'The poet or the novelist can proceed as long as he has pen, ink, and paper, but the dramatist must have players, a stage, and an audience.' A good playwright, if he wants to be successful, must consider his audience. :arlowe'e and Shakespeare's audience was a very miscellaneous one. 'The average :_lieabethan audience ranged from noblemen, like the young Earl of Southampton, who were daily frequenters of playhouses, to the rabble of apprentice and cutpurecs, who cracked nuts and fought for bitten apples in the pit.' According to : ,en Joneon, a popular playwright had to present something which would: 'Be fit for ladies, some for lords, knights, 'squires; Some for your waiting wench and city wires; Some for your men and daughters of Whitefriare.' (Prologue to : picoene).13th '.arlowe and ,_;hakespeare tried to satisfy their own artistic impulse as well as the different tastes of their audience. A section among the audience, which was called the groundlings, had a great influence on the provision of the comic scenes in - arlowe' e and ahakespeare's tragedies, They were the less educated and less sophisticated masses among the playgoers. -`arce was very much appreciated by these people, even if it was in a tragedy. ='igures like .agner or the horse-courser in :'tau tue, the servants of L,enocrate and ,abina in ,Tanburlaine, or the gravediggers in Hamlet and the porter in ,:acbeth and :ad Tom in Lear were familiar to them from their daily lif... |