A CRITICAL STUDY OF THE VICTORIAN ENGLISH DRAMA

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Characteristics of Melodrama

Melodrama, according to Roberts, exercises both the visceral and cerebral parts of us vigorously. This means that it offers aesthetic delight as well as intellectual appeal. Michael Booth argues that “Melodrama must build on a firm foundation of absolute certainties and immovable verities”. The absolute certainties “are that virtue will be rewarded and evil will be punished; its immovable verities generosity, courage, industry, honesty, chastity, humility, and repentance will always triumph over cupidity, contrivance, cowardice, cruelty, pride, sin and sex”.

  • According to Roberts (1971): The conflict between virtue and vice is presented in a cartoon style – exaggerated and unmistakable, in black and white.
  • The appeal to emotions is direct, and is underscored by musical accomplishment, either in songs or background music.
  • Action is the life of melodrama; events are of overriding importance. What happens is far more important than the whom or the why, because the persons and the reasons are foreordained by the imperative of the genre. The issue is never in doubt; members of the audience can thrill with impunity to the direst of circumstances, the most heroic of escapes, the most grandiloquent of stances, perfectly safe in the knowledge not only that they are watching a play, but also that in the world of this play (as distinct from the actual world) neat poetic justice will prevail.

There is no intent in melodrama to bring the hero to the point of self-discovery or recognition; repentance and remorse (two occurring phenomena in melodrama of crime and fallen virtue) were usually brought about by external phenomena such as exhortations, dreams, lost children, mothers, wives, or sweethearts. The fundamental issue is not the reordering of self, but the readjustment of the individual in his relations with others.

The characters of melodrama are divided into polarities, the good and the bad, the happy and the unhappy. The hero or the heroine is the good while the villain is thoroughly bad. Other characters group under these two groups. Most characters usually align with the good or the hero, but Roberts (1971) argues that “the villain makes up in diabolical cleverness what he lacks in numerical superiority”.

Many 19th century melodramatic plays espoused chastity and fidelity as the essence of domestic happiness and attempted to make the heroine pursue this as the most essential quality in a woman. Roberts (1971: 223) maintains that:

In spite of his centrality, however, the hero is more acted upon than acting. The prime mover of the action in melodrama is the villain who pursues the heroine, contrives to discredit or kill the hero, and keeps thinking up “dastardly plots’. He is strong – minded and bold, grim, determined, and immensely evil.… He usually has as accomplice a shifty, cowardly, half -comic personage who occasionally foils his plot at the end of the play and goes over to the side of the Good.

Music is a major element of melodrama. It is, as has been said, a tool for watering and heightening emotions. “sad and weary music for suffering heroines, agonising music for the deaths of children and old fathers, threatening music for the villain, mysterious music for ghosts, clashing music for storms, and joyous music for reunions of separated lovers” (Roberts, p. 225).

Melodramatic plot is diverse. It includes sensational detective stories, conspiracies, crimes, shipwrecks, burnings, murder puzzles, stories of profligacy, etc. The story is usually profuse and panoramic. Melodramatic language is highly elevated and inflated. The hero or the heroine has power of expression. According to Roberts, melodramatic language is rich in high – flown sentiments… inflated language full of inversions, circumlocutions, and metaphors”. However, the ordinary characters are permitted to speak the language of the everyday business.

Dazzling stage machinery helps to achieve spectacular effect in melodrama. Improved lighting system helps to create fascinating stage effect. In addition to improved lighting system in the nineteenth – century, the stage designers- for purposes of ensuring historical accuracy, “selected landscapes and architecture which were picturesque, striking, and very often spectacular rather than typical or classically beautiful” (Hewitt, 1970). Hewitt further adds that:

Hills, woods, cliffs, waterfalls, rivers, lakes, oceans, storms, floods, fires, volcanic eruptions, and effects of sun, moon, clouds, and waves were created not only for the melodrama but also for Shakespeare’s plays, thus depicting what heretofore had been merely described by the characters or implied by the action.

CONCLUSION

The Victorian drama witnessed poor development in dramatic literature in terms of artistic quality and originality; but the art of acting and production flourished greatly causing the audience to ignore lack of originality and freshness in drama productions. Since most of the Victorian audiences see the theatre as a mere relief from tedious day’s work, they see the drama mostly from aesthetic angle, hence their preference for melodrama that provides profuse spectacle.

This article has exposed you to the Victorian drama. It considered the nature of dramatic literature of the period and what makes the audience eminently susceptible to the melodramatic offering. The unit specifically examined the concept of melodrama, its ingredients and characteristics as the major dramatic fare of the time.

 

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