After Shakespearedrama in England
suffered a decline for two centuries
It was revived in the nineteenthcentury
:Two important factors
influence of Ibsen
cynical atmosphere
influence of Ibsen
-Shaw
-to discuss serious social and moral problems
riseComedy of Ideas or Purpose
cynical atmosphere
allowed men like Oscar Wilde to treat the moral assumptions of the Victorian age with frivolity and make politefun of their
conventionality, prudishness or smugnes
rise the Comedy of Manners or the Artificial Comedy
the real drama:
- deal with human emotions which are near to ordinary people
- gave up the melodramatic romanticism and pseudo- classical remoteness
- treat English life, first of the aristocratic class, then of the middle class and finally of the labouring class
drama of ideas:
This treatment of actual life made the drama more and more a drama of ideas
- it was revolutionary, directed against past literary models
dealt mainly with:
the problems of labour and of youth, fighting against : romantic love, capitalism and parental authority
characters:
constantly questioning restless and dissatisfied
example
Doll's House
these dramatists introduced Nature
action
slow and frequently interrupted
conflict:
inner conflict was substituted for outer conflict
-became quieter