A comparative study of the Corpus Christi Disputation plays.

Abstract

The Corpus Christi plays comprise one of the most enigmatical areas of English literature, for the paucity of records and play manuscripts prevents modern scholars from recognizing the origin and tracing the development of these plays with complete accuracy. However, many scholars have investigated this area, and, as a result of their endeavors, it is now possible to view the plays with much more clarity than ever before. In the present study I have chosen to devote Chapter I to a study of the Corpus Christi plays in general. The remaining chapters, however, have been utilized to present a thorough investigation of the Disputation play as it appears in the York, Towneley, Coventry, Chester, and Hegge cycles. This comparative study revealed, among other things, that the authors of these plays were allowed a considerable amount of license in their composition, examples of which may be noted in the appendices, which list the various metres used in the plays and the Ten Commandments as they are found in four of these cycles. IN order validly to compare the plays to the Biblical source, a Wycliffe New Testament, extant in medieval times, was used. Readings from the Wycliffe New Testament were similar in meaning (although not of the exact wording) to the King James version of the Bible. Therefore, all references, both to the Old and New Testaments, have been made from a King James Bible.