The University Wits were a group of late 16th-century English playwrights who were educated at the universities and contributed significantly to the development of Elizabethan drama.
1. The University Wits employed splendid & elaborate descriptions in their plays to create a sense of grandeur and to captivate the audience.
2. These playwrights were known for their use of elaborate, lengthy speeches which displayed the rhetorical skills of the characters and the playwrights themselves.
3. The plays of the University Wits frequently included violent incidents and intense emotions. These elements were used to heighten the drama and engage the audience.
4. The University Wits primarily focused on the lives of noble or extraordinary characters, often dealing with grand themes and heroic deeds. They did not typically write about the lives of common figures; instead, their subjects were often kings, nobles, and other larger-than-life characters.
Thus, the correct answer is (4) Lives of common figures, because it is the element that was not characteristic of the heroic treatment typically found in the plays of the University Wits.
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