Collier’s attack on the stage (1698)
Jeremy Collier was a Puritain who thought that the English stage was the chief spreader of immorality in his age. He published his lengthy treatise in 1698 and it was widely read; it sold through three editions in the first two years after it was printed and evoked numerous replies, particularly (and expectedly) from playwrites. In his attack, Collier actually (in some respect, at least) outlines what amounts to a Puritain theory of the theatre, arguing that “the business of plays is to recommend virtue, and discountenance vice.” Collier goes to great lengths to prove how current playwrites and actors do not make their plays work toward that purpose and suggests numerous ways that the theatre could be changed in order to make it more acceptable (most of his models are from classical dramatists; he sees a great deal of value in the work of Euripides and Terence). He also mentions numerous contemporary plays by name, including The Country Wife and The Plain Dealer. In his introduction, Collier lists his main gripes with contemporary plays:
· their smuttiness of language
· their swearing, profaneness and lewd application of scripture
· their abuse of the clergy
· their making their top characters libertines, and giving them success with their debaucheries
I don’t think that knowing the ins and outs of Collier’s arguments is particularly important to my purpose; after all, they are exactly the type of fiery Puritain invective that one would expect from such a work. However, it might be important to note that the immorality that Collier pointed out on the stage was quite easily transferred to critiques of the novel that would grow popular a few decades later.
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