Playwriting Commons^™

Shakespere's Histories As A Dramatic Pageant Of The Middle Ages, Janice M. Wolf

Bachelors’ Theses

"When Shakespeare, Jonson, Fletcher, ruled the stage, They took so bold a freedom with the age, That there was scarce a knave or fool in town Of any note but had his picture down." But William Shakespeare has gone farther than this and has woven into his Histories a beautiful story. A story, or rather a colorful pageant that carries us back several centuries to the time when William Shakespeare lived and Queen Elizabeth ruled England. Between lines he gives us a beautiful picture of merry England and her people. He reveals the customs, beliefs, and ideas of his age …

The Secularization Of The Liturgical Play, Sylvester G. Peters

Bachelors’ Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to trace the origin and development of the drama from the liturgy of the Mass to the time of its complete secularization. I shall endeavor to show the process by which the Church itself, through the introduction of dramatic elements into its liturgy came to make its appeal to mimetic instinct, out of which grew the great popular religious dramas of the miracle plays, with its offshoots in the moralities and dramatic pageants.

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 …

Divine Justice In Aeschylean Tragedy, Anton C. Pegis

Bachelors’ Theses

Briefly, then, I intend to give an exposition of the seven extant plays from the point of view of the conflict between divine justice and moral freedom, with an attempt of reconstructing, in the light of criticism, the Aeschylean solution to the problems involved in the investigation. Maurice Croiset has said of Aeschylus that his dramas were revelations on the stage of the divine will; the Aeschylean meditative genius searched for causes, and thus each trilogy " divine l'expose dramatique d'une grande destinee, et, ainsi concue, elle eveilla desormais autant de peosee que d'emotion."

The Taming Of The Shrew

Taylor Theatre Playbills

The playbill for Taylor University’s Spring 1927 performance of The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare.

The Taming of the Shrew follows the courtship and marriage of Petruchio and Katherina, a headstrong shrew and how Petruchio "tames" her.

Phantastes Chapter 14: Winter's Tale, William Shakespeare

German Romantic and Other Influences

William Shakespeare (1564-1616), The Winter’s Tale, published in 1623 in the First Folio.

Phantastes Chapter 20: The Faithful Shepherdess, John Fletcher

German Romantic and Other Influences

John Fletcher (1579-1625) was a contemporary of William Shakespeare and followed him as main playwright for the King’s Men. The Faithful Shepherdess (produced in 1608, probably published in 1609) is also important for Fletcher’s definition of tragicomedy, which highlights the importance of near-death to the genre.

Phantastes Chapter 22: The Revenger's Tragedy, Cyril Tourneur

German Romantic and Other Influences

Cyril Tourneur (1575-1626) was an English dramatist, a contemporary of Shakespeare; Tourneur was also a soldier and politician. The Revenger’s Tragedy (1607), as its name implies, is a revenge tragedy, and comments on the battle to avenge the destruction by the giants that lead to the brothers’ deaths. Literary critics now believe that the play was written by Thomas Middleton (1580-1627).

Phantastes Chapter 24: The Honest Whore, Thomas Dekker, Thomas Middleton

German Romantic and Other Influences

Thomas Dekker (1572-1632) was a dramatist and writer of popular pamphlets describing London life. This line comes from the play The Honest Whore, Part II (1605 or 1606). The Honest Whore, Part I, a collaboration between Dekker and Thomas Middleton, was performed in 1604.

Phantastes Chapter 15: Campaspe, John Lyly

German Romantic and Other Influences

Campaspe, an Elizabethan play by John Lyly (1584). The lines quoted are from Act 3, Scene 4, and they indicate the notion of a Platonic beauty, an ideal beauty that the artist can never capture perfectly