y
good to set one's back against the wall for protection against an
approaching enemy? Was it ever an advantage? Who is the foe that follows
him? How can Death be "but a phantom and a wraith" and at the same time
follow the poet triumphantly? What do his weapons and his armor indicate
as to what he represents himself? What is the "broken sword"? Who fight
in tournaments? What is there appropriate in the word "tilt"? How can
the one who is vanquished be victor still? Is the figure of medieval
knighthood well sustained?

The earliest European _dramas_ of which we have any record were the
plays performed in ancient Greece five hundred years before Christ.
There were very few characters introduced, sometimes only one or two,
and a chorus was the most important part of the representation. This
chorus served to fill the gaps in the action, to state what had preceded
and at times even to comment upon the actors, to exhort or to praise or
condemn their behavior. The Greek dramatists carefully followed the
so-called rule of _three unities_: unity of time, whereby the action
must be compressed into one day; unity of place, by which only one place
must be represented; and unity of action, whereby the movement of the
piece must be continuous, all the incidents be connected so as to form
one main line of thought. The rule of three unities was followed very
closely by the French dramatists up to comparatively recent times; but
in England, beginning with the Elizabethan era, no restraint was placed
upon dramatic technique except unity of action, which still remains
essential.

During the Middle Ages the drama was represented by _miracle_ and
_mystery plays_ dealing with sacred history. They differed in subject
only. The miracle plays represented the lives of saints and their
miraculous deeds; the mysteries, the mysterious doctrines of
Christianity and various biblical events. During an age when preaching
was unusual, the clergy reached the souls of their people by means of
these rude plays which were at first given in churches; but later, when
the town guilds and trade organizations began to present them, the stage
was a traveling cart, roughly fitted up with rude scenery. Still later,
before theaters were built, the wandering players acted in inn yards or
courtyards. Female parts were always taken by boys, and it was not until
after Shakespeare's time that women appeared on the stage.

In the reign of Henry VI the mysteries were i