GREEK LITERATURE

Greek Literature: The Second Shepherd's Play

Greek Literature

Introduction

“Theological readings of the plays that perceive them as sermons in drama can make no account of their symbolic working, for in such a view they merely encode simple messages where audiences will absorb the 'truths'(Helterman 1971).”

As one can read, it is not the religious doctrine in itself that is the central focus of The York Cycle and the Second Shepherd's Play, rather than how theatrical representations of such biblical background contribute to the culture of the audience and how the drama uses the audience's preoccupations with daily life to enrich the plays. The ...