Techniques de persuasion dans les interludes protestants anglais du XVIe siècle

Abstract

In spite of the iconoclastic bent of the Lollards, the first English opponents to the Roman Church in the XIVth century, the Tudor reformers under the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Elizabeth, made an extensive use of drama as a means of persuasion. Far from being banned, propaganda through drama was part of a systematic plan initiated by the sovereigns or their zealous counsellors As was the case with two plays written by John Skelton and Sir David Lindsay at the outbreak of religious unrest (respectively 1515 and 1540), which were emblematic of the type of drama that the reformers found ready for use, the Protestant polemic interludes of the XVIth century are commissioned works, composed for a homogeneous audience. Their structure is unsophisticated, and their characters mainly allegorical. They are based on a systematic detraction of the Pope, the papist church, its institutions, liturgy and, on the other hand, on a vindication of the reformed faith. Whereas the pre-Reformation interlude was a comedy (in the sense of a divine comedy), the new hero is free to choose a way of life leading to damnation, or the Mankind character of the medieval plays is represented by a bifurcated figure; in the latter case, the plot of the Prodigal Son is used and adapted to this new persepective, the elder son playing the part of the evil man. Also, a new character, called the Vice of the Play, impersonates the concept of free will, which for the XVIth century Protestants, was the very image of confusion and impurity. The end of the story comes with the end of the century: the same type of propaganda is then found under the guise of the history play, in which patriotism and the cult of the sovereign superseded religious debate. No doubt, drama was a cogent auxiliary of the English Reformation.