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England: 450 AD – 1066 (Anglo-Saxon Period); 1066 – end of the 1400s / 1500 (medieval
period), 1500s (16th century) Renaissance

Medieval Drama (church was the main patron of the arts)

 Non-classical: was born out of liturgy.

 Though in this sense similar in origins to that in ancient Greece when celebrations of
a community praying to a god appears to have been soon frame worked into
theatrical performance.

 The content of medieval drama: human fate represented in metaphorical and

metaphysical terms.

Mystery Plays

 A major form of popular medieval religious drama: representing a scene from the
Old or New Testament.

 Mystery plays – also known as Corpus Christi plays or pageants – were performed in
many towns across Europe from 13th – 16th century.

 Originally developed from liturgy and liturgical drama and designed to recreate part
of the church service, etc.

 Usually enacted on Corpus Christi, a holy feast from 1311 onwards.

 In terms of pageant: several English towns had cycles of mystery plays, in which
Wagons stopped at different points in the town were used as stages for various
episodes, each presented by a guild (then known as a ‘mystery’ (e.g., cobblers guild,
etc.) – the cycle might take you all the way from The Creation to Doomsday, for
example.

 A full cycle, like the 48 plays enacted at York would represent the whole Christian
cosmology from Creation to Doomsday. Other such cycles survive from Chester and
Wakefield.

 These plays are usually anonymous, e.g., The Wakefield Master who wrote the
Second Shepherd’s play (the most celebrated).
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Miracle plays:

 A kind of medieval religious play representing non-scriptural legends of saints or the

Virgin Mary.

 Unfortunately, due to the book-burning zeal of the reformation no significant

miracle plays survive in English.

 French cycle of forty Miracles de Notre-Dame (circa 1400s).

Morality play (late medieval – still performed in the 1500s):

 (Late Medieval) Dramatised allegory (represents or symbolises something other

than the literal story), in which personified virtues, vices, diseases and temptations
struggle for the soul of Man as he travels from birth to death.

 They introduce a simple message of Christian salvation, but often include comic
scenes. The best-known is Everyman. Most are anonymous.

 Psychomachia: a struggle between opposite values (taking the form of a battle for
the soul), i.e., good and evil represented emblematically (e.g. Good an evil angel
whispering into an individual’s ear).

Dance Macabre: Everybody’s equal in front of death

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 The trappings or framework of the Morality play are used in one of the finest and
most famous renaissance plays: The Tragedy of Doctor Faustus by Christopher
Marlowe

Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe

Introduction à

à on Marlowe – being a writer just a cover, a spy to Elizabeth I (through Walsingham) – an

agent in the secret service of Elizabeth’s great schemer. Died stabbed in a tavern. Some say
had he lived longer, he would have been an even better playwright. But not a poor
dramatist on top of it all. Plus careful apprenticeship in the classics. Second best after
Shakespeare. His private life added spice to his reputation – accused of atheism, blasphemy,
homosexuality. Certainly free thinking.

à Renaissance theatre – words and actions dominate, new inspirations (no continuation
from Medieval drama), secularized, combination of different sources – no plagiarism
(Marlowe wrote only the crucial scenes for Dr Faustus)

à tragedy –

 Amoral (early Marlowe) – don’t mistake with immoral, lack of morals represented,
an individual grows in power, becomes important and then falls
 Moralistic (Dr Faustus) – a character who breaks all the rules and falls down because
he violates the rules, a sinner, a master – then down
 Fatalistic (Romeo and Juliet) – fate predominant, no evil in their actions but doomed
to fail, power stronger than characters
 Psychological (Hamlet) – the deficiencies of the character’s personality lead to the
disaster
à interesting structure – the arrangement of the play is medieval – Prologue, 18 scenes,
Epilogue. A typical Renaissance play – 5 acts and scenes – the beginning, conflict, resolution,
conclusion. Here – different. The peak – the most important scenes – the first one – the
deal, and the last ones. There’s no conflict as such. Almost like nothing to hope for when he
signs the pact with the devil.
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Drama and its subgenre

Poetry – smallest unit of meaning: the poetic line (meter, alliteration or rhyme etc.)

Prose – sentence

Poetry: Epic: long narrative (story composed using poetic lines) poem, serious, written in a
lofty manner, concerns great events and important people: Iliad & Odyssey Anglo-Saxon
epic Beowulf (primary epics / heroic epics)

Lyric poem: usually a much shorter poem: thoughts, feelings, ideas. Musical quality to the
poetic line (lyre - words put to music)

Drama 2.) Tragedy: great events and important people

Drama 3.) Comedy

 Much later, during the renaissance and particularly in England (1500s / 16 th century)
we see the emergence of another important genre, that of the so-called History
Play.

 This genre did not really exist in antiquity as real history was usually mixed with myth
and legend.

 However, in 16th century England dramatic works began to be written that actually
focused on real historical events.

 Obviously, the events concerned were of significant national and political

importance and the characters based on extremely important individuals (Kings and
Princes etc.)

 In fact, such events often concerned the death and succession of kings and in this
way, due to the powerful and tragic events portrayed, the genre can also be strongly
associated with tragedy (in that it essentially shares many of its ingredients).

 Perhaps the work which had the most influence and became the model for future
History Plays of the period, is Marlowe’s Edward II (published in 1594, first
performed on stage circa 1587 – 92).
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 In this drama Marlowe is careful to focus only on those events which link to form a
single narrative, enabling the author to work the events into a very effective
dramatic story appropriate for the stage.

 Shakespeare, who on occasion collaborated with Marlowe, clearly took this

approach to heart when writing his own rather brilliant history plays.

 Within his history plays Shakespeare tends to focus on the English History of Royal
accession – the acts of civil war played out between the powerful houses of York and
Lancaster and the events linking to the War of the Roses (the house of Lancaster
represented by the Red Rose and York by the white Rose).

 The first cycle consists of Henry VI (consisting of 3 plays: parts I, II and III) and Richard
III (early 1590s)

 The second cycle consists of Richard II, Henry IV part I & II and Henry V (completed
1599)

 In Richard the II we see the deposing of Richard and the crown actually taken by the
House of Lancaster in the person of Henry Bolingbroke.

 The cycle in away conforms to contemporary politics in which the Tudors are seen as
the legitimate holders of the crown.

 Through the history plays Shakespeare is cementing the Tudor myth as to its
legitimacy to the throne.

 Richard III is defeated by Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond in 1485 at the battle of
Bosworth Fields (Henry [though in reality the link is rather tenuous], claims to be of
the house of Lancaster and has promised to marry Edward IV daughter who is of the
house York and thus ending the War of the Roses in combining both houses within
the Tudor dynasty.

 You can see Shakespeare’s Richard II becomes crucial to this myth in that it
dramatises Richard more or less deposing himself and Bolingbroke taking the thrown
by popular ascent.

Today I want to look at the main genres of drama.

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1.)The two major genre of this literary form are Tragedy and Comedy.

a.)Both these genre were established in ancient Greece – in fact, Aristotle, around 400 BC
in his Poetics subdivides drama primarily into Tragedy and Comedy and attempts to define
the tone and subject matter of each.

For example, while tragedy concerns itself with serious and important events comedy is
more concerned with everyday life, including domestic concerns, and explores common
human failings.

2.) Ok. Let’s take the first of these – Tragedy.

a.)In his Poetics Aristotle claims that a tragedy imitates action that is serious, complete, and
of appropriate degree – in other words it is neither too trivial nor too vast.

b.)Interestingly – he also goes on to claim that Tragedy evokes pity and fear – which
serves to cleanse the mind of dangerous but human tendencies – especially where too
much pride is concerned.

i.)This is interesting because Aristotle feels that he needs to justify the genre – Tragedy
serves a good social purpose – it cleanses, helps to purify, people through an emotional
release created via such powerful and potentially negative feelings as pity and fear – an
effect which is generally referred to as catharsis.

Aristotle also suggests that the main protagonist of the Tragedy should be essentially
good – however, the character is not perfect – and he is ultimately destroyed by a flaw in
his character – often just a single flaw or weakness at that.

For the ancient Greeks, including Aristotle, this flaw was usually HUBRIS (Pride) – as the
old saying claims: pride comes before a fall.

For Aristotle the best example of such a Tragedy - exhibiting exactly this flaw of pride in its
main character - is Oedipus Rex by Sophocles.

In later eras we see the retention in Tragedy of this single flaw in the otherwise good
character – especially in the drama of the European Renaissance – although this weakness
isn’t necessarily pride.

In Shakespeare’s Othello the characters main flaw is jealousy and in King Lear Madness.
Hamlet on this point, though, is a little more complex.

Soliloquy – the character tells the audience their thoughts

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3.)The great renaissance dramatists followed a different primary influence from that of
the Greeks – particularly in England we see the influence of the ancient Roman dramatist
(philosopher-poet) Seneca (c.4 BC – AD 65).

a.)Basically this form of Tragedy is known as the Revenge Tragedy and was very popular in
England from the 1590s to the 1630s – especially following the success of Thomas Kyd’s
brilliant play - The Spanish Tragedy (c. 1589) - which employs the Senecan model for such
drama. (incidentally, Seneca’s plays were written in five acts which also became the
convention for English Renaissance drama)

b.)The action of such plays is usually centred round a characters attempt to avenge a
murdered loved one – sometimes at the urging of the victims ghost.

c.) As you may have noticed – this is the exact plot of Hamlet – right down to the prompting
of revenge by the Ghost of poor Hamlet’s murdered father.

d.) Although Hamlet follows the exact plot model of a traditional revenge tragedy – what
makes it so unusual is the delay (and the reasons for that delay) in Hamlet actually taking his
revenge.

e.)One thing to note here is that English revenge tragedy is very bloodthirsty in its explicit
presentation of premeditated violence.

4.)Often these tragedies deploy another important revenge device – that of the malcontent.

a.) in a tragedy you have the wronged who seeks to carry out the revenge – but a
malcontent may also be figured in the play whose sole motive is to bring down the main
protagonists (so a kind of double revenge element or plot is going on).

b.) Let me try to explain what I mean – the malcontent wishes to cause malicious harm
because he feels that he has not received his proper lot in life – that by fate or society he
has been cheated out of what he deserves (in other words he has a monumental chip on his
shoulder).

c.) For example, the classic malcontent is normally the bastard son – like Edmund in King
Lear. The bastard son cannot inherit the father’s land so he seeks revenge on his legitimate
brother (in this case Edgar) along with his father, etc.

Or in the case of Iago in Othello it is because Cassio has been made Othello’s lieutenant
when Iago feels he should have got the job.

5.)In many ways, as with Comedy, the most defining part of a tragedy is its ending.

a.) In a revenge tragedy the play ends with the so-called loading of the deathbed.
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b.) That is that lots of people, including the main protagonist die – often brutally – in the
final scene along with the various characters who have been cruelly killed along the way.

c.) For example, at the end of Shakespeare’s Hamlet – not only does the king, Hamlet’s
uncle die, on whom the revenge is supposed to take place but also Hamlet’s mother, Poor
Laertes (his mad sister [Ophelia] already having been drowned and father [Polonius]
accidentally murdered by Hamlet) and, of course, Hamlet himself.

d.) In other plays by other dramatists the loading of the deathbed is often far greater than
this!

6.) So a part from tone and feel the main defining feature of tragedy is that the problems
which arise within the course the play can ultimately be resolved only through death
(hence all the deaths at the end).

7.) With comedy it is the exact opposite.

a.) In tone and feel Comedies are in general light-hearted and humorous but what really
makes a comedy is the way it ends.

b.) For unlike a tragedy all the potential dangers and problems in the comedy are resolved
successfully without anybody having to die.

c.) in fact, in Renaissance comedies the final resolution often occurs through the act of
marriage – we see this for example in Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream and in As
You Like It and many, many more.

d.) In A Midsummer Night’s Dream the two sets of young lovers plus king Theseus and
Hippolyta (queen of the Amozans) marry each other – marriage obviously symbolising long
lasting civil and domestic harmony.

e.) This closing ceremony also includes song and dance – again the act of singing and
dancing evokes a sense of fun, jollity and harmony at the close of the play.

8.) So-called Tragicomedy is also very much defined by its ending.

a.) Although Tragicomedy is serious in tone and feel like a tragedy – at the end, although not
all problems may be sorted out – the ones that are – are resolved without anyone dying. For
example, in The Tempest, although at times it has the feel of a serious Tragedy (though not
the savagery) – no-one dies and we even have the prospect of a marriage (between
Miranda and Ferdinand) which will bring true and lasting harmony.

b.) Incidentally, as a dramatic form, comedy in Europe dates back to the Greek playwright
(5th BC) Aristophanes.
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At the end of the next century, Menander established the fictional form known as New
Comedy, in which young lovers went through misadventures among other stock characters:
this tradition was eventually developed by Shakespeare.

Romantic comedy – deals mainly with the follies and misunderstandings of young lovers.
Avoids serious satire. Light-hearted & happily concluded manner.

Plautus and Terence

Farce – build of a complex situation – improbable events

Tragicomedy – combines elements of tragedy and comedy, either by providing a happy

ending to a potentially tragic story or by some more complex blending of serious and light
moods.

Tragicomic romance – Tempest is a romance too because distinguished by the daring use of
magical illusion and improbable reunions. Formally a comedy but – in the group of
tragicomic romances. A very complex poetic form, whose mechanical plotting serves to
draw attention to wider aesthetic and philosophical themes.

9.) I would just like to make one further note – regarding the role of female characters in
these different dramatic genre.

a.) In tragedy you often find very powerful female characters but they are usually cast as
either villain, a la – Lady Macbeth and King Lear’s two eldest daughters (Goneril and Regan).

b.) Or as victims – as in Othello’s Desdemona, etc.

c.) In History plays – a genre we haven’t explored here – woman only feature as minor
characters – this is rather telling for it makes you realise who gets to write history and how
women historically have been (with a few exceptions) marginalised

d.) However, in Comedy women come into their own in Renaissance drama – since
comedy tends to largely focus on domestic concerns – especially the relationships
between lovers – the portrayal of women appears to be equally as strong as that of the
men.

10.) I should just mention, however, that in Shakespeare’s day you didn’t have female actors
– a woman on the stage would have been thought of as being little more than a prostitute –
so it was generally young boys working as apprentice actors who would play the female
characters.

It is an interesting thought that Shakespeare created all those great female protagonists for
essentially men in drag!
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De Witt (Dutch tourist’s sketch of a performance of in the Swan Theatre 1595)

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Hamlet
Act I Scene I
The Battlements of Elsinor (castle of the Royal House of Denmark).
Enter Barnardo and Francisco, two sentinels (guards).
[They meet]

Bar. Who’d there?

Fran. Nay, answer me. Stand and unfold yourself.

Bar. Long live the King!

Fran. You come most carefully on your hour.

Bar. ‘Tis now struck twelf (midnight). Get thee to bed, Francisco

Fran. For this relief much thanks. ‘Tis bitter cold,

And I am sick at heart.
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Volpone – seminar outline

Introductory remarks 

Renaissance comedy – also a very popular type of entertainment then. Amusement by

appealing to the sense of superiority over the characters depicted. Closer to the
representation of real life than tragedy. Will explore common human failings rather than
tragedy’s disastrous aims. Ending usually happy for the leading characters. Elizabethan and
Jacobean comedy divided into 2 types  intrigue comedy (action and plot dominates –
Shakespeare) and comedy of humours (characters important – Jonson)

Comedy of humours – a comedy focusing on the characters’ humours – the bodily fluids to
which medieval medicine attributed the various types of human temperament. More blood
– sanguine (lively), phlegm – phlegmatic, choler (yellow bile) – choleric, black bile –
melancholic.

Ben Jonson’s comedies – based on the eccentricities of characters whose temperaments are
distorted in ways similar to an imbalance of the / among the bodily fluids.

Introductory remarks 

Revenge tragedy – a kind of tragedy popular in England from the 1590s to 1630s after Kyd’s
success. Its action is typically centered upon a leading character’s attempt to avenge the
murder of a loved one, sometimes at the prompting of the victim’s ghost: it involves
complex intrigues and disguises, and usually some exploration of the morality of revenge.
Protagonists belonged to nobility. Some characterized by madness (real or fake). Ancient
fatalistic inspiration – no responsibility for actions – puppets in the hands of revenge.
Drawing partly on Senecan tragedy, the English revenge tragedy is far more bloodthirsty in
its explicit presentation of premeditated violence and so the gruesome examples are called
tragedies of blood.

Senecan tragedy – (Roman philosopher and poet) Seneca’s plays were intended for
recitation rather than performance. Composed in 5 acts with intervening choruses, they
employ long rhetorical speeches, important actions being recounted by messengers. Their
bloodthirsty plots, including ghosts and horrible crimes, appealed to the popular dramatists
of the late XVI c., who presented such horrors on stage in their revenge tragedies.
Conventional 5-act structure of Renaissance drama owes its origin to the influence of
Seneca.
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Hamlet / Othello

Introductory remarks 

Tragedy – usually represents the disastrous downfall of the central character. The usual
conclusion = the protagonist’s death. Catharsis through incidents arousing pity and
terror. Tragic effect usually depends on our awareness of the protagonist’s admirable
qualities which are wasted terribly in the fated disaster.

Hamlet obviously draws on the revenge conventions and is a psychological tragedy –

Hamlet’s character deficiencies lead to a fall.

 What is the purpose of Hamlet’s monologue? Thoughts on? How is it understood

usually?
 Poison in the ear – what’s the symbolism? Who else? (Hamlet and Othello)
 What is the vicious mole syndrome?
 What stops Hamlet form committing suicide? (p.81)
 Hamlet’s characteristics  mummy’s son, idealist, good, sensitive, doesn’t care
about the political situation, a prince – should’ve done it better, should’ve take
revenge, prove himself a man to be the king soon
 Political vs. family matters / revenge vs. proving mother innocent, hesitation
 from Kyd  tragedy of revenge, ghosts, madness, play-within-the-play,
development of the play (intro, conflict, climax, resolution, conclusion)
 from Marlowe  hesitation, tragic hero, interest in the human side of things,
everything depends on human actions

Othello

 the black factor  slave, witchcraft, heathen, other (role of preconceptions)

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 Why is Othello presented as such? Starts up innocent, ends up crazy. Not being
civilized to blame? More primitive nature? NO Does it matter he’s from a royal
family? (role of preconceptions again)
 Murder out of honour – possible? Loving too much, jealous – can you love too
much? Does it justify anything? Too little here – no trust.
 What’s the theory of betrayal? (p. 250, 252)
 Iago – misogynist – why? Why such hate for women?
 Iago – no real revenge motives, pure malice, evil
 What is the comment on women in Hamlet?