Dryden’s All for Love as a Heroic Play

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DRYDEN’S ALL FOR LOVE AS A HEROIC PLAY The beginning of the heroic play may be traced back to the works of Beumont and Fletcher. But the heroic play proper is a product of the Restoration age. With the closing of the thetres during the puritan rule in England the earlier dramatic tradition came to an end. When they were reopen after Restoration, the taste of the court brought in the French influence, mainly that of Corneille. The English heroic plays combined some of the features of an epic poem with some features of drama, and were remarkably different from the Elizabethan drama. They were written almost always in heroic couplets, though Nathaniel Lee, used blank verse for his play Rival Queens. The subject of the heroic play has to be love and valour or love and honor. The protagonists of the plays were elevated to such romantic and superhuman heights that they appeared nonsensically unrealistic. Absurd self-service and supernatural bravery of the hero combined with amorous perfection made the hero devoid of all naturalness. Dryden is certainly the best and probably the first of the typical restoration heroic play writer who contributes to the true heroic pattern. All the heroic plays of Dryden are written on the same pattern. In each is portrayed a hero of larger than life prowess and sublime ideas. Also there is a heroine of rare beauty. In several of the characters we find in the inner conflict, between love and honor. The story stirs martial enthusiasm leading to great dramatic interest. The scope of Dryden’s appears to be as the same as that of Shakespeare, if allowance is given to the happy ending of them, a characteristic of Restoration age. May be it is an influence of the structure of the epic and heroic poetry. On comparison with Shakespearean tragedies Dryden’s plays show certain similarities. In the words of Allardyee Nicol we find in both.
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