John Dryden and his drama concept on the example of his tragedy "All for Love, or the World well lost" in comparison to Aristotle’s drama concept

Doreen Bärwolf

Sep 2010 · GRIN Verlag

About this ebook

Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Literature, Works, grade: 3,0, http://www.uni-jena.de/ (Anglistisch/Amerikanistisches Institut), course: Proseminar: Shakepearean plays and their literarary reception in the Restoration Period, language: English, abstract: John Dryden was one of the most famous writers of the 17th century and one of the most brilliant drama theorists. Therefore this paper wants to show the concepts of drama by John Dryden and Aristotle on the examples of Dryden’s All for Love and Shakespeare’s play Antony and Cleopatra as the adaptation original. The theory of the drama concept is based mainly on Aristotle, which is the fundament of all tragedy and comedy and especially for John Dryden’s concept. Dryden used the theory of Aristotle very strictly and therefore shaped the tragedy writing of his time and after it will be the thesis of this paper. To prove this thesis the classical drama concept of Aristotle, which is the fundament of Shakespeare’s and Dryden’s theory, must be explained. Secondly Dryden’s theory will be demonstrated as well as the concept of theatre in his time. Dryden lived in the Restoration era, so his thinking and his works are shaped by this time. Therefore Dryden’s theory and concept of drama will be analyzed in its historical context. After this discussion there will be an analyses of Dryden’s way to adapt Shakespeare and his purpose by writing All for Love, which is the mostly read adaptation of Shakespeare. There will be a discussion of the character conception, the language of Dryden and the Restoration period and the so called three unities based on Aristotle’s theory. The story of this play will be explained and the characters within this story. There will also be an analyses of the very special and typical scene of All for Love when Cleopatra and Octavia, the two rivals, speak to each other, and of other scenes as well. Afterwards follows a discussion of the themes love and duty, which are very typical for the Restoration period and the distinctive interpretation of Dryden in his play. Antony as the hero of this play will be discussed in comparison to Shakespeare’s Antony and with it the hero theory of Aristotle and Dryden. All these analyses are based on the concept of drama by Aristotle and the rules Dryden invented.