Tempters and Tyrants in Early English Drama

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

In the medieval play The Castle of Perseverance, a stage direction indicates that the Devil should go to battle against Mankind with gunpowder burning out of his hands, ears, and arse. The spectacle must have been at once terrifying and hilarious. But how on earth was it staged? This course will consider early English dramatic representations of the Father of Lies, pondering whether audiences were meant to laugh at the Devil or with him. In the first half of the semester, we will study demons and the characters who invoke them in traditional sacred drama, from the earliest surviving play written in England through the three major genres of medieval English theater: the cycle play, the saint’s play, and the morality play. We will see the Devil prosecute Adam, Satan tempt Jesus, King Herod slaughter the Innocents, and the Vices lure Mankind to damnation. Combining demonic dissimulation with cunning craft, they make sin appear glamorous, not only to other characters in the play but also, perhaps, to the audience. In the latter half of the course, we will turn to the crafty villains of early modern commercial theater and closet drama. The new genres of history and tragedy confront the audience with diabolical characters that nevertheless seem charismatic or sympathetic. Spanning nearly 300 years of dramatic performance, our readings will push us to consider how medieval and early modern playwrights represent the nature of evil and the bounds of human freedom. Course Readings: Le Jeu d’Adam; The York Corpus Christi Plays; The Digby Mary Magdalene Play; The Castle of Perseverance; Mankind; Tretise of Miraclis Pleyinge; Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus;William Shakespeare, King Richard III, King Henry IV Part I, Othello; Elizabeth Cary, The Tragedy of Miriam; Ben Jonson, The Devil is an Ass; John Milton, Comus.