Naturalism in Theatre in the 19th Century Essay Example for Free

Naturalism in Theatre in the 19th Century Essay Naturalism in theatre in the 19th century, in its utmost simplest form, can be understood as the life like reproduction of life and human drama on stage. However the true understanding of naturalism is far more convoluted than this shallow notion. This essay will look at explaining and defining naturalism as a literature movement in the 19th century according to Emile Zola’s essay, Naturalism in the Theatre and Raymond Williams’ essay on Social Environment and Theatrical Environment. One way in which we may acquire a better understanding of naturalism is by comparing the other forms of theater that were precursors to naturalism. In the beginning of his essay Zola calls for an innovator’s mind to â€Å"†¦overthrow the accepted conventions and finally install the real human drama in place of the ridiculous untruths that are on display today† (Zola 1881; 351). This statement outlines the fundamentals of Romantic drama and Classical drama as being based on a grotesque exaggeration of reality and falsification of human drama. Often set in the Middle Ages (Classicism) or the Greek and Roman times (Romanticism) action was always of excess (Zola 1881; 353). If we compare this to 19th century naturalism the differences are major. Firstly we see that naturalism brought about the life like reproduction of human drama in the, then, present time, it sought realistic human stories, in real human environments. As Zola stated â€Å"Take our present environment, then, and try make men live in it: you will write great works†, here Zola expresses the basis for naturalism, real people in real situations in real environments. As this illustrates Naturalism was not concerned with fantastic untruths of another era as Romanticism and Classicism were, but was rather involved with the expression of the realistic drama of present life in a natural present environment. Williams’s classification of naturalism is divided into three ‘senses’. The first being an accurate reproduction of real life in the literal sense, this was school of thought was inherited from the naturalistic landscape paintings of the mid 1800’s, that sought to reproduce nature as accurately as possible on canvas. The second sense that Williams talks of is the distinction â€Å"between revealed (divine) and observed (human) knowledge† (Williams 1990; 125). This philosophical position viewed man as a biological element of the world as opposed to a divine metaphysical being of the universe. Naturalism in this sense was â€Å"consciously opposed to ‘supernaturalism’† (Williams 1990; 126). In the third sense Williams is more application specific, as he states that with in a play or novel it is the amalgamation of the first two senses that is â€Å"a conscious reliance on observed natural history and on human reason† (Williams 1990: 127). This expresses the urge of naturalism to rigorously investigate human nature and truth, not only in a temporal term but to â€Å"show character and action as determined or profoundly influenced by environment, either natural or social† (Williams 1990; 127). This illustrates how Williams has explained naturalism in three separate senses. [497] Determinism The Oxford Dictionary explains determinism as the belief that all events, and actions are fundamentally controlled by external causes, it suggests that humans have no free will as everything is pre-determined by the environment in which they live. As Williams points out â€Å"the novelty of the naturalist emphasis was its demonstration of the production of character or action by a powerful natural or social environment† (Williams 1990; 127). Here Williams is outlining the factor of influence, of the environment on the character or action. Naturalism as we have discussed, is concerned with the life like reproduction of life itself here Zola discusses the importance of reproduction by stating â€Å"most of all we would need to intensify the illusion in reconstructing environments, less for their picturesque quality than for dramatic utility. The environment must determine the character† (Zola 1881; 369). As this suggests, naturalism, particularly in written plays, will create the belief that the character has a predetermined outcome. As we have discussed in the second sense of Williams definitions of naturalism, the physiological man is preferred over the metaphysical view. This suggests that man is just apart of the environment in which he lives and, as a biological element, has no free will over his actions or environment. As Zola concurs â€Å"the physiological man in our modern works is asking more and more compellingly to be determined by his setting, by the environment that produced him† (Zola 1881; 370). As this illustrates, the notion of determinism in dramatic writing, especially naturalism is a vital one, as it’s study of human behavior, and what influences it in a given environment is crucial to the natural expression and form of a character. [291] The contemporary environment and its physical reproduction on stage The contemporary environment and its physical reproduction on stage is a vital facet in the workings of naturalism. Referring to Williams’ aspects of naturalism, the first being derived from the naturalistic painters of the mid 1800’s where replication of the environment was partially a scientific endeavor. Studying the surroundings and environment in exact detail is vital in understanding the action of a character, therefore in naturalism the lifelike reproduction of the characters environment on stage is essential (Williams 1990; 125). Here Williams states a ‘major feature’ of â€Å"naturalist drama in particular its specific central feature of the stage as a room† (Williams 1990; 129). This refers to the appearance of the stage as a physical extension of real present day life as it were, to supplement the feel of naturalism on stage. Here Zola agrees by stating â€Å"most of all we would need to intensify the illusion in reconstructing environments, less for their picturesque quality than for dramatic utility† (Zola 1881; 369). As this proves the aesthetical reproduction of life on stage is far more than a scenic attraction, it provides the environment in which the characters live and take influence. The second sense of naturalism that Williams describes is that of the physiological man opposed to the metaphysical man. This is an important factor as this philosophical position looks at the man as being apart of his surroundings in a biological sense. As Williams states â€Å"in the social sense that character is determined or profoundly influenced by its social environment, with the later and more penetrating observation that this social environment is itself historically produced, and in the wider sense of natural history, in the evolution of human nature itself within a natural world of which it is an interacting part† (Williams 1990; 127). Here Williams is stating that the character is impacted by his environment, that itself is historically produced. As Zola states that the physiological man in naturalism is requesting to be â€Å"determined by his setting, by the environment that produced him† (Zola 1881; 370). Zola does not take it as far as Williams as he does not state the environment itself as being historically produced, however it is agreed that they both see the physiological man being produced by his environment. This proves that the contemporary setting of a character is vital in naturalism as it illustrates the physiological man in his environment, as opposed to the metaphysical man in a distance time and place that has little relevance to mans contemporary intelligence. By utilizing two of Williams ‘senses’ of naturalism, we have seen the uses of the contemporary environment in which a character is places as well as the importance of the detailed physical reproduction of a characters environment. [458]