Dryden's defense of Tragicomedies
Preface:
Dryden's most important prose work- "Of Dramatic Poesy, An Essay" gives him the reputation as the Father of English literary criticism. Most of the writers like.. William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, John Milton in England and Pierre Corneille - all are masters and specialized in drama and consequently the so-called battle of the ancients and moderns.
The most critical comparison of Greek and Roman writers with more recent ones- was fought chiefly in that era or time. Dryden is not a rule bound critic yet he tied down to classical unities means… He is in favor
in English modern plays but does not disparage the ancients. Throughout the essay, "The Essay of Dramatic Poesy" treats drama as a form of imaginative literature and hence his remarks on drama apply to poetry as well.
Dryden represented the conflicting claims of the two sides as a debate among four friends. One of them favors the ancient over the modern theatre. One modernist prefers the French drama, whereas Dryden himself likes the lifelike drama of English theatre to French tragedy, which he considers beautiful but lifeless.
Dryden includes the five points in this essay which are as below:
Theses Five points are:
Tragicomedy:
In literature, Tragicomedy is defined by many critics as a dramatic genre, the tragic and the comic to produce mixed tragicomic responses.
This is the term that can get anyone into trouble finding and thinking about this phase of evolution. The historical growth and development of the play have contributed immensely to the tragicomedy as a new form.
Any change or new attitude is always first opposed, rejected and eventually accepted by the masses then becomes a part of the people's lifestyle. But to make any change a part of people's lifestyles, someone has to run a massive campaign every now and then. A similar campaign was run by John Dryden for the tragic-comedy. formative period of English tragicomedy, extending from 1564 to 1600, while denoting no landmark in the development of the subject, may be taken as the approximate date of certain changes in the drama that materially affect the growth of tragicomedy.
"Neither is it so trivial an undertaking, to make a tragedy end happily; for 'tis more difficult to save than 'tis to kill. The dagger and the cup of poison are always in a readiness; but to bring the action to the last extremity, and then by probable means to recover all, will require the art and judgment of a writer, and cost him many a pang in the performance."
With the domain of tragicomedy thus encroached upon by tragedy, the result was that the conception of the former kind -- in the minds of the critical at least -- became restricted to a play admitting both serious and comic parts, a feature which, in fact, had always been more or less characteristic of tragi-comedy in the past. Dryden's four later plays of the type are obviously constructed with this notion in mind, and the same is true of others of the period. This conception, furthermore, while making no provision for the character of the dénouement, evidently tacitly concedes that the serious plot shall end happily.
Dryden is careful to call his "Don Sebastian" ( 1690) a tragedy, although it admits as elaborate a comic plot as the "Spanish Friar"; and with only one or two exceptions the title name is never applied in the Restoration period to tragedies of comic admixture.
From first to last throughout the period the idea of tragicomedy as a play of two-fold plot is pretty consistently supported both in theory and practice, and is to be remembered as a heritage that the age passed on to future criticism.
Before discussing about Dryden's defense of tragicomedies, let's have a look over arguments of four critics:
(1) Eugenius:
Eugenius favors the moderns over the ancients, because he argues that Modernist have model so that they learn from that and gives new ideas from their example.
(2) Crites:
Crites argues in favor of the ancients because he says that ancients established the unities of 'Time, Place and Action.' And the rules of Aristotle's drama still now followed by French playwrights.
For example:
Crites also gives the example of the famous playwright - Ben Jonson who follows the ancients. Crites also objects to rhyme in plays because he says that no one can speak throughout in rhyme.
On the stage or his real life, he cites Aristotle as saying that…
"It is best to write tragedy in that kind of verse which is nearest prose".
As a justification for..
"Banishing rhyme from drama in favor of blank verse."
Though blank verse lines Re no more spontaneous than rhymed, it is better to prefer blank verse because they are "nearest nature". Rhyme is incapable of expressing the greatest thought naturally and the lowest it cannot with any grace.
The reply of Neander to this objection that, rhyme by admitting that "verse so tedious" is inappropriate to drama. "Natural" rhymed verse is, however, just as appropriate to dramatic as non-dramatic poetry.
(3)Lucideius:
Lucideus argues that French drama is superior to English drama, Because of this opinion the French writer's close firmly to the classical separation of comedy and tragedy.
"No theatre in the world has anything so absurd as the English tragicomedy...in two hours
and a half hours, we run through all the fits of Bedlam."
(4)Neander:
Neander favors the modern English plays, but does not disparage the ancients. He has some critical things to say of French Drama.
Neander says to French drama that…
"They are indeed the beauties of a statue, but not of a man."
Because, those beauties of the French poesy are such as will raise perfection higher "where it is" but are not sufficient to "give it where it is not."
Dryden also goes on to defend tragicomedy and hives the powerful argument that, "A continued gravity keeps the spirit too much bent; we must refresh it sometimes." Tragicomedy increases the effectiveness of both tragic and comic elements by the way of contrast.
"We have invented, increased and perfected a more pleasant way of writing for the stage, tragicomedy."
Neander criticizes French drama essentially for its smallness because French drama has one plot without sub-plots and due to this tendency the play shows little action, the survival observation of the unities, dealth of plot and narrowness of imagination are all qualities which render it inferior to English drama.
In short, English drama has sub-plot, broadness in imagination and all unities - means all rules of Shakespeare. Dryden stands his criticism of French Drama into his reasoning for his preference for
Shakespeare over Ben Jonson. "Shakespeare had the largest and most comprehensive soul" while Jonson was "the most learned and judicious writer which any theatre ever had." Neander gives the first priority to Shakespeare because of his greater scope, his greater faithfulness to life as compared to Jonson's relatively small scope and French/classical tendency to deal in "the beauties of the statue, but not of a man.
Let's discuss how Dryden defends the English tragic-comedy or mingling of “mirth with serious plot”
“In his defense of Shakespeare mingling of the tragic and the comedy, Dryden ceases to be a classicist and goes over to the other camp.”
Dryden is free in his attitude towards the mingling of the tragic and comic. He "ceases to be classicist and goes over to the other camp."
Arguments of Dryden in defence of tragic-comedy
1. Contrast when placed near, set off each other
2. Continued gravity depresses the spirit, a scene of mirth thrown in between refreshes. In short.. comic scene produces relief, though Dryden doesn't explicitly say so.
3. Idea of comic relief
4. Emotions does not destroy compassion.
Example:
The serious effect which tragedy aims at is not disturbed by mingling of
tragic and comic. Just as their eye can pass from an unpleasant object to a pleasant one. So, also the soul can move from tragic to the comic and move more swiftly.
"If there is unhappiness, we can understand the importance of happiness."
5. Contrast is far better than simple one.
6. English plays have new way of writing which ancients have lack. So, if they had tragic comedies, perhaps Aristotle would have revised his rules.
7. There is the question of the change of the taste.
Because…
"The ancients cannot be a model for all times and countries, what pleased the Greeks would not satisfy an English audience."
It is possible that, if Aristotle sees the drama of English, he might have changed his mind. The real test of excellence is not strict firm to rules or
Conversations, but whether the aims of dramas have been achieved. They are achieved by the English drama. Dryden's greatness, shrewdness and presentation as a critic and on the view of "Tragic-Comedy" clearly brings out his liberal classicism and prove that English Drama are better than French.
In "Preface to Shakespeare" Dr.Johnson accepted Dryden's view that mingling of the tragic and the comic - provides dramatic relief. But, he further says that.. Comedy is truer to nature, for in nature is also good and evil, joy and sorrow, mingle in countless ways. Here, Dryden himself hinted the truth to nature, while defending the irregularities of the English drama in formalities of the French one.
EPILOGUE:
Dryden also try to demonstrate the superiority of the English plots. The French plots are barren, while the English ones are copious and more varied. French plays have only one action, every scene and every character contributes to further the same action.
"French plays lack the charm of variety."
In English plays, there are numbers of sub-plots in addition to the main plot and subplots are carried forward along with the main action with 'Great Spirit.'
"It is wrong to suppose that sub-plot hinders the main action. The sub-plot are only different,
and not contrary or opposite to the main action."
French have acknowledged, that in English plays all the actions are closely and coherently knit together to form one organic whole. Aristotle had also put stress on unity of action only. Had this unity coherence been wanting, there would been have sufficient reason for Condemning the English. But, today we must admire them for their copiousness and variety which is a source of great pleasure for the audience.
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