedy 

• Sub divisions of Tragedy:
•  Revenge Tragedy: mostly influenced by Seneca, dealing with the hero's quest for revenge - murder taking place on the stage, in stead of getting reported - Kid's Spanish Tragedy performed in 1587 as the best example - Marlowe's The Jew of Malta, Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus and The Middleton's The Revenger's Tragedy, other examples
• Neo-classsical Tragedy: the imitation of great writers of Greek and Roman tragedies, especially observing  the three unity of time, place and action - John Dryden's All For Love (1678) as the best example of Neo-classical Tragedy
• Closet Tragedies : tragedies not meant for the stage - Milton's "Samson Agonistes" and Byron's Manfred as fine examples
• The First English Tragedy written in blank verse: Gorboduc or Ferrex and Porrex (1561) by Thomas Norton (three acts) and Thomas Sackville (two acts) in collaboration. 

3. Melodrama (musical plays) : melo, meaning music - a drama with extensive use of music, popular in the19th C. - hero suffering in the hands of villain throughout but triumphing at the end as the nature of melodrama - virtue at distress as the main theme -Jerrold's Black Ey'd Susan (1829) and Boucicault's The Colleen Been (1860) as  typical examples

4. Tragic-Comedy: mixture of comic and tragic elements - aiming comic relief by introducing  comic characters in between two tragic scenes - first introduced by the Italian dramatists Cinzio and Guarani - popularised in England in 17th C by Beaumont and Fletcher in collaboration in "Philaster " (1608-9)- Shakespeare's dark comedies The Merchant of Venice, The Winter's Tale and Measure for Measure as other best examples of Tragic Comedy 

5. Farce: the word derived from French 'farce' meaning "stuffing" - Morton's Box and Cox(1847), Pinero's  The Magistrate(1885) and The School Mistress (1886) as good examples -unlike comedy, a humorous play dealing  with trivial theme well known to the audience - consisting of ridiculous situations,  mistaken identity, change of costume of genders as chief elements - farces arising from marital misadventures known as bedroom farces. 

6. Opera: The form derived from the reciting style by some intellectuals at Medici court in Florence - associated with the musical tradition of Mozart and Beehoven and with music composers of Donizetti,  Rossini and Puccini - mostly having secular themes - Like comedy and tragedy having grand themes and subjects but presenting them through music and dance - the inner feelings of characters expressed through music and dance, not through dialogue - La Boheme by Puccini and Falstaff by Verdi as typical examples of Opera - difference : in 'masque' as in A Midsummer Night's Dream,  music is ornamental but in opera,  essential part - The first opera, Orfeo(1607)by Monteverdi - the first English opera: The Siege of Rhodes (1656) by Sir William D' Avenant (but music part not surviving)  - The First opera with the survival of music: John Blow's Venus and Adonis (1684) - Benjamin Britten,  W. H. Auden and E. M. Forster as great composers of opera of the 20th Century.