Analysis

Colman’s Blue Beard has elements of both early modern drama and the novel, which makes for an interesting mix of what would be strong past and present literary elements of his time.

This play is full of songs and poetic dramatic techniques as if it’s trying to imitate early modern drama like Shakespeare.  Rhyming couplets and close rhyming schemes have some similarity to an early modern tradition, but I think Colman’s writing lacks the depth and skill of other playwrights. Colman attempts to imitate early modern comical, tragic, and dark aspects, but Colman lacks a depth of storyline, character, and emotional complexity. The characters aren’t well developed.  The play comes off as surface-level and light-hearted entertainment, which is probably why it was well received in the theatre where the visual complexity of the costumes and set-dressings were impressive. Many reviews touched on how visually stimulating the play was. However, I think it sank down in literary tradition because, without over-the-top visuals, the base plot is simplistic. You can easily get lost and it’s hard to follow. I find it the 18th century equivalent to a Saturday morning cartoon that is visually stimulating and that you watch for fun, but that doesn’t contain much depth.

One of its biggest strengths is that it’s very descriptive of its settings, which mirrors the emerging novel tradition. Any reader would be able to visualize the whole play without watching it. As a piece written in Austen’s time period it, it also has a lot of discussions of class and slavery.  It has a bluntness in its discussions of slavery and rigid class systems that Austen’s work often lacks. However, I also doubt that Colman’s bluntness necessarily means he’s being critical of these class stratifications. The social and racial differences of the “Black People” is stated bluntly by Ibrahim in the way he treats the slaves, always reinstating his upper class and control over them. The play reinforces their status and makes them sound like property.  The play has similarly blunt discussions of the treatment of women. Fatima is forced into marriage by her father, and a young black girl is forced to be affectionate towards Ibrahim. The play similarly does not examine these issues in-depth.

I believe Colman is borrowing from a strong past literary tradition of early modern drama while also including more modern traditions found in the novels being published at this time.  However, I think Colman attempts to do too many things with his work to make it feel relevant and ignores the things that made these respective traditions stand the test of time. His writing lacks character depth and a strong plot.