Act II: Objectives Flashcards
Q: Describe the characteristics of community ‘Folk Plays’ in the Middle Ages.
A: Folk plays were secular, seasonal performances, often tied to festivals like May Day and Christmas. They included simple plots, stock characters, and comic elements. Mummers’ plays, featuring St. George and the Dragon, were common. These plays were performed by amateurs and relied on improvisation.
Q: Describe the liturgical origins of drama, and its development as Christian pageant.
A: Drama began in medieval churches with liturgical tropes, such as the Quem Quaeritis? dialogue in Easter services. Over time, performances moved outside, evolving into large-scale Christian pageants that depicted biblical events. These pageants were organized by guilds and performed on movable stages.
Q: Define the nature of the medieval Mystery Play and describe the ‘Cycles’ associated with specific towns.
A: Mystery plays dramatized biblical stories, from Creation to the Last Judgment. They were performed in cycles, named after towns like York, Chester, Wakefield, and N-Town. Each guild staged a specific episode on a pageant wagon, contributing to a complete biblical narrative.
Q: Define the nature of the Morality Play and show its impact on the works of Shakespeare.
A: Morality plays were allegorical dramas teaching Christian virtues, featuring personified abstractions like Virtue, Vice, and Death. Everyman is a key example. Their influence is seen in Shakespeare’s use of moral struggle, such as in Hamlet and Macbeth, where internal conflict mirrors morality play themes.
Q: Describe the characteristics of the Interlude, with reference to later plays.
A: Interludes were short, secular, often comedic plays performed at court and in noble households. They blended morality play themes with entertainment. John Heywood’s The Play of the Weather is an example. Their wit and realism influenced later Renaissance drama, including Shakespearean comedy.
Q: Describe the medieval theatre environment: the church, the market square, the raised platform stage, the pageant wagon.
A: Early drama was performed in churches, then moved to public spaces like market squares. Raised platform stages allowed for larger audiences. Pageant wagons were mobile stages used for cycle plays, moving from location to location to depict different biblical scenes.
Q: Show the relationship between the Medieval world view and that of the Renaissance, with reference to the expression of the Elizabethan World Picture in dramatic form.
A: The medieval world viewed life as divinely ordered, with a rigid hierarchy. The Renaissance introduced humanism and individualism, influencing the Elizabethan World Picture—where the universe was structured but man had agency. This shift appears in Shakespeare’s plays, such as Hamlet’s existential questioning.
Q: Describe the physical characteristics of the Elizabethan theatre, with specific reference to the Globe, and show how theatre design influenced the structure and style of the drama.
A: The Globe was an open-air, circular theatre with a thrust stage and minimal scenery. Its design encouraged direct audience engagement and fluid scene transitions. The lack of artificial lighting meant plays used daylight, affecting staging and dramatic pacing.
Q: Determine the characteristics of Renaissance tragedy, with reference to Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe.
A: Renaissance tragedy featured individual ambition, humanism, and supernatural elements. Doctor Faustus exemplifies this with its protagonist’s thirst for knowledge, a tragic flaw (hubris), and a struggle between salvation and damnation, leading to a morally instructive downfall.
Q: Determine the characteristics of Shakespeare’s ‘Romance’ plays, with reference to The Tempest.
A: Shakespeare’s romance plays blend tragedy, comedy, and fantasy, focusing on redemption, forgiveness, and magic. The Tempest features themes of exile, reconciliation, and wonder, with Prospero’s magical control symbolizing both the playwright’s power and the theme of restoration.
