Chapter 2, Machiavelli and the Poetic of Virtù, The Feudal Abstraction and The Bourgeois Concretion Summary and Analysis

In "The Feudal Abstraction", Boal states that Aristotle, Marx, and Hegel all agree that art transmits knowledge. Marx further postulates that the artist's societal perspective determines that knowledge, and particularly that mainstream art transmits messages of the class in power in order to maintain that power, though other classes may have their own art.

Boal believes this particularly applies to theater and finds examples in Shakespeare, Sheridan, Greek theater, and particularly the Middle Ages, where feudal society created art that lacked individuals and promoted stasis and religion. Nobel characters were equated with saints, and the last judgment was often a subject, both intimidating the masses and reminding them of the reward for servitude. Medieval theater...