Theatre Before Realism

In the years leading up to realism, theatre was very black and white. There were good guys and bad guys and the bad guys always got what was coming to them in the end. The world of plays was made up of certain rules like their must be moral justice by the end of the play, the bad guys and good guys must be clearly defined, characters act with decorum (according to their class), and they must be orderly. Towards the end of this period, some theatre people started to break out of this world ruled by rules and create works that completely defied them. This was very scandalous for the time and in many instances completely unaccepted. But this paved the way for realism.