Tempters and Tyrants in Early English Drama

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Were medieval audiences were meant to laugh at the Devil or with him? In this course, we will study tempters and tyrants in the three major genres of medieval English theater: the cycle play, the saint’s play, and the morality play. We will examine how these plays were staged as community theater and the cultural values they sought to shape. After the midterm, we turn to the crafty villains of early modern theater and the new genres of history and tragedy. We will ask why people turn to evil, to what extent diabolical characters seem sympathetic, and whether difference predisposes characters to duplicity. As a class, we will view performances of select plays to consider how and why artists today choose to adapt and stage early plays. You will practice delivering live readings, reviewing theatrical productions, and writing critically and persuasively about historical drama.