The Five Old Testament Plays Of The Chester Cycle: A Paradigm Of Salvation-History

During the nineteenth century critics looked upon the English medieval cycle drama, or Corpus Christi plays as colorful folk art, having value to antiquarians but not meriting systematic critical attention. Consequently, the plays were treated chiefly from the standpoint of literary history. In more recent decades scholars have been making a fresh effort to understand and judge the Corpus Christi cycles as coherent works of religious dramatic art. Of the four English cycles extant in manuscript---from Chester, York, Wakefield, and Lincoln·-- the cycle at Chester, though considered by some to be crude and simple, is widely regarded as the most highly unified and clearly structured cycle of all. The Chester playwrights endeavored to emphasize in their cycle the objective, doctrinal outline of salvation-history as seen by medieval man. The cycle contains abundant evidence of their formal intent and careful, consistent attention to structure, type patterns, and symbol. The five Old Testament plays alone form a complete paradigm of salvation-history extending from the Fall of Lucifer to Christ\u27s Final Judgment of the human race. These Old Testament plays do not merely provide narrative prologue to the New Testament events. They adumbrate, prefigure, and define these coming events of salvation-history. The first two plays, which treat Lucifer\u27s Fall in heaven and Adam\u27s upon earth, establish the spiritual conditions of human life in a fallen world. The next three plays show God entering into successive covenants with the human race through Noah, Abraham, and Moses. Typologically, these three covenants prefigure the Christian Church in preparation, operation, and culmination. More specifically they prefigure Baptism, the Eucharist, and Final Judgement. In addition, all the five plays contain thematic motifs which recur as the material of didactic burlesgue, parody, and ironic inversion in the remaining plays of the cycle. When closely examined, the apparently uncomplicated Chester cycle therefore reveals itself to be a multi-leveled, closely structured work of religious dramatic art that richly rewards critical attention