Stages of Evil: Occultism in Western Theater and DramaUniversity Press of Kentucky, 2005 M12 23 - 344 pages ÒThe evil that men doÓ has been chronicled for thousands of years on the European stage, and perhaps nowhere else is human fear of our own evil more detailed than in its personifications in theater. Early writers used theater to communicate human experiences and to display reverence for the gods governing daily life. Playwrights from Euripides onward sought inspiration from this interplay between the worldly and the occult, using human belief in the divine to govern charactersÕ actions within a dramatic arena. The constant adherence to the supernatural, despite changing religious ideologies over the centuries, testifies to a deep and continuing belief in the ability of a higher power to interfere in human life. Stages of Evil is the first book to examine the representation and relationship of evil and the occult from the prehistoric origins of drama through to the present day. Drawing on examples of magic, astronomy, demonology, possession, exorcism, fairies, vampires, witchcraft, hauntings, and voodoo, author Robert Lima explores how theater shaped American and European perceptions of the occult and how the dramatic works studied here reflect society back upon itself at different points in history. From representations of Dionysian rites in ancient Greece, to the Mouth of Hell in the Middle Ages, to the mystical cabalistic life of the Hasidic Jews, to the witchcraft and magic of the Elizabethan and Jacobean stage, Lima traces the recurrence of supernatural motifs in pivotal plays and performance works of the Western tradition. Considering numerous myths and cultural artifacts, such as the Òwild man,Ó he describes the evolution and continual representation of supernatural archetypes on the modern stage. He also discusses the sociohistorical implications of Christian and pagan representations of evil and the theatrical creativity that occultism has engendered. Delving into his own theatrical, literary, folkloric, and travel experiences to enhance his observations, Lima assays the complex world of occultism and examines diverse works of Western theater and drama. A unique and comprehensive bibliography of European and American plays concludes the study and facilitates further research into the realm of the social and literary impact of the occult. |
From inside the book
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Page 7
... Greek drama with Dionysus as the protagonist. Pos- sessed by his spirit (or controlled mentally by him), the Bacchantes dis- member the body of Pentheus, who had persecuted Dionysus and his cultists. This chapter assesses the ...
... Greek drama with Dionysus as the protagonist. Pos- sessed by his spirit (or controlled mentally by him), the Bacchantes dis- member the body of Pentheus, who had persecuted Dionysus and his cultists. This chapter assesses the ...
Page 9
... Greek daemon and daemonic are employed when the entity in question is a subordinate deity, genius of a place, or chthonic being, demon and demonic (because of their unfortunate association with devil in the Judeo- Christian tradition) ...
... Greek daemon and daemonic are employed when the entity in question is a subordinate deity, genius of a place, or chthonic being, demon and demonic (because of their unfortunate association with devil in the Judeo- Christian tradition) ...
Page 14
... Greek ideas of the underworld , the church began to promote its conception of what awaited the Christian after death : either sanctification in heaven or damnation in hell . The con- cept of the place of eternal punishment soon caught ...
... Greek ideas of the underworld , the church began to promote its conception of what awaited the Christian after death : either sanctification in heaven or damnation in hell . The con- cept of the place of eternal punishment soon caught ...
Page 24
... Greek audience's long familiarity with the serious aspects of the underworld . But , whether serious or comic , the thought of Hades as a place of retributive punishment would continue to haunt the Greeks and their inheritors in Rome ...
... Greek audience's long familiarity with the serious aspects of the underworld . But , whether serious or comic , the thought of Hades as a place of retributive punishment would continue to haunt the Greeks and their inheritors in Rome ...
Page 26
... Greek manuscript preserved in a ninth-century copy11 (Milosevic, 13). SYMBIOSIS. The overlord of the torment and discord in the Christian hell was Lucifer (the name being a misinterpretation of Isaiah's reference to Nebuchadnezzar in Isa ...
... Greek manuscript preserved in a ninth-century copy11 (Milosevic, 13). SYMBIOSIS. The overlord of the torment and discord in the Christian hell was Lucifer (the name being a misinterpretation of Isaiah's reference to Nebuchadnezzar in Isa ...
Contents
13 | |
47 | |
3 The Pagan Pluto | 83 |
4 The Primal Spirit | 101 |
5 Rites of Passage | 117 |
6 The Savaged Mind | 137 |
7 Satan in Salem | 147 |
8 A Matter of Habit | 159 |
9 The Prey of the Vampire | 177 |
10 Witherd and Wild | 197 |
11 The Cave and the Magician | 225 |
Appendix | 271 |
Index | 315 |
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Common terms and phrases
Abigail ancient anonymous Arlecchino Bacchae belief cabalistic Calixto y Melibea cave Celestina century Channon Christian church classical collaboration commedia dell’arte conjuration context cueva dark death deity demonic pact Der Vampyr Devil Dionysus Dracula dragon Drama Dybbuk English Euripides evil exorcism Fairy Faust Fileno France Friar Germany Ghost God’s Grandier Greek Hades Harlequin Hecate Hellekin Hellequin human Ireland Italy John England Jones King Leah Lord Lucifer Macbeth magic magician manifest marqués de Villena mask Masque Medea medieval Mother motif Mouth of Hell mystère Mystery play myth Nieva Nosferatu occult pagan Passion play Pentheus Pluto possession priest punishment religious rites ritual Saint Salamanca Salem Satan scene serpent sexual Sister Jeanne soul spirit stage supernatural symbolic theater Thomas England tion Tituba tradition Tragedy Tragicomedia de Calixto Translated underworld United Urbain Grandier vampire France Wild William William Rowley Witch of Edmonton witchcraft witches York