Elizabethan Drama

Introduction

An Overview

Henry VIIIs schism from the Church of Rome hastened the

end of the Medieval religious drama. Drama flourished again over
a period of about a century from 1558, when Elizabeth I became
queen, to 1642, the year when all theatres were closed down by
the Puritans, who controlled the City of London. During those
years, drama became a major genre and the quality of the plays
was

so

exceptional

that

they

became

the

major

literary

contribution to the English Renaissance. They appealed to people

from

all

classes.

social

levels,

from

the

sovereign

to

the

lowest

An Overview

Renaissance drama broke away from the religious roots of the

Middle Ages to reflect the humanistic spirit of the new age,
which

exalted

emphasised

human

mans

life

nature
and

in

destiny

all
on

its aspects
earth

and

and

his

position in the universe. Elizabethan drama presented heroes

and heroines larger than life as well as human types, taken
from contemporary English society. It also dealt with themes
taken from English history (like Shakespeares historical plays)
to express pride in the nations achievements and tradition.

Queen Elizabeth I

Reign 1558-1603

Country filled with pride from conquest and academic growth

High Drinking Rate: Beer was cheap, so people drank a lot of it

to escape their problems, many deaths by drunkenness

3 Main Diseases: Bubonic Plague, Small pox, Tuberculosis

Lack of Personal and Public Hygiene: Neither rich nor poor

bathed very often

Common to have bad breath, rotting teeth, constant stomach

disorders, and scabs or sores

Queen Elizabeth I

Pollution: City ditches were used as toilets

Butchers threw dead carcasses in the street

Garbage was thrown in river

Mass graves for the poor

Lack of Medical Knowledge: Believed in the four humours,

the four chief fluids of the human body: black bile, yellow
bile, phlegm, blood

They made no connection between illness and the horrible

living conditions

Queen Elizabeth I

Women: No vote, few legal rights, and limited educational and job
opportunities

Girls who could afford education were given a domestic education

instead of an academic onespinning, cooking, preserving fruit,
weaving, and anything that could make the home life more
pleasant

Married women lost all control of their property, even clothing, to

their husbands

When a husband died, the most the woman could inherit was 1/3
of his property

Superstitions: Elizabethans were very superstitious;

charms and such in their houses

They relied heavily on astrology and the stars

many had

Queen Elizabeth I

Strengthened dramatic period after Medieval drama

Elizabeth loved the theatre (other rulers were hostile because

of disease and fights)

Elizabethan Age is known for its theater and thriving literature.

Queen Elizabeth and King James of Scotland were great

supporters of literature and the arts- they both supported
Shakespeare during their reign.

This time period also brought economic and social growth to

England.

Queen Elizabeth I

In late 1500s theater was changing.

Before this time, actors would travel from city to city playing to
audiences these actors were called players.

Players were not always greatly accepted by the cities they

visited because play-acting was considered sinful by some
communities.

In 1574 players were banished from London.

James Burbage built the first public playhouse or theater in

England leading to the development of other theaters.

Queen Elizabeth I

A Movement from Religious to Secular within the Theatre

Previously, most of the drama done was in the church in order to

help educate the people about their religion

Cycle plays were used to reenact history

Creation by God

Humans fall to Satan

Life during the Old Testament times

Redemption by Christ

Final judgment at the end of the world

Queen Elizabeth I

In the 14th century the plays began to move out into the town
courtyards where they began to take on a more secular tone

Miracle and mystery plays

Used to teach stories from the Bible

Moralities

Used to show people how they should live and die

Interlude

One-act plays

Some used the framework of the Moralities

Other were written for entertainment and could be quite farcical

Devices

Iambic Pentameter- five sets of an unstressed

syllable followed by a stressed syllable

Blank Verse- unrhymed poetry written in iambic

pentameter.

Usually

spoken

by

the

noble

characters, or when someone is being very serious.

Soliloquy- longer speech in which a character

usually alone on stagespeaks as if to him/herself

Devices

Monologue- a long uninterrupted speech by one character

that others can hear

Aside- a brief comment a character makes to reveal

his/her thoughts to the audience or to one other character

The playwright used poetic dialogue to paint a picture of

the scene, establish the time and the place of the action
familiarize the audience both with

the characters identities and their physical appearances

Elizabethan Theatre

Shakespeare built his theater in 1599. He called it the Globe.

Built in 1599 for The Lord Chamberlains Acting Company of which

Shakespeare was a member (Shakespeare owned 10%)

Made of wood

Held 2,000 3,000 people

1,500 seats were covered

Room for 800 1,000 people to stand in the pit, an uncovered area
surrounding the stage

No lights so all performances were held between 2 5 pm

The stage was circular with all sides open

Elizabethan Theatre

There was an enclosed building to the side for costume changes

No curtains so characters were announced, acts and scenes

melted into each other, and dead bodies had to be carried off
the stage

3 levels of the stage

* Main stage with small curtained area in the rear
* Upper area (heaven) for balcony scenes
* Lower area under the stage (hell) accessible by a trapdoor on the

stage

Elizabethan Theatre

The acoustics were poor so actors had to shout and use

exaggerated gestures to be understood

Because there were no curtains to close at the conclusion, all

tensions had to be cooled before the end of the play.

1613 burned during a performance of Henry VIII when a real

cannon was fired onto the roof

1614 rebuilt

1644 Puritans destroyed it in an effort to clean up the

morals of London

Drama Details

Plays were held in the daytime, since there was no electricity to light the
stage

Flags announced plays beginning

White for comedy

Black for tragedy

All classes were welcomed

Groundlings (everyday citizens) paid a penny and stood through

performances

Nobility paid more and sat in the gallery

Audience participated in plays action

Drama Details

No scenery

Limited props

Costumes were expensive and rarely historically accurate (most just wore
everyday clothes).

No women acted.

Young boys played female parts

Acting was well-paid, but strenuous and unpredictable.

No curtains dictated that scenery be kept to a minimum since no

changes could be made during a performance.

Costumes were elaborate and highly decorated with hats and plumes.

Elizabethan Playwrights

Lyly, Peele, Greene, Lodge, Nashe,

Kyd, Marlowe, Shakespeare,
Jonson

The University Wits

Lyly, Peele, Greene, Lodge, Nashe, Kyd and Marlowe are

known as the university Wits because they came either from
Cambridge or from Oxford. They were romantic by nature and
they represented the spirit of Renaissance. The great merit of
the University Wits was that they came with their passion and
poetry, and their academic training. They paved the way for
the successive writers like Shakespeare to express his genius.
The contribution of the university Wits to the development of
drama is great.

John Lyly

Eight comedies: the best are Campaspe, Endymion,

Grallathia, Midas and Loves Metamorphosis. He wrote
for the private theatres. His writing is replete with
genuine

romantic

atmosphere,

homour,

fancy

for

romantic comedy, realism, classicism and romanticism.

Lyly established prose as an expression of comedy. He
deftly used prose to express light feelings of fun and
laughter. He also used a suitable blank verse for the
comedy.

John Lyly

High comedy demands a nice sense of phrase, and Lyly is the

first great phrase maker in English. He gave to English
comedy a witty phraseology. He also made an important
advance at successful comic portrayal. His characters are
both types and individuals. Disguise as a devise was later
popularized by Shakespeare in his plays especially in his
comedies. The device of girl dressed as a boy is traced back
to Lyly. The introduction of songs, symbolical of the mood
owes its popularity to Lyly.

George Peele

His work consists of The Arraignment of Paris, The

Battle of Alcazar, The Love of King David and Fair
Bethsabe and The Old Wives Tales. He has left
behind a pastoral, a romantic tragedy, a chronicle
history and a romantic satire. He juxtaposes romance
and reality in his plays. As a humorist he influenced
Shakespeare. In The Old Wives Tales he for the first
time introduced the note of satire in English drama.

Robert Greene

Greene wrote The Comical History of Alphonsus, King of

Aragon and Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay. Greene was the first
master of the art of plot construction in English drama. In his
plays Greene has three distinct words mingled together the
world of magic, the world of aristocratic life, and the world of
the country. There is peculiar romantic humour and rare
combination of realism and idealism in his plays. He is the
first to draw romantic heroines. His heroines Margaret and
Dorothea anticipate Shakespeares Rosalind and Celia.

Thomas Kyd

Kyds The Spanish Tragedy, a Senecan tragedy,

is an abiding contribution to the development
of English tragedy. It is a well constructed play
in which the dramatist has skillfully woven
passion, pathos and fear until they reach a
climax. Kyd succeeded in producing dialogue
that is forceful and capable. He introduced the
revenge motif into drama.

Thomas Kyd

He, thus, influenced Shakespeares Hamlet and

Websters The Duchess of Malfi. The device of
play within play, which Shakespeare employed in
Hamlet, is used for the first time in The Spanish
Tragedy. He also introduced the hesitating type of
hero, suffering from bouts of madness, feigned or
real,

in

the

character

of

Hieronimo,

anticipates the character of Hamlet.

who

Christopher Marlowe
Graduated from Cambridge, with B.A., allowed

back for Masters with Queens permission

Next to Shakespeare, greatest tragedy writer of

the time
Killed at 29 in tavern brawl
Wrote Tamburlaine, Edward II, The Jew of Malta,

and Dr. Faustus.

Perfected blank verse

Christopher Marlowe

Marlowes famous plays Tamburlaine, the Great, Dr.

Faustus, Edward II and The few of Malta give him a place
of preeminence among the University Wits. Swinburne
calls him the first great poet, the father of English
tragedy and the creator of blank verse. He is, indeed,
the protagonist of tragic drama in English and the
forerunner of Shakespeare and his fellows. Marlow
provided big heroic subjects that appealed to human
imagination.

Christopher Marlowe

He for the first time imparted individuality and

dignity to the tragic hero. He also presented the
tragic conflict between the good and evil forces
in Dr. Faustus. He is the first tragic dramatist
who used the device of Nemesis in an artistic
and psychological manner. Marlowe for the first
time made blank verse a powerful vehicle for
the expression of varied human emotions.

Christopher Marlowe

His blank verse, which Ben Jonson calls, Marlowes Mighty

Line

is

noticeable

for

its

splendour

of

diction,

picturesqueness, vigour and energy, variety in pace and its

responsiveness to the demands of varying emotions. Marlowe
has been termed the father of English tragedy. He was in fact
the first to feel that romantic drama was the sole form in
harmony with the temperament of the nation. He created
authentic romantic tragedy in English and paved the way for
the full blossoming of Shakespeares dramatic genius.

Ben Jonson
College Graduate
Writer of classics
Scorned Shakespeare for lack of knowledge of

classical languages
Abided by Aristotles three unities
Gifted in satire
Entertained court with extravagant productions.

William Shakespeare
Greatest of all English dramatists
Born in Stratford-on-Avon
Father was glover and town official
Attended grammar school only
Married older woman, Anne Hathaway
Left his wife and 3 children and began working as

an actor, manager, and writer in Londons theaters

By 1596 was beloved by Queen Elizabeth

William Shakespeare
38 plays attributed to him
Wrote 10 tragedies, 18 comedies and 10 histories
Balanced plot, serious vs. comic tones, and climax
Approached many universal ideas
Beautiful language and poetry
Memorable characters
Soliloquies (Speeches where actors talk alone to

reveal their thoughts aloud)

William Shakespeare
While the average author uses about 7500 words, Shakespeare

used over 21,000, many that he made up himself.

All that glitters is not gold
Into thin air
Knock knock, whos there?
Its Greek to me!
Wild Goose chase

William Shakespeare
1589 he wrote his first play (Henry VI, Part I)
1594 he became a member of The Lord

Chamberlains Men which developed into the

premier theater troupe in London, first as an actor
and then a playwright
1598 he became the principal comedic writer and

actor of the troupe

1603 he became the principal tragic actor and

writer of the troupe

End of Elizabethan Theatre

Reign of James I (1603-1625) led to a civil war

Charles I gained throne when war broke out

Oliver Cromwell, Puritan, beheaded Charles and took

throne

Closed the dens of iniquity in 1642

Theatre dead until 1660

Theatre continued secretly, and many actors were

arrested

Next Lecture

Elizabethan
History Play