A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage

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A Short View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage. Together with the Sense of Antiquitiy upon this Argument (German A brief reflection on the immorality and godlessness of the English stage, together with the view of antiquity on this subject ) is a pamphlet against the theater that the puritan clergyman Jeremy Collier wrote in 1698 .

Above all, Collier attacks the restoration comedies Love for Love ( 1695 ) by William Congreve and The Relapse ( 1696 ) by John Vanbrugh, which were particularly popular at the time. But he also vehemently criticizes other authors such as William Shakespeare and John Dryden .

Collier's accusation of immorality is aimed primarily at the lack of poetic justice and exemplary morality in the restoration comedy. He explains in detail that all of the characters in the plays are depraved in character and immoral, and he accuses the authors of not only having refrained from punishing these characters, but that they are often rewarded for their behavior.

Collier underpinned the accusation of godlessness with quotes from the pieces, on the basis of which he showed how often exclamations like "Heaven!" ("Heaven!") Or complaints against fate surfaced in the plays - allegations that are no longer comprehensible to today's theatergoers and can only be understood against the background of the time. Collier does not quote any curses or blasphemy that would not have been tolerated on stage or in print at the time.

Collier's approach to using quotations from current pieces in his application was innovative for the time. His writing attracted a lot of attention and provoked a number of counter-writings. William Congreve replied to Collier with the long amendments of Mr. Collier's False and Imperfect Citations . Vanbrugh, on the other hand, refused to take Collier's attack seriously and, in his short and ironic reply, A short Vindication of The Relapse and The Provok'd Wife From Immorality and Prophaneness, made fun of Collier, accusing him of being more sensitive to the unflattering Representation of clergymen responding to real godlessness.

It has occasionally been claimed that Short View was instrumental in changing British theater tastes in the early 18th century. However, this change had already begun before Collier published his work. From today's point of view, the polemic is merely the written testimony of a social change since the permissive period under Charles II , to the demographic changes, the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the rejection of the theater by William III. and Queen Mary had contributed.