Download The Evolution of Medieval Drama: From Pagan Stories to Guild Cycles and more Assignments Literature in PDF only on Docsity!
I. ROMAN DRAMA
Characteristics of ROMAN THEATER in general : o festivals: to Ceres, to Bacchus (offering = 1st^ fruits on platter = called “satura” jocular scenes = offerings = “satura”) o Roman actors = “ histriones ” (Etruscan “dancer”) o mime & pantomime : satiric interludes of Greek plays; Etruscan mimic dancing to flute, without verse (to ward off 364 BC plague in Rome) addition (by Roman youths) of raillery, rude doggerel verses to accompany & correspond to the music & dance Livius Andronicus’ slave recitation & his dancing, with dialogue, “told” a story (“Dramatic Satire”, “satura”) no texts o o Roman drama borrowed from Greek drama o BUT less serious, less philosophical o more farcical , comedic, slapstick (circus-like), diversionary o more spectacle : acrobatics, dancing, singing, slapstick, sea-battles, gladiators, boxing, animal fights, chariot races, other athletics
Lucius Annaeus SENECA (c. 4 B.C. – 65 A.D) o tragedy o adapted Euripides’ plays o *WRITTEN TO BE READ (not necessarily performed, acted) Characteristics of ROMAN TRAGEDY (Senecan): o none survive except Seneca’s o five episodes (“acts” divided by choral odes) o elaborate speeches o interest in morality o moralization: expressed in sententiae (short pithy generalizations about the human condition) o violence and horror onstage (unlike Greek) o characters dominated by a single passion – obsessive (such as revenge) – drives them to doom (see AC Bradley) o technical devices: soliloquies, asides, confidants o interest in supernatural and human connections
Characteristics of ROMAN COMEDY: o no Chorus (abandoned) o no act or scene divisions o songs (Plautus – average of three songs, 2/3 of the lines with music) o music (Terence – no songs, but music with half of the dialog) o domestic affairs (everyday life)
o action placed in the street TITUS PLAUTUS: (c. 254-184 B.C) o comedy o based on Greek plays (21 extant, c. 130) o stichomythia, song, slapstick o Roman allusions; Latin verse TERENCE: (c.185-159 B.C.) o comedy o freed slave (educated) o 6 extant of 6 plays o complex plots(sub or double plots) o characterization o contrasts in human behavior o vs. Plautus: less boisterous, less episodic, more elegant language, less popular o used Greek characters
- RUSTIC FARCE : most popular southern Italy short " fabula Atellana ": o “Atellan play” (Atella = a Campanian town) o Roman humor with Maccus the clown, Bucco (“Fat cheeks”) the simpleton/braggart, Pappus the foolish old man, Dossennus the hunched-backed drunk slave/swindler o actors wore masks o improvisational dialogue o slapstick & buffoonery o short farces with stock characters o *predecessors of Italian commedia dell'arte characters Fescennine verses ( fescennia locatio ) o bawdy, improvised exchanges o sung by clowns (masked dancers) o at local harvest & vintage festivals & marriage ceremonies o early native Italian jocular dialogue in Latin verse o literary imitations by Catullus (84–54 BC), in one of his epithalamiums o Horace (65–8 BC) claimed that they became so abusive & perverse that they were forbidden by law saturate : o medleys consisting of jest, slapstick, & song (from Etruria) o with masked dancers & musicians
(German folklore: April 30, May Day eve, when witches met at The Brocken, Harz Mountains’ highest peak) spirits that represented life without taboo, inhibition, satiric, typically lascivious & indecent in word, song, gesture St. Walpurga, 710 Wessex, (Abbess of Heidenheim near Eichstätt, a Catholic Saint, was known as the protectoress against witchcraft and sorcery) pagan spring customs (Spring’s victory over Winter) children play pranks, noisemaking, bonfires (ward off evil spirits) similar to Halloween “Walpurgisnacht scene” in Goethe's Faust, in which Mephistopheles takes Faust to the Brocken and has him revel with the witches o topics: Hercules' labors Zeus' love escapades botched Greek tragedies
______________________________________________________________________________
II. FALL of ROMAN DRAMA
*(1) barbarian invasions from the north (2) dying art (3) church condemnation BARBARIANS: attacks on Italy Fall of Rome 476 AD
*DYING ART: despite elaborate theaters built in Italy, Spain, France, & North African colonies drama written to be READ theater became " little more than a vulgar form of popular entertainment " (31) distant from its religious origins & glorious past in ancient Greece diminishing festivals, spectacles bawdry obscene mimes farces that mainly dealt with drunkenness, greed, adultery, & horseplay acrobatics (lavish spectacles with scantily clad dancers) "water ballets" with scantily clad ("bikini") women & mock sea-battles (" naumachiae ") by 5thC AD, all mimes = excommunicated * fall of actors o in GREECE, actors were citizens of good repute o in ROME (now), actors lost esteem Roman performers = slaves debased social status (Rocius = exception, raised to nobility)
*CHURCH CONDEMNATION: o conversion of Emperor Constantine (324-337 A.D) o association with pagan gods (mythology & festivals) o sinful behavior surrounding theaters (thievery, prostitution, fights) Christians = forbidden to participate in or attend theaters o bawdy, obscene, licentious behavior (of participants, mimes) o ridicule by mimes o *** why MIMES = despised satirized, ridiculed religion (under Christian persecutions by) burlesqued sacramental rites (baptism with a drunk, turning into a dunking party) in Centunculus: a clown was baptized & grotesquely crucified
______________________________________________________________________________
III. “DARK AGES of DRAMA”
GAP BETWEEN ROMAN and MEDIEVAL DRAMA
(1) NOMADIC ENTERTAINERS:
*YET: MIMES persisted once only incidental , subordinate part ("intermezzi") of Roman theater became sole survivors of Fall of Theater demonstrated by the on-going protests & prohibitions by the Church migratory tradition
- ITERANT ACTORS (bridging the gap between Roman theater & Medieval theater) migratory entertainers : o jongleurs, histriones, tellers of tales/storytellers, o puppet-masters, musical instrumentalists written about by Isidore of Seville (7thC), written about by Thomas de Cabham (early 14thC): o TC's moral classification of mimes: 1) licentious & indecent dance & gesture, performed in public houses 2) satirist & parodists, performed at courts & halls of great houses 3) respectable singers of saintly lives & heroic princes (SCOP tradition, legacy) a Bishop of Lindisfarne: through his protest of actors, demonstrated that monasteries used to be entertained by traveling players; he suggested that it'd be better to allow paupers in than players
- SCOP tradition : storytellers of heroic (martial or religious) deeds WHO : satirists, comedians, fools, clowns, dancers, jugglers, storytellers, instrumentalists o trouveres (11th-14thC, France): of northern France (troubadours in southern France) o goliard (12th, 13thC, England, France, Germany): late Latin poetry by “wandering scholars”; educated clerics (& students) who did not go into (or were kicked out of) the religious profession; verse on vagabond life (homelessness & unfrocked life), love, debauchery, wine & political and religious satire--on the corruption of the church; 14thC “jongleurs” or “minstrels” o jongleur (13thC, France): musician, juggler, & acrobat; story-teller of fabliaux, chansons de geste , lays, & other metrical romances; performed in marketplaces on public holidays, in abbeys, & in noble castles o minstrel (12-14thC, France): replaced “jongleur” word by 14thC; musician (wind instrument); linked to SCOP and gleemen
WHERE : trade & pilgrim routes, highways, crossroads, courts, castle halls, taverns o mimes in monasteries: mimes, jongleurs, trouveres (11-14thC, northern France; troubadours in southern France) in monasteries, picked up the TROPE (= birth, death, rebirth) and took it (unconsciously) to the masses in Guilds HOW : jokes, gaiety, dances, songs, fabliaux, burlesque songs & stories & gestures; from the indecent dance & gesture to the tales of heroic, saintly deeds **historical tradition of mimes, this "bridging of the gap," is merely CONJECTURE , the stringing together of pieces of historical evidence by scholars while groping through the "Dark Ages"
(2) BYZANTIUM: Christianized pagan plays religious plays under Empress Theodora (500-548 AD) o mime-player before she married Emperor Justinian religious instruction to illiterate audience
(3) PAGAN RITES: Celtic and Teutonic peoples/rites seasonal rites : o winter & spring o death & rebirth of NATURE o winter solstice, autumnal equinox o spring (vernal) equinox (* Eostre , the Anglo-Saxon Goddess of fertility) o celebrate the harvest, o celebrate the return of nature & start of new crop season * Christianization of pagan cultures (6th^ century+): Church ASSIMILATION MIME TRADITION: o imitated & sanctified mimicry; o transmuted miming to the service of the Christian Church; o Christmas (12/25) = assimilation & coinciding of pagan sun festival; o Easter coincided with pagan spring rites of fertility, rebirth-resurrection of Nature o mimes in monasteries: mimes, jongleurs, trouveres (11-14thC, northern France; troubadours in southern France) in monasteries, picked up the TROPE (= birth, death, rebirth) and took it (unconsciously) to the masses in Guilds o impersonation : impersonation of miming represents the 2nd purpose, to move beyond mere commemorative action o FOLK RITES: o winter-spring battles = death-rebirth battles = folk contests, games, races (MUMMER
Dragon Turkish Knight Doctor Father Christmas (*Elizabethan “Prologue”, master-of-ceremonies) King of Egypt Sabra, princess, daughter of King of Egypt o Plot : hero story (see Anglo-Saxon literature) death & resurrection (dragon, Turkish Knight, St. George) sword play singing, dancing, mumming Father Christmas: represents the move from Easter to Christmas; acts as master of ceremonies (Prologue), begs for money Dragon: represents the influence of the Crusades; fights with St. George twice; killed, resurrected, killed Turkish Knight: fights with St. George twice; wounded, helped, killed, resurrected Doctor: resurrects Dragon, Knight; given “ girdy grout ” as reward (course meal, *symbol of vegetation, “rebirth”) St. George: fights dragon 2x fights Turk 2x marries Sabra
(4) CHRISTIAN TROPES: rebirth ( renaissance ) of literary drama 10 th^ century unofficial, unauthorized, non-liturgical added to the Church liturgy, Easter Mass
“ DARK AGES of DRAMA ” “Dark Ages” = not so dark seed & spirit of drama kept alive in various guises; while “literary” drama subsided, dramatic presentation & entertainment remained
IV. REBIRTH of LITERARY DRAMA
1) Christian Literature: Hrotvitha : (c. 935-1001) o a.k.a. “Hrotsvitha,” “Hrotswitha,” or “Roswitha” o 10 thC Benedictine nun from Saxony, Gandersheim monastery o epic poems, 8 legends of saints lives, 6 plays on religious, saintly themes o best known for her plays: didactic plays to be read , not acted Paphnutius, Dulcitius “the saint play” (France vogue, not England) o * she represents a link between Classical drama & Medieval drama : o religious (Christian) themes & sentiments ( medieval ) o farcical elements from the vogue of mimes & jongleurs ( medieval ) o wit, humor, theatricality ( classical ) o Terence as model: ( classical ) characterization, humor, dramatic conflict her attempt to reverse the negative characterization of women in his comedies 2) Christian Tropes: unofficial literary addition to church liturgy semi-dramatic form wordless sequences in Easter Mass EASTER : o earliest tropes o Easter = holiest time of the year (more than Christmas in our time) (1) ANTIPHONAL SONG: melodies sung to vowel sounds (medieval chant) wordless meaningless sounds, drawn out final vowels “ neumes ”: mnemonic device for musical notation (to remember melody learned by ear) perhaps developed in Eastern Roman Empire, Byzantine church music (2) TROPES: 1 st^ composed in France adding words to the wordless sequences of antiphonal songs short sung dialogue (in LATIN ) lyrical portion of the Easter Mass (like Greek dithyramb ) priests = “actors” religious education to illiterate masses (BUT masses can’t understand LATIN?!)
o after trope priest & choirboys sung joyful Easter hymn o ** IMPERSONATION ** now the performers are trying to impersonate the Angels and Marys look like, act like ( action ) costume & gesture (white robe for “angel”) perhaps MIME influence (3) DEVELOPMENT: o added characters (Christ, Peter, John, soldiers) o added lines o still in LATIN o added pantomimes (13thC, The Orleans Sepulcher) o from the choir to/through the nave: *whole church utilized multiple scenes , temporary structures built altar (with crucifix) = central point congregation’s left = heaven (priest’s “right hand”) congregation’s right = hell pulpit: prophets spoke nave: (multiple settings—“ mansions ,” “ houses ,” “ booths ”): Herod’s palace, Golgotha, Bethlehem, Temple, Gethsemane, Mount of Olives, Pilate’s palace, Tomb, Caiaphas’ house space in between = “ platea ”, all-purpose space o move to Christmas (4) CHRISTMAS: OFFICIUM PASTORUM o (“Office of the Shepherds”) o sepulcher manger o 3 Marys (with crucified Christ) 3 Shepherds (born Christ) o angles midwives o *set precedent for other theatrical productions: “ 12 th^ Day” celebrations : OFFICIUM STELLAE o “Office of the Star” o 3 Magi, kings o led by a star ORDO RACHELIS o Slaughter of the Innocents o ordered by Herod, King of Judea o lament of Rachel, represents grieving mothers of slain children o *OT character telling a NT story ORDO PROPHETARUM
o prophets of Israel o testified to the coming Christ o Christ cycle: OT prophets foretelling Jesus, Nativity, Trial of Jesus, Crucifixion, Resurrection & Second Coming o *OT characters telling a NT story (5) Other episodes from Biblical HISTORY: Creation, Crucifixion, Doomsday still in Medieval LATIN (6) Elaboration of Biblical SOURCE: local color o Mary Magdalene before her conversion: o entertained a lover, sung songs, bought cosmetics * English VERNACULAR : o English vernacular dialogue mixed with Latin (7) Early-13thC DEVELOPMENTS : moved outside of the church o *different places (towns, countries) at different times o overcrowding in the church o bawdry & license that crept into scenes more vernacular (in English ) o Adam = 12 thC Anglo-Norman play, speeches in English vernacular set outside , against the church doors (God’s entrance) more elaboration , more characters / roles , more scenery , more expense : o realistic, complicated plots, props, machinery from “3 Marys” at Easter more Biblical stories: o *as the Greek dithyramb = expanded to tell stories of gods, heroes o so too was the Easter story expanded o Christ cycle : OT prophets foretelling Jesus, Nativity, Trial of Jesus, Crucifixion, Resurrection & Second Coming o Biblical stories : Noah’s Ark, Jonah & the Whale, Daniel in the Lion’s Den, Samson & Delilah o stories of saints and martyrs (8) Drama per se : by 1300-1400s: outside the church (from church yard to streets) actors = laymen , semi-professional actors English dialogue (replaced Latin) GUILD CYCLES: o produced by town guilds : COMMUNAL event
V. MYSTERY, MIRACLE, and MORALITY plays
“MYSTERY”
18 th^ CENTURY: o distinction between "mystery" (Biblical history) & "miracle" (lives & legends of saints) during MIDDLE AGES: o "miracle" = ANY medieval play o derived from " miraculum ": not limited to supernatural invention in human lives; meant anything of a religious character in FRANCE: o " mystery " = Biblical play o French " mystere " = o not Greek " mysterion " (secret religious ceremonies) o not English " mystery " (trade or craft guild) o but Latin " ministerium " (referring to Church service) the spiritual “mystery” of Christ’s redemption of humanity Latin mysterium (“handicraft”) related to guilds (guilds = “mysteries”) “ mysteres ” of France, “ sacre rappresentazioni ” of Italy, “ autos sacramentales ” in Spain, “ Geistspiele ” of German-speaking lands (1) mystery play = Biblical story (usually Gospels) (2) miracle play = hagiography (3) morality play = conflict of personified abstractions, not Biblical or hagiographical, but creative stories that "sermonize" on moral, ethical behavior with regard to salvation ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) MYSTERY CYCLES:
TRAITS:
o "Mystery Cycles," "Biblical Pageants," "Cyclical Pageants," "Corpus Christi Plays," "Corpus Christi Pageants" o "pageant" = usually denotes a PART of a cycle, one play within a complete cycle collection o performances: parade-like from dawn to dusk in a single day OR over 2 or 3 successive days (local custom) o *from European Continent tradition: especially New Testament material “ Passion Plays ” survive today in Oberammergau (southern Bavaria town) o o events from the Bible o not dogmatic (as “morality plays”) o celebrated the “good news” of salvation o cycles of plays that were presented on the feast of Corpus Christi in large towns like York & Coventry (church & guilds) o o GOD = speaking character (“Deus”) o pageants = poetic drama 8-line stanzas (10, 11, 12-line stanzas) alliteration (see Anglo-Saxon literature) rhyme scheme ( abab, cddc ) ( abab, cccc ) o no scene divisions o anachronisms : references to Christ Cain swears to Christ “hob” = prankster from Yorkshire folklore “Wat Wink” (Noah) and other comic, derogatory nicknames bailiffs
TIME FRAME: o height : late 14thC, early 15thC o decline : end of 15thC cost-prohibitive for guilds move from amateur to professional drama (touring of semi- or professional troupes) Protestant pressure (representations of Christ & Virgin Mother = sacrilegious) *Miracle Plays = still performed into 16 thC (at Coventry, 14 miles from Stratford) *Morality Plays = most important plays of late 15thC, early 16thC
CHANGES: o secular authorities
God's plan for humanity from the Gospels, with some OT characters/stories fall of Lucifer, Creation, fall of Adam, Noah, Cain & Abel, Abraham & Isaac, Nativity scenes, Annunciation with Joseph's troubled response, episodes from Christ's life, Christ's Passion & Resurrection (with " Quem Quaeritis " in between), Judgment Day ("Judicium") o o dramatized Biblical history: from Creation to Last Judgment * Medieval Cycles broke Classical UNITIES : (time, place, action) o Greek & Roman drama : a short period, day or less o Medieval & Elizabethan drama : whole history : Creation to Judgment, kings to beggars, sorrow & joy (dramatization of the Christian view of life) o range in time & space & character some of the cycles- subjects = **1) Lucifer’s fall 1) Harrowing of Hell
- Creation & Adam’s fall 2) Loaves & Fishes
- Cain & Abel 3) Slaughter of the Innocents
- Noah & the Flood 4) Moses
- Abraham & Isaac 5) Prophets
- Nativity 6) John the Baptist, Jesus’ Baptism
- Lazarus 7) Jesus’ Temptation in the Wilderness
- Passion & Resurrection 8) Assumption & Coronation of the Virgin
- Judgment-Doomsday Day** guild=pageant : o correlation between a guild & its play-part o best for props & scenery & costuming o see YORK CYCLE (below) o shipwrights = Noah & Flood o bakers = Last Supper o vintners = Miracle at Cana o goldsmiths= Magi o carpenters = Resurrection o butchers = Crucifixion o 4 extant cycles :
- York (48) 2) Wakefield (30-32)
- Chester (25) 4) N-Town (42) 1) WAKEFIELD CYCLE: younger than the York Cycle aka, "Towneley Cycle" because it was in the possession of this Lancashire family presented by Wakefield craft & trade guilds 30 plays ("pageants") o not all = complete
o 5/6 attributed to an unidentified (unidentifiable) single author "the Wakefield Master" based on stanza forms, local allusions, individuality of style & idiom Second Shepherd’s Play performed in procession from dawn to dusk
2) YORK CYCLE: dated from 1340-50 (older than Wakefield Cycle) performed processionally (parade) from dawn (4:30-5 AM) to dusk 4x Hamlet in length, @ 15 hours 1. Creation, Fall of Lucifer (Tanners), 2. Creation (days 1-5, Plasterers), 3. Creation and A&E (cardmakers), 4. A&E in Eden (Fullers), Fall of Man (coopers), Expulsion (armorers), Cain & Abel (glovers), Building of Ark (shipwrights), Noah & wife (fishers & mariners), Abraham & Isaac (parchmenters, bookbinders), Israelites from Egypt & 10 plagues & Red Sea (hosiers), Annunciation & Visitation (spicers), Joseph's troubles (pewterers, founders), Journey to Bethlehem & Jesus' birth (tile- thatchers), shepherds (chandlers/candlemakers), Going of the 3 kings to Herod (masons), Coming of the Kings & Adoration (goldsmiths), flight to Egypt (marshals/horse- groomers), Slaughter of the Innocents (girdlers & nailers), Christ with the Doctors (spurriers & lorimers/spur & bit-makers), Baptism of Jesus (barbers), Temptation (smiths), Transfiguration (curriers/leather- dressers), Woman taken in adultery & Lazarus (capmakers), Christ's entrance to Jerusalem (skinners), Conspiracy (cutlers), Last Supper (bakers), Agony & Betrayal (cordwainers), Peter's Denial & Jesus before Caiaphas (bowyers & fletchers), Dream of Pilate's wife & Jesus before Pilate (tapiters/tapestry & carpet-makers and couchers), Trial before Herod (litsters/dyers), 2nd Accusation before Pilate & Remorse of Judas & Purchase of Field of Blood (cooks & leaders), 2nd trial before Pilate (tilemakers), Christ led to Calvary (shearmen), Crucifixion (pinners & painters), Mortification of Christ & Burial (butchers), Harrowing of Hell (saddlers), Resurrection (carpenters), Christ's appearance to Mary Magdalene (winedrawers), Travelers to Emmaus (sledmen), Purification of Mary & Simeon and Anna (hatmakers & masons & laborers), Incredulity of Thomas (scriveners),
