Textuality » 3A Interacting
DRAMA IN THE MIDDLE AGES
Summary
During the 12th century a more formal theatre began to emerge. They were generally Mystery and Miracle Plays and they had got a moral and a religious function. They were used by the Church to give illiterate peasants a religious education and to celebrate religious festivals. The subjects of these representations were biblical stories or events from Christ's life. The mystery Plays were single episodes strung together in a Mystery Cycle. They were written in the English spoken by the local people and they were performed by English characters in an English set. Mystery Cycles were financed by trades or craft guilds of the town, staged outdoors on a movable stage wagon called "pageant". All business and activities were suspended so that everybody could take part in the festivals. Morality Plays, the other popular form of Medieval Drama, developed in the end of the 14th century and they usually told an allegorical tale with the aim of teaching a moral lesson."Everyman" is the finest morality play which has come down to us. the story offers a moral lesson for the salvation of man' soul. Medieval drama was important because it appealed to people from all walks of life and it added a human element to religious themes.