English drama was born in the precincts of the church, thought its origin is sometimes traced back to individual performances of Jesters, Clowns and mistrals of the middle ages. Out of the church rituals grew mystery and miracles plays. They were staged on eve of religious festivals. They presented scenes from the scripture. During the Easter celebrations of examples a Biblical incident like the visit of the three women to the empty Tomb of Christ was present by priested with words chanted in Latin.
Between the 13th and 14th centuries English drama was born in the precincts of the church, thought its origin is sometimes traced back to individual performances of Jesters, Clowns and mistrals of the middle ages. Out of the church ritu… became elaborate and secularized. Now the words were no longer spoken in Latin English was frequently used in place of Latin. In place of priest liturgical speeches, longer dramatic scripts were invented ground the biblical narratives. Record shows that this dramatic activity was wide spread. Cycle plays were very much popular. They were known by the name of places where they were performed. They were plays of Chester, coventry York Norwich new castle and work field. Great care was taken not only in presenting house plays but also in writing them. Their style is often awkward and complicated by difficult rhyme-scheme. But they occasionally have scenes rich in pathos and rustic humour. Some of the important Miracle plays were plays of Noah with his children. The first shepherds plays, the second Shepherd’s plays, the play of king Herod, the play of Christ before Caiaphas and the play of Abraham sacrifices of Isaac of all these Miracle plays. The second shepherd plays was an outstanding success.
After the Miracle plays there came into existence a series of Morality plays instead of drawing their characters from the Bible, the plays personified abstract virtues and vices like love, kindness, pride and geed. They aimed at technical moral lessons allegorically. They were certain advance upon the earlier Miracle plays. They had wider scope for dramatic originality. They gave greater freedom to their author. In these plays abstract qualities were given lively human features. One of the earliest of these Moralities in the castle perseverance. It is a play of the early 15th century. The dialogue of this play is written in an elaborate rhyming stanza. It gives an account of man’s life from birth to his appearance at the scout of judgement. The most famous of all Morality plays is every man.
It is simple allegory, similar to Bunyan’s Pilgrim progress. It tells of the trials and temptations of an ordinary Christian. It is a beautiful account of human adventure. The morality plays in general have an element of realism in them. Abstract things are made concrete with the help of lively figures and human situations.
In this way we see that miracle and morality mark the beginning of English drama. Though they were still other forms of drama, they never less paved the way for more retained tragedies and comedies of the later time.
