The Morality Play in English Drama

Related Terms:

ALLEGORYa€"(from the Greek "allegoria," which means "speaking otherwise." A story in prose or verse that has a double meaning or multiple meanings, both the obvious surface meaning and one or more secondary meanings, and thus must be understood on two or more levels.

DIDACTIC LITERATUREa€"literature used to teach a moral or a lesson. Most of the didactic literature in Europe was produced during the Middle Ages.

PSYCHOMACHIAa€"the battle within the individual's mind or soul, often represented allegorically in literature as a conflict between virtues and vices for the possession of the soul.

APTRONYMa€"a name that fits the nature or character of an individual (a "label name")>.

FABLEa€"a short narrative, often with animals as characters, that embodies a moral or a lesson.

EXEMPLUMa€"a short narrative used to illustrate a moral. Such stories were often used in sermons during the Middle Ages.

INTERLUDEa€"(literally, "between play"); a short entertainment put on between the courses of a feast or the acts of a longer play.

MORAL INTERLUDEa€"a type of interlude that was very similar to the morality play, though often shorter and more humorous. The dividing line between moral interludes and morality plays is not clear, and in many cases the two types of drama are indistinguishable. Several plays are classified both as moral interludes and as morality plays.

LITURGYa€"sacred rituals of the Church.

LITURGICAL DRAMAa€"plays performed in Latin by the clergy and the choir that sang the service, as part of the liturgy of the Church during the medieval period. As early as the fifth century, bible stories were represented in church by means of live tableaux accompanied by singing. From such simple beginnings, liturgical dramas developed gradually over several centuries as parts of the liturgy were embellished by "tropes" and then elaborated into dialogues and reenactments of scenes from the Easter story and the Nativity. Eventually the laity began to participate and vernacular elements were included.

TROPEa€"from the Greek, meaning "turn," a phrase or verse added as an embellishment or interpolation to the sung parts of the mass. In general, a trope is any rhetorical or figurative device, but a special development in the use of tropes occurred during the Middle Ages, when the term was applied to a verbal embellishment of the liturgical text. Some time before the tenth century, parts of the liturgy at Easter and Christmas were embellished by such tropes as the Nativity antiphonies and the "Quem Quaeritis" before the Easter Introit. Over time these tropes were expanded to include very rudimentary representations of the Nativity scene and the Three Marys at the sepulcher, mimed by the priests and the choir that sang the antiphonies

"QUEM QUAERITIS"a€"Latin for