Elizabethan Tragedy

Renaissance England was like the Greek of fourth and fifth century. Man was discovering himself and other
contending forces of nature. The question of human nature relationships was being asked. The natural outcome
of this spirit was tragedy. The concept of Elizabethan tragedy was very much influenced by the classical
Aristotelian concept of tragedy. Two well known masters of this dramatic art are Christopher Marlow and
William Shakespeare. Marlows Tamburlin, Paustus and the Jew of Malta truly depict the spirit of the age;
hankering after unlimited power and wealth. William Shakespeare cannot be rivaled by any other writer of any
language. His tragedies Macbeth, Othello and King Lear are the production of his absolute literary genius.
Some other writers were also writing for the theater. Theater has become, due to these great writers, the
theater of common people; men and women of all classes flocked to the theater and theater had turned from
royal courts to the entertainment of common people. This age was so full of intellectual spirit and activities
that the age could not have got its proper expression without drama.

Elizabethan Comedy
Elizabethan comedy is also a sublime production of human inclination to the humour and mirth. Comedy of this
age is also an example of supreme dramatic art. The major comedy writers of the age are Ben Jonson and
William Shakespeare. Increasing wealth and the Renaissance spirit of the age was breeding different immoral
habits in people; this was depicted in the comedies of this age. Ben Jonsons Everyman in his Humour and
Volpone and Shakespeare Comedy of Errors and Tempest are the examples of highest standard of comedy
ever produced in English literature. Thus a courtly age and the age when the human imagination was discovering
new worlds and also when civil rifes were breeding in the society found its expression in comedy more
effectively.

Origin of Elizabethan Drama

Elizabethan drama is identical with Greek drama as for as the origins of the drama of both ages is concerned.
Elizabethan drama originated from the religious rituals and traditions. It derived its incentives from the
medieval theater traditions such as the mystery plays that formed a part of religious festivals in England and
other parts of Europe during the middle ages. The mystery plays were actually the processes of retelling the
Biblical stories of different Biblical themes that were originally performed in churches. Later on, these
religious festivals were linked to the secular celebrations. Three types of influences can be traced that left
impacts on the Elizabethan drama. First, the religious festivals of medieval church, second, the university units
who wanted to recreate the Greek drama, third, the Italian traditions of Commedia dell arte. These three
influences can be seen in all Elizabethan literature in general and Elizabethan drama in particular.
The religious period of Elizabethan drama was full of mystery and miracle plays. At first the actors as well as
the authors of the Miracle Plays were the priests and their chosen assistants. Later, when the town guilds took
up this play and each guild became responsible for one or more of the series, the actors were carefully
selected and trained. The moral period is marked with the production of morality plays. But the sublimity of
Elizabethan drama was reached in the artistic period of drama. In Elizabethan drama the three unities were
discarded and chorus was reduced to the single person who spoke usually the prologue before the play.