• Elizabethan Drama was known

when Queen Elizabeth I of

England reigned from 1558 to
1603.
• This was a time of extraordinary
social change: a medieval
society, human still believed in a
Christian ordered universe, was
yielding to a more modern and
secular society. The History of Elizabethan
• During the time, when Drama
Europeans were starting to
break out of cultural constraint
- The renaissance developed across Europe, but had
different emphases, it were religion, morality and
philosophy in Germany (talking about God).
- By the time Elizabeth’s reign ended, the theatres play
that were secular their nature and about people.
– This new Elizabethan theatre
scene attracted writers, like
Shakespeare who carrying
many languages and
cultures of Italian to England
to be modern. It is conflict of
ideas and values that makes
the plays of the period so
rich.
 In Elizabethan Drama, because it is about people rather than God, it
modelled on the Greek comedy. Which is perfected by :
- Shakespeare - Kyd - Webster & Middleton
- Ben Jonson - Marlowe
that is established a new genre in English Literature, like revenge
play / tragedy.

– In Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy (1587), a revenge tragedy about a

man who avenges his son’s murder. The hero Hieronimo longs for
revenge, but also knows that he should await heaven’s justice. Kyd
established a pattern for revenge tragedies, and many of the
devices he uses, such as a ghost, a play within a play, scenes of
violent murder and etc.
– In Shakespeare’s Hamlet (1600) revenge tragedies are concerned
with a specific aspect of disorder in society, that is the problem of
justice, like God should be perfect. But earthly justice is corrupt
and imperfect (risk damnation). In Shakespeare’s play there is
humour even in the darkest plays.
There are some famous
theatres of Elizabethan
Drama, such as:
– The psychopathic
lago in Othello
– Romeo and Juliet
– Anthony and
Cleopatra
– Hamlet
– The Spanish Tragedy