Elizabethan Drama and Shakespeare: Origins and Influences

Religious Roots of Early Drama

In Latin Christendom, three main varieties of sacred representations dominated the theatrical landscape: miracles, mysteries, and morals.

• Miracles: Inspired by legends that related the providential intervention of saints in secular life.
• Mysteries: Focused on events and prophecies from the Old or New Testament.
• Morals: Designed to remind the human race of appropriate behavior in the quest for eternal salvation.

Of these, the latter two, mysteries and morals, were the most established and influential in England.

The Role of Trade Associations

Actors often improvised and came from trade associations, which supposedly chose plays related to their craft. For example:

• Carpenters interpreted Noah during the construction of his ark.
• Goldsmiths embodied the Magi delivering their precious offerings.

Anticlerical Undertones and Reformation Foreshadowing

Despite their religious inspiration, the compositions were often imbued with a significant anticlerical emphasis, including caustic references to papal conduct. This reasonably suggests a foreshadowing of doctrines that would later be collected by the Reformation and may have been influenced by Lollard dramatic texts.

Moral and Religious Purpose

The predominant orientation, however, was of unquestionable moral and religious purpose, with a great display of admonitions about the dangers of excessive attachment to transient and deceptive earthly goods.

Medieval Theater's Focus

It should be noted that the medieval development of the theater seems to have remained strictly circumscribed to fables and moralizing biblical themes, with almost total exclusion of the romantic atmosphere that usually surrounds the miracles of saints.

Secular Shows and Pageants

Secular shows probably coexisted from an early date with religious displays and perhaps at times reached a considerable degree of boldness, preferably using similar strategies to the pageant. The nature of these representations, and even the exact meaning of the name that brings them together, has led scholars to extensive discussions. This species apparently admitted everything from the dramatic procedures of allegorical morality to the realistic comedy of farce.

16th Century: A Time of Theatrical Innovation

During the 16th century, a sustained interest in dramatic composition and a continuing search for effective performing formulas were observed.