Domestic Drama - Social Expression

Social Expression

Theater has been commonly used as a public expression of the humanitarian affairs of a certain era. From the seventeenth to the nineteenth era, drama expressed the ideals of the caste and court system, with nobility on high and rustics down low. This expression gave way to the public in order to see and understand how this system was to work within their society. Some might say that theater has played a very important role in the shaping of societies when used in this way. Nineteenth century induced the importance of the middle-class within drama and introduced the role of the bourgeois and the usage of aristocratic entertainment. The political aspects of a certain era were inevitably present within these shows, especially shows leading towards domestic drama. Theater was considered to have “good position” characters against the immoral acts of society, usually a sort of infringement against a certain code of behavior. Theater was the way to explain the rights and wrongs of a certain lifestyle in a society, especially if the characters were of the 'ordinary' people so that the audience could relate with the characters. Modern drama changed this aspect of theater as it was not directed towards any one class in society, but rather the collaboration of the artistic aspects within these classes. Such a combination created much difficulty in domestic drama as domestic drama appeals to a specific class.