How was the character Subtle known in the title of a play by Ben Jonson?
"A quarto of the play appeared in 1612 published by Walter Burre, printed by Thomas Snodham and sold by John Stepneth. The Alchemist (play) The Alchemist is a comedy by English playwright Ben Jonson. First performed in 1610 by the King's Men, it is generally considered Jonson's best and most characteristic comedy; Samuel Taylor Coleridge considered it had one of the three most perfect plots in literature. The play's clever fulfilment of the classical unities and vivid depiction of human folly have made it one of the few Renaissance plays (except the works of Shakespeare) with a continuing life on"
"bickering is fuelled by vanity, envy and jealousy, the root of which is Subtle's conviction that he is the key element in the ‘venture tripartite’: The ‘venture tripartite’ is as doomed as one of the Roman triumvirates. The play's end sees Subtle and Dol resume their original pairing, while Face resumes his role as housekeeper to a wealthy master. Significantly, none of the three is severely punished (the collapse of their scheme aside). Jonson's theatrical microcosm is not a neatly moral one; and he seems to enjoy seeing foolish characters like Epicure Mammon get their comeuppance. This is why, while"
"imaginary space within the play and the outside world. Ben Jonson has often been noted as using the prologue to remind the audience of the complexities between themselves and all aspects of the performance. The actor reciting the prologue would appear dressed in black, a stark contrast to the elaborate costumes used during the play. The prologue removed his hat and wore no makeup. He may have carried a book, scroll, or a placard displaying the title of the play. He was introduced by three short trumpet calls, on the third of which he entered and took a position downstage."
"the opportunity given to him to use the house as the headquarters for fraudulent acts. He transforms himself into ""Captain Face,"" and enlists the aid of Subtle, a fellow conman, and Dol Common, a prostitute. The play opens with a violent argument between Subtle and Face concerning the division of the riches which they have, and will continue to gather. Face threatens to have an engraving made of Subtle with a face worse than that of the notorious highwayman Gamaliel Ratsey. Dol breaks the pair apart and reasons with them that they must work as a team if they are"
"through ""Neptune's Triumph for the Return of Albion"" (1624) and ""The Staple of News"" (1626). Jonson further satirised Jones as ""Colonel Iniquo Vitruvius"" in his 1634 masque ""Love's Welcome at Bolsover."" In addition to the Medlay character, the play features Diogenes Scriben, a bad poet and a pretended descendant of the Classical Diogenes. Commentators have speculated on intended real-life identities for this satirical figure, though no consensus has been achieved. The play is largely written in dialect; scholars have disputed the accuracy of Jonson's efforts in this regard. The plot, which unfolds on St. Valentine's Day, concerns the inept attempts"
"a by-word for unwomanly or unchaste behaviour. Ben Jonson produced the (incomplete) masque ""The Sad Shepherd, or a Tale of Robin Hood"" in part as a satire on Puritanism. It is about half finished and writing may have been interrupted by his death in 1637. It is Jonson's only pastoral drama, it was written in sophisticated verse and included supernatural action and characters. It has had little impact on the Robin Hood tradition but needs mention as the work of a major dramatist. The London theatre closure 1642 by the Puritans interrupted the portrayal of Robin Hood on the stage."
"The play begins with the entrance of the actor who speaks the Prologue — quickly followed by four audience members seeking seating on the stage. (The practice of selling seats on the periphery of the stages in the private theatres of the era is exploited for commentary and comedy in a variety of plays, from Beaumont's ""The Knight of the Burning Pestle"" (1607) to Jonson's ""Magnetic Lady"".) In this case the four are the Gossips Mirth, Tattle, Expectation, and Censure. They interrupt the Prologue with their comments, and continue this through the four entr'actes that Jonson calls ""Intermeans"" — a"
"Epicœne, or The Silent Woman Epicœne, or The Silent Woman, also known as Epicene, is a comedy by Renaissance playwright Ben Jonson. The play is about a man named Dauphine who creates a scheme to get his inheritance from his uncle Morose. The plan involves setting Morose up to marry Epicoene, a boy disguised as a woman. It was originally performed by the Blackfriars Children, or Children of the Queen's Revels, a group of boy players, in 1609. Excluding its two prologues, the play is written entirely in prose. The first performance of ""Epicœne"" was, by Jonson's admission, a failure."
"The Entertainment at Britain's Burse The Entertainment at Britain’s Burse is a masque (kind of play) written by Ben Jonson in 1609 and rediscovered in 1997. It was commissioned by Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, in celebration of the opening of the “New Exchange” (essentially a shopping mall). This masque was discovered by James Knowles and published in 1997. It is an unusual Johnson text because it seems to be in celebration of consumer culture while so many of his other plays and poems condemn it—though there might be some satire intended. There are essentially only three characters. Each"
"plays contains suggestive jokes and innuendo. Jonathan Swift, an Irish satirist in the 17th century, used scatological humor in some of his pieces, including his famous essay A Modest Proposal and his rather crude poem ""The Lady's Dressing Room"", in which the speaker comments on the goings-on in a 17th-century woman's room, including her business in her chamber pot. Dirty jokes were once considered subversive and underground, and rarely heard in public. Comedian Lenny Bruce was tried, convicted, and jailed for obscenity after a stand up performance that included off-color humor in New York City in 1964. Comedian and actor"
"Jonson<br> She was a noted patron of Ben Jonson, who dedicated his play ""Cynthia's Revels"" (1600) to her and addressed his ""Epigrams"" nos. 76, 84, and 94 to her, extolling her patronage. By his own admission, Jonson portrayed her as Ethra in his lost pastoral, ""The May Lord"" — though he may also have depicted her as Lady Haughty, president of the Collegiates in ""Epicene"" (1609). When Jonson was imprisoned in 1605 for his role in the ""Eastward Ho"" scandal, he wrote a letter to an unknown lady, who is thought by some scholars to have been the Countess of"
"Volpone Volpone (Italian for ""sly fox"") is a comedy play by English playwright Ben Jonson first produced in 1605–1606, drawing on elements of city comedy and beast fable. A merciless satire of greed and lust, it remains Jonson's most-performed play, and it is ranked among the finest Jacobean era comedies. Volpone ""(The Fox)"" is a Venetian gentleman who pretends to be on his deathbed after a long illness in order to dupe Voltore ""(The Vulture)"", Corbaccio ""(The Raven)"" and Corvino ""(The Crow)"", three men who aspire to inherit his fortune. In their turns, each man arrives to Volpone's house bearing"
"response to the play has traditionally been mixed. In 1629, Ben Jonson lamented the audiences' enthusiastic responses to the play: <poem> No doubt some mouldy tale, Like Pericles; and stale As the Shrieve's crusts, and nasty as his fish— Scraps out of every dish Throwne forth, and rak't into the common tub (Ben Jonson, ""Ode (to Himself)"") </poem> In 1660, at the start of the Restoration when the theatres had just re-opened, Thomas Betterton played the title role in a new production of ""Pericles"" at the Cockpit Theatre, the first production of any of Shakespeare's works in the new era."
"Laidman Browne, Gabriel Wolf, Norman Shelley, Vivienne Chatterton, June Tobin, and David Spenser. Epicœne, or The Silent Woman Epicœne, or The Silent Woman, also known as Epicene, is a comedy by Renaissance playwright Ben Jonson. The play is about a man named Dauphine who creates a scheme to get his inheritance from his uncle Morose. The plan involves setting Morose up to marry Epicoene, a boy disguised as a woman. It was originally performed by the Blackfriars Children, or Children of the Queen's Revels, a group of boy players, in 1609. Excluding its two prologues, the play is written entirely"
"Catiline His Conspiracy Catiline His Conspiracy is a Jacobean tragedy written by Ben Jonson. It is one of the two Roman tragedies that Jonson hoped would cement his dramatic achievement and reputation, the other being ""Sejanus His Fall"" (1603). The play was first published in quarto in 1611 by the stationer Walter Burre, prefaced with commendatory verses by Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher, and Nathan Field. It was reprinted the 1616 folio of Jonson's works. The folio text states that ""Catiline"" was first performed in 1611 by the King's Men, and lists the cast as: Richard Burbage, John Heminges, Alexander Cooke,"
"traditional prescriptive rule against preposition stranding in English in criticising a phrase from this play: ""The maws, and dens of beasts could not receive / the bodies that those souls were frighted from."" In 2011, the play was edited and translated for the first time in Italian. Catiline His Conspiracy Catiline His Conspiracy is a Jacobean tragedy written by Ben Jonson. It is one of the two Roman tragedies that Jonson hoped would cement his dramatic achievement and reputation, the other being ""Sejanus His Fall"" (1603). The play was first published in quarto in 1611 by the stationer Walter Burre,"
"the previous year). Though ""The Fortunate Isles"" was the major entertainment of the 1624–25 Christmas season at the Stuart Court, Jonson did not hesitate to re-cycle some lyrical passages from the previous year's masque, ""Neptune's Triumph for the Return of Albion,"" which had been cancelled due to Court scheduling controversies. (Jonson would re-use other material from ""Neptune's Triumph"" for his next stage play, ""The Staple of News."") For source material for his text, Jonson relied upon the ""Speculum Sophicum Rhodo-strautoricum"" of Teophilus Schweigardt (1618) and the ""Artis Kabbalisticae"" of Pierre Morestel (1621). The name Johphiel derives from Cornelius Agrippa's ""De"
"and the enviable title of America’s Aristophanes.” Theatre. New York: Oxford UP. 96+. Po-ca-hon-tas, or The Gentle Savage Po-ca-hon-tas, or The Gentle Savage (subtitled ""An Original Aboriginal Erratic Operatic Semi-civilized and Demi-savage Extravaganza"") is a two-act musical burlesque by John Brougham (words) and James Gaspard Maeder (music). It debuted in 1855 and became an instant hit. ""Po-ca-hon-tas"" remained a staple of theatre troupes and blackface minstrel companies for the next 30 years, typically as an afterpiece. The play parodies the Indian narratives that were popular at the time in the United States, particularly those featuring Indian heroines in the Noble"
"Pantelone). Later still, in 1930 there was Mark Lothar's ""Lord Spleen"" (in German). Zweig had discovered Ben Jonson sometime earlier, and had successfully adapted Jonson's Volpone for the German stage prior to being approached by Strauss for a libretto. Zweig used a German translation of ""Epicoene"" by Ludwig Tieck in 1800, with the subtitle ""Das Stumme Maedchen"" or ""das Stille Frauenzimmer"" depending on the edition. Zweig's libretto makes several major changes to Jonson's play. The most important is perhaps the character of Sir Morosus. In Jonson, ""Morose"" is not a sea captain, but merely a rich old man with a"
"at the time. The play was next published in the first folio collection of Jonson's works (1616). A prefatory note to the folio text identifies the main actors in the 1601 production as Nathan Field, John Underwood, Salomon Pavy, William Ostler, Thomas Day, and Thomas Marton. The quarto and folio texts both supply subtitles, with slight variants: in the quarto, the title is ""Poetaster or The Arraignment,"" and in the folio, ""Poetaster, Or His Arraignment."" The principal character in the play is Ovid. It is widely accepted among scholars and critics that the character of Horace in ""Poetaster"" represents Jonson"
"be Medling: a Comedy, as it is acted at the Theatre Royal by their Majesties Servants"", London, 1691. This play, which was issued anonymously, was dedicated Peregrine, Earl of Danby by Cave Underhill the actor, for whom the part of Dulhead may have been written. It contains an epilogue by Thomas D'Urfey. John Genest considered that the plot resembled that of ""The Virtuoso"" from 1676, and that the character of Waspish might have been modelled on Snarl in the earlier comedy. The dedicatee of the work is shared with ""Poems upon Several Occasions"". Attribution John Smith (English poet) John Smith"
"to focus attention on the part of Kitely, which he played. The largest change was an entirely new scene featuring only Kitely and his wife, in which Kitely attempts to hide his jealousy. The production featured a prologue by William Whitehead and proved popular enough for many revivals. However, as critics near the end of the eighteenth century noted, the play's popularity arose more from Garrick than from Jonson; the play fell from regular use, with the rest of Jonson's comedies, by the beginning of the nineteenth century. Every Man in His Humour Every Man in His Humour is a"
"Recordings and was nominated in 2010 for a Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording. Volpone Volpone (Italian for ""sly fox"") is a comedy play by English playwright Ben Jonson first produced in 1605–1606, drawing on elements of city comedy and beast fable. A merciless satire of greed and lust, it remains Jonson's most-performed play, and it is ranked among the finest Jacobean era comedies. Volpone ""(The Fox)"" is a Venetian gentleman who pretends to be on his deathbed after a long illness in order to dupe Voltore ""(The Vulture)"", Corbaccio ""(The Raven)"" and Corvino ""(The Crow)"", three men who aspire"
"Henry Condell, John Lowin, John Underwood, William Ostler, Nicholas Tooley, Richard Robinson, and William Ecclestone. As its title indicates, the play recounts the story of Catiline, the Roman politician and conspirator of the 1st century B.C. Jonson was not the first playwright of his era to dramatize the story of Catiline. Stephen Gosson in his ""School of Abuse"" (1579) praised a play called ""Catiline's Conspiracies,"" which was acted by Leicester's Men at The Theatre sometime between 1576 and 1579. A ""Catiline"" (either Gosson's or another play, author unknown) was acted at the home of William Cecil, 1st Lord Burghley on"
"Ben Jonson is seen not only in the problem plays, which dramatise intractable human problems of greed and lust, but also in the darker tone of the Jacobean tragedies. The Marlovian, heroic mode of the Elizabethan tragedies is gone, replaced by a darker vision of heroic natures caught in environments of pervasive corruption. As a sharer in both the Globe and in the King's Men, Shakespeare never wrote for the boys' companies; however, his early Jacobean work is markedly influenced by the techniques of the new, satiric dramatists. One play, ""Troilus and Cressida"", may even have been inspired by the"
"woven mesh of act and reaction; the scenes a genial collection of depictions of everyday life in a large Renaissance city. Critics of the nineteenth century tended to credit Jonson with the introduction of ""humour"" comedy into English literature. It is now well known, not only that George Chapman's ""An Humorous Day's Mirth"" preceded Jonson's play by a year or more, but that Jonson himself was not especially intrigued by the trope of ""humours."" Since only Kitely is dominated by a ""humour"" as Jonson defined it in ""Every Man Out of His Humour"", it seems more likely that Jonson was"
"other thing. His play Doctor Faustus (c. 1592), is about a scientist and magician who sells his soul to the Devil. Beaumont and Fletcher are less-known, but they may have helped Shakespeare write some of his best dramas, and were popular at the time. Beaumont's comedy, ""The Knight of the Burning Pestle"" (1607), satirises the rising middle class and especially the ""nouveaux riches"". After Shakespeare's death, the poet and dramatist Ben Jonson (1572–1637) was the leading literary figure of the Jacobean era. Jonson's aesthetics hark back to the Middle Ages and his characters embody the theory of humours, based on"
"Every Man in His Humour Every Man in His Humour is a 1598 play by the English playwright Ben Jonson. The play belongs to the subgenre of the ""humours comedy,"" in which each major character is dominated by an over-riding humour or obsession. All the available evidence indicates that the play was performed by the Lord Chamberlain's Men in 1598 at the Curtain Theatre. That date is given in the play's reprint in Jonson's 1616 folio collection of his works; the text of the play (IV,iv,15) contains an allusion to John Barrose, a Burgundian fencer who challenged all comers that"
"his discovery that his brother Pennyboy Cantor is still alive, help to restore Pennyboy Senior's wits. Pecunia accepts Pennyboy Junior as her future husband, and amity and concord are restored. The Staple of News The Staple of News is an early Caroline era play, a satire by Ben Jonson. The play was first performed in late 1625 by the King's Men at the Blackfriars Theatre, and first published in 1631. ""The Staple of News"" was entered into the Stationers' Register in Feb. 1626, but was not published till five years later. Like ""The Devil is an Ass,"" ""The Staple of"
"Po-ca-hon-tas, or The Gentle Savage Po-ca-hon-tas, or The Gentle Savage (subtitled ""An Original Aboriginal Erratic Operatic Semi-civilized and Demi-savage Extravaganza"") is a two-act musical burlesque by John Brougham (words) and James Gaspard Maeder (music). It debuted in 1855 and became an instant hit. ""Po-ca-hon-tas"" remained a staple of theatre troupes and blackface minstrel companies for the next 30 years, typically as an afterpiece. The play parodies the Indian narratives that were popular at the time in the United States, particularly those featuring Indian heroines in the Noble Savage mould. The burlesque is usually credited with bringing the fad for Indian"
"in its prefatory material: a catalogue of 20 plays by Shirley published to that date. Such catalogues were only then coming into existence. (Since Cooke had already published a number of Shirley's plays, this promotional catalogue served his own interest.) As its title indicates, the play is a ""humors"" comedy. That subgenre was initiated by George Chapman with his ""An Humorous Day's Mirth"" (1597), but is most strongly associated with Ben Jonson, whose plays ""Every Man in His Humour"" and ""Every Man Out of His Humour"" defined the form. Later writers also worked in the humors vein, as John Fletcher"
"(Some English Renaissance plays derive their titles from comic subplot characters; ""Blurt Master Constable"" and ""Grim the Collier of Croydon"" are two examples.) Within the context of the Shakespeare authorship debate the subplot (Act V) of ""The Witty Fair One"" has been interpreted as a disclosure of the true Shakespeare's (Marlowe's) destiny: William Shakspere (Stratford) and James Shirley The Witty Fair One The Witty Fair One is a Caroline era stage play, an early comedy by James Shirley. Critics have cited the play as indicative of the evolution of English comic drama from the humors comedy of Ben Jonson to"
"significant plays, especially the character of the domineering wife. This theme is present in notable Renaissance plays such as ""Epicœne, or The silent woman"", by Ben Jonson , and ""The Taming of the Shrew"" by William Shakespeare. Clearly this reversal of roles was a popular source of comedy and conflict in early modern England. As a Tudor period play, ""John John"" represents a transition between medieval morality play, and Renaissance theatre. While the characters are flat, they are presented as fully realized humans, rather than in a typical morality play, such as Everyman, in which the characters are named for"