The Contribution of the "University Wits" to English Drama.

Contribution of the "University Wits to English Drama", Best Notes


Introduction.

  • The University Wits were a group of well-educated scholars-cum-men of letters who wrote in the closing years of the sixteenth century.
  • All of them were actively associated with the theatre and the plays.
  • With their dramatic work, they paved the way for the great Shakespeare who was indebted to them in numerous ways.

Given below are the names of these University Wits:

(l)  John Lyly
(2)  Robert Greene
(3) George Peele
(4) Thomas Lodge
(5) Thomas Nashe
(6) Thomas Kyd
 (7) Christopher Marlowe
  • They were called University Wits because they had training at one or other of the two Universities-Oxford and Cambridge
  •  They were true embodiments of the impact of the Renaissance on English culture and sensibility. 
  • All of them had fairly good relations with one another and were won't freely to lend a hand to one another in the writing or completing of dramatic works.
Their Contribution to the Drama:
  • They laid a sure basis for the English theatre.
  •  When the University Wits started writing there were two fairly distinct traditions of the dramatic art before them.
  • One was the native tradition (especially of. comedy) which was vigorous, no doubt', but devoid of the artistic discipline of the classical Greek and Roman drama. 
  • The other was the tradition set by the imitators of ancient Roman drama.
  • The classicists had form, but no fire.
  • The function of the University Wits was to combine the form with the fire.
  • They gave that literary grace and power to dramatic work, which offered Shakespeare "a viable and fitting medium for the expression of his genius."
  • They practiced a strict separation of the species, for instance, between Comedy and Tragedy.
  • They Observed the three unities, time, place, and action.
  • They reported the major incidents to the audience through the dialogue of the dramatis personae or the agency of the messenger.
  • Further, the University Wits set about the work of reforming the language of the drama.
  • Now let us consider the individual contribution of the various University Wits to the development of English drama.
(1)        John Lyly.
  • Lyly is better known for his prose romance Euphues than his dramatic productions. 
  • It must be remembered that he himself was a courtier and wrote for the discerning courtiers. 
  • He had no intention to charm the eyes and ears of the masses or to win their acclamation. 
  • His plays are rather of the nature of masques which were very popular with the queen and the court. 
  • He gave comedy a touch of sophistication and an intellectual tone.
  • Lyly wrote eight plays in all out of which Compaspe, Endunion, and Gallathea are the best and the best known. 
  • And though all the eight are, broadly speaking, comedies, yet they can be roughly divided into three groups as follows:
(i)         those which are allegorical and mythical in tone;
(ii)        those which display realistic features; and
(iii)       those which mark the introduction of more or less historical features.
  • Lyly strangely amalgamates humor and romantic imagination and in this way paves the way for Shakespeare, who does likewise in many of his comedies.
  • In his plays, Lyly used a mixture of verse and prose.
  • The prose that Lyly used in his comedies is full of puns, far-fetched conceits, and verbal pyrotechnics.
Robert Greene.
Greene wrote some five plays in all. They are : 
(i)         The Comical History of Alphonsus King of Aragon
(ii)        A Looking Glass for London and England (written jointly with Lodge)
(iii)       The Honourable History of Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay
(iv)       The History of Orlando Furioso
(v)        The Scottish History of James, the Fourth.
  • He affects two kinds of fusions
  •  The fusion of various plots and sub-plots; and
  • the fusion of various moods and worlds in one and the same play.
(3)        George Peele (1558-97):
The five plays of Peele extant today are:
(i)         The Arraignment of Paris (a pastoral play)
(ii)        The Battle of Alcazar (a romantic tragedy)
(iii)       The Famous Chronicle of King Edward, the First (a chronicle history)
(iv)       The Love of King David and Fair Bathsheba (a kind of mystery play. for it has a biblical theme) '
(v)        The Old Wives' Tale (a romantic satire on the current dramatic taste)
  • The list shows Peele's versatility as a dramatist.
  • However, his plays are not marked by any technical brilliance. 
  • What is of interest to us is his excellence as a poet.
 (4)                 Thomas Lodge (1558-1625) and
(5)                 Thomas Nashe (1567-1601):
  • Both Nashe and he are much more important for their fiction than dramatic art.
(6)        Thomas Kyd.
  • Kyd's contribution to English tragedy is twofold.
  • First, he gave a new kind of tragic hero who was neither a royal personage nor a superman but an ordinary person.
  • Secondly, he introduced the element of introspection in the hero.
(7)        Christopher Marlowe.
He is the most talented of pre-Shakespeareans.
His plays are:
(i)         Tamburlaine, the Great; 
(ii)        Doctor Faustus; 
(iii)       he Jew of Malta; 
(iv)       Edward, the Second; and
(v)        Parts of The Massacre at Paris and Dido Queen of Carthage.
  • Marlowe's contribution to English tragedy is very vital and manifold.
  • Marlowe exalted and varied the subject-matter of tragedy. 
  •  For the Senecan motive of revenge, he substituted the more interesting theme of ambition
  • ambition for power as in Tamburlaine, 
  • ambition for infinite knowledge as in Doctor Faustus, and 
  • ambition for gold as in The Jew of Malta.
  • He put forward a new kind of tragic hero.
  •  He gave a greater unity to the drama.
  • One of Marlowe's chief merits is his reformation of the chronicle plays of his time.
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