Mystery VS Morality
In the Medieval Era, mystery plays were a popular source of entertainment and religious education for the general public. They were known for their extravagance and dramatic portrayals of Bible stories and the expeditions of the apostles. During the time of the Reformation, a shift in religion was apparent as culture was vehemently moving away from the Catholic religion and began exploring in the Protestant realm. This shift in religion can be seen in the dramatic representations of the time, known as morality plays. Instead of focusing on the stories of the Bible like the medieval times, morality plays encapsulated the doctrine of the Bible during the Reformation.
 |
| The Chester Mystery Plays |
The shift in theatre was mostly a result of the different emphasis that the Protestants placed on literature. John Donne’s devotional poetry was an example to all Protestants of how to look at christianity through a new lens of self-reflection. Martin Luther strongly believed poetry and rhetoric encouraged a deep respect for sacred things among the believers. This belief, coupled with Philipp Melanchthon’s humanistic encouragement to put off the old church and create a completely new religion, led Protestants to abandon worldly mystery plays and create morality plays. These plays focused on morals, values and the journey of a soul toward salvation, reflecting the values in their theology. The most popular morality play, Everyman, focuses on coming judgement, the fleeting morals of the world and the lasting morals of righteousness. It demonstrates the Protestant ideals of piety, devotion and a personal relationship with God.
 |
| scene from Everyman |
The Reformation had a much deeper effect on Western culture than simply challenging the canonical doctrines and practices of the Catholic church. Reformation attitudes were evident in many aspects of life, and is especially so in the expressive entertainment and arts of the age. While the Middle Ages and Renaissance’s mystery plays featured elaborate production and execution, the morality plays were more abstract and didactic in nature, reflective of the Reformation focus on doctrine and individual connection with God.
Fay Walker, Aubrey McDonald, Jacob Lang, Madison Smith
Super interesting to see how the Reformation has changed the themes of theater and how you can still see those same themes present today. Especially, with all the post-apocalyptic, dystopian literature and films, the theme of fleeting morals before the end is still very present.
ReplyDeleteThat picture is terrifying. I really like the focus of art as a reflection of the sentiment of the times. A while ago on Slack someone brought up the questions of whether art reflects or drives change. I think it can do both, but in this instance, it seemed to be very much a result of the changing attitudes during the reformation.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that the theater was affected by the Reformation. A great example of this is in Christopher Marlowe's "Dr. Faustus", which I saw the BYU theater department perform last Friday. In it, a man sells his soul to the devil for pleasure, only to be reckoned eventually. Marlowe was a contemporary of Shakespeare, and in the show he depicts an immoral Pope who is lavish, lazy, and corrupt, while also being very religious and pious about the subject matter. Definitely a product of English Reformation and Renaissance.
ReplyDeleteArt can definitely be representative of the time it is made. It is so interesting how much we can learn from a time period by looking at the art the was created from it. Like in the Renaissance, we see artists like Michelangelo creating sculptures like the Pieta and David which contained Biblical significance but also called back to the Greek style of sculpture.
ReplyDeleteThis was so interesting! I didn't really know anything about plays from this time period, so thank you for this post. I do recall that the Puritans during Cromwell's rule didn't ""do"" theater, which is interesting because only about thirty years earlier, England was home to one of the greatest playwrights of all time-- Shakespeare. Art can certainly tell us a lot about the culture!
ReplyDelete