Dramatic Allegory, or, Exploring the Moral Play

Authors

Joanne Spencer Kantrowitz, Kent State University

Abstract

In lieu of an abstract, the first paragraph of the essay follows:

Most current writing on the morality play can be classified as products of two approaches developed during the early twentieth century. While the work of the last fifteen years or so does reflect the critical categories developed since 1945 and, more recently, the mythic emphasis of Northrop Frye, the basic conceptions still derive from the work of E. N. S. Thompson and Willard Farnham. Thompson presents his categories in terms of motif or subject, an approach which easily dovetails into the creation of archetypes; Farnham's perception of a rise-fall-rise pattern extends a view of drama which has dominated the twentieth century until fairly recently.¹

Recommended Citation

Kantrowitz, Joanne Spencer (1973) "Dramatic Allegory, or, Exploring the Moral Play," Comparative Drama: Vol. 7: Iss. 1, Article 4.
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/compdr/vol7/iss1/4