Philip Pilkington: Economics as morality play – Why commentators and politicians treat economics as a subjective enterprise
By Philip Pilkington. Journalist, writer, economic anti-moralist and aficionado of political theatre
So horrible a fact can hardly pleaded for favour:
Therefore go you, Equity, examine more diligently
The manner of this outrageous robbery:
And as the same by examination shall appear,
Due justice may be done in presence here
– Liberality and Prodigality, a popular morality play from 1567
The morality play was a popular theatrical form throughout the Tudor period. In 15th and 16th century Europe people would crowd around small stages where the actors would play at being the personifications of moral attributes. So, for example, one actor would play the part of Virtue – who is speaking in the above quotation – and this actor would then embody all the characteristics we associate with such a moral position. Virtue then hunts out characters such as Prodigality, who is causing trouble in the region by robbing and murdering other ‘good’ characters – in this case, Tenacity.
The idea behind the morality play was that it would impart wisdom to those who watched it. The common people – thought somewhat stupid by the writers – could then follow the simple moral messages purported by the playwright. It was hoped, for example, that if onlookers could see Virtue winning out on the stage against Prodigality, the citizenry would then act more virtuously and be less prodigious and greedy.
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