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.III English
Drama
1. Forces Shaping English Drama
in the Renaissance
The theatre’s transition from the medieval to the
Renaissance was more readily apparent in England than in Italy or France.
In those countries, the shift from medievalism to Neoclassicism or Renaissance
seemed much more abrupt. We can see much more apparent gradual changes
– with the English theatre showing characteristics of medievalism and
the Renaissance simultaneously, and occurring over a couple centuries.
The Renaissance did not seem to have much of an influence till the late
15th century (1400s) because of wars and internal strife.
Elizabeth became queen in 1558, and died 1603. She
outlawed religious drama (her father was Henry VIII, who in 1534 separated
from the Catholic Church to form the Anglican Church, or Church of England,
with the English monarch as the head of the church – Catholic / Protestant
disputes followed and were rampant, and Elizabeth the Queen wanted no
religious dissention) – therefore, there was a rapid development of
secular drama as a result. In 1588, the Spanish Armada was defeated.
Thus there was a time of peace, domestic calmness and the gradual supremacy
of English, rather than Spanish, influence as a major world power.
Two influences are obvious in Elizabethan Drama.
The first influence came from the classics. At universities, humanism
teaching is for the study, acting and imitation of Italian and Greek
comedies and tragedies. From these classic plays, the English dramatists
learned the secret of play, and a literary beyond medieval drama. Characterization,
unity, and plot were taught to the first dramatists. Ralph Roister
Doister (1553~1554) by
Nicholas Udall, and
Gammar Gurton's Needle (1562) by Mr. S are the first English
comedies. They were classical in form, but English in content. The first
regular English tragedy was called Gorboduc or Eerrex and
Porrex (1562), written by two lawyers,
Thomas Sackville and
Thomas Norton.
The other influence was popular drama. Popular
drama also developed very fast, and many people were interested in watching
plays. Acting comedies were formed. In 1576,
James Burbage, manager
of the Earl of Leicester’s acting company, built “The Theatre”, the
first playhouse in England. It was followed by many other theatres --the
Curtain, the Rose, the Swain, the Fortune, and
the Globe (Shakespeare
owned the theatre). At that time no newspaper and few books, theatre
became the only place for intellectual pleasures. Therefore, many Londoners
of that time were “theatre mad”.
During the late 16th and early 17th century,
drama reached its top in England. The first great works of plays were
written by a group of the University Wits, and the greatest plays were
from William Shakespeare. The University Wits set the course of Renaissance
Drama, and Shakespeare achieved the highest greatness of drama. The
University Wits included John Lyly, famed for the prose work Euphues
(1578); Robert Greene, the first to write romantic comedy; the 35versatile
Thomas Lodge and Thomas Nashe; Thomas Kyd, who made neo-Senecan
tragedy popular; and Christopher Marlowe, the greatest dramatist of
this group. In Marlowe’s works, the greatness of heroes leads to their
downfall, Marlowe wrote in blank verse with a rhetorical brilliance
and eloquence. William Shakespeare, of course, fulfilled the promise
of the Elizabethan age. His history plays, comedies, and tragedies set
a standard never again equaled, and he is universally regarded as the
greatest dramatist and one of the greatest poets of all time.
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