The Growth of English Drama | Page 7

firm and sure in the past, so some writer of Bible plays desired to
preface his life of Jesus with a statement of the reason for His birth, and
the 'Fall of Man' was inserted. In writing such an introductory play he
set going another possible series. To explain the Serpent's part in the
'Fall' there was wanted a prefatory play on 'Satan's Revolt in Heaven',
and to demonstrate the swift consequence of the 'Fall', another play on
'Cain and Abel'; the further story of the 'Flood' would represent the
spread of wickedness over the earth; in fact, the possible development
could be bounded only by the wide limits of the entire Bible, and, of
more immediate influence, by the restrictions of time. That this
extension of theme was not checked until these latter limits had been
reached may be judged from the fact that in one place it was customary
to start the play between four or five o'clock in the morning, acting it
scene after scene until daylight failed. But this was when the Corpus
Christi festival had become the chief dramatic season, combining in its
performances the already lengthy series associated respectively with
Christmas and Easter. Between the 'Massacre of the Innocents' and the
'Betrayal' (the point at which the Easter play usually started) a few
connecting scenes were introduced, after which the Corpus Christi play
could fairly claim to be a complete story of 'The Fall and Redemption

of Man'. Admittedly of crude literary form, yet full of reverence and
moral teaching, and with powers of pathos and satire above the
ordinary, it became one single play, the sublimest of all dramas. To
regard it as a collection of separate small plays is a fatal mistake--fatal
both to our understanding of the single scenes and to our
comprehension of the whole.
Yet the space at our disposal forbids our dealing here with every scene
of any given play (or cycle, as a complete series is commonly called).
The most that can be done is to give a list of the subjects of the scenes,
and specimens of the treatment of a selected few. This list, however,
should not be glanced through lightly and rapidly. The title of each
scene should be paused over and the details associated with the title
recalled. In no other way can the reader hope to comprehend the play in
its fullness.
Here are the scenes of the Coventry Play.
1. The Creation. 2. The Fall of Man. 3. Cain and Abel. 4. Noah's Flood.
5. Abraham's Sacrifice. 6. Moses and the Two Tables. 7. The Prophets.
8. The Barrenness of Anna. 9. Mary in the Temple. 10. Mary's
Betrothment. 11. The Salutation and Conception. 12. Joseph's Return.
13. The Visit to Elizabeth. 14. The Trial of Joseph and Mary. 15. The
Birth of Christ. 16. The Adoration of the Shepherds. 17. The Adoration
of the Magi. 18. The Purification. 19. The Slaughter of the Innocents.
20. Christ Disputing in the Temple. 21. The Baptism of Christ. 22. The
Temptation. 23. The Woman taken in Adultery. 24. Lazarus. 25. The
Council of the Jews. 26. The Entry into Jerusalem. 27. The Last Supper.
28. The Betraying of Christ. 29. King Herod. 30. The Trial of Christ.
31. Pilate's Wife's Dream. 32. The Condemnation and Crucifixion of
Christ. 33. The Descent into Hell. 34. The Burial of Christ. 35. The
Resurrection. 36. The Three Maries. 37. Christ Appearing to Mary. 38.
The Pilgrim of Emaus. 39. The Ascension. 40. The Descent of the Holy
Ghost. 41. The Assumption of the Virgin. 42. Doomsday.
One dominant characteristic is observed by every student of the
original play, namely, the maintenance of a lofty elevation of tone
wherever the sacredness of the subject demands it. The simple dramatic

freedom of that day brought God and Heaven upon the stage, and
exhibited Jesus in every circumstance of his life and death; yet on no
occasion does the play descend from the high standard of reverence
which such a subject demanded, or derogate from the dignity of the
celestial Father and Son. That this was partly due to the Bible will be
admitted at once. But there is great credit due to the writer (or writers)
who could keep so true a sense of proportion that in scenes even of
coarse derision, almost bordering on buffoonery, the central figure
remained unsoiled and unaffected by his surroundings. A writer less
filled with the religious sense must have been strongly tempted to
descend to biting dialogue, in which his hero should silence his
adversaries by superiority in the use of their own weapon. A truer
instinct warned our author that any such scene must immediately tend
to a lowering of character. He refused, and from his pen is sent forth a
Man