PONDICHERRY UNIVERSITY (A Central University) DIRECTORATE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION BRITISH DRAMA (Paper Code: MAEG1002) MA (English) – I Year DDE – WHERE INNOVATION IS A WAY OF LIFE PONDICHERRY UNIVERSITY ( A Central University) DIRECTORATE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION MASTER OF ARTS In ENGLISH First Year Course Code:60 Paper Code:MAEG1002 British Drama Master of Arts in English British Drama Units I to V Written by Dr. Sujatha Vijayaraghavan Reader Dept of English Pondicherry University Pondicherry – 605 014. All rights are reserved. For Private Circulation only. Printed at PONDICHERRY UNIVERSITY (A Central University) DIRECTORATE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION MA - English British Drama TABLE OF CONTENTS Title Page No. I Introduction 1-43 II Christopher Marlowe- Dr. Faustus, William Shakespeare- King Lear: :A Midsummer Night’s Dream 44-210 III G.B. Shaw-Pygmalion, T.S. Eliot-Murder in the Cathedral 211-276 IV Samuel Beekett-Waiting for Godot, John Osborne - Look Back in Anger 277-329 V Edward Bond-Lear, Harold Pinter-The Birthday Party 330-372 1 COURSE CODE 41 BRITISH DRAMA PAPER CODE H 1020 UNIT ONE Aristotle’s Poetics (selections from chapter Four) 1.Sophocles : Oedipus Rex UNIT TWO 2. Christopher Marlowe : Dr. Faustus 3.William Shakespeare : King Lear- Detailed Study 4. : A Midsummer Night’s Dream UNIT THREE 5. G B Shaw : Pygmalion 6. T S Eliot : Murder in the Cathedral- Detailed Study UNIT FOUR 7. Samuel Beckett : Waiting for Godot 8. John Osborne : Look Back in Anger UNIT FIVE 9. Edward Bond : Lear 10. Harold Pinter : The Birthday party . ******************************************************************** 2 UNIT - I In this unit we shall study Selections from Aristotle’s Poetics by way of introduction & Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex INTRODUCTION Why start with Aristotle? It is first of all necessary to know why we have to look at what Aristotle has said when the course we are about to begin studying is British Drama. This is so because in the Western tradition, drama really owes its origins to the Greeks. Not only that, but also the first principles of criticism and of dramatic construction were spelt out by the Greeks. Greek philosophers starting from Plato and then Aristotle, followed by several others have exhaustively discussed the function of literature and its relevance to man and his life. Aristotle, a philosopher and Plato’s pupil, laid the foundation of Greek dramatic criticism. He also became one of the most important influences in all-Western traditions of literature. He analyzed the plays of the fifth century as well as those of his own time, classified the kinds of drama, and laid down rules for the construction of tragedy. He was the founding father of dramaturgy which is the art of dramatic composition, in the west. Dramaturgy is also the theory about the representation of the main elements of drama on the stage. Aristotle was born in Macedonia, Greece and in spite of the doubts that prevail, it is generally agreed that he was born in 384 BC and died in 322 BC. As a student at Plato's Academy he raised a number of questions never hesitating to disagree with his teacher. Plato stated that poetry and indeed all fine art would weaken the moral health of the citizens of the Greek state, because among the many reasons that he gave, the chief one was that poetry appealed to the emotions rather than to the intellect. Aristotle, on the other hand, felt that poetry would have a positive effect on the development of man’s personality. In ancient Greece, all drama was written in the form of poetry. So when a philosopher used the word poetry it often included drama. The highest form of drama was the tragedy according to the ancient Greek belief. The Poetics is one of Aristotle’s important treatises. In it he outlines the Six Elements of drama. Down the ages, this 3 outline has become a guideline for many playwrights throughout history, and is especially emphasized in the works of William Shakespeare. The treatise we call the Poetics was composed at least 50 years after the death of Sophocles. Aristotle was a great admirer of Sophocles’ Oedipus the King, considering it the perfect tragedy, and not surprisingly, his analysis fits that play most perfectly. Let us therefore use this play to understand the following major parts of Aristotle's analysis of tragedy as a literary genre. The greatest tragedy, in the opinion of Aristotle, was Oedipus the King by Sophocles. The reasons for its supremacy lay in the excellent management of plot and chorus, in the beauty of the language, in the irony of the situations, and in the general nobility of conception. Aristotle cited also the Helena of Euripides as a model of its kind, and lauded the author for the skill with which he had set forth the complicated plot. Euripides was to him the most tragic of the poets. At the same time, he found much in Euripides to censure. Only in Sophocles, the perfect writer, were united ideal beauty, clearness of construction and religious inspiration--the three qualities that alone make tragedy great. The subjects of tragic drama, Aristotle said, were rightly drawn from ancient mythology, because coming from that source they must be true. If man had invented such strange incidents, they would have appeared impossible. The chief characters of a tragic action should be persons of consequence, of exalted station. The leading personage should not be a man characterized by great virtue or great vice, but of a mixed nature, partly good and partly bad. His errors and weaknesses lead him into misfortune. Such a mixture of good and evil makes him seem like us, thus more quickly arousing our sympathy. The course of the tragic action should be such as to saturate the spectator with feelings of compassion, drive out his petty personal emotions, and so "purge" the soul through pity and terror (Catharsis). The crimes suitable for tragic treatment may be committed either in ignorance, or intentionally, and are commonly against friends or relatives. Crimes committed intentionally are generally the more dramatic and impressive. (This in spite of the fact that the central crime in Oedipus the King was committed in ignorance.) As to style, a certain archaic quality of diction is needful to the dignity of tragedy. 4 Aristotle's definition of tragedy “A tragedy, then, is the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself; in language with pleasurable accessories, each kind brought in separately in the parts of the work; in a dramatic, not a narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions.” (Poetics 1449b.24) Aristotle distinguished six elements of a tragic drama: Plot, Character, Diction, Thought, Spectacle and Melody. Diction and Melody are the style of the text or lyrics, and the music to which some of them are set (Greek tragedy was like opera in that parts of it, though not usually the principal lines of the actors, were sung). Spectacle refers to staging, lighting, sets, costumes, and the like. Thought refers to the indications, given primarily through words but also through other means, of what the characters are thinking. That leaves the two elements to which Aristotle paid most attention, Plot and Character. Of these two, Aristotle thought that the Plot comes first. "In a play, they do not act in order to portray the characters; they include the characters for the sake of the action" (Poetics 1450a.20). That does not mean he would have approved of modern "action films" in which it hardly matters who does the shooting or the fast driving. For Aristotle, action must be consistent with character, and reveal character. Aristotle's Six Elements of Drama 1.PLOT – what happens in a play; the order of events, the story as opposed to the theme; what happens rather than what it means. 2.CHARACTER – the personality or the part an actor represents in a play; a role played by an actor in a play 3.THOUGHT-- what the characters think during the course of action of the play, or the main idea expressed through the play. 4.DICTION/LANGUAGE/DIALOGUE – the word choices made by the playwright and the enunciation of the actors delivering the lines. 5.MUSIC/RHYTHM – by music Aristotle meant the sound, rhythm and melody of the speeches. 6.SPECTACLE – the visual elements of the production of a play; the scenery, costumes, and special effects in a production. 5 Tragedy is the “imitation of an action” (mimesis) according to “the law of probability or necessity.” Aristotle indicates that the medium of tragedy is drama, not narrative; tragedy “shows” rather than “tells.” According to Aristotle, tragedy is higher and more philosophical than history because history simply relates what has happened while tragedy dramatizes what may happen, “what is possible according to the law of probability or necessity.” History thus deals with the particular, and tragedy with the universal. Events that have happened may be due to accident or coincidence; they may be particular to a specific situation and not be part of a clear cause-and-effect chain. Therefore they have little relevance for others. Tragedy, however, is rooted in the fundamental order of the universe; it creates a cause-and-effect chain that clearly reveals what may happen at any time or place because that is the way the world operates. Tragedy therefore arouses not only pity but also fear, because the audience can envision themselves within this cause-and-effect chain (context). Plot is the first principle, the most important feature of tragedy. Aristotle defines plot as “the arrangement of the incidents”: i.e., not the story itself but the way the incidents are presented to the audience, the structure of the play.