COMEDY TRAGEDY HISTORY

Comedies dominated The first English History plays

the professional stage tragedies were written dramatised the stories
in the late sixteenth in the Renaissance and of (reputedly) historical
century; they were were influenced by characters and events
defined by their happy Senecan tragedy and and were particularly
endings rather than Medieval de casibus fashionable in the
their use of humour, tales. Tragedy only 1590s; many were
and borrowed from became one of the based on material
classical and dominant genres in the found in the wave of
European comic Jacobean period. historical chronicles
writing. published in the
sixteenth century.
John Lyly paved the This genre began in the ‘History’ plays
way for comedies by drama of ancient dramatised the stories
producing a series for Greece and Rome, of (apparently)
the new boy however, the first  historical
companies, including: English tragedies were characters and
 Campaspe (1584) written in Renaissance.  events.
And
 Endymion: The Most plays focused on
Man in the Moon the
(1591)  male-dominated
worlds of politics
and rule.

Some playwrights
wrote dramas based on
Roman, Eastern, or
recent Western
European events; many
more wrote plays about
Medieval English
history.
Traditionally, comedies Aristotle’s poetic History includes works
were written in verse, theory: Tragedy traces a such as
however, Lyly great man's fall from Edward Hall’s
experimented with an his fortune because of  The union of the
ornate prose style  pride or two noble and
similar to that he  a fatal flaw or illustre families
employed in his well-  error in judgment. of Lancaster and
known prose (Hamartia, Greek) York (1547),
works:
 Euphues. The →A moment of Raphael Holinshed’s
Anatomy of Wit recognition(anagnorisis)  Chronicles of
(1578) follows this reversal of England,
and fortune (peripeteia) Scotland, and
 Euphues and His Ireland
England (1580) Hamartia, also called tragic (1577,1587).
flaw, (hamartia from Greek)
 inherent defect or shortcoming in a
-Ornate: tragedy’s hero. Shakespeare used
Holinshed as a source
for more than a third of
his plays, including
 Macbeth
 King Lear

and the English history

plays such as
 Richard III.

-chronicle:

His plots are The play ends with the Shakespeare has written
complicated, and death of the protagonist, two historical series in
several of his plays an event provoking fear four groups.
include multiple, and pity Henry V is the last play
thematically and in audiences. in the second group.
structurally related
stories.
For example, in Later theorists claimed Such plays have
Endymion, the story of for Aristotelian unities,
the moon goddess, which are rules →encouraged
Cynthia’s initially for drama: ‘unities’ of: Renaissance 's
unrequited love for the  time, widespread interest in
shepherd Endymion is  place and history and
thought to have been  action.
an allegory for the →the lessons to be
relationship between →Few English given to the present
Elizabeth and her one- tragedies were were believed.
time favourite, Robert concerned with 'units'
Dudley, Earl of Accounts or
Leicester. →many Elizabethan dramatizations of
and Stuart plays have historical events could
parallels to the concept also be used to
of Hamartia associated comment on sensitive
with Aristotelian contemporary issues
tragedy. (fall of a great man) such as the
 royal succession
and
 the right of
subjects to resist
bad rulers.
Lyly’s courtly There are even closer Renaissance history
comedies proved parallels between the plays were consisted of
influential, placing period’s tragedies and topical themes. Thus,
 verbal play and Roman poet Seneca’s
 ‘love between the dramas (c. 4bc–ad 65), Elizabethan histories
sexes’ which are concerned share interior struggles
at the heart of English with and uncertain
comic writing.  revenge and succession reflecting
 feature the anxieties of late
supernatural Elizabethan politics.
phenomena,
 prophecies and
 bloody violence,
It is reflected in the These features provided Stuart history plays are
romantic comedies the inspiration for the concerned with
which flourished in the popular sub-genre of  absolute rule
1590s with revenge tragedy. and
Shakespeare as their  the rights of
leading author. subjects.
-rhetorical:
-witty:
-verbal:

Typically, these English playwrights

comedies involve were also influenced by
 Some frustration native stories about the
of true love rise and fall of great
 a journey by a men (or de casibus
lover literature).
 uncertain or even
magical events Such tales were popular
 a decision in in the Medieval era and
marriage or continued to be well-
 marriage read in the Renaissance:
promises the fall of the
resulting from protagonists warned
some identity readers about the
discovery.  uncertainty of
human life, and
 the folly of
worldly ambition.
-folly:

Like classical Earliest and most

comedies, influential playwrights:
Shakespeare's endings  Christopher
are " happy" rather than Marlowe and
humorous, although  Thomas Kyd.
humor is a common
feature of the genre. Marlowe’s first tragedy,
  Tamburlaine the
Great, Part I
(performed 1587)
shows its protagonist in
its ‘tragic glass’ (line 7)
but rather than tracing
the rise and fall of a
great man, it tells the
story of the rise of
undefeated power of a
lowly-born shepherd.
Lyly’s romantic Marlowe’s
comedies were  Doctor Faustus
political, but (performed 1588–
Shakespeare’s were 9?)
concerned with gender is atypical classical
and marriage issues. tragedy.

→These issues were →It tells the story of

topical at a time when the rise and fall of a
such topics were learned, but humbly-
widely discussed. born, scholar.

→In other tragedies,

Marlowe focused on
‘great’ individuals (such
as Edward II) but plays
such as
 Faustus and
 Tamburlaine
suggested that people
of ordinary rank could
be the subjects of
tragedy.
The turn of the century Thomas Kyd was to
saw the emergence of have a similarly deep
two new strands of influence: he paved the
comics: way for sub-genre of
 ‘humours’ revenge tragedy on the
comedy and English stage with his
 ‘city’ comedy neo-Senecan drama,
 The Spanish
→Both of these Tragedy (written
focused more on c.1582–92).
contemporary life.
Humours comedies →In this play the ghost
are defined by their of a Spanish nobleman
 realistic modern Don Andrea who was
settings killed in battle with the
 focus on tales of Portuguese, returns
sexual intrigue, from underworld to
 Individual watch his killer's
characterization repayment on his death.
in terms of Killer: Balthazar,
humor or Prince of Portugal.
eccentricity.
→but only after
-intrigue: Balthazar and Lorenzo
-eccentricity
(nephew of the Spanish
George Chapma paved king) have killed Don
the way for this comic Andrea’s good friend
sub-genre with his Horatio so that
 A Humorous Balthazar might court
Day’s Mirth Don Andrea’s lover, Bel
(performed -Imperia.
1597).
The revenge is finally
Ben Jonson’s famous performed by Bel
humours comedies are: -Imperia and Hieronimo
 Every Man in His (the grief-crazed father
Humour of Horatio) during their
performance of a court
play.
 (performed 1598)
and The tragedy was a huge
 Every Man out of success, and led many
His Humour writers to produce
(performed revenge plays in the
1599). same nature.
-court:
→Influence:
Collectively, they
opened up English
comedy to new types
of character and a
wider range of social
situations.

City comedies focus ‘Domestic’ tragedy

on emerged in1580s and
 contemporary 1590s.
urban life and
 real-life settings Classical tragedy
(usually in focused on the
London). politically and socially
elite class, however,
Many of the plays were these plays concentrated
concerned with the on the private lives of
 advance men and women of less
commercial than noble status.
culture associated
with the city, but One of the best known
 love, sex and domestic tragedies is
marriage were  Arden of
also important Faversham(1592)
themes.
which tells the story of
the real-life murder of
Thomas Arden by his
The earliest surviving wife and her lover at his
city comedy is William home in Faversham,
Haughton’s Kent.
 A Woman Will
Have Her Will In Arden other plays,
(or An domestic tragedies are
Englishman for described as
my Money)  domestic in focus
(performed 1598) and
 contemporary and
but the playwright who English in setting.
popularized the genre
was Thomas Dekker, At the heart of the
he wrote: tragedy there is usually
 The Shoemaker’s a violation of household
Holiday order and harmony.
(performed
1599). This is figured as literal
violation of domestic
It tells the story of space, as in Arden when
London shoemaker the protagonist is killed
Simon Eyre and his rise by his wife and her
to become the Mayor lover at his own table.
of London. Like most
of the early city
comedies, its
 mood is festive
and English Tragedy
 its perspective on become dominant in
the city is early seventeenth
patriotic and century.
romantic
Shakespeare wrote a
Here, London is series of tragedies
celebrated as a place including
 Hamlet (1600–1)
ready to reward hard-  Othello (1603–4)
working Englishmen.  King Lear (1605)
 Macbeth (1606)
 Antony and
 Cleopatra (1606–
7).

→While Hamlet was

concerned with its
delayed revenge similar
of revenge tragedies,
Jacobean city
comedies are more →Shakespeare’s other
 cynical and tragedies
 ambivalent  denied the plain
moralising of de
→They represented casibus literature
city life which reflected and
the growing concern  raised questions
about emerging market about the
economy that it was unavoidability of
breeding selfishness human suffering
and greed. in a way similar
of classical
In the comedies of Ben tragedy.
Jonson and Thomas
Middleton, these fears Cultural Materialists
appear to be realized argue that this made
because there are many tragedy a ‘radical’
characters whose only political genre.
concern is money.
Some Stuart
The biting satire of writers including
these characters has led  Ben Jonson
critics like Brian
 George Chapman
Gibbons to argue that
Jacobean city comedies  Philip Massinger
offer a 'radical critique used tragedy to
of their age' and comment indirectly on
commercial culture. current political
concerns.
-cynical:
-ambivalent:
-critique: However, Jacobean
-commercial: tragedies are often
preoccupied with court
corruption.

17TH Century: Influence:

→Playwrights such as →The initial optimism
Shakespeare continued associated with
to write apparently accession of James I
romantic comedies, (1603) soon gave way
however, to concerns about
 royal favouritism
→more realistic and
settings became  courtly corruption
common and and impurity.

→satire became the →Similarly, anxieties

dominant comic mode about the absolute
power claimed by
→ (many scholars have Charles I informed the
linked it to recurring concern about
contemporary  tyranny and
pessimism about the  the rights of
new reign of King subjects in
James). Carolina's
tragedy.
-pessimism:

Jacobean tragedies are

distinguished by the
 growing importance of
female characters
within them.

Women’s assumed
 inferiority and
 their association
with the domestic
sphere
meant that they were
not usually regarded as
‘heroic’ subjects.
In some cases, biting  John Webster’s
and harsh humour was The White Devil
combined with the (1612) and
conventionally  The Duchess of
 tragic themes or Malfi (performed
 events. 1614)
challenged this
For example, assumption by focusing
Shakespeare’s on female protagonists.
 Measure for
Measure At the same time,
(performed 1604) →The sexual and
is overshadowed by a political transgression
concern for justice and equation of Webster
death. →reflected the Use of
romantic and sexual
intrigue in such plays
→as metaphors and
symptoms of political
corruption
→as
 Francis
Beaumont's and
John Fletcher's
 Philaster (written
in 1608–10) and

 Philip Massinger
's The Roman
Actor( performed
in 1629).
Other Stuart
playwrights, such as

→ Thomas Middleton
dealt with the disruptive
effects of sexual desire
as a tragic subject in his
own plays
such as
 Women Beware
Women (in 1621)
and
 The Changeling
(co-authored with
William
Rowley,1622).

John Ford added to the

same tradition in the
Caroline era with plays
such as
 ’Tis Pity She’s a
Whore (1633)
a revenge drama about
brother-sister incest.

-disruptive: