Transgressive Language in Medieval English Drama by Lynn Forest-Hill

Author:Lynn Forest-Hill [Forest-Hill, Lynn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, General, Sociology
ISBN: 9781351764902
Google: tX-YDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2018-05-08T04:43:56+00:00

Thematic changes

Skelton’s alterations to the use of transgressive language were governed by his choice of socio-political topics. In a development of the function of morality drama he addressed the topic of cultural change, rather than an aspect of Christian morality. He set this in the court of a prince,2 a context appropriate, and familiar, to the learned and elite audience he wished to influence. The play’s overt didactic purpose is the instruction of a prince, and Skelton gave this literary convention contemporary relevance by discussing the problem of choosing courtiers. The difficulty the prince, Magnificence, has in choosing suitable courtiers reflects upon Henry VIII’s own misjudgements.3 It also facilitates Skelton’s discussion of the problems of judging any identity when the signs by which it is conventionally recognized are unstable and open to abuse.

Skelton’s anxiety over cultural change is consistent with his opposition to the challenges which were confronting the use of medieval Latin and English in the early years of the sixteenth century. In 1501 Erasmus had written that the ‘Latin scholarship … is maimed and reduced by half without Greek’.4 Humanist educators in England followed Erasmus’s lead, rejecting medieval Latin, the language of learning and culture, in favour of classical styles such as that of Cicero, and promoting the introduction of Greek into the universities so that by 1519–20 ‘the academic community was split by what has become known as the Grammarians’ War. The issue was the method of Latin instruction.’5 Skelton took the side of the traditionalists, defending education in medieval Latin and English against the Erasmian humanists.6

The challenge to medieval Latin and English constituted an assault on the traditions and conventions by which literate and learned individuals expressed themselves, perceived their world, and situated themselves in it. Other culturally and socially significant signs were also under attack in the early decades of the sixteenth century. The Lollard heresy continued to challenge signs such as transubstantiation and the use of Latin as the language of religion, which were deeply significant in late medieval society.7 The most obvious sign of personal status, clothing and personal adornment, continued to be the subject of official concern. Sumptuary laws indicate the significance of clothing to late medieval society, and were re-enacted during the reign of Henry VIII. As late as 1532–3 they were directed at

the inordynate excesse … used in the sumptuous and costly araye and apparell accustomablye worne in this Realme, wherof hath ensued … sondrie … inconveniences as be to the greate manifest and notorious detryment of the comon Weale, the subvercion of good and politike ordre in knowelege and distinccion of people according to their estates preemynences dignities and degrees.8

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