THE BIBLE IN OUR LITERATURE
Dr. Howard R. Driggs
Lesson 5 – Bible Influence as Revealed in Our Drama
For Tuesday, February 19, 1946
English drama had its beginnings in religion. After plays and pageantry had been banned for centuries because of the vileness to which they had sunk in fallen Rome, the priests began to introduce dramatic elements into church ritual. A simple portrayal of the story of the resurrection or of the angel and the shepherds and the coming of the wise men, might be given as part of the commemorative ceremonies of Easter and of Christmas. Other significant stories from the Bible also might be portrayed – all to bring the scriptures closer to the common folk.
What began thus simply with the priests, gradually developed into more elaborate dramatic presentations. A calendar of holy days set by the Church opened the way for remembering various events in the life of Jesus at different times of the year. Laymen, as well as priests, began to take part in these religious plays and many of them were performed outside the Church. They offered recreation to help lighten the so-called Dark Ages.
With the nearing of the Renaissance came other developments. Miracle plays, depicting legends connected with the saints, began to appear; with them came the moralities, or moral plays, in which the various virtues and vices were allegorically presented. In time, these dramas, intended to impress truth and righteous living, were given in the common language of the folk, and performed largely apart from the church. Then groups of “strollers,” or wandering actors, would take the plays from village to village or castle to castle. Such a troupe of players, as many will remember, is employed by Hamlet when he would prove the king guilty of the crime that Hamlet feels he has committed.
Naturally, with the gradual separation of the drama from church ceremonies, there came other than just religious themes into it. Expansion and development of the histrionic art, following the Crusades and the discovery of America, brought a “Golden Age” of play writing and play acting, especially to England. During the long reign of Elizabeth, the theatre flourished, and plays unsurpassed in dramatic and literary art were created.
Those were days, remember, when the drama to succeed had to stand on it sown merits. There were no such accessories as electric lights to flash rainbow effects round the players; no scenic settings nor music to accord with the varying emotions stirred by the play. Theatres, on the contrary, were rather crude affairs with a platform on which the actors played their parts. Below them, standing “in the pit,” were the common folk; above, in circular rows of stalls, were the lords and ladies or other people of means who could afford seats. It took drama of gripping appeal to hold such an audience.
One playwright and producer who took the challenge in such a situation and succeeded marvelously was William Shakespeare. Not a great deal is surely known of his earlier life. He certainly must have grown up with the drama – probably taking active part in his younger days with strolling players, and helping to shape the plays themselves as he went from place to place. Some basic training such as this, added to his superb natural talent, gave him the wit and wisdom and the art that have made him the greatest dramatist of all time. That he has held this highest place is attested by the fact that for decades hardly a year has gone by without seeing his name on Broadway; and the further fact that thousands upon thousands of students are taught his plays year after year as the finest examples of drama ever created. They live for all time.
Something even deeper than mere genius must explain this phenomenon in literature. Quests to learn the inner secret of his art – and thousands upon thousands through the years have made the search – are about as conclusive as the efforts to learn how the firefly gives its light, or why the skylark rises to heaven when it sings. This, however, we do know of Shakespeare; he did create plays, a good many of them, that have brought stirring and uplifting entertainment to humanity through centuries. He has left mankind both thrilled and thinking.
May the writer be pardoned here the telling of a personal experience. His first real contact with Shakespeare came at a Saturday afternoon performance in the old Salt Lake Theater. Julius Caesar was the play. This youth sat entranced for two hours – and came out different. He bought a copy of the play, and for weeks thereafter was studying and reciting its lines. It was the beginning of a lasting love for great drama, and the setting of a helpful standard of appreciation.
Not long after that experience he saw another play in the same old theater, Gismonda, it was called. There were thrills aplenty in the colorful drama, with one of America’s leading actresses of the day in the stellar role. It gave stirring entertainment, but not recreation. There was no running out to buy the play, no reciting of lines ringing of truth such as these:
… lowliness is young ambition’s ladder.
* * *
Cowards die many times before their deaths;
The valiant never taste of death but once.* * *
His life was gentle, and the elements
So mix’d in him that Nature might stand
Up and say to all the world, “This was a man.”– Julius Caesar
Shakespeare had the skill to portray life – outward and inward life; to create scenes that move and stir the heart and leave the mind informed. In Julius Caesar we have Brutus, the man of honor, the idealist, made a prey by scheming politicians. In this, as in all the best of Shakespeare’s plays, we have situations, scenes, characters that are true to life for all ages. More than this, with unforgettable lines, this master voices truth for all time. There is no preaching of religion, yet in his plays sin does not triumph, but good is the victor even though the story ends in tragedy.
Bible influence may always be felt and often seen in his words and lines and allusions to Holy Writ. Just a few illustrative excerpts will add concreteness here:
The quality of mercy is not strained,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. it is twice bless’d:
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.– Merchant of Venice
* * *
O, how wretched
Is that poor man that hangs on princes’ favors:
And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer,
Never to hope again.– King Henry VIII
** *
Had I but served my God with half the zeal
I served my king, he would not in mine age
Have left me naked to mine enemies.– King Henry VIII, Act III
* * *
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.– Hamlet, Act I
Shakespeare’s plays, like Milton’s epics, and like the Bible, deal with searching problems of life. They reveal sin in its ugliness, but only as a darker background against which virtue and nobility may be more impressively portrayed. His purpose, like that of all high-minded artists, is to inspire a love of the good, the beautiful, and the true. In all this he is in perfect accord with the Bible whether that source of inspiration is revealed openly or not.
Successful dramatists since those days of Elizabeth have followed the basic pattern set by the Bard of Avon. directly and indirectly their best plays reveal Bible influence. Generally it is to be felt only in the spirit of the play as it vibrates in the scenes and in characters of noble, of lovable qualities. Outwardly it is shown in allusions and quoted lines from scripture. occasionally, the theme may be taken from the Bible, or, as in the Passion Plays of Oberammergau, it may faithfully portray characters and scenes of Holy Writ.
Within recent years the Bible story has been presented rather elaborately in pageantry and moving pictures. One such performance as “The Eternal Road,” which was short-lived. Another, “The Ten Commandments,” portrayed the story of the escape of Israel from Egypt, the giving of the commandments to Moses, and then applied all this in a modern drama. Will Rogers, after seeing this play, remarked, “It is easy to see where God left off in the play, and the movie-picture man began.” The spectacle again was short-lived. People seem not to like to have the Bible preached at them, particularly in shows.
A Biblical play of comparatively recent creation, which had a longer run, was “Green Pastures.” it was, as the author says, “an attempt to portray a living religion in terms of its believers.” In this case, the believers were Negroes of the Deep South, who with “spiritual hunger and true humility”have adapted the Bible to their everyday lives. Sincerity and reverence, such as one feels in the truly Negro spirituals, vibrate through the literal words, scenes, and characters portrayed. The play recalls lines from Longfellow’s Hiawatha:
Feeble hands and helpless
Groping blindly in the darkness
Touch God’s right hand in that darkness
And are lifted up and strengthened.
Plays of the above literal type are not often presented. What usually is seen in the theater is just shows, dealing with folk in all their typical problems and life situations. Among the welter of these presented on the stage, in the photoplays, and over the radio, earnest search must be made constantly to find the few that do bring recreational uplift. It is not unlike digging for gold – one must generally shovel and wash away a ton of sand and gravel to get a nugget.
Each one will doubtless recall some play or plays which have been like precious nuggets. Tastes differ, of course, in the drama as well as in other kinds of art. Yet, in the essentials, the play that wins and holds our hearts leaves a clean, wholesome aftermath. It may have been just for entertainment, but as such it brought pure joy and uplift. It may have presented more serious aspects of life; yet it left the audience with new strength and faith in man and God. It is only such dramas that are worth time.
Everyone reading these lines will probably begin to list in mind plays that measure up to these standards. No two of these lists would be exactly alike, but that is immaterial. One the writer keeps in treasured memory is Maeterlinck’s The Bluebird. It was an enriching experience to follow the two children on their quest for the bluebird, happiness, only at last to find it in their own home. Barrie’s Peter Pan, as Maude Adams brought it to us, was another delight – just a sweet little story portraying the joyous, imaginative life of youth. More recently Sherwood’s Abe Lincoln in Illinois with Raymond Massey in the title role brought audiences close to the real Lincoln during his developing years. “Honest Abe” speaks to our hearts through the lines. The Bible influence in his life can be felt, it radiates impressively in the beautiful prayer he made for the recover of the little pioneer boy (see Relief Society Magazine, September 1940, page 577), and during other dramatic moments of the story.
Another heart-lifting play, portraying the life of a great woman, who, with Lincoln, gave her best to help free the slaves, is Harriet. In this convincing drama, recently presented on Broadway with Helen Hayes in the part of the heroine, we are brought closer to the life of Harriet Beecher Stowe, and made to feel her masterful contribution to a challenging cause. Historical drama, provided it is created and acted with artistry, often rises to the highest in dramatic art.
One of the leaders in the field of drama, a successful director of plays, an actor with talent as well as a scholar, was asked lately to name one or more current plays that stand out as great drama.
“I regret,” was his reply, “that none I know of deserve that distinction except Shakespeare’s ‘Tempest,’ now being played on Broadway, and the real play there is being obscured by too many scenic effects, too much light and music.”
“Of course,” he continued, “we do have several clever light operas and other shows, good, bad and indifferent, which are gathering the crowds. Performances of this sort come and go all the time. They offer passing entertainment, but not recreational uplift.”
“Might not a little more Biblical influence in the modern drama be of help in getting plays of lasting worth?” came another question.
“Yes, if it is woven into the play with artistry. Remember, a drama to get and hold an audience, must be good entertainment, first of all. It may be such, as the masters have shown, and yet through fine character portrayal, and natural gripping dialogue, vital life lessons can be impressed. We need more of such upbuilding plays.”
“How can we get them?”
“Well, concerted action on the part of home, church, and school to educate young and old away from what Shakespeare would call “dumb shows and noise,” might help. More good oral reading in the home, more community dramatics, more literary recitals would promote a taste for a higher type of drama than we are now wasting time and money to hear. As with music, this taste must be cultivated. Those who have control over the radio, the moving pictures, and the theater would, I believe, respond helpfully to such united effort for uplift.”
This leader’s comments will have a familiar ring to Latter-day saints. From pioneer days our people have been taught that every pure enjoyment is from the Lord, and that it is the abuse, not the proper use of such delightful means of entertainment as the drama, that constitutes evil. Wholesome plays have been encouraged for relaxation and recreation, to help us keep our elasticity and ot renew our vigor for the sterner drama of life. Now, with allurements of commercialized entertainment in varied forms, there comes a new challenge to every home.
A positive way to meet this challenge is to fight fire with fire. The love of uplifting drama, like the love of good music, begins at the hearthside. Mothers and fathers can begin the work and get closer to the hearts of their children through playing stories with them, by helping them get the best out of radio programs and photoplays. It is natural to carry forward these home joys into the encouragement of home dramatics. There should be more earnest group study of the drama by parents and teachers with the purpose of finding plays that are Bible inspired, that promote a love for the good, the beautiful, the true. Concerted effort not only to cultivate appreciation for the highest and best in the drama, but to have it produced on the stage and screen and over the radio, should bring richer, more uplifting returns for all.
Discussion and Activities
1. (a) Explain briefly what were the Miracle Plays and the Moralities. (b) In what ways do churches still employ dramatic presentation to impress the gospel story and gospel truths on the people?
2. (a) How did our English drama develop outside the church? (b) When did it reach its highest development in earlier days? (c) When was it abolished? Why?
3. (a) Be prepared to answer a roll call of the class with a line or two from Shakespeare in which there is an allusion to the Bible. (b) How else is the influence of the Bible revealed in the plays of the great dramatist?
4. (a) What is the essential difference between a play that merely entertains, and one that gives uplifting, lasting recreation? (b) Write on a slip of paper the name of a play that gave you mjust clean entertainment; and another that through some character, scene, or as a whole, left an inspiring life lesson. Hand the names to your teacher.
5. (a) What one basic test would you put to a play to determine whether it reveals Bible influence? (b) How can such influence be felt even though the play deals with sin and crime?
6. (a) What value is there in plays that offer just good humor and clean entertainment? (b) Why, even in plays intended for spiritual uplift, must there be choice entertainment to implant helpful life lessons, widely and well?
7. (a) What are basic teachings of our Church in regard to the drama? (b) In what practical ways has our Church tried to cultivate a love for the best in this great art?
8. Think through, and be ready to discuss each of the following as a helpful means of protecting young and old against baleful influences of unworthy drama, and of cultivating appreciation for that which is Bible-inspired.
a – Story plays in the home
b – Oral readings of choice drama round the fireside
c – Home and school dramatics
d – Selective use of the radio in the home and school
e – Better guidance in patronage of photoplays
f – Group studies of worthwhile plays
g – Co-operation with producers of drama on stage, screen, and radio, to assure more uplifting programs
References
Matthews, Brander, Development of the Drama (Scribner’s).
Lamb, Charles and Mary, Tales of Shakespeare, Deseret Book Co. Price $1.75.
Shakespeare’s Plays.
Some good, artistic, more modern play of your own tested choice.
Pyper, George D., The Romance of an Old Playhouse, Deseret Book Co. Price $2.50 to Relief Society. (Used in Relief Society literature course 1937-38. Should be available in Relief Society stake and ward libraries.)