Evolution of Drama in the Elizabethan Age
Origination
Elizabethan drama is much more than the drama written in the reign of Elizabeth I, The Queen of England during the time period of 1558 to 1603. The English Renaissance Theatre is an umbrella-term used for Elizabethan, Jacobean and Caroline theatre. The sole reason it was referred to as “the Renaissance” was that the Europeans were breaking away from the shackles of convention and constraints of culture that they were entrapped in by the Medieval Church. The humanists started nullifying the belief of God forming ideas and making people make decisions in a colossal humanistic movement. Great thinkers, philosophers, artists and scientists started challenging and denouncing the unidimensionality of assumptions regarding the universe, God, the space and life. As a result, art, music, architecture, theatre and literature became huge mediums of expression. All these artists drew inspiration from humanist abstraction in Greco-Roman culture.
English drama was one of the most celebrated national achievements particularly, during the reign of Elizabeth I; that is because all through the Middle Ages, drama primarily was didactic in nature. When Elizabeth I came to throne, most plays were a rendition of or, purely Miracle Plays which had crude, earthy dialogue stories from Bible and were based on lives of the Saints and an array of Morality Plays which steered lessons to people about life via allegorical actions. Morality plays, too, were primarily about the Divine authority and not about people. Elizabeth was adamant on revolutionizing the theatre industry and making it a commonplace to be enjoyed by people from all walks of life, which she did.
Drama became more oriented with the values and preferences of the upper class with the development of private theatres. As far as social class was concerned, it was during her reign that drama was a single-integrated, unified expression. There wasn’t any disparity of content on the basis of any social classes hence, the commoners saw exactly the same play in a playhouse that the Court would enjoy in a courtroom. It was during her rule that the first ever permanent English theatre opened up by the name of “The Red Lion” in 1567 that was shut down shortly. However, the first ever successful public theatre that opened a few years later was by the name, “The Theatre” in 1576 by James Burbage, who was a carpenter by profession. The public theatres were built around an open space and were usually three storeys high.
Some of the most popular playwrights includes George Chapman (1559-1634), Thomas Decker (c.1572-1632), Thomas Heywood (c.1573-1641), Ben Johnson (1572-1637), Thomas Kyd (1558-1594), Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) and William Shakespeare (1564-1616). There were a bunch of common themes that most of the plays reflected e.g. humanism (centered on individual), worldly power (powers that we possess and that affects us), Neo-Platonism (first principle and source of reality transcends being and thought and is naturally unknowable), reintroduced the ideal of a courtier (definitely not chivalric knight), Anti-Semitism (prevalent in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice), revenge tragedy (evident in Hamlet by Shakespeare), supernatural elements (superstitions about ghosts which became the primal moving farce) and the notorious Comedy of Errors (based on the theory of humours and their regularity in the human body).
Impact of Greek Tragedy
In the words of Aristotle, “a tragedy is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete and of a certain magnitude in a language embellished with a certain kind of artistic ornaments with several being separated at the end of each part of the play which is in the form of action, not of narrative, involving incidents arousing pity and fear wherewith to accomplish the catharsis of such emotions.” According to the Advanced English Dictionary, a tragedy is a “drama in which the protagonist is overcome by some superior force or circumstance; excites terror or pity”. Greek tragedy was an extremely influential and popular form of drama performed in theatres across ancient Greece. The word tragedy itself was coined from words ‘tragos’ meaning goat and ‘oide’ meaning an ode/song. Tragedies were performed during the festivities of Dionysus, as a part of the competition and a goat was the prize given to the best tragedy.
The way that Greek tragedies hold critical importance in Shakespeare’s work is pretty evident in how similar they are. Both Greek and Shakespearean tragedies show the fall of the protagonist who holds a high position in the society e.g. Hamlet was a learned and intellectual prince of Denmark and Oedipus, was a Prince too. Their journey is shown from a state of high repute and stature to a miserable, wretched one. Both tragedies had a central character and the plot tends to revolve around that, mainly. Moreover, both of them end with a catastrophic and disastrous conclusion that usually comprises of multitude of deaths. If the hero of the play doesn’t die, he either suffers ruin or indulges in self-destruction.
Although, Shakespeare never came across or met any Greek tragedians, either in avant-garde or through written text, in Greek or English versions since there weren’t any during his time, his work seems to be majorly inspired by how their conventional tragedies were. Critics argue that there must be indirect influence from Euripedes, Sophocles or Aeschylus from classical Latin sources and those in turn through Renaissance culture, in general. According to Marvin Henrick, “Elizabethan drama derives its five-act structure, it’s close-knit complex plot, its emphasis on revenge, blood, lust, ghosts, supernatural characters, prophetic dreams and elaborate laments.” Seneca seems to be of dominating inspiration in Shakespearean works as it is of central presence for the Renaissance. In fact, in a Hamlet, Polonius cites that Seneca is “the most available and prestigious of ancient tragedians.” However, contemporary critics have profoundly affirmed the value of comparing Athenian and Shakespearean drama on a threshold independent of any claim of actual influence.
Read about The Victorian Era here.
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