Representation of the Impiety and Immorality of the English Stage Some

Project GutenbergProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 2.6
Word count
49K words
Chapters
5

Tags

English Originals Dramatic Literature Classical PoeticsEnglish SocietyStage MoralityPuritan ThoughtSocial CritiqueMoral DilemmaMoral CritiqueAcademic CommentarySatirical StyleSocial Observation

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Representation of the Impiety and Immorality of the English Stage (1704); SomeAuthor: ,Language: English, Class: PN: Language and Literatures: Literature: General, Criticism, Collections, Release Date: Apr 19, 2005

Editor's review

This is an English pamphlet published in 1704, arguing around the impiety and immorality of the English stage; it is a primary document from the late seventeenth- to early eighteenth-century English religious and theatrical controversy. Its value lies not in offering a systematic history of drama but in giving readers direct access to the discourse, argumentative logic, and rhetorical strategies of moral critics of the time, and it is of first-hand reference value for understanding the tension between Puritan ethics and theatrical culture. The text is short and its language bears features of early modern English; it is suitable as supplementary material for courses in theatre history, religious and cultural history, or early modern English literature, and for researchers checking original wording. It should be read in historical context, with attention to its polemical stance and exaggerated rhetoric, and should not be used alone as neutral historical evidence.

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Reading tips

  1. Read a background introduction to the English stage controversy around 1700 before turning to the original text.
  2. Excerpt the core accusations and arguments paragraph by paragraph, distinguishing moral condemnation from factual description.
  3. Read it alongside contemporary texts defending the stage and observe the differences in rhetorical strategy.
  4. When encountering unfamiliar spellings, read the whole sentence first rather than checking every word, preserving the force of the argument.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5

FAQ

Is this document a complete history of drama? No. It is a polemical pamphlet from 1704 that focuses on criticizing the immoral content of the English stage; it is limited in length and belongs to primary controversial literature rather than systematic theatre history. It should be read as historical material embodying a particular stance and used together with secondary research.
Can someone with average English proficiency read this material? The original is in early modern English, with spelling and syntax differing from contemporary English and dense argumentative sentences. Readers with university-level English reading ability can work through it slowly with notes and background materials; those who only want a general idea can first find relevant research overviews and then return to key passages in the original.
What writing contexts is this text best suited for? It is suitable for papers discussing the conflict between Puritan moral criticism and theatrical culture, or as quoted material for the reception history of early modern English drama. When citing it, one should state its polemical stance and publication date, and avoid treating its moral accusations directly as objective fact.

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About the author

Project Gutenberg Author

Project Gutenberg is not a single author but a nonprofit digital library founded by Michael Hart in 1971 and one of the world's earliest free ebook platforms. It relies on volunteers to digitize, proofread, and freely distribute public-domain works and is now operated by the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Its collection contains 2,692 works, mainly religious texts, epics, and story collections, including the King James Bible and the Douay-Rheims volumes, the epic Mahabharata, a literal translation of the Arabian Nights, and Danish editions of the Old and New Testaments. Public information is limited, and its nature is closer to a public-interest compiling and dissemination body; these texts are open to the public, easy to consult and circulate, and have had a profound influence on the spread of ebooks and the preservation of public-domain resources.