Historical Background
The Second Shepherds' Play
"The Second Shepherds' Play" is a peculiar play that replaces an earlier play about the shepherds of Bethlehem—ostensibly “The First Shepherds’ Play”—in the Wakefield Cycle of liturgical dramas. Starting approximately in the Fifteenth Century, the entire cycle of biblical stories was performed in the English town of Wakefield to celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi. It is ironic then that this early Christmas play was originally intended to be performed at the height of summer.
PLOT: In the play, Mak steals a sheep from the three shepherds—Daw, Gib, and Coll. Mak and Gill disguise the lamb as a newborn baby. The nearly-successful plot is thwarted, and Mak receives a thrashing (in lieu of a hanging). The tone of the play shifts from comic to reverent upon the entrance of the angel, who directs the shepherds to the stable in Bethlehem. The play closes with a formal dramatization of the nativity. |
The work is well known for its liberal deviation from scripture and its anachronistic sequencing of events (the shepherds use the name of Jesus in vain before the angel heralds the baby's birth). The play is perhaps best loved for the surprising appeal of its earthy, working-class characters, as well as its simple, universal theme of forgiveness. During the Christmas season, after all, even wretched sheep theives like Mak and Gill can be forgiven.
The date of the text is actually closer to Chaucer than Shakespeare. In the excerpt below, Mary speaks:
The fader of heven, God omnypotent,
That sett all on seven, his son has he sent.
My name couth he neven in lyght or he went.
I conceyvyd hym full even thrugh myght as he ment;
And now is he borne.
He kepe you fro wo!
I shall pray hym so.
Tell furth as ye go,
And myn on this morne.
The next passage has been translated from middle to modern English. Notice the elaborate rhyme scheme:
A We that walk in the nights, our cattle to keep,
A We see sudden sights, when other men sleep.
A Yet methink my heart lights—I see shrews peep.
A Ye are two all-wights! I will give my sheep
B A turn.
C But full ill have I meant;
C As I walk on this bent,
C I may lightly repent
B My toes if I spurn.