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IntroductionIntroductory Note
Introductory Note
The men who laid the foundations of the Elizabethan drama were generally
of obscure origin; and though some of them had been educated at the
universities, they were all poor. Beaumont and Fletcher are the first recruits
to the profession of play-writing who came of distinguished families and
habitually moved in wealthy circles; and this social environment was early
suggested as an explanation of their power of representing naturally the
conversation of high-born ladies and gentlemen.
Francis Beaumont, son of Sir Francis Beaumont, was born about 1585, and
died in 1616. He was educated at Oxford and studied law at the Inner Temple;
and though his career as a writer was short he won a high reputation as a poet
and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
John Fletcher, son of the Bishop of London, was born in 1579, and died in
1625. He was a graduate of Cambridge, and appears to have been much more a
professional man of letters than Beaumont. He wrote many plays by himself,
and, after Beaumont ceased to write, worked in collaboration with several
other men, including Shakespeare.
"Philaster" is an excellent typical example of their plays, which are
thus admirably characterized by Thorndike:
"Their plots, largely invented, are ingenious and complicated. They deal
with royal or noble persons, with heroic actions, and are placed in foreign
localities. The conquests, usurpations, and passions that ruin kingdoms are
their themes, there are no battles or pageants, and the action is usually
confined to the rooms of the palace or its immediate neighborhood. Usually
contrasting a story of gross sensual passion with one of idyllic love, they
introduce a great variety of incidents, and aim at constant but varied
excitement. . . . The plays depend for interest not on their observation or
revelation of human nature, or the development of character, but on the
variety of situations, the clever construction that holds the interest through
one suspense to another up to the unravelling at the very end, and on the
naturalness, felicity, and vigor of the poetry."
Dramatis Personae
King of Sicily.
Philaster, Heir to the Crown of Sicily.
Pharamond, Prince of Spain.
Dion, a Lord.
Cleremont, Noble Gentlemen, his associates.
Thrasiline, Noble Gentlemen, his associates.
An Old Captain.
Five Citizens.
A Country Fellow.
Two Woodmen.
The King`s Guard and Train.
Arethusa, Daughter of the King.
Euphrasia, Daughter of Dion, but disguised like a Page and called Bellario.
Megra, a lascivious Lady.
Galatea, a wise modest Lady attending the Princess.
Two other Ladies.
Scene. - Messina And Its Neighborhood]
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