Luther (Masterplots II: Drama, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: John Osborne
- First Published: 1961
- Type of Plot: Biographical; psychological
- Time of Work: The sixteenth century
- Setting: Germany
- Principal Characters: Martin Luther, Hans, Katherine von Bora, Johann von Staupitz, John Tetzel, Thomas de Vio “Cajetan,”, Johan von Eck
- Genres: Drama, Psychological drama, Biographical drama, History play
- Subjects: Christianity, Faith, Sixteenth century, Catholics or Catholic Church, Reformers, Germany or German people, Biography, Protestantism or Protestant churches
- Locales: Germany
The Play
Luther opens with a knight appearing on the stage, clutching a banner and announcing (as he will at the beginning of each of the play’s three acts) the time and place of the following scene: the convent of the Augustinian Order of Eremites at Erfurt, Thuringia, 1506. The audience next sees a man in his early twenties kneeling in front of a prior, in the presence of an assembled convent, within a small chapel. He is Martin Luther, being received into the Augustinian Order. After being robed in habit, hood, and scapular, he vows to give up the world of men, to...
[The entire page is 2596 words long]
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