Page 25 - DENG402_HISTORY_OF_ENGLISH_LITERATURE

History of English Literature

Notes 3. Social and political satire on commonplace topics: the miseries of married life with special
reference to shrewish wives; oppression of the poor by the gentry; ill-treatment of servants
by stingy masters.
4. A higher form of comedy appears when the playwright’s art enables him to present amus-
ing and laughable characters. Here we have the beginning of the clownish comic character,
perhaps best typified by Mak from The Second Shepherd’s play.
Once rejected by the church, the plays came under the care of the guild societies and were produced
as a cycle on feast or holy days. For instance, the cycle of plays would begin early in the morning
with a play about the fall of Lucifer or the creation of the world put on by a specific guild society
and move through the day with plays concerning the chief events of the Biblical narrative (Abraham
and Isaac, Noah’s flood, the nativity, the harrowing of hell, the crucifixion, the resurrection, and so
on) toward a final, climaxing play concerning the day of last judgment or doomsday. Such a cycle
would illustrate salvation history, the idea that history is a linear process with various specific
stages, all indicating that God has a plan for humankind and that he makes various covenants with
humankind along the way. In addition, the plays demonstrate a theological adherence to the ideas
of Natural law, written law, and grace and mercy or the new law of the New Testament and
especially the Pauline epistles.

Did u know? The four great cycles of plays are the York, Wakefield, Chester, and Coventry
plays.

3.3 Morality Plays

A morality play is a type of theater, which was common in medieval Europe. It uses allegorical
characters to teach the audience moral lessons, typically of a Christian nature. The morality play
can be considered an intermediate step between the biblical mystery plays of the medieval period
and the secular theater of the later Renaissance, such as the plays of William Shakespeare. The
morality play has remained a cultural influence to some degree, though it has greatly waned in
popularity. The basic premise of the morality play, however, in which an “everyman” character
who is easy to relate to makes a journey and is influenced by characters along the way, eventually
gaining some kind of personal integrity, is still common in many works of theater and film.
One of the most salient characteristics of the morality play is the way that characters are named.
Instead of normal names, they are called by the quality they represent. In Everyman, the most
famous morality play, some of the characters include Fellowship, Knowledge, Goods, and Kindred.
Eventually, all of these characters abandon the play’s hero, Everyman, during his journey with
Death, and only Good-Deeds stays with him. The moral of this play is therefore that only good
deeds can help one get into Heaven, and that no other earthly things are truly lasting.
The morality play allowed writers more creativity than was possible with the former mystery
play, which was very closely based on biblical and traditional stories. This trend continued into
later centuries with morality plays that sought to teach secular lessons, such as which form of
government is best. Throughout the Renaissance, plays continued to be less didactic and allegorical
and more representative of real life.
John Bunyan’s 1678 novel, The Pilgrim’s Progress, while not an example of drama, relies heavily on
the tropes of the morality play.

Did u know? The main character, Christian, encounters characters such as Faithful, Goodwill,
and Ignorance on his journey to the Celestial City of Zion.

18 LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY