Dr.

Santosh Kumar

Assistant Professor

Departmnt of English

L.N.T. College, Muzaffarpur

Email: santoshwebid@gmail.com

TDC Part I, Paper I

(Majour Trends in Different Periods)

HEROIC TRAGEDY/ RESTORATION TRAGEDY

The Restoration period (1660-1700), which is named because of the Restoration of
monarchy, began simultaneously with the restoration of Charles II in 1660 as the monarch of
England, Scotland and Ireland. Restoration literature is known mainly for drama. However,
Restoration drama is sharply different from those of the Elizabethan age and the early
seventeenth century. The grandeur, thematic vastness and popularity that marked English drama
in the Elizabethan age are lacking in the Restoration theatre.

Characterized by highly stylized poetic dialogue, larger-than-life heroes and idealized

heroines, and sensationalistic action often played out in exotic locales, heroic tragedy is a genre
of English drama that flourished in the years of the Restoration. John Dryden, the dominant
playwright and dramatic theorist of his time, wrote extensively in support of the heroic genre,
citing its lineage in the classical theater as well as the French drama of Pierre Corneille.

John Dryden has defined Heroic Tragedy: “An Heroic play ought to be an imitation, in
title, of an heroic poem; and consequently… love and valour ought to be the subject of it.” By
heroic poem he meant epic, and the plays attempted to imitate the epic by using as protagonist a
large scale warrior whose actions affect the fate of an empire and by using the form of cloed
heroic couplet. A noble hero and heroine are usually represented in a situation in which their
passionate love conflicts with the demands of honour and with hero’s patriotic duty to his
country; if the conflict ends in disaster, the play is called an heroic tragedy.

The Indian Queen (1664) by Dryden and Howard is the first heroic play, but it cannot be
called a tragedy because of its happy ending. The play has almost all the other ingredients of
heroic tragedy. Montezuma is an army general of heroic blood in love with a princess (whom he
ultimately marries-hence the happy ending). The central motives in the play are love and valour.
Dryden’s other heroic plays are: The Indian Emperor (1665) Tyrannic Love (1669) The
Conquest ofGranda (1670) Amboyana (1673) Aureng-Zebe (1675)

Except Tyrannic Love almost none of these plays can technically be called a tragedy with
respect to its ending, but all of them are heroic plays different from the later plays of Dryden
like All for Love (1677) and Don Sebastian (1689) which use blank verse rather than rhyme and
which avoid the characteristics of heroic drama.

The hero of Tyrannic Love, Maximin, a Roman emperor, has an intensity of passion and
ear-filling sonority of style which remind one of Marlowe’s Tamburlaine. Like Tamburlaine,
Maximin dies threatening the gods in heaven. The Conquest of Granada is Dryden’s most
elaborate heroic play. It is in two parts, each comprising five acts. The hero of the play is
Almanzor, a valiant soldier, who participates in the battle between the Spaniards and the Moors
over Granada. Almanzor is in love with Almahide, fiance of Boabdelin, the Moorish ruler of
Granada. Almanzor remains unsuccessful in his suit for Almahide till the death of Boabdelin in
the last act.

Thomas Otway (1651-85 ) is another name in the field of Heroic tragedy. Otway’s finest
work was Venice Preserv’d , a tragedy written on a grander scale than The Orphan. The
characters are handled adroitly, especially those of Jaffier and Pierre. The play has rugged
and sombre force, and reveals the playwright’s considerable skill in writing out high drama.

The next notable name is Nathaniel Lee (1653 – 92) . He wrote in blank verse. Of his many
tragedies, some important works are Nero (1674), Sophonisba(1676), The Rival Queens (1677)
and Mithridates (1678).

John Crowne (1640 – 1703) was a notable playwright whose best known works are Caligula
(1698), a heroic tragedy, and Thyestes (1681) also a heroic tragedy.

Nicholas Rowe (1674 – 1718) who, during his lifetime, was a person of eminence and who
became Poet Laureate in 1715 wrote a number of heroic plays. The best known among them are
Tamerlane (1702), The Fair Penitent (1703) and the popular Jane Shore (1714).