A dramatic descendant of mystery and miracle plays of the medieval period, a morality play’s purpose was to allegorically point out good and evil, and the dangers mankind faced in participating in sinful behaviors, and to highlight the cost of pursuing such immoral actions. The morality play, a medieval poeticContinue Reading
In tragedies, the playwright tries to give relief to tension in the mind of the audience by introducing comic scenes or episodes. The audience of the Elizabethan period pressed for such comic interludes. The producers also demanded them for success of the play. The comic interlude may have an appropriateContinue Reading
Marlowe based Doctor Faustus on the early sixteenth century German doctor Johann Faust, a practitioner of magic, who was thought to have sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for knowledge and magical power. Marlowe dramatizes tales that gathered around Faustus’s name, those typically involving the conflict between humanContinue Reading
Overrun by gullible souls piously intent on social elevation, Ben Jonson’s The Alchemist is a comedic exposé in which the fabric of society is inextricably linked to the status-quo and its ravenous desire for wealth and power. Through the characters in the play, Jonson presents an allusive manifestation of ElizabethanContinue Reading
David Garrick, the writer of this prologue, was one of the most famous actor and producer of his time. He wrote this prologue as a satire, where the character “Mr. Woodward” would be in mourning, because comedy is dying, and that Dr. Goldsmith might prove the doctor, and She Stoops toContinue Reading
She Stoops to Conquer opens with a prologue in which an actor mourns the death of the classical low comedy at the altar of sentimental, “mawkish” comedy. He hopes that Dr. Goldsmith can remedy this problem through the play about to be presented. Act I is full of set-up forContinue Reading
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