This was a difficult play to read for several reasons. I found the writing dry and repetitive, nothing of note in the action of the story, and the only character who showed a struggle of decision was Pontias Pilate. If the play was a psychological dive into the motivations of Pilate, that might have been interesting, but one must remember the essential purpose of mystery plays was didactic for an illiterate public. Although the writing and the story itself are not interesting, the translator of this edition, Paula Giuliano, is helpful in pointing out where Gréban aligns or differs from previous versions of the Passion play. In the same way that Racine will alter Greek myths to represent a christian theology, Gréban alters his story so as to best instruct his own audience. In this way, we begin to see some of the originality and adaptive tendencies dormant in many medieval playwrights.
0 Comments
La Farce de Maître Pathelin is one of the most popular medieval plays still produced today. It's popularity come from its timeless humor which is based in absurdity and deceit. What I find interesting about the play is its use of an ensemble to achieve its humour. Whereas plays like Le Garçon et l'Aveugle were simple slapstick comedies, Pathelin's humor relies on the interactions of the stereotyped characters that we would find in commedia dell'arte. There is the cunning trickster, the nagging wife, and the boorish judge. The play reminded me of Ubu Roi for the callous marital dialogue, but also of 19th century English farces that depended on quick wit and the manipulation of an absurd situation. The character of Pathelin, like Ubu, is intriguing and dastardly, but we continue to cheer for his antics to see what crazy thing he will do next.
This play is a part of a collection of Miracles de Notre Dame which tells of the Virgin Mary interceding to save humans. This particular play tells the story of a woman who kills her son in law, and repents after the crime is discovered. Rather than being burned at the stake, the Virgin Mary hears her prayers and intercedes. To me, this play is radical in that it argues that human law and judgment will always be superseded by God's law. This is obvious to any Christian theologian, but in this case it takes the radical standpoint that a murderer should go free, or at least be sent to a convent, upon a heartfelt repentance. In a period where heretics were condemned to death, this system of justice seems to be incredibly generous. The characters are deep and their emotions are poignant. Without the religious overtone, this could be a simple play about a family in a tragic situation.
Jour du jugement felt like the first proper play that I had read from the medieval period partly for its length and partly for its plot. It tells the story of the Antichrist and the final days of humanity. This is the only medieval play representing the final days, and it does so in great detail. We see the conception and birth of the Antichrist, and its growth as an adolescent brought up by devils. The play boasts 93 characters, and one must imagine that the production would have been an undertaking that employed a significant portion of a town's population. As such, when reading, I found myself thinking about the amateur actors who would have been performing these roles. It seems clear to me that the preacher would play himself, but who would play God? Or the Antichrist? How were such roles decided? There were indeed directors, or pageant masters, who oversaw medieval productions, but with a play of this breadth, such a task would have been an undertaking on the scale of modern broadway productions. This play could not have been performed more than once a year or so, and exclusively by amateurs. It is on a completely different level than a farce like Le Garçon et l'Aveugle.
I had many feelings while reading this play and if I could sum them up in one word, it would be "contradictory." La Nonne qui laissa son abbaye is a morality play from the 14th century about a nun who leaves her abbey to marry a knight, and eventually returns to the service of Our Lady. From a 21st century feminist perspective, I of course see many problems with the story, but moreover in the context of the 14th century I see many internal inconsistencies. To begin with, during the period, it was debated whether or not women even had souls, so the idea that the soul of this nun was in danger of damnation was already questionable to begin with. Secondly, it is clear that the nun sins in the process of breaking her vow of chastity to marry the knight, but she is hardly "living in sin" as the Virgin suggests. In comparison to other plays like Le Miracle de Théophile, she appears to live a completely righteous life after leaving the church. And thirdly, the play ends with her and her husband abandoning their two sons without a thought to their wellbeing. The play seems to argue that a life of celibacy is always superior to parenthood, even arguing for the abandonment of children. When reading a play like this, it is hard not to this about the coming Reformation, and the importance that protestants would place on family life, and more importantly, the mandate for women to produce more christians.
Despite my assumptions, Le Jeu de Robin et Marion is not a story of Robin Hood and Maid Marion, but is instead a musical comedy about shepherds. This is the first play that I have read where there are two named female characters who interact, and they prove themselves to be witty and capable. They are both shepherdesses who are not afraid to rebuff men's advances, or escape from their clutches. After a knight passes through the village making advances to Marion, she rebukes him, swearing fidelity to her lover, Robin. While the play reinforces the feudal class hierarchy, it subverts the trope of the damsel in distress. When captured by the knight, the men take up arms to go after Marion, but she had already escaped her captor. Her friend, Peronnele, is equally strong, parrying her male companions innuendos with her own with. It begs the question if Adam de la Halle was an aberration or if this period predated the tropes and misogyny that is typical of much of the early modern European drama.
Le Jeu de la Feuillée was written in 1276 by Adam de la Halle, but feels like it could have been written by one of the twentieth century existentialists. The main character, Adam, a stand in for the author, announces to the tavern that he will be leaving his small town to return to Paris to finish his studies. But like Vladimir and Estragon in Beckett's Waiting for Godot, the next day he is still in the tavern, seemingly incapable of leaving his hometown. However, Adam is not nearly as interesting as the relations between the townfolk who resist the urge to become stereotypes and instead operate as a cohesive and fascinating ensemble. Their squabbling amongst themselves show the complexities present in even a small town, and the play seems to argue against Adam's desire to leave for Paris. Even if the town of Arras lacks the university Adam seeks, it still holds more interest that the character gives it credit for.
Le Garçon et l'Aveugle is the first play that we could call a true farce. It is simple, short, and open to improvisation on the part of the actors. This was the first play that I have read so far that felt like a PLAY and not a recitation of a biblical story. Though it is short, it has a clear dramatic structure, from the meeting, the rising action, and the resolution. The characters are well defined through their actions instead of their words. In the other medieval plays that I have read, text and its didactic qualities were the driving forces of the play, but here, because the text is so short and the action of the play is more physical, the actors take on a role that we would define closer to the modern actor than that of a priest reciting the lines of a mystery play. The action reminds me of the physical comedy of commedia dell'arte, where there are few props, characters are well defined, and the humour comes from the physicality of the lozzi. This physical comedy sets Le Garçon and L'Aveugle apart from liturgical drama of the time, and shows a glimpse of the farce yet to come in the 14th century.
|
Jennifer KellettM.A. French Literature Florida State University Archives
June 2021
Categories |