Early Modern drama presents a distinctive departure from the widely held belief that Early Modern literary culture in general was rather late in reacting to the fundamental religious, political, and social developments occurring in contemporaneous European societies. Rather, the dramatic performances and productions of this era reflect the establishment of a pervasive visual culture as the leading form of mass media. Unlike their predecessors, Early Modern European dramatists thus anticipated a given contemporary audience in their writings: an audience that, which itself had changed and diversified to include the illiterate working class along with the nobility. Such a broadening effect vis-à-vis the audience of literary works did not expand to other genres until centuries later, when literacy became considerably more widespread.