The Growth of English Drama | Page 5

do, and then retiring into the church. The happy couple are allowed
a brief time in which to demonstrate their joy in the Garden. Then
Satan approaches from Hell and draws Adam into conversation over
the barrier. His attempt to lure Adam to his Fall is vain, nor is he more
successful the first time with Eve. But as a serpent he over-persuades
her to eat of the forbidden fruit, and she gives it to Adam, with the
well-known result. In his guilt Adam now withdraws out of sight,
changes his red tunic for a costume contrived out of leaves, and
reappears in great grief. God enters from the church and, after
delivering his judgment upon the crime, drives Adam and Eve out of
Eden. With spade and hoe they pass under the curse of labour on the
second stage, toiling there with most disappointing results (Satan sows
tares in their field) until the end comes. Let the manuscript speak for
itself again:
Then shall come the Devil and three or four devils with him, carrying
in their hands chains and iron fetters, which they shall put on the necks
of Adam and Eve. And some shall push and others pull them to hell:
and hard by hell shall be other devils ready to meet them, who shall
hold high revel at their fall. And certain other devils shall point them
out as they come, and shall snatch them up and carry them into hell;
and there shall they make a great smoke arise, and call aloud to each
other with glee in their hell, and clash their pots and kettles, that they
may be heard without. And after a little delay the devils shall come out

and run about the stage; but some shall remain in hell.[2]
Immediately after this conclusion comes a shorter play of Cain and
Abel, followed in its turn by another on the Prophets; but in all three
the catastrophe is the same--mocking, exultant devils, and a noisy,
smoky 'inferno'.
The most important characteristics of Adam are the venturesome
removal of the play outside the sacred building, the increase in invented
dialogue beyond the limits of the Bible narrative, and the 'by-play'
conceded to popular taste. The last two easily followed from the first.
Within a church there is an atmosphere of sanctity, a spirit of
prohibition, which must, even in the Middle Ages, have had a
restrictive effect upon the elements of innovation and naturalness. The
good people of the Bible, the saints, had to live up to their reputation in
every small word and deed so long as their statues, images, and pictures
gazed down fixedly from the walls upon their living representatives.
This was so much a fact that to the very end Bible and Saint plays
conceded licence of action and speech only to those nameless persons,
such as the soldiers, Pharisees, and shepherds, who never attained to
the distinction of individual statues, and who could never be invoked in
prayer. Out of sight of these effigies and paintings, however, the
oppression was at once lightened. True, these model folk could not be
permitted to decline from their prescribed standards, but they might be
allowed companions of more homely tastes, and the duly authorized
wicked ones, such as the Devil, Cain, and Herod, might display their
iniquity to the full without offence. Thus it is that in this play we find
great prominence given to the Devil and his brother demons. They
would delight the common people: therefore the author misses no
opportunity of securing applause for his production by their antics.
Throughout the play we meet with such stage directions as 'the devils
are to run about the stage with suitable gestures', or the Devil 'shall
make a sally amongst the people'. In this last the seeing eye can already
detect the presence of that close intimacy between the play and the
people which was to make the drama a 'national possession' in England.
The devil, with his grimaces and gambols, was one of themselves, was
a true rustic at heart, and they shrieked and shouted with delight as he

pinched their arms or slapped them on the back. The freer invention in
dialogue is equally plain. Much that is said by Adam and the Devil has
no place in the scriptural account of the Fall, and the importance of this
for the development of these dramas cannot be exaggerated.
The move into the open air was not accidental. Every year these sacred
plays drew larger congregations to the festival service. Every year the
would-be spectators for whom the church could not find standing room
grumbled more loudly. In the churchyard (which was still within the
holy precincts) there was ample space for all. So into the churchyard
the performers went. The