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A Study Of The Tragic Elements In Shakespeare's Comedies, Dorothy Corson

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

In a study of the tragic elements in Shakespeare's comedies, it is necessary to distinguish between the tragic and the comic and to note their relationship, before considering the subject proper.

A Psychological Approach To Public Speaking, Charles S. Costello

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

An Evaluation Of The Shavian Theatre As A Criticism Of Life, Marie Louise Heipp

Bachelors’ Theses

Shaw's plays usually develop a single idea on which he hammers until it is beaten into shape. It is the aim of the writer to take the ideas Shaw has built his dramas upon and consider them as a criticism of life from the ec­onomic, moral and social point of view.

To attempt to write this thesis means to go over ground that has been covered repeatedly. Indebtedness is acknowledged for the following books which have been of most value in the preparation of this thesis: Chesterton: George Bernard Shaw; Shanks: Bernard Shaw; Various mag­azine articles. The plays …

Shakespeare's Genius Was Essentially A Dramatic One, Marie Valentine Prudeaux

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis, submitted to Xavier University in 1929, argues that Shakespeare's genius was essentially a dramatic one, examining his life, artistic development, and dramatic works across four periods of composition. A biographical account of Shakespeare's life at Stratford-on-Avon and London opens the study, followed by an analysis of the qualities that distinguish his genius, including originality, insight into character, and the power to portray emotion.

Prudeaux draws on the critical tradition of Dryden, Hazlitt, Johnson, Pope, and Schlegel, among others, to organize Shakespeare's dramatic output into four periods, characterized in the thesis as "In the Workshop," "In the World," "Out …

Ibsen's Influence On British Dramatists, Elva Acklam

Bachelors’ Theses

In preparing this thesis I found that one must have an understanding of philosophy, sociology, biology and economics to appreciate the modern drama, and in the reading of the plays I found my knowledge in these subjects broadened. The dramatists and their characters' views on these branches of learning are most interesting, especially those in Bernard Shaw's prefaces.

The labor of the essay was simplified when I found that the reading of a play of Ibsen's or the others gave almost as much pleasure as witnessing it on the stage. Copious stage directions giving character analysis, situations, and literary descriptions …

Influence Of Ibsen On The Technique Of The Modern English Drama, Gertrude Ruth Okray

Bachelors’ Theses

During the latter part of the nineteenth century we have a revival of the drama in England. A new movement sweeps the country which is paralleled in all the countries of Europe, and in America. It was a current of naturalistic thought, and was due in part to the spreading of the theory of causo-mechanical evolution. New ideas in regard to life and its problems were brought forth. Of the advocates of the new ideas peculiar to the period, I believe that Henrik Ibsen, the Norwegian dramatist, was one of the most prominent. Without doubt his plays are the first …

Diction In Certain English Neo-Classic And Romantic Writers, Helen Alice O'Neill

Bachelors’ Theses

It is a truism that literary form changes with the changing ideas and emotions of different literary eras. Neo-classic regularity commences the age of rationalism and Intellectual enlightenment. A certain formalism limits the freedom of literary speech and characterizes our age of mere opinion and chaos. The Neo-claasic and Romantic eras in English literature are from the viewpoint of form diametrically opposite. In other aspects they are not so widely different but in form and expression we find a distinct variance.

The Dramatic Technique Of Ben Jonson, Theodore James Hodan

Bachelors’ Theses

"Barring Shakespeare, Jonson is by far the moat significant literary figure of his time,--- leaving be­ hind him a name in the popular drama, second alone to that of Shakespeare." In this vein does Felix E, Schelling speak of the master about whom this thesis is woven, Ben Jonson. In the course of this thesis we will endeavor to set forth the technique, in its various phases of the dramas of Jonson.

Dramatic Criticism: Its Place In The American Theater And A Discussion Of Its Exponents, Rowena M. Devine

Bachelors’ Theses

Criticism is as essential to the theater as it is to literature, art or music. It is a connecting link between the theater and the theater-goer. Most authorities today concede that without criticism the theater would wane in popularity.

The Literature Of The Age Of Queen Anne And How It Reflects The Problems And Politics Of The Time, Francis J. Costigan

Bachelors’ Theses

The object of this thesis is to go back into Early Eighteenth Century England and see the literature, the politics and the life of the time, and then to compare the history of the time with the literature and see how the latter reflects the former.

In selecting the writers, I have chosen the two greatest of the first half of the Eighteenth Century, Swift and Defoe.

I have divided the thesis into two parts. Part One gives a resume of the politics of England during this period. Part Two is devoted to the writers themselves and I have used …

Jealousy In Shakespeare's Tragedies, Harold M. Kimball

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

In undertaking a study of the theme of jealousy, one must make some limitation of material. The field of literature as a whole, or the more limited ones of drama or even tragedy - each of these is too large for so short a study as this must be. Only certain aspects of such a restricted subject as the tragedies of Shakespeare can be given any thorough treatment, while others, both interesting and profitable, must be put aside; for instance, space will prohibit a careful comparison of Shakespeare's use of jealousy with that of other dramatists; nor can a study …

The Concept Of Social Determinism As A Motivating Influence In Some Modern Tragedy, Arthur Lenox Bradford

Masters Theses

"The term, "social determinism", is a rather unfortunate designation for the absolute conditioning of human character by the aggregate of biologic and social influences...The central idea of this positivistic interpretation is that man, along with all other organic things, is the product of hereditary accidence and environmental contacts, that his psychic and physical constitutions (if there be such differentiation) are fashioned to the minutest detail by circumstance, and that his thoughts and the chemic impulses of his nature appear precisely according to his character which he has no hand in making"--Introduction, page 2-3.

Formal Retraction Or Literary Repentance In The Elizabethan Age., Irene B. Rhoads

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Before entering upon a discussion of those writers of the Elizabethan Age whose works present specific instances of Personal Retractation, let us turn our attention to the problem in general and try to find out why writers of this age and of earlier times felt it necessary to repent of their literary efforts. Some critics may say that retractation was merely a literary convention; and why bother about its beginnings, sources, et cetera? Others may have the opinion that it was a personal trait, only a means of satisfying some peculiar whim or fancy of the author. Some may go …

The Histrionic In Dickens, Mary Josephine Markey

Bachelors’ Theses

We shall examine the life and works of Charles Dickens to find if he really was histrionically inclined. Of course it will be impossible in a work of this kind to consider all the author’s works but we shall look for passages, scenes and characters which could lend themselves to the stage.

The Function Of The Comedians In Shakespeare's Plays, Louise Elizabeth Tennessen

Bachelors’ Theses

There is an old adage, "It takes a wise man to make a fool", which is familiar to most of us, but the full significance of the proverb will be comprehended only after reviewing several plays in which the fools carry prominent parts. Tracing the history of the court fool back to the early and middle ages, it has been found that it was customary tor a monarch, prince or a powerful noble to have in his retinue a fool or jester, whose office it was to entertain his master and courtiers. He enjoyed privileges and liberties denied the higher …

Henrik Ibsen, And His Influence On English Drama, Helen Rose Dempsey

Bachelors’ Theses

There are a great number of dramatic critics who claim that all the most important dramatic work that is being done in the world or has been done in the last quarter of a century, bears the unmistakable impress of Ibsen's influence. The poetic change that Wordsworth and Coleridge inaugurated in 1798, was nothing they say, compared with the revolution in dramatic art that began when Ibsen produced his "Pillars of Society," the first of his purely sociological plays.

Shakespeare's Delineation Of Criminal Characters, Herbert Lloyd Hinstorff

Bachelors’ Theses

We like what we are not, or we are not what we think we are. In no subject is this truism more evident than in the literature of a people. Literature reflects the taste of the time rather than the time itself, and of­ ten the two are widely different. Literature is, of course, not life, neither history nor material for history, but a scroll whereon are traced and charactered the unfettered thoughts of writer and reader, - a life within a life, fancy somewhat at odds with fact. fut by critics and historians this is often forgotten - "To …

The Song In Elizabethan Drama With Particular Reference To Its Function In Shakespeare, John Joseph Plamondon

Master's Essays (1922 - )

We have approached our study of the song in Elizabethan Drama with the intention of accounting for the abundance of vocal music in the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries, and of explaining the use of song as a dramatic device. It has been considered necessary to a proper understanding of the place of song in the Romantic Drama to give a rather broad treatment of the subject, including a brief history of the song in the English theatre, the psychology of its origin, and the cause of its decline. Methods of presenting songs have been discussed to strengthen our …

The Poetry Of William Butler Yeats And The Celtic Spirit, Francis Joseph Mccarthy

Bachelors’ Theses

The Irish Literary movement of our time is the most interesting artistic event since the formation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. It exhibits the same combination of diverse personalities and gifts dominated by one common aim and directed toward one single end.

The Technique Of The Drama Of John Galsworthy, Irene Louise Edwards

Bachelors’ Theses

Since 1906 when John Galsworthy published "The Silver Box", he has produced nineteen dramas and a number of one act plays; and Phelps says "he has produced nothing negligible". (Phelps: "Essays on Modern Dramatists" p. 100 ). In his very first play, he used a technique which he has continued to follow with more or less precision and perfection in the later dramas ( except "The Little Dream"). He did not flounder about as did the pacemakers of modern drams. He found his medium ready-made for him in naturalism, and he adopted it. It was the most suitable for the …

The Ethical Aspects Of The Shavian Theatre, Bertha R. Ott

Bachelors’ Theses

Few dramatists are so widely discussed, so excessively journalized as is George Bernard Shaw, and, as a result, few are more misunderstood. Many consider him a hero, accepting all his dictums with no critical observations on their own part, and, on the other hand, many denounce him whole-heartedly as an insincere iconoclast who is entirely negative and destructive. It is my purpose to show that Shaw is neither of these, -- that his philosophy of life as set forth in the plays is either constructive in a certain sense, or, if destructive, destructive only so far as it is necessary …

John Millington Synge And The Irish Dramatic Revival, Ethel L. Kuehn

Bachelors’ Theses

If poetry be “emotion remembered in tranquillity," as Wordsworth said, then drama is, or must seem to be, emotion visualized in action. Drama, by its nature,- can come into being only when men are moved powerfully and suddenly to record the circumstances of life; for the dramatic form is the most exacting of literary forms, demanding a high and sustained emotion in the author. The great ages of drama have thus been those when life has been raised to an unusual intensity, or viewed with an excited surprise. The artist may take what he desires from life, and, letting all …

Contemporary American Drama: William Vaughn Moody And Eugene O'Neil, Helen F. Corrigan

Bachelors’ Theses

In any study of contemporary American drama, two names inevitably stand out from among the myriads of native playwrights - those names - William Vaughn Moody and Eugene O'Neil. Yet neither of these can be literary pigeon-holed. Moody's death prevented him reaching his full development. Consequently his work is mostly indicative - indicative of what it might have been had he lived.

Origin And Development Of The Heroic Play, Katherine Patricia Kelly

Bachelors’ Theses

There is no event in this world which has not had its beginning, no matter how important or how insignificant when it began, and, with this beginning a development followed making this event more important or more trivial. In Politics, in Art, in the very civilization there has always been one great leader in whom an idea had its birth. And, successors carried on its development.

A Comparative Study Of The Dramatic Movement In Sophoclean And Shakespearean Tragedy, Victor Michael Hamm

Bachelors’ Theses

The first draft of this essay began thus: "Aristotle, in his 'Poetics', when discussing tragedy, treats the elements of that dramatic form under four heads, to wit: objects, medium, manner of representation, and function. We are interested in the first of the above-mentioned: objects. For we intend to trace the essential differences in the muthos, drama, dianoia, and ethe, of Sophoclean tragedy as against "Shakespearean." The writer then continued with an apology of reasons why he was not going to treat all four tragic elements! As he progressed in the work as first conceived, however, he discovered that even with …

Social Analysis In The Ibsen Drama, Rebecca E. Pitts

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

National Traits As Revealed In The Revenge Theme In Tragedy, Hazel Pauline Glaister

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

In the Renaissance drama, revenge is known as a revenge of blood, generally the “eye for an eye” variety of retaliation. The revenge of late periods deals with the return injury directed not only to the body of the opponent but also to his mental discomfort.

It is the aim of this thesis to present the different types of revenge in tragic dramas and by means of them to show how the life, manners, and attitude of the various nationalities are reflected in dramas dealing with this theme.

The Dramatic Technique Of John Galsworthy, Othmar A. Bittman

Bachelors’ Theses

Almost a score of years before Ibsen ushered in the New Drama with his monumental series of social dramas, he said: "The experience of all countries has sufficiently established the fact that dramatic art, in every age in which it has been cultivated, has in a higher degree than any other, shown itself an important factor in the education of the people--a very obvious explanation of which fact is to be found in the drama1 s more intimate and direct relation to reality; in other words, in its greater intelligibility and in its easier and more general accessibility to the …

The Appeal Of One Act Play, Aloysius J. O'Rourke

Bachelors’ Theses

The appeal of the one act play has become so universal that today the force and vigor of the movement is seen and felt throughout the civilized world, from far off Japan even to the southern republics of the Americas. As strong in its appeal as the longer drama, this new art, if such it may be called, is rapidly gaining such favor that we can look with gratitude upon the wide achievement it has made by the media of the 'Little Theatre" movement which has sponsored this new form of entertainment till it now has almost attained its full …

The Golden Keys And Other Essays On The Genius Loci, Vernon Lee (Violet Paget)

Vernon Lee: Manuscripts, Published Works, and Typescripts

No abstract provided.