First,
anis:
...an extendedin which a person...or event stands
for itself and for something else...usually [involving] moral or spiritual concepts...
The Middle Ages were a time of great strife in Europe. The most
powerful influences were the Roman Catholic Churchwielding enormous power
over all of Europeand the Black Death (the plagues)that destroyed the very
fabric of the cultureregardless of age, gender or social standing.
There was
no separation of Church and State. It was the Church that delivered judgment and punishment,
settled disputes, etc. However, the Church's primary concern (besides winning believers) was to
inform the people of how they should live. The earliest forms of drama, then, were a means for
the Church to instruct the people as to how to best conduct themselves. Besides Chaucer's work,
there were allegorical plays: morality, miracle and mystery.
The miracle and mystery plays were based on Bible stories and were very
simplistic.
Medieval mystery plays focused on the
representation of Bible stories in churches...with accompanying...song.
They began to appear in the 10th Century, eventually leaving the
church and moving out into the town square or the market place. Eventually players who were not
members of the Church would adapt them. (Ultimately the Pope would prohibit the clergy from
taking part in public presentations of these plays, seeing them as more secular in nature.)
Their popularity would continue until the 15th Century, when a more modern drama (what we know
today) would "take the stage."
Whereas the mystery and miracle
plays were forthright; instructionally, they presented evil characters (such as the Devil) as
comic figures. However, the morality plays had a much different tone, brought about by the
occurrence of several plagues in Europe.
Writers
contemporary to the plague referred to the event as the "Great Mortality".
The Church took this opportunity to elucidate the cause of the
widespread destruction: man's sinfulness. They also addressed dishonest behavior brought about
in the chaos of the plague years.
These plays...
...are a type of allegory in which the is met by personifications of
various moral attributes who try to prompt him to choose a Godly life over one of
evil.
The morality plays emerged from the clergy's
attempt to educate the "illerate masses" by adding "acting" to their
sermons, whereby the message they were teaching was visually presented as well. Characters were
personified and represented the battle between good and evil, choices between good works and
sin. They...
...tended to be elaborate...dramatic
allegories in which characters representing various virtues and vices confronted one
another.
Allegorically, perhaps the most popular of these
plays (still presented on stage today) is Everyman. In this play, Death is
personifiedappearing to every man (and woman) to remind each that death comes to all, and that
living a moral life is necessary to be rewarded in heavena new idea being considered by society:
the concept to prepare for life after death. Morality plays, in general, concentrated on evil.
However, Everyman is different in that it focuses more on goodnessmade more
visible in contrast to the great evil in the world, while promoting the rewards (and hope) of a
more moral lifestyle.
Additional
Source:
Adventures in English Literature,
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publishers: Orlando, 1985.
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