Q1. Describe the staging and purpose of Mystery Plays in early modern England.
Q2. In a Mystery Play of your choice discuss the playwright[s]'s adaptation of scriptural material. How does the playwright draw in the audience to the play?
Q3. Discuss any of the following topics in two Mystery Plays: the sin of Pride; Punishment; Salvation.
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The Mystery Plays occured in a time when literacy was not wide spread. The ordinary everyday man could neither read nor write. He didn't have the education to study and interpret the bible for themselves. The Guilds, whose members were educated, put on plays on festival days to teach the people the morals and lessons of the bible stories.
ReplyDeleteThe Guilds took over the acting out of the plays after the clergy were banned from acting in the early 13th. This meant that some humour and vernacular pieces were added to the original stories.
Each Guild was responsible for the staging of one of the plays. Sometimes the business of Guild dictated the play that they staged. For example the Carpenters Guild and the story of Noahs Ark.
The use of humour was one tool which the Guild uses to draw in the audience. In the Mystery Play Townley Noah, Noah and his wife engage in arguments and jibes. In some stagings they resort to an actual physical fight.
ReplyDeleteThe use of comedical violence and humour and insults underscores the moral of faithfulness characterized by Noah with doubt and disloyalty characterized by Noah's wife. These devices mean the play is more memorable and more likely to hold the attention of the audience.
The sin of Pride and the punishment by God for that sin can most obviously be seen in the plays; The Fall of Lucifer and Adam and Eve. In both plays the central characters dared to rival God and were severly punished.
ReplyDeleteLucifer's pride led him to believe he was worthy to rival God and he tried to usurp Gods power. He fell from grace as punishment.
Eve's pride led her to eat of the fruit that Lucifer told her would give her the same knowledge as God. She in turn tempted Adam and they were both cast out of paradise. Pride is therefore the root of all original sin. We can see that those who try to rival God in power or knowledge are punished severly.