Although it is generally accepted that the Morality Plays greatly influenced Elizabethan drama, this statement is often followed by the rider that they are dull and lifeless and that their chief legacy is a sense of moral earnestness which also characterises the best Elizabethan drama. The aim of this thesis has been to read the Morality Plays closely and in an appreciative spirit in order to find out what significant contribution they do make to the techniques of Elizabethan drama and to a proper understanding of it. Chapter I discusses the earliest complete Morality, The Castle of Perseverance, which is the longest and most comprehensive of all the Moralities. The chapter tries to show what a Morality is about and how it differs from the great mediaeval cyclus, the Mystery Plays. It is also an attempt to relate the early Morality Play to other mediaeval literature and to show that it is closely linked to the homeletic literature of the period. Chapter II is a study of three Moralities of the period 1500- 1520. There are fewer Moralities in this period and the plays chosen show a marked similarity to The Castle of Perserverance in their structure, although they differ from the earlier Moralities in their attitude to their subject matter and in their portrayal of the different allegorical characters. The plays under discussion are Nature, Mundus et Infans and Magnyfycence Chapter III; the period after 1535 was a period of great political and religious upheaval and this chapter discusses the plays written for propaganda purposes in the strife between Catholic and Protestant. John Bale's Three Laws, an anti-Catholic play, was chosen because Bale is a startlingly original dramatist who makes use of techniques derived from the liturgy and from emblematic devices, and because he tries to mould the Mystery Plays and the History Plays into a Morality framework. The other plays The Conflict of Conscience was chosen because of its affinity to Dr Faustus and also because it tries to show the psychomachia in psychological, personal terms rather than in a general allegorical manner. Chapter IV discusses three later Moralities, Cambyses, Horestes and Appius Virginia, which portray historical or fictional characters in situations of conflict. They were chosen because they seem to show that the Morality Plays laid the bases for the Elizabethan tragic situation and the Elizabethan tragic hero. With such diverse material, it is difficult to trace a clear line of development from one play to the next, but each group of plays has its own contribution to make to our understanding of Elizabethan drama.

A pesquisa de dissertação intitulada Entre Texto e Palco: Um Estudo sobre a Preparação do Espetáculo e dos Atores pelas Companhias Profissionais Elisabetanas se propõe a analisar alguns elementos relevantes no tocante à organização do espetáculo teatral pelas companhias profissionais elisabetanas. Os objetivos da pesquisa foram estudar a preparação das peças pelas companhias, quais os manuscritos estruturados para preparar o espetáculo e aqueles que seriam entregues aos atores, as partes; compreender a preparação do espetáculo pelos atores e o sistema de repertório, bem como a distribuição de seus papéis e a tradição do sistema de transmissão de papéis entre os atores, tentando verificar se existia algum procedimento de trabalho, instrução, estudo, ensaio, leituras; e por fim, do modo de interpretação, se havia uma noção determinada sobre a representação cênica, que descobrimos era reconhecida no período como passionating, conceito sobre a arte de interpretar do ator. A pesquisa foi bibliográfica, investigativa e de análise de fragmentos de duas peças de Shakespeare, A Tragédia de Hamlet, Príncipe da Dinamarca e Sonho de uma Noite de Verão. Passagens foram pinçadas dessas duas peças de modo que realizamos um estudo comparativo e de análise nos servindo de pontuais perspectivas de críticos que contribuíram imensamente na fundamentação de nossa articulação a respeito dos elementos acima citados e que moveram a pesquisa. Na delimitação do problema quatro foram os autores que fundamentaram nossa dissertação. São críticos que tiveram acesso direto aos manuscritos do período, são eles: David Bradley, Andrew Gurr, Tiffany Stern e John Astington por abordarem em muitos dos seus estudos a temática sobre a questão organizacional do espetáculo como um todo. Desses autores, apropriamo-nos da discussão a respeito do Book e do Plot, documentos que faziam referência à preparação do espetáculo. Investigamos a relevância desses documentos que, pela análise dos autores, indicam como o espetáculo era preparado pelos atores das companhias profissionais elisabetanas. / The dissertation research titled Between Text and Stage: a Study on the Preparation of the Spectacle and the Actors of the Elizabethan Professional Companies, intends to analyze some relevant elements regarding the organization of the Elizabethan theatrical spectacle by the actors of the Elizabethan professional companies. The research objectives were to study the preparation of plays by the companies, which manuscripts were structured to prepare the spectacle and those that would be delivered to the actors, the parts; to comprehend the preparation of the spectacle by the actors and the repertory system, as well as the distribution of its roles, the tradition of the transmission system between the actors, analyzing whether there were some work procedure, instruction, study, gathering, readings; and finally, the mode of interpretation, if there was a certain notion about the art of representation, which we discovered it were recognized in the period as passionating: concept on the art of interpretation. The research was bibliographic, investigative and analitic of fragments from two Shakespeare‟s plays - Midsummer Night’s Dream and Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Passages were plucked from these two plays so we conducted an analitic study on them approaching specific perspectives of critics who have contributed immensely in the grounds of our articulation on the elements mentioned above. These critics had direct access to the manuscripts of the period, they are: David Bradley, Andrew Gurr, Tiffany Stern e John Astington. They addressed many of their studies on the subject organizational issue of the spectacles as a whole. From these authors, we assumed the discussion of Book and Plot, documents that referred to the preparation of the spectacles. We investigate the relevance of these documents, the authors' analysis, indicate how the show was prepared by the actors of the Elizabethan professional companies.

Mary Reynolds / Caption title / Typescript / M.A. Florida State College for Women 1908

A complete study of the principle would take into consideration other literary types besides the drama, but since, historically, the drama takes precedence over those other types, and since the first important controversy on the subject arose in England in connection with tragedy, I have considered it best to limit the material undertaken here to that form of dramatic art. Further than that, the study will be limited to some of the leading tragedies of the Elizabethian age, excluding those of Shakespeare, for it was the use or misuse of poetic justice in these plays which formed the basis of the famous Dennis-Addison controversy in the early eighteenth century. Poetic justice had become a highly formalized idea by that time, and Addison became a defender of the liberties of the dramatist and insisted that the reputation of English writers of tragedy should not be injured by the enforcement of such an arbitrary rule as Den is and his fellow critic proposed. Since that time, the field over which the battle of the theory might be waged has decreased in size. Shakespeare is no longer condemned for having brought Desdemona to an unhappy death. The moder, especially, has turned from the old accepted idea of “whatsoever a man soweth, that shall also be reap”, and has taken a particular pleasure in turning it upside down. How we see that there is no planned plot for our lives. The narrow sense of tragedy that once held us when we saw justice overtake him who deserved his fate has given way before another sense of tragedy, one which apprehends that perhaps the greatest tragedy may be founded upon the very inscrutability of our lives. We no longer believe in the old dogma of poetic justice. Even so, poetic justice, whether it be modern or ancient, always has the fundamental problem of art with which to contend. That problem is, rightly enough, should it be the purpose of art to please, or to instruct? Dependent upon the answer to this question, is another problem: should the principle of poetic justice be accepted or rejected? Only this much may be said: it seems reasonable to expect that the absolute conformity to a strict form of poetic justice would injure the best interests of art and aesthetics as badly as the absolute violation of the doctrine would affect the conception of morality. A compromise seems inevitable.

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The early modern English masque is a hybrid form of entertainment that included music, dance, poetry, and visual spectacle, and for which there is no modern equivalent. This dissertation looks at four incarnations of the Elizabethan and Jacobean masque: the court masque, the masque embedded in the progress entertainment, the masque embedded in the commercial play, and the masque embedded in the commercial play performed at court. This study treats masques as a form of elite theatre (that is, theatre for, by, and about elite figures like monarchs and aristocrats) and follows them from the court to the countryside, through the commercial playhouse, and back again to the court in pursuit of a more nuanced picture of the hybridity and flexibility of early modern English performance culture.

Perhaps the most universally discussed problem in the interpretation of the character of Hamlet is the reason for his delay in carrying out the Ghost's commands and revenging the murder of his father. Certainly Shakespeare makes no mention of the reason for Hamlet's delay. The fact that critics have never been able to untangle this mystery proves that the solution is not presented in an obvious form in the play.

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