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.