Renaissance literature- origin of English drama

                                   

              M.K.BHAVNAGAR UNIVERSITY

                DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH

NAME                             :- Parmar Milankumar L.

ROLL NO                       :- 16

ENROLLMENT NO     :- 14101026

SEMESTER                  :-   1^st

COURSE NAME           :-  Renaissance Literature

ASSIGNMENT TOPIC :-Origin And Rise Of Drama In    

                                            England                  

SUBMITTED TO           :- Department of English

                                             Smt.S.B.Gardi
                                             M.K.B.University

vOrigin Of The Drama

vWhat is drama?

                   Drama is literary composition, which is performed by professional actors on stage for theatre, before an audience. It involves actions conflicts, and particular theme. Eye-catching make-up, facial expressions and body language of the artists are prominent features of a live performance. Although the art from exist in different countries, Drama in England deserves special mention, because some of the legendary dramatists, including William Shakespeare are associated with it. “

vDefinition of Drama:-

                   According to the Dryden Drama is “Just and lively image of human nature, it representing its passion and humors and changer of fortune to which it is subjected for the delight and instruction of mankind.” Though the definition of drama by Dryden was given much later but it justifies the drama so I quoted it here. 

vOrigin Of English Drama:-

Very early in the Christian centuries were the beginnings of the religious play in France. They appeared in England soon after Norman Conquest and in their amplified form there sacred drama were known as mystery and miracle plays. There plays represented the lives of the saints and scene from the Christ stories from an old testament associated with the coming Messiah. The earlier miracle in England was the ‘Ludus de Sancta Kathurian’ which was performed about the year 1100. Though miracle plays ere distinctly religious in character, yet they were not without fun and humor which was provided by realistic portrayal of character for example, the character of Noah’s quarrelsome wife, the tyrant herald and the devil.

vBackground and origin of English Drama

v Emergence:- 

The Romans introduced drama to England, during medieval period. A number of auditorium were constructed for the performance of the art form, when it came to the country, Murmur’s play associated with the Morris dance, became a popular form of street theatre during the period. The performance were based on old stories of saint George, Robin hood and Dragon, the artists moved from town to town, to perform these folk tales. They were given money and hospitality, in return for their performance. The mystery and morality play performed during medieval period at religion festivals, carried the Christian theme.

vContribution of Church in development of English drama:-       

It is rightly said that “the origins of drama have always been deeply rooted in the religious instinct of mankind”. Infect churches became cradle of English drama. In the middle age church had a significant role in the life of community.

                   In order to preach the ignorance mass people the clergy seemed eager to show them scriptural story in visible from during special festivals as in Christmas or faster. The services of the church were in Latin and few could understand them. 

                   During the 10^th century the Gospel stories being illustrated by the series of lively pictures in which the performers acted the story in the dumb shows and in the next agate spoke as well as acted the parts. The actors were monk, priests, choir boys in the service of the church. The plays were performed inside the church. After the Norman conquest in place of Latin, the liturgical play followed the French pattern and finally in the place of French, vernacular English was used as the language

After the conquest crowds became more interested and they started throng inside the church.as a result the churchyard opened and finally drama came to the open market place. The organization had begun to pass from ecclesial to lay hands.

The growing secularization the drama is reflected in an edict of 1220 forbidding clergy to take part in the plays.

vDevelopment of drama in various Stages :-

v Mystery And Miracle plays:- The early Miracle plays of England were divided into two classes: the first, given at Christmas, included all plays connected with the birth of Christ; the second, at Easter, included the plays relating to his death and triumph.  

                          Earliest species of the drama are known as Mystery and Miracles plays.it has long been the fashion to call the Biblical plays mystery and those dealing with saints lives Miracles. The division has come from France though this kind of plays were performed at church, gradually through the hands of notable cycles they come to the open market, all the cycles more or less took the materials from the episodes from old and new testaments. Their aim was to reveal to the common crowd the entire story of the humane world from the creation to the resurrection. The production of these plays rather crude. There was a very few scenery and the dramatic effect, the dramatic effect was mainly brought out by means of some symbols. The actors were almost amateur, but the audience was very responsive to the appeal of the play.

in England the Morality was a dreary kind of performance, like the allegorical poetry which preceded it. To enliven the audience the devil of the Miracle plays was introduced; and another lively personage called the Vice was the predecessor of our modern clown and jester. His business was to torment the "virtues" by mischievous pranks, and especially to make the devil's life a burden by beating him with a bladder or a wooden sword at every opportunity.

v Guilds and Cycles :-

From the clergy, control first passed to religious and social guilds and then to the trade guilds under the general control of the council of the town. The guilds were generally wealthy and out of rivalry become responsible for the production.

The four guilds were generally known as Chester cycle, York cycle, wake-field cycle and Coventry cycle. The name of the cycles derives from the name of the towns. Gradually the extension of cycles led to the evolution of the ambulatory (moveable) in which the play was performed on the two decked cart or pageant. The pageant consisted of one closed room, which served both as hell and a tiring room and second storey open to the sky   on which the action was performed.

For such outdoor formation only summer festivals were suitable. Most of the plays of the different cycle begun to attach themselves to the feast of Corpus Christi which fell in May or June when the weather was likely to be good and the hour of daylight were long.

                    Now, let’s discuss how much cycles did their best for the development of the drama with the help of their productions written by anonymous author.

vYork cycle:-

it consist of forty eight plays but , according to the record fifty one were acted they were performed from the fourteenth to sixteenth century, the plays were written in the northurian dialect. They had dramatic life and were on the whole reverent in the tone. The thing that is noticeable in _Cursor Mundi_, which, with the York and Wakefield cycles, belongs to the fourteenth century. At first the actors as well as the authors of the Miracles were the priests and their chosen assistants  the plays deal with creation of the world, fall of Lucifer, fall of man, Cain and Able, life of Christ , crucifixion.

vWakefield Cycle :-

simply known as the town plays. The plays were acted at Wood kirk near wake field. In all the plays the devil is a favorite character and the butt of every joke. The plays are entitled as Tawny hall in Lancashire. The cycle consists of thirty two plays. The most important play of this cycle is “shepherd’s” play which is supposed to be the first farce in English. The usual series of plays follows Noah, Abraham and Isaac, Jacob and Esau, Crucifixion, the visit of wise man, etc. here are some lines from shepherd’s play,

As I out rode this enderes (last) night,

Of three jolly shepherds I saw a sight,

And all about their fold a star shone bright;

They sang _terli terlow_,

So merryly the shepherds their pipes can blow.

Down from heaven, from heaven so high,

Of angels there came a great companye

With mirth, and joy, and great solemnitye;

They sang _terli terlow_,

So merryly the shepherds their pipes can blow.

These above lines are from shepherds play and was vary popular in that time.

vChaster Cycle :-

it consist of twenty five plays, they are more serious and didactic in purpose. The plays were acted by the trade companies of the city on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday in Whitsun weak from 1268 to 1577and again in 1600. Some important plays by this cycles are ‘the sacrifice of Isaac, fall of Lucifer, The Deluge, Balaam and ass, etc.

vThe Coventry cycle:-

it consist of forty two plays. All the forty two were not performed in one year. The custom was to perform the first 28 plays in one year and the remaining in the next year. The plays were acted at Coventry on festival of corpus christi.

vMorality plays:-

                    Basically nothing is exactly known regarding the transition of English drama from the mystery and miracles to the moralities. It is so named because of its association with some moral or ethical instruction. a morality is kind of allegorical plays.  The characters are the personified abstraction like mankind, mercy, justice, peace, vice, death, beauty, etc. the play is concentrated with the conflict between good and evil over the passion of human soul. It generally ends with the triumph of virtue and good the devil leaping into hell-mouth with Vice on his back. Like the Miracle plays, most of the old Moralities are of unknown date and Origin The remarkable morality plays are “Everyman, The castle of perseverance, "Pride of Life," "Hycke scorner,"  Tree estate. Etc.

vThe Interludes :-

the last predecessor of the regular drama in England was the interlude which flourished in the middle of the 16^th century. It had several distinguished points. (1) it was short play, that introduced real characters, usually of humble rank, such as citizens and friar.(2) there was an absent of allegorical figures, there was much broad farcical humor, often course and there were set scenes a new feature in the English drama.(3) it would be observed that the interlude was great advance upon the morality play. sometimes given by themselves(usually with music and singing) at banquets and entertainments where a little fun was wanted; and again slipped into a Miracle play to enliven the audience after a solemn scene.The interlude aimed at amusement and entertainment. The most notable interlude is John Haywood’s “the four p’s”

vThe four p’s:-

It is written in doggerel verse. It describes a lying match between a Paddler, a Palmer, and a Poticary. Each one makes a trial of their skill in that direction. The Poticary tells the story of his visits to purgatory and to hell to recover a lost soul. Finally the Palmer tells that he has travelled through many towns and cites throughout christen. He has seen five hundred thousand women yet in all the places he had never seen or heard of any women out of patience. Finally the Palmer is awarded the prize.

vThe Play of The Weather:-

Another interesting Interlude is called "The Play of the Weather." In this Jupiter and the gods assemble to listen to complaints about the weather and to reform abuses. Naturally everybody wants his own kind of weather. The climax is reached by a boy who announces that a boy's pleasure consists in two things, catching birds and throwing snowballs, and begs for the weather to be such that he can always do both. Jupiter decides that he will do just as he pleases about the weather, and everybody goes home satisfied. All these early plays were written, for the most part, in a mingling of prose and wretched doggerel, and add nothing to our literature. Other interludes are Johan, the play weather, the husband, etc.

vN. B. corpus Christi :-

It is great Roman Catholic festival. It became popular when the pop granted ‘pardon’ to the performance and threatened excommunication of those who should interfere with the performance. Corpus Christi play was ambulatory one where the performance on the stage which moved along the selected roads with the crowd assembled all along the rout. It gave birth to different types of expression to the religious themes from creation to the last judgment. In different wagons different scenes shown. Banner bearers road about in advance, reading about banners which announced the subject matter of the scene. Spectators were thronged in form nearby villages and thus the play flourished. The term came to be applied to any play which represents passion and resurrection at any date.

vClassical Influence Upon Drama:-

Influence of French literature upon English drama was notable. In the fifteenth century in order to increase interest of Latin the teachers were suggest their boys to perform the plays which they were studying or read as literature. The influence of Saneca over English tragedy is huge one. He was favorite author of that time and most of his tragedies were translated in English between 1559 to 1581.during that time the English dramatists were trying to cultivate their ideas of drama. This became a model before them  so they imitate it and started to write drama.

vArtistic Period of Drama (Renaissance Period) :-

The artistic period is the final stage in the development of English drama. The artistic is the final stage in the development of the English drama. It differs radically from the other two in that its chief purpose is not to point a moral but to represent human life as it is. The artistic drama may have purpose, no less than the Miracle play, but the motive is always subordinate to the chief end of representing life itself. The artistic drama developed during renaissance time or the great revival of interest in Latin literature.

vEarliest English Comedy:-

The first true play in English, with a regular plot, divided into acts and scenes, is probably the comedy, "Ralph Royster Doyster." It was written by Nicholas Udall, and probably he wrote for his boys a play. The story is of that of conceit top in love with widow, who is already engaged to another man. The importance of ‘Ralph Roister Doister’ in furnishing English play wrights a model of a clear construction of plot and natural dialogue, can hardly be overestimated. The next notable comedy, ‘Gamner Gurton’s Needal, was written by unidentified Mr S about(1560). It is the domestic comedy, a true bit of English realism, representing the life of the peasant class.

 An earliest edition of the play was printed in 1575; but a similar play called "Dyccon of Bedlam" was licensed in 1552, twelve years before Shakespeare's birth. To show the spirit and the metrical form of the play we give a fragment of the boy's description of the dullard Hodge trying to light a fire on the hearth from the cat's eyes, and another fragment of the old drinking song at the beginning of the second act.

v Earliest English Tragedy:-

Under tragedy the classical influence was even greater, it was under the influence of Seneca, the Latin play wright, that the first English tragedy ‘Gorboduc’ was written by Thomas Sackville and Thomas Nortan, it was first acted in 1562. It is remarkable not only as our first tragedy, but as the first play to be written in blank verse, the latter being most significant, since it started the drama into the style of verse best suited to the genius of English playwrights. The story of "Gorboduc" is taken from the early annals of Britain and recalls the story used by Shakespeare in King Lear.  This play is written in blank verse and has a chorus made up of four old men of Britain. In the words of moody and Lovett ”it is stately production, and deserve veneration as the first regular tragedy written in English. Its classical form had little influence upon the native drama, just struggling into consciousness of itself, but its Seneca horrors were repeated ad nauseam. the learned and popular tragedies of the next generation.

vPopular Drama and Dramatist:-

When we are talking about drama the first name comes in our mind is that of Shakespeare. He was great and most popular dramatist of his time, and even to the present time his popularity is the same. Except for Shakespeare there are some dramatists who contribute in the development and enrichment of drama in the early stage. The regular playwrights, Kyd, Nash, Lyly, Peele, Greene, and Marlowe, brought the English drama to the point where Shakespeare started to write drama by imitating them.  

vContribution of Renaissance Dramatist:-

1). Thomas Kyd's ‘Spanish Tragedy’ 1585 first gives us the drama, or rather the melodrama, of passion, copied by Marlowe and Shakespeare. This was the most popular of the early Elizabethan plays.

2).Robert Greene (1558?-1592) plays the chief part in the early development of romantic comedy, and gives us some excellent scenes of English country life in plays like Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay.

3).CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE (1564-1593)

Marlowe is one of the most suggestive figures of the English Renaissance, and the greatest of Shakespeare's predecessors. The glory of the Elizabethan drama dates from his ‘Tamburlaine’ (1587), wherein the whole restless temper of the age finds expression. Marlowe is famous for four dramas, now known as the Marlowesque or one-man type of tragedy. The four tragedies are; the Tamburlaine, dr. Faustus, The Jew of Malta. Marlowe's last play is ‘Edward II’ a tragic study of a king's weakness and misery.

4).William Shakespeare:-

                   Shakespeare is famous for his four tragedies, his comedies are also popular. His four tragedies are Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, Macbeth. His well-known comedies are, As you like it, Mid summers night dreams, Loves Labor Lost, Much Ado About nothing. His contribution to English is very huge.

v Conclusion:- in conclusion we can say that the drama comes to England from Greek by Romans. It had its origin in church and from there it flourished to its full height. After the renaissance it becomes most popular and highly developed form of literature and now English drama has its own identity.