Introduction:
English drama in the late 18th century underwent a significant shift, moving away from its traditional focus on emotionalism, sentimentality, and morality towards a more realistic depiction of life. This shift was due to a number of factors, including the rise of the novel, the influence of the French Revolution, and the growing interest in science and philosophy.
Popular Genre in the early 18th Century:
The novel, which had emerged as a popular genre in the early 18th century, offered a more realistic and complex view of human nature than traditional drama. Novels such as Samuel Richardson's Pamela (1740) and Henry Fielding's Tom Jones (1749) showed that people were not always motivated by reason and virtue, but could also be driven by passion and self-interest. This new realism had also a profound impact on drama, leading playwrights to abandon the traditional happy endings and moralistic messages of their plays.
The French Revolution:
The French Revolution also had a significant impact on English drama. The revolution's ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity challenged the traditional social order and hierarchy, and playwrights began to explore these ideas in their work. Thomas Paine's Common Sense (1776), which argued for the American Revolution, was also influential in England, and its ideas about democracy and individual rights were reflected in many plays of the period.
Science and Philosophy:
The growing interest in science and philosophy also contributed to the shift towards realism in drama. Enlightenment thinkers such as John Locke and David Hume challenged traditional beliefs about religion and morality, and their ideas led playwrights to explore new and more complex themes in their work.
The Time of Satire:
A Realistic Current in English Literature:
The Reasons such offshoot:
Conclusion:
As a result of these factors, English drama in the late 18th century became more realistic, complex, and challenging. Playwrights such as Oliver Goldsmith, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and William Shakespeare explored the darker side of human nature and the complexities of social relationships. They also challenged traditional moral values and explored new ideas about the individual and society. Throughout the centuries, dramatists made conscious decisions to break with earlier traditions. A tendency toward realism and the depiction of situations and characters with whom audiences could identify accelerated over the course of the coming 19th century.
This shift towards realism had a lasting impact on English drama, and it paved the way for the great works of the 19th century, such as those of Henrik Ibsen, Anton Chekhov, and George Bernard Shaw.
A History Of English Drama 1660 1900 : Allardyce Nicoll : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive. (n.d.). Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.58964