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Shakespeare and the Late Moral Plays
Study on the moral plays of 1570-80 and the way that Shakespeare found inspiration from them in the writing of RICHARD III, 1&2 HENRY IV, and ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL.
196 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 1986
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July 24, 2011
Alan Dessen recently told me this is “the book that nobody read.” It is superb. Alan noticed that RICHARD III, 1&2 HENRY IV, and ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL share structural features with the late moral plays that Shakespeare would have seen and possibly read when they were produced in the 1570s and 80s. He does incidental and character echoes (such as the Devil and his dagger) that are familiar from his plays.
I’ll concentrate here on the problematic HENRY IV, PART 2. Those used to psychological realism, especially as it was practiced in PART 1, will find not just a lesser play, but, except for act 5, might even find it a pointless sequel. No wonder Dakin Mathews (my old Shakespeare professor) has conflated the two parts into one for performance. If, of the other hand, you know the old moral plays, you know that one story type is about a sick world where everything goes wrong that needs to be purged and healed. This is the very structure of HENRY IV, PART 2.
Alan does a wonderful job of introducing the subject and the moral plays in the first two chapters, shows how moral play patterns were appropriated by Shakespeare in the four plays mentioned above, adds some additional comments which he applies to RICHARD III again, ANTHONY AND CLEOPATRA, and TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, then pulls all the threads together in his summary. This book is instructive, illuminating, and wonderful. Find it and read it.
I’ll concentrate here on the problematic HENRY IV, PART 2. Those used to psychological realism, especially as it was practiced in PART 1, will find not just a lesser play, but, except for act 5, might even find it a pointless sequel. No wonder Dakin Mathews (my old Shakespeare professor) has conflated the two parts into one for performance. If, of the other hand, you know the old moral plays, you know that one story type is about a sick world where everything goes wrong that needs to be purged and healed. This is the very structure of HENRY IV, PART 2.
Alan does a wonderful job of introducing the subject and the moral plays in the first two chapters, shows how moral play patterns were appropriated by Shakespeare in the four plays mentioned above, adds some additional comments which he applies to RICHARD III again, ANTHONY AND CLEOPATRA, and TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, then pulls all the threads together in his summary. This book is instructive, illuminating, and wonderful. Find it and read it.
Displaying 1 of 1 review