History
The morality play developed during the Medieval period. The morality plays attempted to educate via entertainment. It is thought that the Dominican and Franciscan orders of Christian friars developed the morality play in the 13th century by adding actors and theatrical elements to their sermons. By doing so, the (mainly illiterate) masses could more easily learn the basics of Christianity through dramatic spoken word. This made complex topics such as original sin and atonement more easily understood. By personifying vices, virtues, the Devil and the Good Angel, stories of temptation were made accessible to those who were unable to read them themselves.
The main theme of the morality play is this: Man begins in innocence, man falls into temptation, Man repents and is saved. The central action is the struggle of Man against the seven deadly sins that are personified into real characters (prosopopoeia). It is believed that the allegory of vices and virtues fighting over Man’s soul goes back to the 4th century Roman epic, Psychomachia. This allegorical application of theatre to Christianity is intended to help the audience understand the greater concepts of sin and virtue. The three greatest temptations that Man faces in morality plays are The World, The Flesh, and The Devil. It is stressed that “Sin is inevitable” but that “repentance is always possible”. Morality plays were not holiday-specific; they could be performed at any time of the year, as repentance occurs at any time of the year.
Read more about this topic: Morality Play
Famous quotes containing the word history:
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—Ellis Meredith, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 4, ch. 14, by Susan B. Anthony and Ida Husted Harper (1902)
“It would be naive to think that peace and justice can be achieved easily. No set of rules or study of history will automatically resolve the problems.... However, with faith and perseverance,... complex problems in the past have been resolved in our search for justice and peace. They can be resolved in the future, provided, of course, that we can think of five new ways to measure the height of a tall building by using a barometer.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“Universal history is the history of a few metaphors.”
—Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986)