THE EMERGENCE OF THE HUMANIST TRAGIC HERO: A STUDY OF THE DRAMATIZATION OF THE PSYCHOMACHIA IN THE MORALITY PLAYS AND IN SELECTED PLAYS OF SHAKESPEARE. (VOLUMES I - II)

SUSAN CAROLYN ULICHNEY PAGE, Purdue University

Abstract

This study deals with the evolution of the protagonist from the humanum genus of the early morality plays to the tragic protagonist in Shakespeare. It approaches changes in the conception of man through changes in the morality psychomachia. In the early morality plays (before 1500), the psychomachia was conceived of and presented as an essentially external battle, with the temptation of the innocent humanum genus being made by representations of evil external to him (foreign to his nature). This view of man reflected Thomist theology and was not conducive to tragedy. The possibility for tragedy in the English morality arose when man became conceived of as an individual who interacted with his environment (rather than merely participating in ritual), who was responsible for his actions, and who could consequently be awarded punishment for his behavior. Such a view of man can be seen emerging in the intermediate moralities (c. 1500-1550) and seems to be directly related to the introduction of Christian humanism into England. The conception of man as actively responsible for his own fate was manifested in an accompanying change in the psychomachia, which gradually became internalized as a debate between reason and passion in man's nature. The process began in the drama of the humanist playwrights, who stressed the educability of man's reason and the strength of his free will in such plays as Nature and Four Elements. It continued in the popular drama in intermediate moralities such as Mundus et Infans and Youth, which moved toward an individualized protagonist who did not need to be tempted to sin by a Vice character, but who had "vice" within himself and to whom punishment was held out as a viable recompense for his behavior. By the historical moralities of the 1560's--Cambises, Horestes, and Appius and Virginia--the psychomachia has been almost completely internalized. The protagonists in all three plays experience a wavering of purpose and a struggling between reason and passion that marks their free will. All are responsible for their behavior; Appius and Cambises receive just punishment for their sins. In these two historical moralities, crude tragedy was created. Shakespeare himself experimented with the humanist protagonist. In the character of Richard III, although limited by his historical sources, he created an individual whose control over his own destiny was marked by his series of intrigues and his death as retribution. The portrayal of the psychomachia in Richard III was episodic, resulting in his overall impression as a villain. By the time of Measure for Measure, Shakespeare had perfected the internalization of the psychomachia. Angelo is shown as a man who must struggle to maintain his goodness. His fall to his passions should earn him punishment. He escapes punishment, and hence, tragedy, not because of his own deserving, but because he has been placed in a mythic world of ritual and forgiveness, in which man's sins can be "undone." The humanist protagonist is fully developed in Hamlet, whose inner conflict between elements of his reason and his passion, as revealed in his soliloquies, causes his wavering, his delay, and his death, but also, and more importantly, his "humanity." The internalized psychomachia, which gave the protagonist elements of both universality (it was a struggle shared by all men) and individuality (the "battle" with his nature was different for each man) became the distinguishing feature of the protagonist in Shakespeare's mature tragedies.

Degree

Ph.D.

Subject Area

British and Irish literature

COinS