Document Type
Thesis
Date of Degree Completion
Spring 2019
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Theatre Studies
Committee Chair
Emily Rollie
Second Committee Member
Natashia Lindsey
Third Committee Member
Lily Vuong
Abstract
This thesis project argues for the value of Henry Arthur Jones’s work in the late 1890s and seeks to illustrate that Jones’s contribution to the larger Modernist movement in the theatre. Using a close textual analysis of Jones’s plays Michael and His Lost Angel, Judah, and Saints and Sinners, this project examines Jones’s use of popular theatrical genres to provide commentary on the religious and fiscal tensions in the surrounding Victorian society. The critical commentary in Jones’s plays is then used to draw a connection between Jones’s work and his fight for dramatists to have greater freedom in the topics they sought to portray onstage, demonstrating that Jones used his own work as part of the “National Drama” that he sought to create in England. Ultimately, this thesis ties together the elements of religion, Victorian society, and the theoretical foundation of a National Drama to justify Jones’s place in the Modernist movement.
Recommended Citation
Sharma, Jay Tyler, "Who is Paying for God: A thematic analysis of Henry Arthur Jones's religious plays in relation to the modernist trend" (2019). All Master's Theses. 1219.
https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/etd/1219
Language
English