Medieval Morality Plays Essay

Eventually, these plays later moved outside of the church walls and into the mainstream. Consequently, they became a very popular form of entertainment in theaters. The main characteristics of morality plays include; being tailored to educate the audience through entertainment, they made complex issues for instance, original sin and their consequences to be easily understandable, they personified aspects such as -Vices, Virtues, the Devil and the Good Angel, and God making them easy to understand and communicate meaning to thus who could not read. Therefore, a character representing either humanity as a whole or a fraction of the social structure; supporting characters that are exemplifications of either the good or evil; Objects towards providing the audience with moral leadership and they aims at encouraging human beings men to lead righteous lives (wonderfulfaustus.com, 2013).

“The Miller's Tale” in the Canterbury Tales provides insight into the morality of people of medieval England by showing the Miller’s views on religion, heroic ideals, and common morality. Religion at this time was defined by a religious code outlined in the Bible and the ten commandments. Even though all men were expected to live by these laws, those closely related to the church, like Absalom, were expected to never break from these codes. Heroism involved a set of ideals that were meant to guide men to a heroic state of being. A hero was supposed to seek revenge and never let a crime go unpunished. Common morality was the behavioral code all men were expected to follow and it is essentially what we now call common courtesy. This

Othello has been described as one of William Shakespeare’s most popular plays because the play focuses on its themes of good and evil, military, politics, love and marriage, religion, racial prejudice, gender conflict, and sexuality; but the controversy and debate surrounding Othello is “Why is Othello a qualification for a tragedy?”

Throughout the Middle Ages there were two main types of theatre. The first was liturgical drama which originated in religious services, mainly in Resurrection dramas found in tropes (Grout 15-16). Initially the whole of the liturgical drama was sung (Grout 17). The second type was mysteries, like liturgical dramas the theme was sacred but mysteries covered a greater scope (Grout 18). In some instances mysteries would go as far as to mock the church and priests (Grout 19). Mysteries remained popular into the fifteenth and sixteenth century (Grout 18).

Living in the medieval time period was not as glamorous as it is often portrayed; peasants and serfs led hard lives, however, kings, lords, and knights lived lavishly and at the expense of those under them. In this paper you will read about all of these lifestyles, as well as the castles in which these lords and kings lived in. Mainly castle designs, fortifications, and siege tactics will be revealed to you; yet there are several sections, dealing with the lifestyles of the above mentioned, leading up to that.

The Elizabethan drama was almost wholly secular; and while Shakespeare was writing he practically confined his view to the world of non-theological observation and thought, so that he represents it substantially in one and the same way whether the period of the story is pre-Christian or Christian (40).

William Shakespeare’s Hamlet has been widely regarded as one of the greatest tragedies ever written. One prominent theme exemplified in this particular play is the theme of rottenness or decay. Shakespeare uniquely uses disease, rotting, and decay in order to reveal the manifestation and consequence of moral corruption. Physical corruption mirrors the moral corruption within the characters in the play. The moral corruption in Denmark is showcased for the readers throughout the play by images of physical corruption and disease. Shakespeare argues in Hamlet that sin or moral corruption is like a disease that leads one to one’s own “death” or demise. Nobody is immune from it.

In I Henry IV and II Henry IV, William Shakespeare brings together drama and comedy to create two of the most compelling history plays ever written. Many of Shakespeare's other works are nearly absolute in their adherence to either the comic or tragic traditions, but in the two Henry IV plays Shakespeare combines comedy and drama in ways that seem to bring a certain realism to his characters, and thus the plays. The present essay is an examination of the various and significant effects that Shakespeare's comedic scenes have on I Henry IV and II Henry IV. The Diversity of Society

Who was Shakespeare? Was he a man from Stratford-Upon-Avon who started with little and became the greatest English author to ever live; or was he a privileged Earl who was a favorite at Queen Elizabeth’s court? That is the great mystery. This particular mystery is difficult to solve because of the lack of documentary evidence. The Elizabethans did not believe in getting everything in writing as people do today. Therefore, the truth may never be known with certainty. However, evidence does exist to support at least two theories about the Shakespearean authorship: one that the man from Stratford wrote the works, the other that Edward de Vere the Earl of Oxford was the author. The question then becomes, which

the play draws its readers to identify with Richard and thereby to participate in a

Aristophanes’ play, The Clouds, has an inconsistent message about morality. Morality is the difference between what is right and what is wrong. Morality affects our action, thoughts, and what is perceived as good and bad. For the ancient Greeks nomos was the concept of law and moral conduct, while physis was natural behavior. In both plays there were incidents that have a moral argument. In The Cloud, there are scenes where morality is question about what a character is doing. Compared to Euripides’ play, Electra, morality is a key issue. Some people may say that in The Clouds, the moral argument is view differently than in Electra. In this paper I will argue that the concept of what is moral is different yet the same for the characters in both plays and some characters are more vulnerable to having their sense of morality swayed.

Why Does Hamlet delay so long in achieving his revenge- what is really stopping him? There is an inner battle inside Hamlet that no one knows about, good versus evil, stuck between both worlds. Hamlet is the only one who can decided which world to want to be apart of. Hamlet, the story, reveals that the individual can only find meaning by looking inward and living according to his or her own beliefs and including values. Being and thinking independently is the key to purpose and inner peace. Unfortunately most human beings fail to find this inner peace because of the need conform to the group and act according to the desire of others. Why does is

intended to instruct the audience in the Christian way and attitudes to life. The morality play is essentially an allegory written in dramatic form. In the fourteenth Century, morality plays were mainly based on the seven deadly sins as in everyman with each character representing each sin. Everyman centers around allegory. It focuses on the allegorical representations of moral issues with the inclusion of figures that represent abstractions of the issues that are confronted.

By researching the life and writings of William Shakespeare, it can be shown that many Christian values and beliefs are displayed through his literary works. In order to understand the religious content in Shakespeare's work it is helpful to first understand what the religious environment in England was like around Shakespeare's time. England, ever since it was ruled by the Romans, had been a Catholic nation. Before Shakespeare's lifetime, a drastic change occurred that completely upended the existing Catholicism of the English people. During King Henry VIII's reign, the English people were, for the most part, content with Catholicism. Through a series of very complex political maneuvers, Henry eventually seized power of the English

“In roughly built playhouses and cobblestone inn yards, an extraordinary development took place in England in the 1500s.” (Yancey, 8). At that time, an opportunity combined to produce literature achievement never before witnessed in the history of drama and theater. The renaissance, helped spark this movement by inspiring scientific and artistic creativity throughout the land. Models began writing dramas that portrayed life in both realistic and imaginative ways. This created work later captured the attention of the world that changed the English drama. The many aspects of Elizabethan theater helped to shape the acting and theater world forever.