Morality Play Essay Example for Free

Morality Play Essay* Popular from the first 1400s to the 1580s. * Morality plays were about the fate of a single individuals soul. * The main lineament delineate all men and often had a name such as Mankind or Every worldly concern to base their allegorical function. * They include vice and temptation characters attempt to corrupt the Everyman figure. * Allegorical characters also represent virtues. The Everyman character listens to them and takes note of warnings, often returning briefly to his good lifestyle.* A reform/relapse pattern is perennial several times. * Through a series of blunders and moral lessons the hero is gradually educated into an understanding of the inequality between right and wrong and the nature of god. * At the end, the main character settles his accounts with God and either lives or dies forgiven and Christian. He is wiser and better at the end of the play. * A chorus, such as the Messenger and Doctor characters in Everyman, is used to comment on and explain the action for the audience. Elements of Renaissance plays.* Contain soliloquies in which a highly distinct self reflects upon his own desires and actions. * Celebrate the scope of human powers while acknowledging their boundaries there is a dichotomy at work which praises mans creative powers (by implication also those of the poet, or author) but concedes that man is not God and that ultimately all his powers derive from God. * They begin to refer to the new countries and things being observed by explorers, mentioning exotic settings and transporting their audiences around the world.Renaissance creative thinkers * The body and soul are separate and linked with assorted elements and humours. * Catholicism was banned in England and the Pope was considered the antichrist by some. * Renaissance scholars studied classical literature, including Roman and Hellenic philosophy. Discussion of what it meant to be human centred on reason, balance and dignity much more individ ualistic than gothic scholastic thinking.* The humanist attitude to the world was anthropocentric instead of regarding humanity as fallen and corrupt, their idea of truth and excellence was based on human values and experience people openly questioned spectral theology and teaching. * The world was dynamic, changing and exciting. Plays explored the many contrasts between how people should behave and how they actually do, and the questions and contradictions thrown up by a changing world.