Dramatic Literature, Criticism and Theory Commons^™

Falstaff, A Product Of Historical And Moral Traditions, Emily Stacy Apelt

English Theses & Dissertations

No abstract.

Thomas Shadwell: The Sentimental Characteristics Of His Comedies, Ramona Hartley Hamby

English Theses & Dissertations

No abstract.

Literary Criticism Of Shakespeare's King Lear, Daniel Lee Burcham

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

The Hobbesian Villain In Dryden's Heroic Plays, Margaret Norman Simmons

English Theses & Dissertations

No abstract.

Christopher Fry's Contribution To Modern Drama, Jane Mcelroy

Graduate Thesis Collection

In a modern theatre increasingly preoccupied with the mundane, the sordid, the perverse, and the hopeless, Christopher Fry's plays loom like beacons~ For Hr. Fry finds the world, however chaotic, magnificent; and he chooses to explore its more civilized areas in a language undauntedly poetic, through characters cultivated enough to speak that poetry...

The Major Qualities Of Oscar Wilde's Comedies, Milton Woodell Hamlin

Graduate Student Research Papers

This paper will attempt to provide a comparative survey of the four comedies of Oscar Wilde (Lady Windermere's Fan, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband, and The Importance of Being Earnest) with an emphasis on the differences between the first three comedies and the last. Background material germane to Wilde's development as a playwright, and a brief evaluation of Wilde's position in English literature, largely based on his reputation as a playwright, will be included.

A Study Of The Dramatic Criticism Of Charles Lamb, Lyman Francis Smart

English Language and Literature ETDs

In the one hundred fifty years since Charles Lamb published what might be termed his first formal criticism, opinions of his stature as a critic have waxed and waned. His critical writing has been attached as the "blasphemies of a poor manic," and praised as possibly the greatest applied criticism in English. Recent critical estimates of British criticism have tended to ignore Lamb or to damn him with faint praise.

The purpose of this study is to re-examine the earlier attitudes toward Lamb and his writing on the drama, and to look with fresh perspective at the most noteworthy of …

A Historical Survey And Evaluation Of The Most Prominent Theories That Shakespeare Did Not Write The Works Attributed To Him, Lola Vida Johnson

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The question of the authorship of the plays, poems, and sonnets traditionally attributed to the pen if William Shakespeare of Stratford-on-Avon has now been before the public for over one hundred years. Many of the most noted poets, playwrights, and nobles of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries have been assigned the authorship of these works. The controversy can be compared to the controversy over Homer’s authorship. In 1975, Friederick Augustus Wolf proposed that Homer did not write The Iliad and The Odyssey. By 1900, Wolf had been disproven, but the question was one of great importance when it was first …

Some Differences In The Comedy Of Manners Plays From The Restoration To Somerset W. Maugham, Tressa C. Bennett

Masters Theses

No abstract provided.

A Comparative Analysis Of The Characters Of Two Dramatic King Lears : Shakespeare And Bottomley, Doyne Joseph Mraz

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

It has been the purpose of this study to make a comparative analysis of the most significant characters in two selections of dramatic literature: Gordon Bottomley’s King Lear’s Wife and William Shakespeare’s King Lear. The significant characters are Goneril and Regan, the “evil influence” in both plays; the two Lears, the “neutral influence” in both plays; and Hygd and Cordelia in King Lear’s Wife and King Lear, respectively. Hygd and Cordelia are the “honorable influence” in the stories.

It has been the further purpose of this thesis to delete from both plays all subplots which do not directly pertain to …

A Comparison Of The Nineteenth And Twentieth Century Criticism Of Shakespeare's Heroines, Grace Mcleod Gartman

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The nineteenth century critics appraised Shakespeare's heroines by standards different from those of the twentieth; consequently the two ages reached different conclusions. The purpose of this paper is to point out just what these differences are.

A paper of this scope had to be narrowed in some ways. Otherwise a formidable array of heroines would have been enumerated, but little depth of research could have been shown. In the general conclusion the result would have been the same, as I have discovered through wide reading. To limit the subject only the most famous heroines could be included. The process of …

An Essay On Character Portrayal, Style, And Technique Of Writing In Maxwell Anderson's Biographical Plays In Verse, Henry E. Hobson

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this chapter is to acquaint the reader with the general scope and trend of Maxwell Anderson's work in order to give a more complete conspectus for the discussion of his plays. By so doing a foundation will be laid for a more intelligible discussion of the specific aspects of the seven plays concerned in the thesis proper, the title of which is, "An Essay on Character Portrayal, Style, and Technique of' Writing in Maxwell Anderson's Biographical Plays in Verse."

A Thesis On Shakespeare, Literature's Master Dramatist, Hilda Mary Armstrong

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis, submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education, presents a survey of the life and dramatic works of William Shakespeare, situated within the broader history of English drama. The thesis traces English drama's origins in medieval Catholic Church miracle plays and moralities through the development of Bible drama, interludes, and early English comedy and tragedy, before turning to the Elizabethan stage on which Shakespeare wrote.

A biographical account of Shakespeare's life at Stratford-on-Avon and London is followed by a description of the physical conditions of the Elizabethan theatre, including stage construction, scenery, …

Jeanne D'Arc In Modern Drama, Mary Cordea Woelfel

Bachelors’ Theses

The Jeanne d'Arc literature provides a delightful as well as scholarly excursion that may keep the mind entranced for days, months, nay even for years. But we shall confine ourselves to a short and pointed description. We shall follow Jeanne of Domremy through five centuries of stormy upheavals, religious as well as political. We shall meet her entrancing figure, exalted and deified, maligned and reviled, in history and otherwise, in medieval and modern versions of drama and poetry. But everywhere we shall greet her as a perennial yet youthful charming figure, in American, German, and English literature, and naturally in …

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 …

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 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 …

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 Beginnings Of English Dramatic Literature, Clarence Francis Dickopf

Bachelors’ Theses

No art has been practiced by human beings from the beginning. We only find a gradual development. We have men, however, who were born with a gift of genius, who were unconscious of the laws and rules governing their respective spheres. We read of a Mozart, a Michaelangelo and a host of other gifted men whose art came to them intuitively. These are exceptions. Art has laboriously grown, and so it is with our own dramatic art, we see its gradual development. In order to study English drama intelligently we must know its origins or beginnings, how it arose from …