ABSTRACT
On the medieval stage hell was represented as a castle, more particularly as a dungeon or cesspit within a castle, one entrance to which was often depicted as a dragon's mouth. Its gate was guarded by a janitor or porter. Christ, after his crucifixion, but before his resurrection, came to this castle of hell to demand of Lucifer the release of the souls of the patriarchs and prophets. What we must visualize is an edifice which, viewed from outside, resembles a castle and, viewed from inside, a sequence of dark dungeons and torture chambers pervaded by stench and heat. It may be useful both to the actor and to the teacher to know that anyone familiar with medieval religious drama is likely to recognize a correspondence between the vocabulary of a scene in Shakespeare's The tragedy of Macbeth and that of a similar playlet within the English Miracle Cycles, 'The Harrowing of Hell'.
