The Morality Vice character, in various manifestations, can be traced from an origin in the medieval drama through the drama of the Restoration. His or her defining characteristics are the use of disguise, the ability to manipulate, the tendency to address the audience directly, the desire to serve the devil by corrupting others, and the participation in a drama that is socially critical and/or morally didactic. / Originally an allegorical character participating in an externalized psychomachia, like Titivillus in the anonymous Mankind, the Vice metamorphosed during the late medieval and Renaissance periods into a unified representative of one or more of the Seven Deadly Sins, like Pride or Wrath in The Castle of Perseverance, appearing both in the comedies and the tragedies. On the Jacobean stage the Vice-figure took on more clearly human characteristics; significant examples of the early 17th century Vices are Shakespeare's Iago, Jonson's Volpone and Mosca, and Tourneur's Vindice. Beginning at this time, the Vice often functions as an instrument of the playwright's social criticism. During the Restoration, the Vice-figure, male or female, takes the form either of the bawd or the manipulator. Representative of the Restoration Vices are Dryden's Lyndaraxa and Zulema in the tragedy The Conquest of Granada, as well as Congreve's Fainall and Marwood in the comedy The Way of the World. / The peculiar quality of the Vice-figure is a charisma which conceals malevolence. Thus this character embodies form and function in the drama by leading the audience empathetically through the psychomachia, the mirror of the moral quandary at the heart of man. The Vice-figure's tenacity can be explained by the fact that the Vice role elucidates human moral behavior. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-09, Section: A, page: 3066. / Major Professor: Bertram H. Davis. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_78304 |
| Contributors | Morelli-White, Nan., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 250 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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