Date of Award

5-1935

Degree Type

Bachelors Essay

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Department

Literatures, Languages, and Cultures

First Advisor

J.M. Purcell

Abstract

"There must be a reason." How many times has the reader heard that phrase? It has become so popular that a national manufacturer has adopted it as a slogan tor his product. The idea behind the phrase is that everything must have an excuse for its existence; if it did not, it would not exist. And so it is with this thesis.

It is the object of this paper to trace the rise. of the English national theater (as represented by Drury Lane and Covent Garden) from its inconspicuous beginning to its peak in the eighteenth century and then to further trace its decline in the nineteenth century and to assign a cause to this downfall.

Always keeping this object in mind. it will not be inadmissible to atop by the way and to appreciate the great men and the lesser lights of interesting character who frequented these two houses: and possibly such divergence is even justified if the reader believes that man makes history rather than history makes the man. Both theaters were the milling points of the great throughout the years; their recesses echo with such names as Sheridan, Garrick, Goldsmith, Johnson, Dryden, Steele, and many others. No place could be uninteresting if it has been host to such names.

Comments

A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the College of Liberal Arts of Marquette University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Philosophy.

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