ms Wen W as M?
AND KEYWOOD: .A mm m ADAPTATIQN

The“: for the Deer“ of M. A.
MICHIGAN STATE COLLEGE
Mary Barbara Hanafi

195 3

 

This is to certify that the

thesis entitled

the lbthologicsl Drugs of 3:1: and nomad: A Study
in mutton

presented by
lire. My Barber: Harrell

has been accepted towards fulfillment
of the requirements for

 

it. ‘0 degree in with Lucretia-o

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[Major professor “ ' M'

Date “"31 174.953 :

 

  

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THE MYTHOLOGICAL DRAMAS OF LXLY AND HEYWOOD:
A STUDY IN ADAPTATION

THE MYTHOLOGICAIoDRAMAS OF 111E AND HEYWCCD:
A STUDY IN ADAPTATICI

By

Mary Barbara Hurrell

A THESIS
Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of Michigan
State College of Agriculture and Applied Science
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS

Department or English

1953 gym QM

’27 MM /7~>‘3

“N

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to take this Opportunity to express
my deepest appreciation to Dr. George R. Price, of the
Department of English, for his helpful guidance during
the preparation of this study. For my appointment as
a graduate assistant, which made possible my program
of study, I am deeply grateful to Michigan State
College.

Mary Barbara Hurrell

306335:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I.

II.

III.

IV.

AN INTRODUCTION . . . . . .

JOHNLYLY.........

THOMAS HEYWOOD . . . . . .

CONCLUSION . . . . . . . .

LIST OF REFERENCES . . . .

PAGE

13
1+8
96

105

CHAPTER I
AN INTRODUCTION

The English Renaissance not only inherited its interest
in classical mythology from the past, but also fell heir to
many essentially medieval attitudes towards the classics
and their use. The various translations and redactions of
mythology which were current did much to form the Renaissance
conception of the classics, for the translations of men such
as Lydgate, Caxton, and Golding actually conserved the
medieval traditions. Such translators, often working from
French translations rather than from Latin and Greek originals,
showed a marked propensity to adulterate the classics with
views of their own, for they constantly allegorized and
noralized the myths in accordance with Christian thought.
Within the medieval tradition, the 'ancients' were greatly
admired, but there was little evidence or any appreciation
of their spirit, which was, after all, pagan. No clear
distinction was made between the Greek writers and those
of Rome. Instead, all were referred to indiscriminately as
'ancients.‘ Nor was there the attitude that the classics
were sacrosanct. They were looked upon as providing a
reservoir of interesting anecdote and character which could

be used as exempla for didactic, moralistic works, or as a

basis for allegorical interpretations in line with Christian
ideals.

When the Renaissance tardily arrived in England, a
purely secular interest in the classics became pronounced.
Such dramatists ass followed the trend of fashion and made
large drafts upon the classics in the interest of entertain-
ment, for the most part adOpted the medieval attitude that
the classics were “fair game.“ Their interest, like that
of their predecessors, was primarily in the exciting incidents
and the colorful characters contained in the myths, rather
than in the formal aspects or ideals of classicism.

Perhaps the drama of no other age has been at once so
completely dependent upon derivative material, and yet so
completely autonomous in the use of such material. There
was little originality of theme or plot, but the Tudor
dramatists showed a remarkable ability to transform and
revitalize borrowed material, making it their own. They
looked to the past, but saw it strictly in relation to their
own age.

The unfettered flexibility of their treatment of the
classics perhaps may be called irresponsible. However, this
very flexibility facilitates the comparison of various
dramatic works which are dependent upon the classics for
their source. In so far as the writers felt free to manipulate

at will a common store of subject matter, any significant

differences in their adaptation of this material are brought
into bold relief. One may thus attend to the special problems
confronting the writers, and estimate the significance of
these problems in terms of the particular adaptation of the
classical material which is involved. In this way, the study
of the various uses of classical subject matter is a valuable
key to the study of the broader aspects of the dramatic

works of the age: the essential problems facing the dramatist
would have persisted whether or not there was a convenient
key to their character, and indeed they did persist beyond
the range of our limited consideration.

John Lyly and Thomas Heywood were among the many
Elizabethan dramatists who went to the rich storehouse of
classical mythology to obtain raw material. Yet, if we
look at the mythological dramas of these two men, we find
that scarcely any point of similarity can be noted. This
paper will endeavor to point out and examine these differences
in the light of the special situations for which their
dramas were created. Although John Lyly and Thomas Heywood
were by birth and education similar, the circumstances of
life led Lyly into the charmed circle of Elizabeth's court,
while Heywood sought his fortune in the arena of the public
theater.

R. W3 Bond suggests that quy was probably born in
Kent of yeoman stock in 1553 or 155a. This theory is

strengthened by several statements in Lyly's Euphues which
are thought to be autobiographical.1 From the Registrum
Universitatis 0xoniensis, we learn that Lyly entered.Magdalen
College in 1571 as a commoner. He was granted a B.A. degree
in 1573, and received his H.A. in 1575.2 According to
Cooper's Athenae Cantabrigienses, Lyly was also granted an
H.A. from Cambridge in 1579.3
While at Oxford, hyly's wit and charm, together with
his admiration for courtly practices, evidently endeared
him to persons of influence. In 157M, he referred to himself
as the alumnus of Lord.Burleigh, High Treasurer of England,
and member of the Queen's Privy Council. In a letter
written to Burleigh, Lyly suggests strongly that he owes
his university career to the generosity of this powerful
man:
In the gracious bounty shown, most noble
Peer, to me your foster-son, and in your gratuitous
and unlocked-for interest, effort, and extra—
ordinary pains on my behalf, I recognize with

all becoming humility your good and kindly dis-
-position toward men devoted to learning. And

 

la. warwick Bond The Complete Works of John Lyly
(Oxford, 1902), I, pp. L5. '" "" _" '—

21bid., p. 6.
31b1de, pe 16s

since this inconceivable indulgence of yours
has far surpassed, not merely my deserts, but
my hepes, and has granted at large what my
modesty would never have asked, I rest in
deepest debt to your honour, in a degree in-
deed which must always be bayond my poor
opportunities of repayment.

Lyly's ambitions were furthered not only by noble and
highlyaplaced friends, but by the astounding success of his
first literary work, Euphues: The Anatomy 2; Wit, which
appeared in 1578. The second part, Euphues and His En land,
appeared in 1579. Both.parte went through four editions
during the years immediately following their appearance, and
through seventeen editions before lyly's death in 1606.5
Although Euphues is often referred to as the first English
novel, it is more like a series of essays on various moral
and courtly tepics, bound together by a rather thin love
story. It is remarkable principally for its style, which
carried tendencies already evident in North's Dial'gf Princes.
and Pettie's Palace 2; Pleasure to an extreme. This style,
which came to be described as 'euphuistic' is essentially
antithetical in structure, and abounding with pseudo-scientific

and mythological references.

 

“11:14., p. 13. (Translated from the Latin by a. w.
Bond from The lansdowne MS. xix, No. 16, in the British Museum.)

SIbIde, pe “3e

The second part of Euphues was dedicated to Edward
de Vere, Earl of Oxford, and son-in-law to Lord Burleigh.
This is the first indication of Lyly's connection with the
Earl of Oxford, who appointed him as his private secretary
and admitted him to his confidence and friendship for many
years. The Earl not only held the hereditary office of
Lord Great Chamberlain, but was a court favorite as well.
He had a lively interest in the drama, and was the patron
of a company of boy actors. Perhaps it was this association
with the Earl which gave Lyly his impetus toward the drama.
With such powerful friends at court, Lyly's presentation to
Elizabeth was assured. Bond suggests that this presentation
probably took place on the occasion of the performance of
Lyly's first play, Cam as s, before Elizabeth, on January 1,
1531-1532.5

From this date on, Lyly‘s entire dramatic output was
designed for the entertainment of Elizabeth and her court.
His first official post was probably that of assistant to
Thomas Giles, Master of St. Paul's Boys. Apparently Elizabeth
relied upon the choir boys for dramatic entertainment, and by
appointing Lyly to such a post, she reaped the fruit of his
dramatic talents in the form of plays and entertainments

written by him, and performed under his direction by the boys.

 

61b1de , pe 31e

Inhspite of his influential friends, and in spite of
the obvious pleasure Elizabeth took in his entertainments,
Lyly was destined to be frustrated in his life-long ambition
to be appointed as Master of the Revels. Evidently Elizabeth
encouraged him in this ambition, but perversely refused to
reward his faithful service. Two undated petitions to the
Queen tell the unhappy story. The first petition implies
that Elizabeth gave Lyly reason to eXpect such an appointment:

I was entertayned your Maties servant by your

owne gratious ffavor stranghthened with Condicions,

that I should ayme all my Courses att the Revells;

(I dare not says, with a promise, butt a hopeffull

Item, of the Reversion) ffor the which theis Tenn

yeares, I have Attended, with an unwearyed patience.7
The second petition reminds Elizabeth that he has been
'Thirteen yeares your Highnes Servant; butt yett nothinge.'5

Other difficulties also beset Lyly. The boy companies
fell into several periods of disgrace, due to their partici-
pation in the religious controversy which was raging. In
1590, Paul's Boys were suppressed for a period of about eight
years.9 This proved to be very serious for Lyly's career,

for only one play, The Woman ig_the Moon, came from his pen

after this date. Before the lengthy suppression of Paul's

 

71bid., p. 3}. (Reprinted from the Harleian MS. 1323,
fols. 2M§:SU, in the British.Mueeum.)

3Ibid., p. 33.

9E. x. Chambers, The Elizabethan Stage (Oxford, 1923),
II. p. 190 ‘—

Boys, Lyly had no rival as a court dramatist. After 1590,
although plays continued to be written primarily for the
court, an ever increasing number of pOpular successes were
adapted or revived for presentation at court.10 The court
dramatist, as exemplified by Lyly, became a thing of the
past, for more and more frequently writers for the public
stage were commissioned to write plays expressly for the
entertainment of the court.

The birth of Thomas Heywood is generally thought to
have occurred between the years 1572 and 1575, and it is
inferred from contemporary references that he was a native
of Lincolnshire, and came from a good, but not noble family.11
Heywood's connection with a university is not so clear, even
though his literary career makes such a connection most
probable. In An Apology £23 Actors, Heywood makes reference
to I'my residence in Cambridge,’12 and William Cartwright
in his Dedication to the Actors' Vindication, 1658, refers

to Heywood as a fellow of Peterhouse.

 

1OFelix E. Schelling, Elizabethan Playwrights (New
York’ 1925), po 60.

11Arthur u. Clark, Thomas Heuood (Oxford, 1931), p. 1.
13An A olo for Actors, edited by J. P. Collier

(London, IE” , reprinted for Shakespeare Society, Vol. 15,
NO. 3’ p. 280

After gaining his education, Heywood evidently went
to London, where he plunged into the teeming, precarious,
life of the public theater. His name first appears in
Henslowe'g_Qig£y in 1596, when Henslowe loaned the Admiral's
Men thirty shillings ”for hawode's booke.'13 On March 25,
1598, Heywood agreed to serve two years as an actor in the
Admiral's Company.1u In the same year, Henslowe recorded
a transaction in which a 'Booke called wars with out blowes
and love with owt sewte of Thomas hawodes' was purchased
for five pounds, which is slightly under the usual purchase
price. Clark remarks concerning this transaction: 'Apparently
the dirtier work of Henslowe'e dramatic factory was still
falling to the Juvenile Heywood, from whom a play might be
had on lower terms than his elders would accept."15 But
in this same year, 1598, Heywood was included in Mere's
Palladis 223;: as among the best for comedy.

From 1602 to 1619 Heywood was a permanent member of
the Earl of Worcester's Men. This company, in which Heywood
was a sharer, became Queen Anne'salen in 1603, and performed

at many of the London theaters of the day-«The Rose, The Curtain,

 

h 13Hensloweig Dia , edited by W. W. Greg (London, l90fl),
Is P° 5‘

1‘1b1d., p. 20h.
ISChrk, 920 2-1-20, p. 12.

10

The Boar's Head, The Red Bull, and The Cockpit.16 Heywood's

experience was not necessarily confined to the London theaters,

for as a member of the Queen's Company, he no doubt toured

the provinces with them, visiting Norwich, Leicester, Dover,

Coventry, and Marlborough, among many other places.17 So,

as actor, sharer, and playwright, there were few aspects of

the public stage with which Heywood was not acquainted. There

is much evidence of his constant activity in the London

theaters-~collaborating, revising, writing, and acting.

In his Preface to‘ghg English Traveler, Heywood claims to have

“had either an entire hand, or at least a maine finger"

in two hundred and twenty plays.13 Even though he never

received particularly high prices for his plays, the rapidity

of his production alone spared him from the poverty and

uncertainty endured by men like Chettle, Dekker, and Day.
After many tremendously active and successful years

as a dramatist, Heywood entered upon still another career——

that of London city pageant poet. His popularity with the

bourgeois can have no better proof than the fact that he

was chosen year after year to write the pageants which were

staged yearly by the members of the Mayor's guild. In 1632,

 

léchQrB’ 220°1te’ 110 pp. 220-40.

17Ibid., pp. 233~3h.

18The Dramatic Works of Thomas Heywood, Pearson edition
(London, 137“), IV, p. 3.

11

1632, and 1637, he was retained by the Haberdasher's Guild,
in 1633 by the Clothworkers, by the Ironmongers in 1635,
and by the Drapers in 1639.19
Perhaps it should be emphasized here that although

Lyly addressed his work to a 80phisticated, courtly society,
and Heywood deliberately aimed his drama at the bourgeois
public theater audience, neither was totally unaware of the
special problems faced by the other. Lyly's connection
with public entertainment came about by virtue of the fact
that the boy companies attached to the court were allowed to
eke out their income by public presentations of court plays.
In this manner, several of Lyly's plays came to be presented
at the Blackfriars theater before a public audience. In
the Prologue which was delivered at the Blackfriars presen-
tation of EEQEE’ Lyly takes cognizance of the demands of a
more heterogenous audience:

At our exercises, Souldiers call for Tragedies,

their object is bloud: Courtiers for Commedies,

their subject is love; Countriemen for Pastoralles,

Shephearde are their Saintes.2O

Heywood, on the other hand, appeared at court as a

member of the Earl of Worcester's Company in 1602 and 1603.

Later, as a member of the Queen's Company, he undoubtedly

lgchrk, .OEeCIte, pp. 112-16e
20Bond, gp.cit., III, p. 115.

12

appeared frequently at court.21 In the year 163G, while
Heywood was in the midst of his career as a pageant poet,
Queen Henrietta Maria commissioned him to write a court play.
In compliance with her wish, Heywood produced the masque-like
‘ggzgflg Mistress. In this, his single court play, Heywood
shows an understanding of the special problems involved
in appealing to a courtly audience, and adapts himself to
those conditions in a manner distinctly Lylian.

The purpose of this essay does not lend itself to
an exhaustive treatment of each of the factors severally
involved. Some of the tOpics considered might well constitute
separate detailed studies in their own right, but an aggre-
gate of such studies would not necessarily address the
broader relationships which are the special concern of
this paper. As a study in adaptation, involving the work
and special problems of two writers, the present treatment
has been governed by the purpose of comparison, and this
purpose has determined the emphasis upon individual factors.
The adequacy of the essay rests with the achievement of a
sound perspective on the relationships between two signifiu‘
cant dramatic efforts, rather than with a complete exposition

of the contents of either.

 

210iambers,|gggg;£o. 11- PP- 233‘33-

CHAPTER II

JOHN 1.x 1!
Your Majesties Judgement and favour, are
our Sunne and shadows . . .

John Lyly is unique among Elizabethan dramatists, in
that all of his dramas were written for performance before
Her MaJesty, Queen Elizabeth, and her court. For this reason,
Lyly was somewhat circumscribed in his choice and treatment
of subject matter. Concerning Lyly's use of classical
mythology for source material, Bond remarks:

It is small blame to Lyly that, living
amid a society dominated by an almost tyrannical
volassical taste and writing his plays for the
amusement of a learned Queen and Court, he
follows the trend of fashion and personal inn
clination, and makes large drafts upon the
classics for the materials of his plays.

Six out of Lyly's eight plays are indebted to classical
mythology in varying degrees. Of the remaining two plays,
one, Cam s e, is based upon classical history, and the
other, Mother Bombie, is a realistic comedy on the Terentian
IOdOle

Ovid, the most courtly of the ancients, is hyly's

favorite source. His witty, ironic tone, and his cynical

 

1 ,
R. Warwick Bond, The Complete Works g£_John Lily
(Oxford, 1902), II, p. 2MP.— "'"""' "—"’

1h

assumption that love is an art, made his works remarkably
well suited to Lyly's purpose, which was both to flatter
Elizabeth and to entertain her court. Writing for an
educated audience already familiar with the classics, Lyly
tried to present the various myths and legends in a new
light, using them in various combinations, smbroidering
them with his own imaginative creations, and giving them

a piquant excitement by veiled allegories of court life.

Most dependent of all upon classical mythology are
Midas and.£2:gg,Metamorphosis. Lyly's Midas follows closely
the legend as told in Book XI of Ovid's Metamorphoses.
However, Lyly adds a courtly element by the addition of
several characters. Among these are three counselors to
Midas, the daughter of Midas and her ladies, and several
court pages. Lyly also adds a barber and a huntsman for
comedy relief.

The main plot of‘ggzgg_Metamorphosis concerns the
story of Erisichthon, who incurred the enmity of Ceres by
an act of violence against one of her nymphs. This tale
is told by Ovid in Book.YIIIlof the Metamorphoses. A
secondary plot which concerns the loves of three nymphs
and three foresters is suggested by Ovid, but given original
treatment by Lyly.

‘ggphg‘gggflghgg cleverly combines elements found in
Sapho's epistle from Ovid's Heroides, with Aslian's tale

p

15

of Venus' gift of beauty to the ferryman, Phao, which is to
be found in the 25312 Historia. Lyly combines these two
myths by making Sapho and Venus rivals for the love of Phao.
Courtly elements are added by making Sapho a queen, rather
than a poetess, and by surrounding her with a courtly society.
Comic relief is added by the witty remarks of the pages,

and by an episode featuring Venus, Vulcan, and Cupid. In

this particular play, additions and original treatment quite
outweigh the borrowed mythological framework.

Gallathea also combines mythological suggestions with
original elements. In Book IX of Ovid's Metamorphoses, is
found the mere suggestion of a passion between two girls, one
of whom is turned into a boy by Venus in order that their
love might be fulfilled. Lyly treats this theme in com-
bination with the familiar mythological tale of a virgin
sacrificedtoia sea monster. The two stories are interwoven
by having the two girls '1 disguised as boys in order to
avoid being sacrificed to the sea monster. Mythological
characters appear in Lyly's secondary plot, which tells
of an attack by Cupid upon Diana's nymphs, and of her
vengeance upon him.

Endimion, the best known of hyly's plays, owes little
.to classical mythology beyond the mere suggestion of a kiss
given by Diana to a sleeping shepherd, which is found in

one of Lucian's dialogs. Other brief allusions to the same

16

tale are to be found in both Ovid and Hyginus. Around this
mere suggestion, Lyly weaves an allegorical fantasy of court
life.

Eh: Woman is £132 £222, Lyly's sole play written in

 

blank verse, owes only the character Pandora and the names
and characteristics of the planets to mytholalyz

The dramatic works of John Lyly actually stand on the
very threshold of selfeconscious dramatic art in England.
For some two hundred years, the history of English drama
had been the history of religious and moral education by
stage representation. Although the secular drama, as
exemplified by the Moralities, had as its aim entertainment
as well as moral edification, its aims were so indecisive
as to produce only a chaotic dramanuhalf story, half sermonna
in which spectacle and farce, allegory and reality, were
incongruously mingled. Clearucut realistic comedy was
introduced in the single scenes of John Heywood around the
year 1530. About ten years later, Udall produced.§alph
Roistsr Doister, the first true comedy. From this day on,
the Moralities divided the stage with early attempts at
tragedy, comedy, and history. More frequently than not,
attempts were made to fuse the two methods of writing,
resulting in mixed pieces which lacked any distinctive fora.
Gross incongruities of plan show the lack of awareness of

either the rights or limitations of a dramatist. Tales from

.I'

17

folklore and the Bible, transcribed episodes from the ancients,
and excerpts from history or contemporary life, were thrown
together haphazardly, with little or no attempt at an artistic
manipulation of the elements involved.

In contrast to the complete absence of regulating
principles evident in the pOpular drama, stood the abortive
attempt to revive classical drama, which by its very nature
was largely confined to the Universities and Inns of Court..
The English.people in general were too far removed by both
nature and education from classical ideals to appreciate a
mere revival. The pleasure-loving court was little more
interested in a purely academic exercise than was the public
audience, but at the same time, was too critical to accept
the shapeless products of the public stage.

Lyly's drama stands mid-way between the classical
revivals and the freedom of the professional stage. His
unique position is indicated by Bond:-

While his dramatic contemporaries were driven

.by their necessities to cater for the pOpular
stage, where form was always in danger cf‘being
swamped by license, Lyly writing rather for the
wits and scholars, for a learned queen and her
blue-stockinged ladies, admits in a considerable
degree the regulating check and control of
classical taste.

Although Lyly knew and took cognizance of classical

standards, he somewhat apologetically followed the papular

 

alblde , p. 248.

16

stage tradition in his mingling of mythological, pastoral,
and romantic elements. In the Prologue to Midas he saysr
Time hath confounded our mindes, our mindes

the matter; but all commsth to this passe, that

what heretofore hath beene served in severall

dishes for a feast, is now minced in a charger

for a Gallimaufrey. If wee present a mingle-

mangle, our fault is to be excused, be ause the

whole worlds is become an Hodgeupodge.

The enormous difference between the plays of Dyly and
the mixed dramatic works which had been produced earlier,
was that Lyly succeeded in combining heterogenous elements
into a harmonious whole. Unlike earlier dramatists, who
tended to merely drag in various types of dramatic entertain-
ment, Lyly consciously and artistically manipulated the
various elements. No gross incongruities of plan are evident
in his work. Lyly's intention seems always clear, and it
is evident that an artistic intelligence presided at its
working out. Lyly shows a knowledge of the distinctions
between the various types of drama, and the manner is which
he mingles them is dictated by a recognition of the rights
and limitations of the imagination.

Although the governing influence of classical drama
is evident in his work, Lyly's attitude toward the unities
shows much freedom. He follows them when he so desires, but

ignores them when it suits his purpose, or when they really
do not matter. This rather cavalier attitude toward the

 

3Midas, Prologue.l6~20. (Citations from Lyly in the
text are to Th Complete Works, edited by R. W. Bond.)

 

19

unities is Justified by Lyly's creation of a fairyntale,
enchanted land, where time and place become vague and
inconsistent, and where the conditions of reality no longer
prevail. Lyly makes this clear in his Prologue to Endimion:
Most high and happy Princesse, we must

tell you a tale of the Man in the Moons, which

if it seems ridiculous for the method, or

superfluous for the matter, or for the meanes

incredible, for three faultes wee can make but

one excuse, It is a tale of the Man in the Moone.“

In this dreamulike world, a time confusion, for instance,
matters little. So, although we are told in Act III that
Endimion's sleep has lasted twenty years, and then in Act V
are told that it lasted forty years, this really does not
affect the credibility of the story in any vital way. Lyly
also has been sometimes taken to task for the fact that
while Endimion shows the aging effects of his long sleep,
the rest of the characters do not. Cynthia remains young
and beautiful, Tellus is still endowed with all the passion
of youth, and the small pages continue to be impudent and
witty. The whole world remains frozen, as it were, in the
same state it was in when Endimion first fell asleep. How
much better thus, than to have the characters all heavy with
age, as consistency would demand! The enchanted sleep, the
kiss of Cynthia, and Endimion's restoration would all be
made ridiculous if such standards were insisted upon. For
what is normal in the world of reality would, by a subtle

w

nEndimion, Prologue.l~5.

20

alchemy, become incongruous in the world of the Man in the
Moon. Here such inconsistencies are not only acceptable,
but are artistically necessary. In this manner, Lyly
allows imagination its rightful exercise, but does not
strain it too far. His attitude toward the unities is kept
in a nice balance between the strictures of the classical
stage and the complete freedom of the pOpular stage.
Although Lyly in practise rejects the formal standards
of classical drama, he was not satisfied, as many of his
contemporaries were, simply to throw over all formal structure
in favor of a loose, wandering, chronicle style. Taking a
hint from the rhetorical balance evident in so many classical
writers, and which Lyly himself had exploited so avidly
in Eu hues, he created a dramatic structure which was not
dependent upon the classical unities, but which was under-
girded by the much more flexible principle of antithesis.
In Eu hues, lyly had attempted a purely verbal balance or
antithesis, which he accomplished by the use of many varied
rhetorical devices. Words were balanced with words, phrases
with.phrases, and sentences with sentences. Ideas were
contrasted with other ideas, and human issues were
constantly referred to natural or mythological parallels,
such in the same manner as an artist balances masses and
colors, or as a musician plays one theme against another.

Lyly applied this basic principle of antithesis to his

21

dramatic structure, where it proved to be a cohesive force
which served to knit the heterogenous elements of his drama
into an artistic unit. This was in no sense a 'classical'
unity, but it pointed the way toward a freer, 'romantic' unity,
and proved Lyly to be capable, as no English dramatist before
him had been, of mingling native and classical forms.

Although hyly's plays have little external action, he
knows how to build a genuine dramatic plot. After setting
up an initial antithesis or conflict, such as the conflict
between Sapho and Venus, the struggle between sensual and
spiritual love endured by Endimion, or the conflict of greed
and reason in Midas, he proceeds to a final solution or
resolution, which is worked outu-not Just dragged in.

When nyly uses a fully developed subnplot, he utilizes
the principle of antithesis as a method of combining it with
the principal plot. In M 953 22.3, 'and in 33.952! the
plot is single, with minor comedy issues added which do
not affect the working out of the main plot. In Gallathea,
the two maidens, Gallathea and Phillida, are disguised as
boys to avoid the virgin tribute, while in the sub-plot,
Cupid is disguised as a girl in order to spread confusion
among Diana's nymphs. In Endimion, the extravagant love of
Endimion for the unattainable Cynthia is humorously commented

on by Sir Tophas' ridiculous love for Dipsas, an aged crone.

22

A farcical element is introduced by Lyly as comic
relief for every act. Antithesis is again seen here, for
these comic elements are kept in the nature of anti-masques.
Lyly always maintains a clear distinction between scenes of
farce and scenes of romance or pastoral. Comedy scenes are
not introduced at random or mixed in with the main action,
for Lyly deliberately suspends the main action and introduces
the fares. The characters which take part-in the farce
usually have some slight connection with the main theme.

For instance, in Midas the farcical elements are introduced

by servants, pages, a barber, and a huntsman, who are all
attached to the court of Midas, and in Endimion, the farce
is introduced by pages who are attached ea in; court of
Cynthia. '

The principle of antithesis is further illustrated
by Dyly's policy of character grouping. In all of his
plays there appears a central character who dominates the
action by reason of rank or position. Such are the figures
of Diana, Cynthia, Midas, Cupid, and Ceres. .Around these
central figures move balanced or contrasting groups of
characters. In 12:23 Metamorphosis we have Cupid versus
Ceres, and a group of three foresters balanced by a group
of three nymphs. In Gallathea, we see two parents opposed
by two daughters, and a group of shepherds balanced by a
group of nymphs. In Endimion, we find Tellus and Dipsas

23

working against the union of Cynthia and Endimion, while
Eumenides and Geron work for it.

Further use of antithesis is seen in Lyly's handling
of individual scenes. For instance, in Act One of 22222 222
£233, the two principals enter from opposite sides of the
stage. Phao inquires who that gentlewoman is, and is informed
that it is Sapho; Sapho in turn, asks who that fair young
man is, and is told that it is Phao. This very simple and
balanced scene structure is seen again in Act Two of Gallathea,
where one scene presents Gallathea alone on the stage,
confessing her love for Phillida, and the next scene intro-
duces Phillida, confessing her love for Gallathea. In
Endimion, a scene in which Endimion tells his friend Eumenides
of his love for Cynthia is immediately followed by one
in which Tellus confides her love for Endimion to her friend,
Floscula. But Lyly can also design a complicated scene with
balance and control. An excellent example of this ability
can be found in the final scene of 52:25,Metamogphosis.
Here lyly is faced with the problem of bringing the play to
a close while dealing with a large number of characters, all
vital to the plot. Lyly handles this problem masterfully,
moving the three sets of lovers with a ballet-like grace
about the central figures of Ceres and Cupid. No character
is slighted, and all are kept in balance.

21!

Using a technique of structural as well as verbal
antithesis, Lyly created a type of drama which was full of
contrasts and conflicts, yet orderly and coherent withal.
Such a drama was suited to meet the critical demands of an
educated and courtly audience in a way which the current
popular drama was not.

Previous to Lyly, the principal vehicle of English
drama was rhymed verse, with the use of prose relegated to
farcical scenes. With the majority of writers, the constant
inclusion of rhyme led to a stiffness and crudity of
expression, and too often the verse became more doggerel.
Lyly's use of prose as a dramatic vehicle was, in effect,

a rebellion against the earlier crudities of language and
versification. Lyly's keen sense of form, his urbanity and
taste, were made evident in the experimental Eu hues, which,
by dint of its pOpularity alone, probably did more than any
other one work to awaken the English public to the artistic
possibilities of prose. Although in the Restoration period,
' prose became established as the proper medium for English
comedy, Lyly was the first English dramatist to use it
consistently, and the influence of his polished, witty
dialogue proved to be a lasting one.

The euphuistic style itself, in the hands of Lyly,

proved to be well suited to a dramatic use. The very essence

25

of drama is conflict, which finds natural expression through
Lyly's constant use of antithesis. In place of the pseudo«
regularity of poor meter, Lyly's prose supplied a careful
balance and antithesis which comprehended the entire dramatic
situation, rather than the verbal element alone. Furthermore,
at a purely verbal level, the decorative qualities of Lyly's
prose more than compensated for the lack of verse. Lyly's
imaginative and artistic use of varied rhetorical devices
actually imbued his prose with a poetical aura but rarely
attained by his contemporaries in their use of verse.

The language of Lyly's drama was influenced by the
courtly society in which.he moved, and in turn, had a pro~
found effect upon the language of the court itself. hyly
supplied a model for courtly discourse, since the manners and
conventions of courtly social life are idealized in Lyly's
artfully constructed prose. Edward Blount, in the Preface
to his 1632 edition of Lyly‘s gig Qgggt Comedies, written
at a time when the English Court under Queen Henrietta Maria
was greatly influenced by the French court, commented on
the effect of Lyly's prose upon the court of Queen Elizabeth:

Our nation are in his debt for a new English
which he taught them. Euphues and his England
began first that language. All our ladies
were then his scholars, and that beauty in
court which could not parley Euphuism was as

little regarded as she which now there speaks
not French.5

 

5Quoted in Albert C. Baugh, A’Idterary History 2;
England (New‘York, 1948), p. 420.

26

Perhaps the most obvious instance of Lyly's connection
with the court of Elizabeth is to be found in his unique use
of allegory, for Lyly used classical mythology in a way
which touched upon contemporary events and turned them to
a deft flattery of Elizabeth.

Discarding the use of allegorical figures so common
in the dramatic works proceeding him, Lyly substituted
mythological figures for abstract qualities. Venus re~
presented Wantonness; Cupidu-Love; Diana and Cynthia-
Chastity. Using this device, Lyly created a platonic
spiritual allegory which, by nature of its theme, complimented
the renowned chastity of the virgin queen. Thus, ggphg‘ggd
{hag allegorizes a conflict between Wantonness and Chastity
in the persons of Sapho and Venue. The allegory in Endimion
pictures Endimion's struggle between Earthly and Divine Love
as represented by Tellus and Cynthia. Gallathea and.§2133
Metamorphosis both allegorize a conflict between Love and
Chastity. Bond further suggests that the denouemsnts of
these four plays not only flatter Elizabeth by reason of
the continual triumph of Chastity over Love, but that the
allegory might be of an even more personal and topical
nature. He says:

All four may perhaps be regarded as reflective
of Elizabeth's changing attitude toward love

and marriage, or at legst of what a courtier
might deem to be such.

 

same, 992;}, I, p. 1&5.

27

In Sapho and Phao, we have the defeat of Venue, or
Wantonness, by Sapho, or Chastity, and an assertion of
independence from the power of love. In Gallathea, Diana or
Chastity conquers Love in the person of Cupid. Some of
Diana's speeches show an active hostility to love, which
might refer to Elizabeth's unwillingness to contenance
marriage among her court ladies:

And thou shalt see Cupid that I will shows my
selfe to be Diana, that is, Conqueror of thy
loose and untamed appetites. . . . I will
breaks thy bows, and burns thine arrowss,
binds thy handes, clyp thy wings, and fetter
thy feete. . . . These Ladies heere whom

thou hast infected with foolish love, shall
both tread on thee and triumph over thee. . . .
I will teach thee what it is to displease
Diana, di?tresse her Nimphes, or disturbs

her game.

loves Metamorphosis shows evidence of a new reverence
for the power of Cupid, but still the over-all attitude is
one of reservation. Ceres, who in this case represents
Bounty as well as Chastity, says:

I will charm my Nymphes, as they shall
neither be so stately as not to stogpe to love,
nor so light as presently to yeeld.

In Endimion, Tellus, the representative of earthly,
sensual love, is rejected by Endimion in favor of a divine

love, represented by Cynthia. A tenderness for love and

 

7ca11athea, III.iv.67—85.
8Loves Metamo hosis, V.iv.l6h-65.

28

lovers is expressed here, as Cynthia graciously accepts the
love of Endimion, even though she holds herself regally
aloof.

Not satisfied with a platonic allegory alone, hydy
daringly introduced a personal or political allegory into
many of his court plays. Although he disclaims any such
attempt in the Prologue to Endimion, this particular play
actually contains the most complete allegory of contemporary
court life to be found in all his dramatic work:

It was forbidden in olde time to dispute
of Chymera, because it was a fiction: we hOpe
in our times none will apply pastimes, because
they are fancies; for there liveth none under
the Sunne, that knows what to make of the Man
in the Moons. Wee present neither Comedic, nor
Tragedie, nor storie, nor anie thing, but that
whosoever heareth may say thig, Why heere is a
tale of the Man in the Moons.

This sixteenth century version of 'Any similarity to
actual persons or events is purely coincidental" probably
misled but few in an audience composed of courtiers and
' court ladies.

This personal or political allegory appears in varying
degrees in various plays. In Gallathea, it consists only
of the flattering identification of Elizabeth with Diana, the

goddess of chastity. In Sapho and Phao, Trachinus, a courtier,

 

9Endimion, Prologue.6-ll.

29

describes Sapho in a manner obviously meant to apply to
Elizabeth as well:
Sapho, faire by nature, by birth royall,

learned by education, by government politike,

rich by peace: insomuch as it is hard to judge,

whether she be more beautifull or wise, ver-

tuous or fortunate.

ggphg‘aggflghgg carries the personal and t0pical
allegory even further, for the basic plot is amplified and
changed by recent court history. Sapho, a poetess in the
original myth, becomes an earthly queen, surrounded by her
court. The discovery that the events pictured in the play
correspond with.Elizabeth's courtship by the Due dlAlencon
is attributed to F. G. Fleay.11 Volume XI of Froude's
History 2; Eggland details Elizabeth's vacillation concerning
the marriage arrangements which were conducted during the
years 1578 to 1582. The Duke finally abandoned his suit
in 1582 and left England. This is paralleled in the play
by Phao's departure from the court of Sapho, his love for
her having proved hapeless. The play was probably presented
at court during 1583, for it came to print in 1581+.12
In Endimion, the court allegory is not only complete,

but daring. Merely suggested in classical mythology, the

 

108:2ho 2.99- Phao, I.ii.6~9.
11Bond, 22.33., II, p. 257.
121bid., p. 367.

3O

plot is completely dictated by contemporary events. Cynthia,
the goddess of the moon, becomes a queen surrounded by her
court. The Greek shepherd, Endimion, becomes her favorite
courtier. Although there is much controversy over the
identification of minor characters in the play, almost all
now agree that Cynthia is to be identified as Elizabeth,
Tellus as Mary of Scots, and Endimion as Robert Dudley, the
Earl of Leicester. The play allegorizes the conflicts of
Elizabeth and Mary, who were rivals for love as well as for
a kingdom. This interpretation of the court allegory in
Endimion was first suggested by N. J. Halpin, and his
original suggestions were amplified and modified by Bond.13

In.Miggg, Lyly's only court play which does not deal
with the theme of love, we have a political allegory
designed to compliment Elizabeth in a broader sense on the
defeat of the Spanish Armada by the English in 1588. This
allegory is superficial only, and does not affect the basic
plot in any way. The greed displayed by Midas may be
identified with the greed of Philip. Midas is involved in
a campaign against the Island of Lesbos, which.parallels

 

13R. W. Bond, "On the Allegory in Endimion,‘I gp.cit.,
III, pp. 819103.

31

Philip's designs against the British Isles. Midas refers to
his defeat in words that recall the defeat of the Armada:

For stretching my hands to Losbos, I find that

all the Gods have spurnde at my practises, and

those Ilandes scornd them. My pride the gods

disdaine; my pollicie men: my mines have bin

emptied by souldiers, my souldiers spoyled by

warres, my were without successe, because

usurping, my usurping wifihout end, because my

ambition above measure. .

His use of a personal, topical allegory along with
a spiritual, platonic allegory, completely identifies nyly
with a courtly audience. Differing greatly from the obvious
moral allegories common to an earlier drama, where Vice is
clearly defeated by Virtue, Lyly's allegory presupposes an
acquaintance with the platonic doctrines of courtly love,
as well as a knowledge of contemporary court events and
intrigues. This type of knowledge could not be presupposed
with a public theater audience. In addition, such a double
allegory is intricate and difficult to follow. Although
the plays can stand without their allegorical interprea
tations, they are obviously intended for the initiate, the
knowing, the sophisticated.
Lyly also very clearly shows a courtly influence in

his delineation of character. Writing for an exclusive,

class-conscious society, Lyly tended to treat his characters

 

luMidas, v.111.52~5s.

as representatives of a class or occupation, rather than as
individuals. Bond remarks on this aSpect of Lyly's dramatic
environment:

The society in which he moved was courtly, and

the tendency of all society conventionally

supposed Ithe best' is the suppression of

individuality. A general propriety of out»

line without distinctive marks inevitably

produces, in successive works, the sense of

repetition.15

Although the world inhabited by his characters is
not a realistic one, Lyly observes a certain decorum in his
use of the various social classes. Deities est like deities.
They are held in awe by mortals, to whom they deal out
punishment and reward. Gourtly and pastoral characters
move in their own circles, and servants and tradesmen occupy
still another sphere.‘ This same type of division may be
observed in Shakespeare's Midsummer gightig‘ggggm, in which
the world of courtly society, the world of the fairies, and
the world of the rude mechanicals touch, but do not mingle.
The gods usually condescend to mortals, and except

in the case of Venus' conflict with Sapho, do not deign to
contend with them. Pan and Apollo, for instance, contend
with each other for mastery in music, but Apollo makes it
clear that they are both far above men when he requests Midas

to Judge between them:

 

15Bond, gp.cit., II, p. 285.

.33

I am Apollo, this Pan, both Gods. We contend
for sovereigntie in Musicke. Seeing it
happens in earth, we must be Judged of those
on earth; in which there are none more worthie
than Kings and Nymphes.16

.tnngenus puts Phao in his place when he attempts to discuss
the affairs of the deities:

It is not for a ferry man to talk of the
Gods loves: but to tell hi, thy father could
dig, and thy mother spin.

In spite of a generally stereotyped presentation,
several of the gods emerge quite clearly as individuals.
Among the better drawn are Venus and Vulcan as they appear
in Q2222‘222.22§2' Venus, bored with the company of Vulcan,
Justifies herself for looking elsewhere for entertainment:

It is no lesse unseemely then unwholsom
for Venus, who is most honoured in Princes
courtes, to sojourne with Vulcan in a smithes
forge, where bellowes blow in steeds of
sighes, dark smokes rise for sweet perfumes,
and for the panting of loving hearts, is
only heard the beating of steeled hammers. . . .
What doth Vulcan all day but endevour to be
as crabbed in manor as he is crooked in body?
driving nailes, when he should give kisses,
and hammering hard armours, when he should
sing sweets Amors. It came 2g let, not love,
that I was lincked with him.

However, when Venus wants something from Vulcan, she
entreats him prettily:

Make me six arrows heads: it is given thee of
the Gods by permission to frame them to any

 

16Midas , IV.i.73—77.
17Sapho egg Phao, 1.1.70-71.

lssapho 9E Phao, I.i.19-28.

purpose, I shall request them by praier.
Why lowrest thou Vulcan? wilt thou have a
kisse? holds uppe thy head. Venus hath
young thoughtes, and fresh affections.19

Vulcan is well characterized as shrewd and knowing,
but unable to resist the blandishments of Venus:

Vulcan is a God with you, when you are
disposed to flatter. . . . You were woont to
say that the beating of hammers made your head
ake, and the smoake of the forge your eies
water, and every scale was a blocks in your
way. You weeps rose water, when you sake,
and spitte vinegar, when you have obtained.
What would you now, with new arrowes? belike
Mars hath a tougher skin one his heart, or
Cupid a weaker arms, or Venus a better courage.
Well Venus, there is never a smile in your
face but hath made a wrinkle in my forehead. . . .
Come Cyclops, my wife must have her will: let
us doe that in eggth, which the Gods cannot
undoe in heaven.

Lyly's tendency to idealize court manners, conversation
and etiquette, gives an air of sameness to his courtly '
characters. For instance, of all the courtly ladies in his
plays, only Tellus emerges as an individual. Her outspoken,
genuine passion for Endimion sets her apart from the rest,
who tend to treat love as an amusing pastime. hyly's
courtiers likewise suffer from a monotony of characterization.
Like the ladies, they are constantly absorbed in affairs
of the heart, and pursue their amours with a strict observance

of the conventions of courtly love.

 

1922222 993 21153, Iv.1v.1o.-11:.
“92292. 229. ___.Phao. “Ann—31.

35

The pastoral characters are presented in much the
same manner as the courtly characters. Nymphs are prone to
indulge in the same witty exchanges about men and love as
are engaged in by the court ladies, and only superficial,
.distinctions are attempted among the nymphs. In Gallathea,

 

the two disguised girls are almost identical in speech and
manner. Gallathea is pictured as a little more aggressive,
for she bemoans her boyish disguise because of the loss of
pride involved, while Phillida worries only about the
embarrassment it causes her. The character of Haebe in the
same play is drawn with more warmth and individuality than
usual. Haebe, having been selected as the fairest virgin,
is prepared as a sacrifice to an angry sea monster. In
a long speech, she wrings all of the pathos out of her
position, bemoans her fate, and bids goodpbye to all the
Joys of earth. Then,upon being refused by the Auger, she
is at first Joyful at her release, then mournful because
she is not the fairest:

Fortunate Haebe, hows shalt thou expresse thy

Joyss? Nay unhappy girls that art not the

.fairest. Had it not been better for thee to

have died with fame, then to live with dis«

honour, to have preferred the safetie of thy

Countrey and rarenesse of thy beautie, before

sweetnes of life, and vanity of the world?

But alas! desteny would not have it so, desteny

coulde not, for it asketh the beautifullest. 1
I would Haebe thou hadst been beautifullest.2

 

21Gallathea, v.11.6a—es.

36

A welcome variety is introduced into the plays by the
introduction of genre characters into the farcical interludes.
These servants and tradesmen are distinguished primarily by
class characteristics, but they drawn sharply and often with
true humor. Calypho, a smith, is pictured as strong of
muscle, but weak of mind. When involved in an argument
with the witty pages, he carries by vehemence-what he cannot
by logic. Motto, a barber, is undone because he is too
loquacious. Fortune tellers recite their absurd generalities
with great solemnity. An alchemist and an astrologer are
presented as scholarly enthusiasts, learned in their crafts,
but entirely incapable of dealing with reality.

It may be said of Lyly that he lacked either the
ability or the inclination to draw character with any depth
or tenderness. His is always the light hand, the sharp but
superficial eye. His charming, artificial creatures inhabit
an artificial world, created for the entertainment of an _
essentially artificial court society.

The courtly nature of hyly's drama is brought out
again by the nature of his comedy. His ideal of humor is
made explicit in the Prologue to §2222.222;§2£2¢ which was
presented before a public audience at the Blackfriars. He
condescends somewhat to this public audience, and warns his
auditors that they will be unable 'to reap your wonted
mirthes.'

37

Our intent was at this time to move inward den
light, not outward dightnesse, and to breeds
(if it might bee) soft smiling, not loude
laughing: knowing it to the wise to be as
great pleasure to heare counsell mixed with
witte, as to the foolisB to have sports
mingled with rudenesse. 2

Lyly strives always to be gay and witty. He loves the
subtle and intricate, rather than the obvious and gross.

For this reason, Lyly's humor lies principally in the verbal
wit which he incorporates into his drama."Although he
frequently presents amusing situations and essentially

comic characters, his exploitation of them is almost entirely
verbal. This type of comedy is naturally limited in its
appeal. It presupposes an audience equipped by background
and education to follow the flashing witticisms, the subtle
word play, and the quick, clever exchanges which abound in
hyly's comedies. It also presupposes an audience able to
look upon tradesmen and servants with an air of amused
detachment.

Decorum is observed in the type of humor introduced
by the various groups or classes of characters appearing in
the comedies. The courtly and pastoral personagss indulge
in witty exchanges, usually on the subJect of love. Their

humor is always bright and spirited, never coarse or vulgar.

 

zasapho and Phao, Prologue.7~ll.

38

The pages are allowed to indulge in a sort of verbal horse-
play which corresponds in a way to the actual physical
roughhouse so common on the public stage of the day. They
engage in frequent battles of wit, often involving parodies
on latin grammar and formal logic. The genre characters
tend to represent the more amusing aspects of their classes
or trades. ‘These figures are funny, not by virtue of

comic antics, but by a clever exploitation of their peculiar
trade lingos.

As love was the constant theme of the court as well
as of Lyly's drama, it comes in for a share of humorous '
treatment. Mileta, a lady in the court of Sapho, comments
on the empty manners of the typical courtier:

It is good eporte to see them want matter:

for then fall they to good manners, having

nothing in their mouthes but 'sweet mistresse,‘

wearing our hands out with courtly kissings,

when their wits fails in courtly discourses.

Now rufling their haires, now setting their

ruffss, then gazing with their eies, then

sighing with a privie wring by the hand,

thinking us like to be wowed by signes and

ceremonies.
Sophronia, the daughter of Midas, and her court ladies seek
to while away a long afternoon, but seem unable to avoid
the subJect of love. This witty exchange between Sophronia

and Suavia results:

 

23Sapho §_n_d Phao, I.iv.3l:-1:0.

SOpe

Sua.

Sop.

Sue.

SOpe

Sufi.

SOpe

Sua.

80p.

39

Ladies, here must we attent the happy return
of my father, but in the mean season what
pastime shal we use to passe the time? I
wil agree to any, so it be not to talks of
love.

Then sleeps is the best exercise.

Why suavia, are you so light, that you must
chat of love; or so heavie, that you must
needes sleeps? Pene10pe in the absence of
her Lord beguyled the daiss with spinning.

Indeed she spun a faire thrsed, if it were
to make a string to the bow wherein she
drew her woers.

Why Suavia, it was a bow which she knew to
be above their strength, and therein she
shswde her wit.

Qui latus arEgerit corneus arcus eret: it

was made 0 orne madam, and EHereIn she
shewde her meaning.

Why, doest thou not think she was chast?
Yes, of all her woers.

To talks with thee is ta lose time, not
well to spend it . . .2

Many sprightly bits of repartee occur between the

various sets of lovers. One such is found in Loves Metan

mo hosis, when Silvestris and Niobe indulge in some romantic

sparring:

811.
N10.

A woman hath but one heart.

But a thousand thoughts.

 

euMidas, III.iii.l—l7.

811.

N10e

811.

N10.
811.
N10.
511.
N10.

My Lute, though it have many strings, maksth
a sweets consent; and a Ladies heart, though
it harbour many fancies, should embrace but
one love.

The strings of my heart are tuned in a con»
trarie keys to your Lute, and make as sweets
harmonic in discords, as yours in concord.

Why, what strings are in ladies hearts? Not
the base.

There is no base string in a woman's heart.
The means?
There was never means in womans heart.

The treble?

Yea, the treble double and treble; and so are
all my heartstrings. Farews11125

The many comedy scenes which involve parodies on

Latin grammar and formal logic remind us that Lyly's plays

were acted by the boy companies attached to the court.

For instance, in Endimion, Sir Tephas boasts of his prowess

in battle to his boy Epiton and the pages, Dares and Samias.

Leaving off his talk of war, he starts to boast of his

learning:
Dar.
Tap.
3am.

TQpe

What, are you also learned, sir?
Learned? I am all Mars and.Ars.
Nay, you are all Masse and.Asss.

Mock you mes? You shall both suffer . . . Am
I all a masss or lumps, is there no proportion

 

25Loves Metamorphosis, III.i.ll§~127.

Sam.

TOP e

#1

in me? Am I all Asse? is there no wit in
mes?“ Epi, prepare them to the slaughter.

I pray sir hears us speaks! we call you
Masse, which your learning doth well
understands is all Man, for Mas maris is

a man. Then 32 (as you knowET“is a

weight, and we for your vertues account you
a weight.

The Latins hath saved your lyves, the which
a world of silver could not have ransomde.
I understand you, and pardon you.2

One of the best scenes satirizing formal logic occurs

in Sapho and Phao. Molus and Criticus, two court pages,

seek to have sport with the stupid smith, Galypho, by

attempting to prove to him that he is a devil. They begin

to press him hard, and the following conversation takes

place:
Mel.
Gal.
Nol.
Cal.

M01.
Cal.
Cri.
Gal.

But what doest thou answers?

I deny that.

What?

Whatsoever it is, that shall prove me a divell.
But hearest thou schollsr, I am a plains fellow,
and can fashion nothing but with the hammer.
What wilt thou say, if I prove thee a smith?
Then will I say thou art a scholler.

I will prove it, or els--

Or els what?

Or els I will not proove it. Thou art a Smith:
therefore thou art a smith. The conclusion, you

say, must not bee denyed: and therefore it is
true, thou art a smith.

 

25Endimion, 1.111.90-105.

MOle
Cal.

Gris

Cal.

“Ole

#2

I, but I denie your Antecedent.

I, but you shal not. Have I not toucht him,
Cryticus?

You have both done learnedly: for as sure as
he is a smith, thou art a divell.

And then he a devill, because a smith: for
that it was his reason to make me a devil,
being a smith.

There is no reasoning with these Mechanical
doltes, whose wits are in their hands, not
in their heads.27

Lyly's humor often exploits the Jargon peculiar to

various trades. In Gallathea, a Mariner tries to instruct

the boys Dicks and Robin, in his art:

Mar.

D10.

Mar.

Dioe

Mar.

Hob.

Then, as you like this, I will instruct
you in all our secretes: for there is
not a clowte nor cards, nor boord, nor
post, that hath not a speciall name, or
singular nature.

Well begin with your points, for I lack
onlie points in this world.

North. North and by East. North North.East.
Northpeast and by North. North-east. North-
east and by East. East North—East. East and
by North. East.

Ile say it. North, north-east, North-east,
Nore nore and by Nora-sast-l shall never
doe it:

Thys is but one quarter.

I shall never learns a quarter of it.28

 

2731mm 993 Phao, 11.111.72.93.
23Gallathea, I.iii.1+8~59.

l+3

Peter, an alchemist's boy, describes the science of
alchemy thus:

What a life doc I leads with my Maister,
nothing but a blowing of bellows, beating of
spirits, and scraping of Crosletsl it is a
very secrete Science, for none almost can
understand the language of it. Sublimation,
Almigation, Oalcination, Hubification,
Encorporation, Circination, Sementation,
Albification, and Fermentation. With as many
terms unpossibls go be uttered as the Arts
to be compassed.2

Motto, the barber, also has his trade lingo, which
he attempts to explain to his apprentice:

Besides, I instructed thee in the phrases
of our eloquent occupation, as 'how sir will
you be trimmed? wil you have your beard like
a spade, or a bodkin? a penthouse on your
upper lip, or an allie on your chin? a lowe
curls on your head like a Bull, or dangling
look like a spaniel? your mustachoes sharp
at the endes, like shomakers aules, or hanging
down to your mouth like Goates flakes? your
lovenlocks wreathed with a silken twist, or
shaggie to fal on your shoulders?'3°

The Huntsman in Miggg is a true pedant in his craft.
The pages, Licio and Petulus, make sport of his insistence
upon having the correct hunting terminology used:
Lic. Is not hunting a tedious occupation?

Pet. I and troublesome, for if you call a dog a
dog, you are undone.

 

Emlhthea , II e 111 e 9"‘15 e
3QMidas, III.11.3z~nu.

nu

Hun. You be both foolesl and besides, bases
minded: hunting is for kings, not peasants.
Such as you are unworthie to be hounds,
much lesse huntsmen, that know not when
a hound is fleet, faire flewds, and well
hangd e e e31

Lyly never treats a theme with real seriousness. His
Opportunities for pathos are but rarely exploited. Sapho, for
instance, puns even when enduring the pangs of an impossible

love:

If hes yeelde, then shal I shame to emu
brace one so means; if not, die, because I
cannot embrace one so means. Thus doe I finde
no meane.32

Even Haebe, bound for the sacrifice, cannot resist playing
with words as she remarks, ' . . . how happy had I been,
if I had not beenel'33

R. W. Bond sums up Lyly's humor in the following words:

His characters gambol or saunter gracefully
through an ideal world, where everybody quotes
Latin and has wit and high spirits; a world
where suffering, if not absent, is but faintly
realized or expressed, a world therefore semen
what lacking in that true humor whose est nurse
is the kindly sternness of real life.3

However, Lyly's greatest contribution to the stream
of English drama lies in his develOpment of this ideal—comic
style. Although hyly's comedy was limited in its appeal to

 

31mm, IV.iii.l-7.

328 §_p___q___ and g__nao, Iv. 1.15.17.
33Gallathea, v.11.h3-Ju+.
3nBond, gp,gi3., II, p. 262.

“5

the court audience of his day, the same comedy techniques
introduced by him, when used by a far greater dramatist,
resulted in the timeless romantic comedies of Shakespeare.

The many masqueulike elements which Lyly incorporated
into his drama give further evidence of his close connection
with a courtly type of entertainment. His lavish use of
song and dance is perhaps the most notable instance of the
influence of the masque upon his work. Thirtyntwo songs
are indicated in the texts of Lyly's-eight plays, twenty-one
of which appear in Blount's 1632 edition of the‘gig‘ggggg
Comedies. These songs include complaints, enchantments,
love songs, a hymn to Apollo, and the contest songs of Pan
and Apollo. Lyly also introduced a fairy ballet into both
Endimion and Gallathea, while £2333,Metamorphosis includes
a dance of nymphs.

The influence of the Italian practise of mingling
pastoral and mythological themes was evident in both the
court masques of the day and in the plays of Lyly. Many
idyllic pastoral scenes and strikingly lovely settings are
produced by Lyly. In Endimion, we have the magic fountain
in the wilderness; we have the shrines of Apollo and of
Cupid in‘gigag and Egzgg_uetamorphosis. There is a masque-
like quality about the emergence of the nymph Fidelia from
a tree in Gallathea, and in the transformation of Bagoa from

an aspen to her own shape in Endimion.

46

An element of anti-masque has already been pointed
out with regard to Lyly's particular use of farcical characters
and interludes. To these interludes must be added the
various songs and dances which also share in the nature of
the anti-masque, which was brought to its fullest development
in the masques of Ben Jonson. There are several comic trios
performed by pages and servants, some rowdy drinking songs,
and a song by the CyclOps in §2222.EEE.EEEQv which was
probably accompanied by the forging of arrows. A further
element of pantomime is present in giggg, where a comic song
about a toothache was no doubt accompanied by a pantomime
extraction of the tooth.

It seems evident from the foregoing analysis that
Lyly adapted his themes from classical mythology with his
particular audience constantly in mind. Because of this,
his work is almost wholly identified with the courtly
audience for which he wrote. His comedy was intended to
be a toy for the members of Elizabeth's court-written for
them, and about them. However, when new and more fascinating
toys appeared, the vogue for Lyly's drama receded. With
the inhibition of Paul's Boys in 1590, Lyly, who had been so
closely associated with them, faded out of the picture. By
the time of the lifting of suppression some eight years
later, other, more gifted dramatists had appeared on the
scene, and the mighty flood of Elizabethan drama swept past

1:7

Lyly with his self~conscious, mannered little court enter»
tainments. Even the euphuistic style, which had initially
brought him fame, appeared ridiculous beside the magnificent
poetry of such men as Shakespeare, Marlowe, and Jonson.
The court became more and more inclined to look to the
public stage for its dramatic entertainment, and the court
masque continued along its own line of development, becoming
more and more spectacular and lavish. Felix Schelling sums
up the fate of hyly's drama in the following words:
Lyly's ideal of a drama, at once artistic

and fitted to the tastes, the prejudices, and

the limitations of the court, failed less be.

cause of any inadequacy on his part than because

it could not abide the vigorous rivalry of the

pOpular stage which, in the essential democracy

of the age, addressed itself to a constit ency
that included every class in the nation.3

 

35Sohelling,‘gp,2i£., p. 233.

CHAPTER III

THOMAS HEYWOOD
. . . to unlocks the Casket long time shut,
Of which none but the learned keeps the key.

Heywood alone of all the Elizabethan dramatists, used
classical material specifically to educate and to entertain
the bourgeois. Although the Globe, and later the Blackfriars,
attracted the more fashionable audiences and the first»
ranking dramatists, such as Shakespeare and Jonson, the
Red Bull and the Cockpit too had their crowds. It was
to these crowds that Thomas Heywood directed his efforts to
instruct and to delight.

Heywood's most ambitious attempt to propagate ancient
culture among the masses was incorporated in his cycle of
plays known as the égg_. In this cycle of five plays, Heywood
attempts to present “an intire History, from Jupiter and
Saturne, to the utter subversion of Troy.'1 Such an
ambitious attempt calls to mind the medieval cycle plays,
which attempted to present the story of man's destiny from
the fall of Lucifer to the Judgment of the world. Through

 

1The Dramatic Works 2; Thomas He wood, Pearson edition
(London,'IE7KI, III, p. 351. {Hereafter referred to as Works)

-W ~—. A

“9

these playucycles, crude as they often were, a knowledge
of the biblical story was brought to countless people who
would otherwise have remained ignorant. If the stage were
used so successfully in medieval times to bring the story
of the creation and Judgment of the world to the unlettered,
why should not the culture of the ancient world be made
available through the same medium? Heywood was keenly
aware of the educational possibilities of the stage.
In the Apology1£g£ Actors he says: 'Playss have made the
ignorant more apprehensive, taught the unlearned the
knowledge of many famous histories; instructed such as
cannot reade in the discovery of all our English Chronicles."2
This cycle, then, based upon classical legend, would attempt
to bring to the masses some of the knowledge and culture
of the ancient world which had formerly been the possession
of the educated and courtly classes. Heywood states this
purpose very clearly in his Prologue to 3p: Silver £33:
Homer old and blinds,

Cf eld, by the best Judgements tearm'd divine,

That in his former labours found you kinds,

Is come the ruder censures to refine:

And to unlocks the Casket long time shut,
Of which none but the learned keeps the key,3

 

gAn A olo for.Actors, edited by J. P. Collier
(London,-ISEE}, reprInted for Shakespeare Society, Vol. 15,

NOs 3, p. 52s
3Works, III, p. 85.

50

Heywood, of course, was not unique among dramatists
in his desire to raise the level of taste and education in
the theater of his day. Lyly, in trying to present plays
more acceptable to the cultured court of Elizabeth than the
loose, wandering chronicle plays current in his day, tried
to infuse some of the classical sense of form into both
the language and structure of his drama. Jonson continually
ridiculed the low standards of pOpular drama and attempted
to imbue his own work with an aura of historical authenticity
and scholarship, sometimes at the expense of entertainment
values. Beaumont, in a rather more entertaining manner,
attempted to sharpen the critical sense of his audience
with.zhg Knight 21.322 Burning Pestle, which hit directly
at those dramatists who catered to the vulgar taste.
Heywood, however, from his close contact with the popular
theater in the role of actor as well as playwright, knew
his audience well, and accepted it as it ween—wholeheartedly
and without reservation. He neither sneered, as did Jonson,
nor ridiculed, as did Beaumont. Perhaps Jonson, with his
concept of the drama as “literature" could afford to be
booed off the boards in the hOpes of later recognition as
a literary artist. But Heywood wrote for the present, not
the future. He saw clearly that if you want to educate the
audience, they first have to hear you out. Further, he made

sure that the audience would hear him out by frankly catering

51

to their tastes. In the Epilogue to The Brazen.§gg he says:
All we have done we aims at your content,
Striving to illustrate things not knowne to all
In which the learnd can onsly censure right:
The rest we crave, whom we unlettered call,
Rather to attend than Judge; for more than eight
We seeks to please.
Heywood sugar—coated the pill of education, and not only held
his audience, but scored a huge papular success with his
“classical" drama. As A. M. Clark puts it: ' . . . of all
the dramatists Heywood was the most compliant with the public
and yielded with an easy acquiescence and whole-hearted
surrender.”5
This Rwholeuhearted surrender“ won for Heywood's Ages
an immense papularity with the public theater audience
in london. In his address 'To the Reader“ which appeared
in the printed edition of The IronIégg, Part I, Heywood
points to this pOpularity with Just pride:
Lastly, I desire thee to take notice, that
these were the Playes often (and not with the least
applause,) Publickely Acted by two Companies uppon
one Stage at once, and have at sundry times
thronged three severalg Theaters, with numerous
and mighty Auditories.
Heywood's double purpose of education and entertain—

ment, then, is clear. It is also evident that these plays
“Works, III,ppo 255~560
5Arthur H. Clark, Thomas Henood (Oxford, 1931), p. 209.
5mm, III, p. 261:.

52

were aimed specifically at the masses. Whether he succeeded
in educating his audience is questionable, but that he was
successful in pleasing and entertaining his audience is
beyond doubt. Judging by his long, successful career on
the public stage, and his many years as the chosen London
pageant post, we may certainly say that Heywood may claim
the honor of being the favorite dramatist of the bourgeois.

Heywood's problem in presenting classical material
to a heterogeneous, bourgeois audience, was that of making
the unfamiliar familiar. This he chose to do by humanizing
and vulgarizing the classical figures and incidents. The
classics are not simply narrated for the benefit of the
uneducated. They are transformed and brought to life, not
in their historical setting, as Jonson tried to do, but in
contemporary London. The legendary figures of Helen of
Troy, Hercules, and Achilles walk the London streets. Jupiter,
Juno, and Venus visit Cheapside. But, although the humanizing
and modernizing runs into riotous incongruity, a new life
and spirit is breathed into the classics, and they glow
anew with some of the color, movement, and richness of
Elizabethan England. So, even thoughthey are vulgarized,
they are at the same time, revitalized.

An audience that embraces people from many walks of
life, of varying degrees of education, culture, and wealth,

makes many demands upon a dramatist. In the Ayes, Heywood

53

presents a medley with something for every taste. The
episodes run the gamut of every pOpular type of drama from
pure fares to revenge tragedy. The scenes range from the
spectacular to the romantic-«from the romantic to the comicna
from the comic to the pathetic~uand back again to the
spectacular. Violence, laughter, excitement, romance, and
tears, all have their hour upon the stage. And all of this
is presented with a color and variety, a sweep and movement,
before which all thoughts of dramatic structure, style, and
stagecraft must have been swept from the minds of both
dramatist and audience. -As Tatlock.puts it, the Age; seem
to be the 'work of a young man full of uncritical enthusiasm
for ancient myth and modern drama, too eager to pour the
one into the mould of the other to care how he did it."7
The‘éggg consist of five plays, comprising twentybfive
acts, and over one hundred separate scenes. The episodes
are without any essential unity, and are bound together in
a roughly chronological fashion. ‘ghg Golden Age was printed
by Nicholas Okes in 1611, The Silver Ag: and '_1'__h_e_ Brazen Ag:
appeared in print in 1613, and the two parts of 222'££22.§E£
did not come into print until 1632, although all were doubtless
written years before they came to be published. The printed
versions of the plays bear lengthy descriptive titles which

 

' 7John S. P. Tatlock, I'The Siege of Troy in Elizabethan
Ldterature, Especially in Shakespeare and Heywood,“ PMLA, XXX

(1915). p- 705-

~»>——‘

5n

outdo even those satirized by Beaumont: The first three
plays, which form a trilogy, bear the following titles:
The Golden Age: or The Lives 2: Jupiter and Saturn, with the

 

 

deifying 25 the Heathen Gods; The Silver Age. Including the

 

Love‘s: Jupiter £2 Alcmena: The birth 25 Hercules, and the

 

Rape 2£_PrOse£pine, concluding with the Arraignment of

 

the Moon; The Brazen figs. The First Act containing the

 

 

Death of the Centaur Nessus. The Second the Tragedy of

 

Meleager: The Third the Tragedy 2; Jason and Medea. The
Fourth Vulcan's Net, the Fifth the Labours and Death 25

 

 

 

Hercules. The last two plays have more inherent unity, as
they deal with the Troy legend, but they also attempt to
cover a tremendous amount of material.

A. H. Clark remarks concerning the eggs, that these
“popular parallels to the graceful court-dramas of Lyly
and Peels are the best specimens of Heywood's versatility
. . .'8 Certainly it may be seen that these innumerable
episodes, ranging from the broadest fares to tragedy, would
call upon every facet of the dramatist's art.

A The papular character of Heywood's Aggg|is illustrated
in both his choice of sources, and in his handling of these
sources. Although Heywood invokes the aid of Homer, I'old
and blinde,‘ he actually follows medieval, rather than

 

SClark, gp.cit., p. 222.

55

classical,tradition. The great bulk of his material comes
from the papular medieval redactions of classical accounts
which were a part of the heritage of the English Renaissance.
Heywood makes no attempt to put the classical stories in
their prOper historical setting, but modernizes and humanizes
them in a fashion which was pepular in the middle ages.

. In the medieval versions of classical legend, Homer
was virtually set aside, and the memoirs of the spurious
Dares and Dictys were substituted as authorities.9 The
writings of Dares and Dictys purport to be eyenwitness
accounts of the TroJan war, and tend to substitute a crude
and lively realism for the stately account of Homer. They
are prone to account for all of their information in a
purely realistic fashion, and to eliminate all of the super»
natural agencies appearing in the Ell23° Instead, they
present many small, realistic detailsn-Helsn of Troy's beauty
spot, Polyxena's large hands, Aeneas' "sparkling black
eyes," and such information as that Helen was twentyasix
years old and Paris thirtyuthree at the time of the abduction.
These accounts also are notable for their strong partisan
bias-nthe Greek represented by Dictys, and the TroJan by
Dares. In England, Dares naturally was the most preferred,

9Nathaniel E. Griffin, "Um-Homeric Elements in the
Story of Troy,“ JEGP, v11 (1907-1908), p. 37.

r‘

us*
.--

56

for the tradition that the Britons were descendants of the
house of Priam was strong during the middle ages. Douglas
Bush remarks concerning the writings of Dares and Dictys:
"These books had an enduring papularity far beyond that of
our modern outlines of the universe: othey were exactly what
the public wanted."10 The continuation of medieval tradition
and taste, especially among the littleaeducated, led to
the continuing pOpularity of this tradition, even after
Chapman's Iliad appeared in 1598. Heywood refers to both
the pOpularity of the Troy legend, and to the papular
tradition of English descent from the TroJans in his dedi—
cation of The Iron Agg, Part I, to Mr. Thomas Hammon, Esq.
The History whereon it is grounded, having

beene the selected Argument of many ezquisite

Poets: For what Pen of note, in one page or other

hath not remembered Troy, and bewayl'd the sacks

and subversion of so illustrious a Citty: Which,

although it were scituats in Asia, yet out of her

ashes hath risen two the rarestlihoenixes in

EurOpe, namely London and Rome.
Following then, as always, the prevailing taste of the
ordinary people, rather than that of the more educated
class, Heywood used as his maJor source Caxton's Recuyell
25 the Histories 25 Troy. This is an English adaptation

of Raoul 1e Fevre's £3 Recuiel des Histories g3 Tro e, which,

in turn, reverts to the Historia TroJana of Guido delle

 

1oDouglas Bush, M tholo and the Renaissance Tradition
‘gg English Poetry (HinneapoIIs, 1932), p. 7. *—

11works, III, pp. 261~62.

57

Colonne, and all claim as their ultimate source the Latin
accounts of Dares and Dictys.12 .
Heywood, in the medieval tradition, follows his

source material closely. s. G. Martin says:

In fact, Heywood's following of Caxton is free

quently so close and so prolonged as to be

positively slavish; Golden Age is nothing in

the world but a dramatized novel, adhering to

its source with a fidelity without parallel,

so far as I recall, in Elizabethan drama.

Silver Age uses Ovid to a considerable extent;

Brazen Age is least dependent on Caxton and

has most frequent recourse to Ovid. Iron

sis almost as close to Caxton as is Golden
A80e3

But in spite of this 'slavish' following of Caxton, Heywood
makes the material his own. While the tone of Caxton is
sober, moralistic, and surrounded with the aura of medieval
courtesy, Heywood's plays are spirited, almost devoid of
moralizing, and steeped in the atmosphere of contemporary
London. .

Although.his principal source is Caxton, Heywood
draws from many other sources, both classical and English,
which were papular at the time. Next to Caxton, his heaviest
borrowings are from Ovid. The Venus and Adonis episode
in 223 Brazen.égg comes from the Hetamogphoses. Here we
have a hybrid, for in Ovid there is no suggestion of the

amorous goddess wooing a cold Adonis. This is a feature of

 

12RObert 0. Martin, “Notes on Thomas Heywood's AGES, '
m, 20cm: (1913), pp. 23-29-

13Ibid., p. 23.

58

Shakespeare's pepular 12323 egg_Adenis, which was probably
apprOpriated by Heywood. The Medea and Jason episode which
is told in 222 Brazen Agg, is taken largely from the
Metamorphoses, with-details added from Tristia and Eéfifiiflln
The episode of Mars and Venus is from Ovid's AggrAmatoria,
which follows closely the original version given in the
eighth book of the Odyssey. From Lucian comes the story
of Gallus, the servant of Mars, who is changed into a cock.
From Plautus comes the episode of Jupiter, Alcmena, and
Amphitryon, with its broad domestic comedy.15

Heywood's desire to educate his audience leads him
to crowd as many stories into each play as he possibly can.
This naturally leads to a looseness of structure, and an
utter disregard for any sort of overuall unity of dramatic
aconstruetionu-although often individual scenes are remarkably
effective. The popular chronicle form lent itself to such
a presentation, and in using this form, Heywood cast the
unfamiliar classical material into the mould of the familiar
chronicle play. Thus the audience, freed from the responsi-
bility of following a sustained plot structure, or of accepting
an unfamiliar “classical' form, was asked only to follow

and enJoy the myths, which were presented in a throughly

 

lulblde ,. ps 28s

_ 15A. H. Gilbert, “Thomas Heywood's Debt to Plautus,"
JEGP, XII (1913), pp. 5914—96.

59

familiar fashion. Heywood tells the classical myths in
the same manner in which he would tell an incident from
English history or folk—lore, with no special reverence
for their lofty status in artistic history. -

Although many chronicle plays were centered around
a central character or group of characters, the Aggg, with
the exception of the two parts of The,;£gg_§g3 which center
around the Troy legend, contain a lengthy procession of
characters, of which only Jupiter and Hercules are accorded
any continuing interest. Th3 Golden Ag: has thirtyuone
characters, plus nymphs and satyrs. 223 Silveruégg has
thirtyufive characters, plus six centaurs, servingment,
swaines, Theban ladies, representations of the seven planets,
and the Furies. Th2 Brazen.ég3 uses thirtyueight characters,
plus maidens and water nymphs. There is more carryuover of
the principal characters in the two parts of _'1_‘_1_1_e_ I333 553.
Part I has thirty-one characters, plus many soldiers and
attendants. Part II carries over many of those appearing
in Part I, and adds twenty additional characters.

In order to cover such a multiplicity of incident
and character, and yet to hold the interest of his audience
without any centralizing incident or character, Heywood
has to keep the action moving rapidly, and must depend upon
the variety and effectiveness of individual scenes to hold

his audience. Naturally, much condensation must take place.

60

Heywood accomplishes this condensation by using two devices
common to the chronicle playa-narration and dumbnshow. The
character of Homer is used to narrate many myths and
incidents which are not shown dramatically, and also to
present the many dumb—shows which help to bridge the gaps
between the various episodes. ‘223 Golden égg and Th3 Silver
‘égg each contain five dumb—shows, whileIghg Brazen Ag: contains
four. Various characters also narrate myths or parts of
myths while involved in the actual presentation of an
episode. An examination of the individual plays reveals
many instances of the use of these two IchronicleI devicesae
narration and dumb-show.
223 Golden égg has a roughly chronological arrangement.

The play opens after the death of Uranus, who is referred
to as the King of Crete. The argument over the kingdom
between his two sons, Titan and Saturn, is develOped, and
the story of the birth of Jupiter is shown. Between Acts
I and II, a gap of seventeen years is covered by Homer, who
presents a dumb show, and reintroduces Jupiter, now seventeen
years old:

Thinks kinds spectators seventeene sommers past,

Till these be growne to yeares, and Jupiter

Found in a cave by the great Epyre King,

(Where by his daughters he before was hgd.)
0f him and of his fortunes we proceed.

16Works, III, p. 20.

61

Thus, in the space of one act, almost twenty years are
covered. In Act II the myth of Jupiter and the nymph
Calisto is told. Act III concerns the war between Titan
and his allies, and Saturn and Jupiter. Dumb-show and
narration again bridge the acts, and the myth of Jupiter
and Danae is presented in Act IV. The myths of Io and
Europa are mentioned briefly by Jupiter:
Beauteous Io,
And faire EurOpa, have by our transhapes,
And guiles of love already bene deflour‘d,17
A messenger is used to narrate the birth of Perseus to
Danae, the story of how she is set adrift with the child
by her father, Acrisius, and her rescue at Naples. In this
way, using narration and dumbushow, the story moves from
before the birth of Jupiter, through several of his amorous
episodes, up to the birth of Perseus; yet several of the
most appealing episodes are developed in an attractive
and interesting manner, in spite of the great condensation
which is necessary.
In order to end the play satisfyingly, if not logically,
Homer tells of the deification of the pagan gods, and then
presents the same in a spectacular dumb-show. In this way,
despite the multiplicity of incident and character, a sort

of climax is arrived at which rounds out the play, and makes

 

17works, III, p. 55.

62

it a rather effective, if not unified, presentation.

The most blatant disregard of dramatic structure,
the most outrageous leaps in time and space, the most
incongruous of episodes occur in the two plays known as
'ggg Silver Ag: and‘ghg,Brazen‘§gg. Characters and episodes
change with bewildering rapidity, with only the character
of Hercules appearing with any sort of regularity to give
some semblance of continuity to the plays. 1‘23 Silver Ag:
continues the story of King Acrisius, with the accent now
on the exploits of Perseus. The interest soon shifts to
the story of Hercules, and the play concludes with the
story of Proserpine. But in spite of the disJointed and
episodic nature of the entire play, Heywood manages to
close it with a highly satisfactory scene of pomp and
pageantry. As the title of the play advertised, Th3 Silver
Age closes with the 'Arraingement of the Moon,“ by means
of which the argument between Ceres and Pluto over Proserpine
is settled. The Planets, Ceres, Jupiter, Pluto, Hercules,
Proserpine, Cerberus, the Judges, Fates, and Furies, all
take part in this scene of solemn ceremony.

. In Th3 Golden Agg and Th3 Silvsrgégg, Heywood made
some attempt to Join the various myths together, either by
a chronological arrangement, or by a common character. He
also attempted to bridge the gaps between the episodes with

some degree of logic, and to round out the whole with a final

53

scene of pomp and pageantry which served as a climax for
the entire production. However, in 222 Brazen Age, Heywood
seems to abandon all hepe of making any kind of a unified
drama out of the incredible hedge—podge of material he
attempts to present. Th5 Brazen Ag: is little more than
a variety show. Song, dance, dumbushow, warfare, tragedy,
comedy, slapstick, and spectacle are all thrown helter—
sksltsr into one huge cauldron. An indication of the play's
lack of structure is given in the presentation speech of
Homer:

Still with our history we shall proceed,

And Hercules victorious acts relate:

His marriage first, next many a noble deed

Perform'd by him: last how he yeelds to Fate.

And these, I hepe, may (with some mixtures) passe,

So you sit pleased in this our'Ags of Brasse.18

Homer narrates several labors of Hercules and shows

the killing of King Busyris, tyrant of Egypt in a dumbashow.
The wedding of Hercules and DeJaniera is presented, and
also the death of Nessus. At this point, Homer shifts the
interest to the story of Meleager, which includes a side
excursion dealing with the story of Venus and Adonis.
After this digression, the story returns to the myth of
Atalanta and Meleager, and carries through the tale of

Althea and the burning brand. Homer then presents the story

 

18Works, III, p. 172.

of Jason and Medea, with the rescue of Hesione worked in

on the way to find the Golden Fleece. Then, to further
complicate the matter, Homer changes the scene completely,
and brings in a myth which is totally unrelated to anything
which has gone before or which comes after. This is perhaps
(the most outrageous introduction of material purely for

its entertainment value which can be cited in the entire
cycle. With no other excuse except that of the desire

for variety, Homer introduces the episode of Venus and
Mars:

Loath are we (curteous auditors) to cloy
Your appetites with viands of one taste,19

After the completion of this totally unrelated but
highly entertaining episode, Heywood is forced to have
Homer wrench the play back to the adventures of Hercules.
Homer says, apologetically:

Our last Act comes, which lest it tedious grow,
What is too long in word, accept in show.2

He then narrates and presents dumbushows of several of the
adventures of Hercules. The episode with Omphale is shown,
and the play ends with the death of Hercules. After the
many digressions, the variety of mood—«ranging from the

pathos of the death of Meleager to the fares of the Venus

 

.19Works, III, pp. 225~26.
2oWorks, III, p. 239.

55

and Mars episode-«Heywood attempts to rise to the height
of tragedy in his presentation of the death of Hercules.
This, of course, proves utterly impossible, and Heywood,
obviously aware of the fact that far too much has been
attempted and too little accomplished, has Homer end rather
’ weakly with the following words:

He that expects five short Acts can contains

Each circumstance of these things we present, 21

He thinkes should shew more barrennesse then brains:

The two plays which make up 2§3l1322_§g2|center

around the Troy story. By virtue of this fact alone, they
have more unity than do the plays which form the trilogy.
Although 333 I393 Ag: is also in an episodic, chronicle
style, Heywood completely drOps the use of dumb—show, and
the use of Homer as a narrator. The necessary narration
is accomplished in the course of the play itself, rather than
interpolated between the scenes or sets. In spite of
these improvements in the dramatic structure, however,
Heywood still tries to include as much as possible. The
love story of Paris and Oenone is condensed into a few
lines. The Troilus and Cressida story, which forms the
focal point of Shakespeare's play of Troy, is outlined in
only twenty lines. During the feast of the Greeks and
TroJans, the affair of Achilles and Pelyxena is set up,
and the story of Troilus and Cressida is completed with a

few lines.

21Works, III, p. 255.

66

The fall of Troy is accomplished in the third act
of Part II of Egg‘lgggiégg. The remaining two acts deal
with the tragedy of Agamemnon, which is presented as a .
revengeatragedy, complete with intrigue, blood-shed,
Machiavellian villains, and a ghost. The epilogue is
spoken by Ulysses, who is the only member of the cast
left alive:

Or if you thinks he Cfihe authorD hath done your
patience wrong

(In teadious Sceanes) by keeping you so long,

Much matter in few words, hee bad me say

Are hard to expresse, that lengthned out his Play.22

We have in the Aggg, a disJointed, but glorious
spectacle for the pepulace. Many legends have been put
into a form which the ordinary man could easily grasp
and appreciate. Academic, formal criticism cannot hepe
to evaluate the probable effectiveness of Heywood's vivid,
colorful scenes, his robust, human characterization, the
flash and excitement of his panoramic action. It was for
these things the sensation-loving audience applauded him,
and Heywooduulike his great contemporary, Shakespearean
wrote for the theater, not for the study. Perhaps there
is little of high art to be found here, but of that art
which fulfills the dramatist's aimuathat of pepularizing

the classicsuuthere is an abundance.

6?

Heywood's purpose of education is remarkably well
served by his use of language. He approaches his subJect
matter with simplicity and directness. Otelia Cromwell
points to this aspect of his art: 6

Writing of and for everyday men, he employs a
language composed of words of common usage. Yet
he is not commonplace or flat; rather has he

employed an unsophisticated diction, at once
adequate and transparently clear.2

Using then, a relatively simple vocabulary, Heywood produces
blank verse which is clear, free, and facile. It is neither
good enough nor bad enough to call attention to itself.
Because of this, it serves remarkably well to focus the
attention upon character and action, and proves genuinely
effective in the A es, which abound in external incident
and demand little of introspection or subtle suggestion.
Heywood's many passages of narration move rapidly

and clearly. A good example is found in the speech of
a messenger who relates the fate of Danae. In a few
lines, he reviews her story, and tells of its conclusion:

Of K. Acrisius, and his Fort of brasss,

Danaes inclosure, and her Beldam guard,

Who but hath heard? yet through these brasen walles

Love hath broke in, and made the maids a mother

Of a faire sonne, which when Acrisius heard,

Her female guard into the fier he doomes,

His daughter, and the infant prince her sonne,

He puts into a mastles boat to sea,
To prove the rigor of the stormy waves.

 

230to11a Cromwell, Thomas He wood, A Stud ;g the
Elizabethan Drama of Eve da EIfe, IaIe Stu es in
English, IXXVIII—(NEw Haven, l§§37, p. 146.

68

As farre as Naples
The friendly winds her mastlesss boat transports,
There suecourd by a curteous Fisher~man
Shee's first releev’d, and after that presented
To King Pelonnus, who at this time reignes:
Who ravisht with her beauty, crownes her Queens,
And deckes her with th' Imperiall robes of state.2u

Concerning Heywood's dialog, Cromwell says:

The predominant nets of Heywood's dialogue
is his extreme simplicity of utterance and
unfailing directness. Free from involved conu
structions his language offggs no subtle
problems of interpretation.

A good example of this aSpect of Heywood'e verse may be
found at the beginning of TE: Golden §g_. Note how the.
exposition is accomplished in a few, simple lines of
dialogue between two Lords:

l.L. The old Uranus, sonne of the Airs and Day
Is dead, and left behinde him two brave sonnes,
Titan and Saturns.

2.L. Titan is the eldest,
And should succeed by the true right of birth.

l.L. But Saturn hath the hearts of al the people,
The Kingdomes high applause, his mothers love,
The least of these are steppes unto a crowns.

2.L. But how wil Titan bears him in these troubles,
Being by nature proud and insolent,
To see the yongsr seated in his throne,
And he to whom the true right appertaines,
By birth, and law of Nations quite cast off?

l.L. That either power or steels must arbitrate:26

 

2nWorks, III, p.77.

25Cremwell, gp,cit., p. 1&2.
Zeflérkfl, III, 13. 6e

69

When Speaking of Heywood's blank verse, one recalls
Lamb's famous description of Heywood as a 'prose Shakespeare."
In the work of Heywood, we do find many admirable qualities
which call for a comparison with Shakespeareu-his.vitality
and robustness, his versatility, his productivity, and his
warm, human sympathy. But, as Lamb pointed out, we miss
a true poetic quality in his work. The range of Heywood's
imagery is narrow, and his verse is lacking in the original
and subtle comparisons with which ShakeSpeare abounds.
However, in respect to the A es, this artistic flaw proves
to be of little consequence. For, if the images are
conventional and obvious, they are at the same time wells
known to the public, and easily grasped by even the most
ignorant. A passage which will serve to illustrate these
qualities of Heywood's imagery, is found in the words
which Jupiter speaks when gazing upon Danae for the first
time:
This face

Hath rob'd the morning of her blush, the lilly

Of her blanch't whitnes, and like theft committed

Upon my souls: shes is all admiration.

But in her eyes I ne're saw perfect lustre.

There is no treasure upon earth but yonder.27

Heywood's educational aim was well served by the

qualities of his work which have been under discussion. He

presented unfamiliar classical material in a setting and

 

27Works, III, p. 63.

7c

in a fashion which was familiar to his audience. His
portrayal of incident and character was graphic and vivid,
and his language clear and direct. In Spite of these facts,
however, perhaps the sheer bulk of the material presented
would hinder it from being as educational as Heywood might
have desired. Such multiplicity of incident could scarcely
avoid being somewhat difficult to absorb in the space of

an afternoon.

If Heywood's educational aims were only partially
fulfilled, the other half of his double purposeuuthat of
sntertainment-was amply realized. It is to an examination
of those elements in his plays designed principally for
their entertainment value that we now turn our attention.

In Spite of the admiration lavished upon the ”ancients"
in the Renaissance, the Spirit of true classicism, with its
balance and repose, was completely foreign to the Elizabethan
temperament. By both education and environment, the average
Londoner was far removed from classical ideals. Also, the
basic dislike of paganism evident in the middle ages when
combined with a lively interest in the pagan legends them-
selves, led to some strange hybrids. The classical stories
were often rs-written so as to point a moral, or to provide
an example for some Christian principle. Euhemerism, for
instance, might be turned against pagan religion on the

basis that gods who were once men were not worthy of worship.

71

The tendency to humanize the gods and to rationalize superu
natural elements made the accounts of Dares and Dictys
extremely well-suited to medieval purposes. The medieval
love of romance and chivalry also colored the myths, so
that by the close of the middle ages the classics were well
adulterated. These essentially medieval attitudes toward
the “ancients“ continued to be strong in Renaissance England,
particularly among the little educated. As was pointed out
before, the paraphrases of Caxton and Lydgate were pepular
and widely read. Henry B. LathrOp, in regard to Caxton's
Recu ell, points out that it does not represent the larger
and finer culture undoubtedly possible in medieval times.
It rather represents the conventional taste and narrow
outlook of ordinary people who accepted ordinary books.28
Heywood is thoroughly euhemeristic in his presentation

of the pagan gods. In the first lines of Homer's prologue
to The Golden Agg, Heywood makes clear his attitude:

The Gods of Greece, whose deities I rais'd

Out of the earth, gave them divinity,

The attributes of Sacrifice and.Prayer

Have given old Homer leave to view the world

And make his owne presentment. I am he

That by my pen gave heaven to Jupiter,

Made Neptunes Trident calms, the curled waves,

Gave Aeolus Lordship ore the warring winds;

Created blacks hair'd Pluto King of Ghosts,
And regent ore the Kingdomes fixt below.

 

28Henry B. LathrOp, Translations from the Classics

ontoE nlish From Caxton to Chapman, 14%Zn1625, University
1iscens n Stfidies n Language and erat ure, XXXV (1933).

ps 6.

72

By ms Mars warres, and fluent Mercury

Speaks from my tongue. I plac'd divine Apollo

Within the Sunnes bright Chariot. I made Venus
Goddesss of Love, and to her winged sonne ‘

Gave severall arrowss, tipt with Gold and lead.
What hath not Homer done, to make his name

Live to eternity?29

When the pagan gods are “deified“ at the close of

The Golden Age, Homer makes it clear that this was done by
the art of poetry, rather than by any supernatural means.

The ground of ancient Poems you shall see:

And how these (first borne mortall) Gods were made,

By vertue of divinest Poesie.30
Saturn is referred to simply as the “King of Crete“ through»
out, and the goddess Diana and her troup of nymphs is
explained thus:

She is the daughter of an ancient King,

That swaid the Atticke scepter, who being tempted

By many suiters, first began this vow:

And leaving Court betooke her to the forrests.

Her beauteous trains are virgins of best ranks,

Daughters of Kings, and Princes, all devoted

To abandon men, and chuse virginity.31
In Heywood's version of the myth of Danae, the legendary
“golden shower'I by means of which Jupiter visited her, becomes
a shower of gold in the mercenary sense, for Jupiter,
disguised as a peddlsr, bribes his way into the tower, and

into the affections of Danae.

 

29w0rk8, III, p. 5.
30Works, III, p. 73.
31Works, III, p. 27.

73

Another interesting example of the rationalization
of a supernatural occurrence, comes at the conclusion of
the above episode, when Jupiter desires to retire from
Danae's tower without being seen. He addresses his attendant:

Some cloud to cover mes, throw or'e my shoulders

Some shadow for this state, the Crones are up,

And waits t'unprison us, nay quickly fellow.

In answer to this high-flown demand, his attendant suggests:

Here My Lord, cast your old cloaks about you.32

The Judgment of Paris is told of as if it were a
dream, rather than an actual event:

Hears Gracious sir, my dreams in Ida Mount,

Beneath the shadow of a Cedar sleeping.

Celestiall Juno, Venus, and the Goddesss

Borne from the brains of mighty Jupiter.

These three present me with a golden Ball,

On which was writ, Detur pulcherrimae,

Give't to the fairest:33
Further, throughout the entire Troy saga, no gods or goddesses
interfere with the progress of the war. The only super-
natural element included is that of Achille's heel.

Heywood's characterization of the legendary gods and
heroes was also influenced by Dares and Dictys, via Caxton.
The tendency to add realistic details, to more fully motivate
the characters, and to humanize them in general was well
suited to Heywood's purpose. A similar treatment of character

32Works, III, p. 71.
33Works, III, p. 266.

71;

may be found in the cycle plays of the medieval guilds.
In these plays, which dealt with biblical events and
characters, this same type of humanizing and pepularizing
is evident. Noah stepped from his lofty position in
biblical history, and in intensely realistic and human
scenes with his wife, became a person of flesh and blood.
The proJected sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham became alive
and full of pathos in its dramatic presentation. Cain
and Abel became more than the participants in the first
murder. The character of Pilate in particular was greatly
intensified from the biblical account, until he emerged
as the most vital figure in the Passion story.

This tendency to mingle classical and biblical
material with native elements was an important influence
in the Renaissance. Douglas Bush, in Speaking more parti—
cularly of the influence of native tradition upon mythological
poetry points out another type of native influence, which
is also applicable to the drama: .

Another powerful influence of a similar
kind came from the living pictures of pageants
and masques, which made the Elizabethan eye
familiar with mythological figures placed in
strange settings and combinations. Pageantry
had a long native tradition behind it, and
when, under the impulse of Renaissance classicism,
mythological characters were introduced, they

naturally took color firom the older and stronger
popular conventions.3

 

31‘sush, 3.935., p.7s.

75

Heywood, then, in attempting to picture the heroes
and gods of antiquity for his audience, follows a p0pular
tradition, in which ancient and venerated personages are
brought down to earth and made warm and human. Heywood's
treatment of character added more than a little to the
pOpular appeal of his drama, for the motives and emotions
that ruled his mythological characters were the same as
those that moved the members of his audience.

.In line with the popular tradition which traced the
pedigree of the British nation through Brutus, the grandson
of Aeneas, Heywood debases the heroes of the Greeks and
elevates those of the Trojans. The portrait of Achilles,
in Homer the greatest of the Greek heroes, is most
unflattering. He is treated as a selfish, wilful, dis—
honorable, and even traitorous individual. He is willing,
for instance, basely to betray his countrymen in a secret
agreement with Priam because of his love for Polyxena:

Tell Priam that Achilles Arme's benumb'd,

And cannot lift a weapon against Troy.

Say to Queene Hecuba wee are her sonne,

And not Achilles, nor one Mirmidon

Shall give her least affront, as for the Lady
Bid her presume, we henceforth are her Kni ht,
And but for her Achilles scornes to fight.

In contrast to the $3223: Achilles is presented as
unmoved by the death of Patroclus. He is moved to fight

only when he learns that the Trojans have fired his tent.

 

35Works, III, p. 310.

76

Achilles falls far short of heroic stature in his dealings
with Hector. Surrounded by his Mermidcns, Achilles gives
the command for them all to rush at once upon the lone
TroJan hero. This cowardly and dishonorable behavior is
pointed up by Hector's noble words:

Dishonourable Greeke, Hector nere dealt

On base advantage, or ever lift his sword

Over a quaking foe, but as a spoyle

Unworthy us, still left him to his feare:

Nor on the man, whom singly I struke downe,

Have I redoubled blowes, my valour still

Opposde against a standing enemy.36
Ulysses, the wise and noble counselor of the Iliad, appears
as merely calculating and shrewd, being characterized
as the “crafty Fox Ulysses.'37

The Trojan heroes, on the other hand, are presented
most sympathetically. Hector, for instance, is treated
throughout as an ideal hero. Priam is unswervingly noble,
and even Paris is treated as a brave and honorable hero.
In the final sack of Troy, the Greeks appear as bloody
murderers, while the people of Troy are pictured with
extreme sympathy and pathos.
Heywood portrays the gods and goddesses in a most

human, and often coarse fashion. F. M. Velte says:

. . . Venus, Mars, Neptune, Hercules, Jason, and
all the gods and demiugcds of Greek myth are

 

35Works, III, p. 321.
37Works, III, p. 334.

77

treated with a sort of bourgeois familiarity
that makes t m themselves almost of the
bourgeoisie.

Saturn, the first mythological figure to be fully
deve10ped by Heywood, emerges, not as a god, but as a
man—aguiltnridden, afraid, selfish, and vacillating; yet
withal, an understandable human being, torn between parental
love and selfish ambition. Jupiter is first introduced by
Heywood as an admirable young man. He is characterized as
proud, brave, and intensely loyal to his king and bene~
factor. However, with his first encounter with the Opposite
sex in the person of Callisto, his character begins to
become debased. Finally he emerges as a comedy character,
rather than as the terrible and august king of the gods.
Juno appears far from goddessulike in her principal scenes.
She has more of the character of a spiteful fishewife as
she enjoys her revenge upon Alcmena:

Ha, Ha! Now Jove with thy omnipotence,
Make (if thou canst) way for thy bastards birth,

Nor powers of hea en shall streight me, till the deaths
Of yon adulteresse and her mechall brats.
Her hatred of Hercules is eXpressed in coarse and vicious

terms:

If neither tyrants, monsters, savages,
Giants nor helluhounds, can the bastard quell;

 

38F. Mowbray Velte The Bour eois Elements in the
Dramas 23 Thomas Heywood (PrInceton, 19227, p. 51.

39Worka, III, p. 123.

1

78

Let him be pasht, staEéd, strangled, poisoned,
Or murdered sleeping.

and she is vulgar in her gloating over Semele:

Hang, burne her witch, be all such strumpets fir'd
With no less heat than wanton Semele.

' ' ' ' ° ° ' ° ' ° ' annawsui visa; ,3 “1,21; ' °
To see this wanton with her bastard, blowne 41
And hang'd upon the high hornes of the mcone.

Vulcan appears as an ordinary tradesman~smith, always
behind in his orders, and chiding the cycIOps to hurry, as
if they were lazy London apprentices. His wife, Venus, is
characterized as a completely sensuous and brazen EBEETEEEE’

The legendary earthly beauties who appear in the
various myths are also characterized in a vivid, human '
fashion. Callisto is portrayed as shrewd and argumentative,
as she turns a deaf ear to the blandishments of Jupiter:

Jup. Are you a Queene enthron'd above the Elements,

Made of divine composure, or of earth,
Which I can scarce beleeve?

Cal. I am my selfe.u2
And again, Jupiter asks: “Faire, can you love?“ and Callisto
replies: “To be alone I can.'#3

Danae appears spirited and intelligent, as she chides

her father for his treatment of her:

 

ulWorks, III, p. 153.

 

 

uaWorks, III, p. 24.

 

“3Works, III, p. 25.

 

79

you give me golden fetters,
As if their value could my bondage lessen.
Can you accuse my faith, or modesty?
Hath any loose demeanour in my carriage an
Bred this distrust? hath my eye plaid the rioter?

and she shows mental agility as she attempts to reason with
her father concerning the oracle which he fears:

To turne you into stone; that's to prepare
Your monument, and marble sepulcher.

The meaning is, that I a sonne shall have,

That when you dye shall bear you to your gfiave.
Are you not mortall? would you ever live? 5

Semele's pride and vanity make her an easy mark for

Juno's treachery:

Oh Jupiter! thy love makes me immortall,
And I shall now be ranck't in equipage
With Danae, Io, Leda, and the rest,

There is no earth in me, I am all divine:

Ther's in me nothing mortall, save this shape,

Whose beauty hath cal'd Jove himselfe from heaven,

The rest all pure, corruptlesse and refin'd, 46

That hath daz'd men, and made th‘ immortall blinde.

The ruling traits of Helen of Troy as characterized

by Heywood, are vanity and passion. She knows the power of
her beauty over men, and does not hesitate to use it for
her advantage. She chides Menelaus as he prepares to leave

on an embassy to Sparta:

 

1mWorks, 111, p. 58.
u5w0rk3, III, pe 59o
u6Works, III, pp. lfl7-GS.

80

hath your Hellen such small grace,
That you preferre a Kingdome 'fore her face?
You value me too cheape, and doe not know
The worth and value of the face you owe.
You surfeit in your pleasures, swimme in sport,
But sir, from henceforth I shall keepe you short.u7

When Diomed reminds her that it is honor that calls him away,
she shows a wilful selfishness in her reply: "What's that
to Hellen, if shee'le have him stay?"48

Helen's vanity and competitive spirit are awakened by
the news of the arrival of Paris with an embassy from Troy.
Thoroughly feminine, she uses the occasion as an excuse to
get all dressed up:

Let them not say they found us poore and bare.

Or that our Grecian Ladies are lesse faire
Then theirs:

Oh had I known their Landing one day sooner,
That Hellen might have trim d up her attire
Against this meeting, then my radiant beauty

I doubt not, might in Troy be tearm'd as gaire,
As through all Greece I am reputed rare.

When Paris attempts to make love to her, she makes only a
token objection, pointing out her htgh position and responsin
bility. She finally capitulates with an admission of her
weakness:

I am not angry; who can angry be
With him that loves her?50

 

”7Worka, 111, pp. 27us75.
”SWorks, III, p. 275.
“9Works, III, p. 276.

50Works, III, p. 279.

81

Later, when she is forced to confront both Menelaus and
Paris together, she shows pangs of conscience:

Oh that I were (but Hellen) any thing;

Or might have any object in my eye

Save Menelaus: when on him I gaze,

My errour chides mee, I my shame emblaze.51
Yet, in spite of conscience and a knowledge of duty, passion
rules her final choice between the two.

Men. This way wife,
Thou shall save many a Greeke and Trojans life.

Hel.'Tis true, I know it.

Par. This way turne thine head,
This is the path that leades unto our bed.

Hel. That way I should, because I know 'tis meeter.
But I'le.th A way for Baris £153; 'aéeétérl59
In general, Heywood's mythological figures, whether
gods, goddesses, ancient heroes, or legendary beauties,
emerge as warm, interesting, human beings, with familiar
emotions and motives-~not as distant, cold symbols of an
alien culture.
All types of audiences love humor and comedy, but
various audiences differ greatly in what they consider to be

funny. Lyly, writing for a sophisticated court audience,

concentrated on verbal wit rather than comic situations.

 

51Works, III, p- 307-
52W0rk8, 111, pp. 308~09o

82

His delicate word play, clever innuendo and flashing
witticism delighted an audience sufficiently educated to
appreciate such subtleties. However, if this same type of
humor were put on the boards at the Red Bull, the bourgeois
audience would no doubt have vented its severe disapproval.
Heywood's comedy is scaled to his audience. It is broad,
obvious, and often coarse. No rules of decorum are observed,
and the gods indulge in the same type of low comedy as do
the servants. The verbal comedy which is included is of
the most gross and obvious type. The punning is so pointed
that even the most uneducated person would have no trouble
in following it. A good example of the thoroughly plebian
nature of Heywood's verbal comedy is found in Act I of

Th3 Golden A33, where a Clowne and a Nurse discuss the
pregnancy of their queen. This scene, introduced solely
for its comedy value, is complete with a smattering of
proverbial wisdom, some obvious punning, and the sly jokes
about child—bearing which so delight the vulgar.

Clo. There is no dallying, you must come with all speeds,
For Madam Sibilla is growne a great woman.

Nur. That is without question, for she is now a Queene.

Clo. Nay, she is greater then many Queenes are:
for though you may thinke she is with ancient
folkes: yet I can assure you she is with childe,
. . . I never heard she was committed to prison:
yet t'is look't every hours when she shall be
delivered, and therefore Nurse I was sent to
you in all haste.

83

Nur. Is she so neere her time?

Clo. Yes: and yet tis thought shee will notwithstanding
hold out, because she is groning.

Nur. Your reason?

Clo. Because you know the proverbe: A grunting horse,
and a groning wife never deceive their Maister:
say, will you make haste, Nurse?

Nur. What's the best news abroad?

Clo. The best newes abrode is, that the Queene is
likely to keepe at home: and is it not strange,
that halfe an houres being abroad should make
a woman have a moneths minde to keepe in. . . .53

This same type of homely humor is introduced again
when the Clown, in a distinctly Falstaffian manner, seeks
to avoid taking part in a battle:

I have no mind to this buffeting: Ile walke after
faire and softly, in hope that all the buffeting
may be done before I come. Whether had I better
go home by land, or by sea? If I go by land, and
miscarry, then I go the way of all flesh. If I
go by sea and mis-carry, theghl go the way of all
fish: I am not yet resolv'd.

In the episode of Venus and Mars, Callus, the servant of
Mars, indulges in some pseudo~learned punning on his own
name:
I am not that Gallows that is made of three trees,
or one that is never without hangers on: nor that
Callus that is latine for a Frenchuman; but your

owne Gallus gallinacius, servant and true squire
to God Mars. 5

 

53Works , III , p e 10s
5u’Works, III, p. #6.

84

Jupiter appears in a scene of pure burlesque when,
dressed as a nymph in order to deceive Callisto, he clumsily
tries to imitate a woman:

There I strid too wide. That step was too large
for one that professeth the straight order: what
a pittifull coyle shall I have to counterfeit
this woman, to lispe (forsooth) to simper and

set my face like a sweet Gentlewomans made out of
gingerwbread? . . . And for my stature, I am not
yet of that Giant size, but I may passe for a
bona Robs, a Rounceval, a Virago, or a good manly
Lasse . . . Could I manadge this businesse with
Art, I should come to a hundred pretty sights in
a yeare. . . . I hOpe Diana doth not use to search
her maids before she entertains them. But howso~
ever,/ Be my losse certaine, and my prggit none,
Tis for Calisto's love, and I will on.

Bourgeois domestic comedy is introduced in the story
of Amphitryon, which closely follows the version of Plautus,
with its uproarious scenes of confusion of identity.
Buffetings, insults, and confusion reign in a completely
slap-stick presentation of this episode.

A realistic, roughuhouse free—forwall occurs during
the Centaurs' banquet celebrating the marriage of Hypodamia
to Perithous. Many toasts are drunk, an argument breaks
out over kissing the bride, and a confused, drunken fray
with flying stools, cups, and bowls ensues, punctuated with
cries of I'Rescue for Hypodamia,‘ 'Downe with the Lapithes,“

and “Downe with Hercules."57 This type of rowdy display

 

56W0rks, III, pp. 29~30.
57Works, III, p. 142.

85

no doubt was greeted by the audience with uproarious
laughter.
Although a great variety of comic episodes are
presented by Heywood, he depends upon the mythological
love affairs to supply the bulk of his comic material.
The loves of the gods are presented in a gross and vulgar
manner, more suitable to a London aleuhouse than to Olympus.
In every instance, the romantic love elements of the myths
are debased or ignored, while the coarse and risque aspects
are played up.
The myth of Callisto and Jupiter is quickly put
on a low level by the introduction of the burlesque scene
where Jupiter attempts to disguise himself as a nymph.
How much more suitable to a country haystack than to Diana's
grove is the following interchange: ‘
Jup. Me thinkes you should be fat, pray let me feele.
Cal. Oh God you tickle me.
Jup. Lend me your hand,
And freely taste me, note how I will stand,
I am not ticklish.
Cal. Lord how well you wooe.58
The entire presentation of the lovely myth of Danae is
vulgarized by the ubiquitous Beldams. With realistic

vulgarity, they discuss Danae's imprisonment:

 

58Works, III, p. 3n.

86

l.B. Heer's a coyle to keep fire and tow a sunder.
I wonder the King should shut his daughter up
so close: for any thing I see, she hath no
minde to a man.

2.9. Content your selfe, you speak according to

' your age and appetite. We that are full fed
may praise fast. We that in our heats of
youth have drunks our bellyfuls, may deride
those that in the heats of their blouds are
athirst. I measure her by what I was, not
by what I am. Appetite to love never failes
an old woman, till cracking of nuts leaves
her. When Danae hath no more teeth in her
head then you and I, Il'e trust a man in her
company, and scarce then: for if we examine
our selves, wee have even at these yeares,
qualmes, and rhumes, and devises comes over
our stomakes, when we but look on a preper
man.59

While Jupiter, disguised as a common peddler, courts
Danae, his servant bribes the Beldams with various wares
from his pack:

As for example, heer’s a silver bodkin, this

is to remove dandriffe, and digge about the

roots of your silver—hair‘d furre. This is

a toothapicker, but you having no teeth, heega

is for you a corrall to rub your gums... . .
This gross scene of bribery passes for the golden shower
of ancient legend!

Danae, who appeared spirited and intelligent in

her scenes with Acrisius, is now presented as simpering

and coy:

 

59Work8, III, P0 57’
60work3' III, pa 6"".

87

Dan. I must hence:
For if I stay, I yeeld: Il‘e hence, no more.

Jup. Expect me for I come.

Dan. Yon is my doore, 61
Dare not to enter there.

And again, when Jupiter enters her chamber she says:
If you will needs, for modesties chast law,
Before you come to bed, the curtaines draw,
But do not come, you shall not by this light,
If you but offer't, I shall cry out right.
Oh God, how hoarse am I, and cannog? fie
Danae thus naked and a man so nye. 2
In keeping with this characterization of Danae,
Jupiter is pictured as cynical and Opportunistic:
Gold and reward, thou art mighty, and hast power
O're aged, yong, the foolish, and the wise,
The chaste, and wanton, fowle, and beautifull:6
Thou art a God on earth, and canst all things. 3
The myth of Mars and Venus is made extremely comic
by Heywood's presentation of Vulcan, who is intent upon
proving that he is a cuckold, and having done so, is not
quite sure who has triumphed.
The episode picturing Hercules' bondage to Omphale
is played as comedy. Here the humor is derived from the
ridiculous appearance of the burly Hercules, dressed in

skirts, cowering abjectly before his mistress.

 

61Works, III, p. 66.
62Works, III, p. 69.
63Works, III, p. 67.

88

It is evident that scenes such as these could never
have appeared in the work of Lyly. Heywood's humor is
obviously and consciously designed to please his audience
with little or no regard to its artistic suitability.

However, the bourgeois spectator evidently did not
come to the theater merely to laugh. He also wished to be
moved to tears. Accordingly, Heywood included plenty of
tears along with his laughter.

In 222 Golden Agg a long, pathetic scene is
introduced in which Sibila, Vesta, and a Nurse attempt
to carry out Saturn's order to kill the infant Jupiter,
and are unable to bring themselves to commit the act:

Ves. Then give him me, I am his Grandmother,
And I will kill him gently:

O O O I O C O O O O O O O O O O O

Sib. For heavens sake wh n y u kil him, hurt him not.

Nur. Oh Madame, hee's so full of Angell grace 64
I cannot strike, he smiles so in my face.

In the story of Meleager and the burning brand,
Althea, torn between loyalty to her brothers and love for
her son, finally casts the brand with which Meleager's life
is bound up into the flames. In this scene, perhaps the
most moving in the entire cycle, Meleager speaks the lines

which so impressed Lamb with their pathos:

 

6uWorks, 111, p. 18.

89

oh father Oeneus
And you Althea, whom I would call mother
But that my genius prompts me th'art unkind,
And yet farewell, Atlanta beauteous maide,
I cannot speake my thoughts for torture, death,
Anguish and paines, all that Promethean fire
Was stolne from heaven, the Thiefe left in my bosome.
The Sunne hath cast his element on me,
And in my entralls hath he fixt his Spheare,
His pointed beames he hagh darted through my heart,
And I am still on flame. 5

Heywood attempts to rise to the height of tragedy in
his presentation of the death of Hercules. In a long scene
of torture and madness, Hercules slays the Queen Omphale,
tears up trees, and casts down huge rocks. Although Heywood
falls far short of true tragedy here, he certainly succeeds
in being terrifying and spectacular.

_Heywood cleverly appeals to the sympathies of his
audience in his presentation of the sack of Troy. The event
is brought home in a realistic and human manner when an
ordinary Trojan citizen and his wife are roused from sleep
by the commotion, and are caught up into the scene of blood
and ruin.

Wife. Oh Heaven! what tumult's this

That hurries through the fatall streetes of Troy?
I feare some treason.

Tro. Sure 'tis the noise of war, whence should it grow?
The Greekes are sayl'd hence, Troy needes feare
no foe.

 

65Works, III, p. 201.

90

‘Wife. The horrid stirre comes on this way towards us.
Tro. Oh whither shall we turne?
Wife. Oh save mee husband.
Tro. Succour me deere wife.66

A remarkably good example of Heywood's ability to
use his material in a way which would appeal to a bourgeois
audience can be found in the cpening act of Th3 Golden figs.
In this one act, Heywood attempts to cover a period of
almost twenty years. But, in spite of the purely narrative
demands of such a task, Heywood's three longest scenes are
ones of strong, human appeal. One of these is devoted to
the vivid characterization of Saturn, another to the purely
comic scene involving a Clown and a Nurse, and the third
presents the pathos of the attempted murder of the infant
Jupiter.

But vivid, human characters, laughter, and tears
were not enough. The bourgeois audience, then as now,
must have a moral. Without wasting too much time in
the process, Heywood points out a few obvious morals.
Danae's downfall was brought about through the evil power
of gold. Semele's pride and ambition led to her destruction.
Helen and Cressida are both punished for their sins of

passion, and this bit of homely advice is offered by Vulcan,

after he has succeeded in trapping Mars and Venus:

66Works, III, p. 381.

91

- be warn'd by me oh men,
Although you know your wives false, wher and when,
Take them not in the manner, though you may:

They that with feare before, now blushlesse ségay,
Their guilt 'tis better to suspect then know.

There were those in the audience who longed for
excitement and bloodshed, and for these, Heywood provided
a profusion of battle scenes. In The Golden Age fourteen
battles are conducted on stage; The Silver Age also contains
fourteen, and The Brazen Age, eight. The Troy story, of
course, is more than liberally supplied with scenes of
conflict. ’Certainly these plays seem to justify Davenant's
remarks in the rologue to The Unfortunate Lovers, written
in 1643:

Good easy judging souls, with what delight

They would eXpect a jig, or target fight,

A furious tale of Troy, which they ne'er thouggg
Was weakly written, so 'twere strongly fought.

Although the citizen audience loved the homely and
the familiar, it also had a thirst for the strange and
wonderful. Knowing this, Heywood does not confine himself
to a thoroughly realistic presentation of classical mythology.

Many spectacular scenes of wonder are prepared for the

delight of the crowd. The scenery and staging involved is

 

67Works, 111, p. 238.

68The Dramatic Works of Sir William QJAvenant, edited
by James MEIdment, et aI. IE3In5urgE, 1373), III, pp. l2~l3.

92

often elaborate and awe—inspiring. For instance, the
stage directions for Herculest descent into Hades read
as follows:

Hercules sinkes himselfe: Flashes of fire; the

Divels appeare at every corner of the stage with

severall fire-workes. The Judges of hell, and

the three sisters run over the stage, Hercu es

after them: fire-workes all over the house.
Another example of this aspect of Heywood's work is to be
found in his presentation of the Golden Fleece:

Two fiery Buls are discovered, the Fleece hanging

over them, and the Dragon sleeping beneath them:

Medea with strange fiery-workes, hangs above in

the Aire in the strange habite of a Conjuresse..7o

Most remarkably of all, Heywood succeeds in welding

together this whole improbable collection of episodes with
impressive scenes of pageantry, which provided structural
prOps for his wobbling dramatic structure, and at the
same time, satisfied the typical Englishman's desire for
pomp and circumstance. As was pointed out earlier, no
logical ending is possible for the disjointed episodes
presented in The Golden Agg. But Heywood cleverly provides
a spectacular and satisfying closing scene by the intro~

duction of a dumb show which presents the deification of

the pagan gods.

 

69Works, III, p. 159.
70Works, 111, p. 217.

93

Sound a dumbe shew. Enter the three fatall
sisters, with a rocke, a threed, and a paire

of sheeres; bringing in a Gloabe, in which they
put three lots. Jupiter drawes heaven: at
which Iris descends and presents him with his
Eagle, Crowne and Scepter, and his thundernbolt.
Jupiter first ascends upon the Eagle, and after
him Ganimed.

Sound. Neptune drawes the Sea, is mounted upon
a sea—horse, a Roabe and Trident, with a crowne
are given him by the Fates.

Sound, Thunder and Tempest. Enter at 4 severall
corners the 4 winds: Neptune riseth disturb‘d:
the Fates bring the u winds in a chaine, and
present them to Aeolus, as their King.

. . O O O O C O O C O O O O O O O O I O O O O O .

Sound. Pluto drawes hell: the Fates put upon him
a burning Roabe and present him with a Mace, and
burning crowne.’

Time and time again throughout the entire cycle,

Heywood manages to pull together the wandering strands of

narrative with such impressive scenes of pageantry.

Almost every type of drama known to the theater-going

audience of the day was contained in this magnificent cycle.

There was farce in the scenes with the Clown and the Beldams,

history in the legend of Troy, domestic comedy in the story

of Amphitryon, romance in the tale of Paris and Helen,

 

71Works, 111, pp. 78—79.

9’4-

pastoral in the myth of Venus and Adonis, tragedy in the
death of Meleager, and even revenge~tragedy, in the story
of Agamemnon and Orestes.

From the foregoing analysis it seems evident that
Heywood’s dramatic technique was influenced greatly by the
citizen audience for which he wrote. This audience was,
after all, much like the audience at which the present
Hollywood technicolor spectacle is aimed, and the same
elements are to be found in both Heywood and Hollywood.

Heywood well knew that a learned and cultured audience
would find much to criticize and scoff at in his plays.

He asks for tolerance in his introduction to 322 Silver
£320

We therefore begge, that since so many eyes,

And severall judging wits must taste our stile

The learn'd will grace, the ruder not despised2

Although the audience for which he wrote rewarded
him with fame and pOpularity, Heywood, like Lyly, lived to
see the day when his type of drama began to fall into
disfavor. He shows his awareness of this fact in his
address “To the Reader,“ which appeared in the 1632 edition
or memes.-

These Ages have beene long since Writ, and
suited with the Time then: I know not how

 

72w0rk8, III, p. 850

95

they may bee received in this Age, where nothing
:3; iztigéfiisgictaerigB and Comics Scommata are
The younger, cleverer dramatists like Beaumont,

Fletcher, Shirley, and Ford were coming into the ascendant
with a type of drama which, like Iyly's, appealed more to
a class than to the peOple as a whole. Laughter lost much
of its merriment and became tinged with bitterness. The
attitude toward sex ceased to be one of healthy vulgarity, ’
and became abnormal and suggestive. A delicate sentimentality
began to replace genuine emotion. The wheel had almost

come full turn when its progress was out off by the closing

of the theaters in l6fi2.

 

73Works, III, p. 351.

CHAPTER IV
CONCLUSION

The foregoing study has shown that, although John
Lyly and Thomas Heywood both wrote dramas based upon
classical mythology, the character of their drama was
widely divergent. The chief reason for this divergence
appears to lie in the efforts of each to adapt his material
to a particular audience. Lyly wrote for the most exclusive
audience of his day~~a court society which was relatively
learned and sOphisticated. Heywood, on the other hand,
wrote for those who frequented the Red Bull, orrperhaps
the Cockpit, which were pOpular, though never high~class
theaters. The fact that both attempted to adapt similar
subject matter to dissimilar audiences is reflected
throughout every aspect of their dramatic techniques.
At this point, it would be well to summarize briefly the
contrasting techniques which have been evident in this
study.

Lyly had no need to educate the courtly audience
in mythology, so he was free to eXploit his material in an
original and imaginative fashion. However, Lyly's subtle
refinements would have been lost upon Heywood's relatively

unlearned audience. The task which Heywood set for himself

97

was not to use classical material in an original and
creative manner, or even to embroider it with imaginative
fantasy. Moved by both the Opportunity and the desire to
educate, Heywood presented the myths as completely as
possible, and in a manner which was clear and entertaining
to his audience. Lyly tended to develop a single theme,
elaborating it minutely, and giving the whole an artistic
unity by the use of a technique of both verbal and
structural antithesis. Heywood, because of his desire
to educate, tried to cover as much ground as possible,
using a chronicle technique which lacked any artistic unity,
but which provided for continual action and excitement.
Lyly's dramatic prose is urbane and polished. His
language is an idealization of that of the court, highly
stylized, intricate, abounding in subtle and vivacious wit.
Heywood's dramatic verse, however, is simple and direct,
tending to focus attention upon character and action, rather
than upon itself. Scaled to the level of his audience,
his language is uninvolved and lucid-it leads to no special
problems of interpretation, and requires no special knowledge
to appreciate.
Lyly's use of allegory presupposes a knowing audience,
one familiar with the conventions of courtly love, with
neo~platonic ideals, with the personal scandals and political

intrigues of the court. Heywood's drama, on the other

98

hand, exists on one level onlyu—that of the actual stage
presentation. He tells the myths for their narrative
value alone, without any suggestion of allegorical
significance.

Lyly carefully observes class distinctions in his
portrayal of character. His gods and goddesses are treated
with respect; the courtly and pastoral characters are
ideally painted and move in their own sphere. Egggg
characters, servants and tradesmen, appear only in the
farcical interludes and do not mix with the courtly characters.
Lyly's presentation of character is one which is in keeping
with courtly attitudes. There is an idealization of the
courtly type, with its proclivity to look upon pe0ple as
representatives of classes rather than as individuals.
Lyly's conformity to this ideal leads to the creation of
many charming, but artificial creatures. Heywood, however,
makes no such distinctions between gods, heroes, or ordinary
mortals. All are treated in an intimate and realistic
fashion, being governed by the same emotions and motivations
that existed in the hearts of his audience.

Lyly's comedy also depended for its appreciation
upon an educated audience, for it is principally verbal,
highly intellectual and subtle. Decorum is observed in
the type of comedy associated with the various classes of

characters. The gods, the pastoral and courtly figures

99

indulge in scenes of witty repartee, while 53333 characters
appear in the farcical interludes. These farcical elements
are always kept strictly in the nature of anti~masques, and
are not mingled with the principal action. Heywood's
comedy, however, is of the most broad and obvious sort.
His is the surface Jest, devoid of subtlety. Scenes of
rude slapstick and roughhouse abound. No rules of decorum
are observed, for the gods take part in the same type of
low~comedy scenes as do the servants.
Much of the comedy in both Lyly and Heywood centers
in their treatment of love. Elizabeth’s vanity, pride,
and vacillating attitude toward her suitors made love the
constant subject of the court, and it was also the constant
theme of Lyly's drama. Lyly treats the subJect of love
in a light vein, characterized by the comment of Sapho
that ”Love is a toye made for Ladies."1 His love scenes
are usually witty sparrings between a set of ideally
painted lovers. Heywood, on the other hand, makes his love
scenes the occasion for broad and vulgar comedy. Elements
of romantic love in the myths are constantly debased or
ignored, while the coarse nd risque aspects are emphasized.
Lyly, writing for a SOphisticated audience which

evidently preferred to be amused rather than touched,

 

1Sapho and Phao, V.ii.95.

100

never treats a theme or character with real depth or emotion.
He rarely exploits a situation for its pathos and constantly
ignores Opportunities to display genuine passion. But
Heywood, writing for a bourgeois audience, provides tears
as well as laughter. He often manipulates a situation for
its pathos, deve10ping the action on the level of a strong
emotional appeal.
The characteristic effect of Lyly's drama is one of
ballet-like grace and stylization. He strives always for
a masque~like loveliness, imparting to his plays the appeal
of a delicately wrought miniature. Heywood's plays give
quite an Opposite effect. His is a huge canvas, painted
with broad sweeps. He strives for spectacle rather than
beauty, for excitement and emotion rather than wit, for
the intensely realistic rather than the romantic and
ethereal. The contrast between the two is brought out in
Mowbray Velte's remarks about the overall effect of
Heywood's mythological dramas:
Lyly's plays written for court performance
retain something of the loveliness and fanciful
qualities of their classical sources, but here
the abstract and fanciful has become material
and familiar.2

Both Lyly and Heywood, however, achieved notable

success in their chosen fields of dramatic endeavor, and

 

2Velte, gp.gi£., p. 138.

101

their success is a tribute to their skill in adapting
material to special situations. In explaining their
differences, however, it seems clear that we must take

into account the essentially different character of the
audiences for which they wrote. This is not to say that

an audience dictates the terms of drama. However, in so

far as a dramatist writes with a particular audience in
mind, the audience gains significance as a factor in«
fluenoing the character of the product, and may be appraised
in terms of available evidence.

The present study has endeavored to take advantage
of one unusually good basis for comparison, arising from
the fact that the mythological plays of Lyly and Heywood
were prepared expressly for such contrasting audiences.
There has been no intention to discount the other factors
which influenced the work of the two men. For instance,
their divergent personalities and talents may serve to
account for many of the characteristics of their work.
Notwithstanding, the constant aim to appeal to a special
audience is evident on every page. An impértant index to
Just how important a factor this audience—consciousness
was may be found in an interesting postscript which was
written to the matter in 1634. In this year, Queen
Henrietta Maria requested Thomas Heywood to write a play

especially for the entertainment of the court. Turning

102

from his successful series of city pageants-that most
bourgeois of all entertainmentu-Heywood produced £3123
Mistress, or 223 ueen'g.Hasgu . A close examination

of this play reveals its debt to Blount's 1632 edition

of Lyly's §$£.§2232 Comedies. In £9333 Mistress, Heywood
deliberately rejected the techniques he had employed so
successfully on the public stage, and employed instead

the techniques peculiar to hyly, the successful court
dramatist. And, excellent craftsman that he was, scored

as huge a success at court as he had earlier with the public.
‘52353 Mistress was performed before royalty no less than
three times in two weeks. 'In this play, Heywood, like Lyly,
chose to elaborate on a single theme. He based the play
upon Apuleius' lovely myth of Cupid and Psyche, and
departing from his usual custom, gave his theme an allegori~
cal significance. Here Heywood allegorized the conflict
between true and debased art, much as Lyly earlier allegorized
the conflict between love and chastity. The farcical
elements were kept strictly in the nature of an anti~masque,
and were not mingled with the main action. The setting was
idyllic, the poetry finer and more carefully wrought.
Decorum was observed in the treatment of character, and a
technique of structural antithesis pervaded throughout.

It seems evident in this play that Heywood went to'a fellow

craftsman to find techniques compatible with a court audience.

103

This interesting sidelight on the careers of Lyly and
Heywood points unmistakably to the powerful influence of

the audience situation upon the dramatist's work, regardless
of his special talents or inclinations.

Both Lyly and Heywood exemplify an attitude toward
the drama which, with few exceptions, was shared by the
other Elizabethan dramatists. They regarded art as a tool
to prepare something for immediate consumption by a
particular audience. In this respect, art was a living,
flexible medium, as cppcsed to an ivory—tower se1f~indu1gence.
It is characteristic of the drama that more than any other
art, it depends upon the immediate response of an audience
for its very life. Yet this very dependence often means
its death, for a drama aimed at one specific audience in
one age often has nothing to say to another audience and
another age. Lyly and Heywood both succumbed before this
paradox. Although both worked within their situations with
skill, and both were successful within them, yet both lived
to see their work fall into disfavor, for neither transcended
their limitations.

Lyly was intensely aware of artistic ideals and
realized how far afield one might be led in catering to
the tastes of a vulgar audience. Yet, restricting himself
to the limitations and prejudices of a courtly society,

no matter how cultured it might have been, proved to be

ion

as fatal as catering to the fickle demands of the uneducated.
As Schelling puts it:

Elizabethan drama could never have been what it

became had it remained in the leading strings of

the classicists or existed merely to entertain

a pleasureuloving court. The literature of a

class is often choice and b autiful but it seldom

carries beyond its own age.
But if Lyly was too narrow in his appeal, Heywood was too
broad. If we can accuse Lyly of pandering to Elizabeth,
we can also accuse Heywood of being too compliant with the
tastes of the bourgeois.

In every age there are good, competent craftsmen

to be found, who, like Lyly and Heywood, contribute in
varying degrees to the cultural life of their age. But
fortunate indeed is the age which produces one man who
incorporates in his work the best from that age, and who
adds from his own genius that understanding and perception

which makes his work lasting, and gives a vicarious

immortality to his generation.

 

3Schelling, 92.35., p. 271+.

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Baugh, Albert C., editor, A Literar Histor of En land
New York: Appleton~Cenfury~5rofts, inst, 16KB. ,

Bush, Douglas, M tholcrv and the Renaissance Tradition in
English Poetry, Einneapolis: University of '-'
nnescta ress, 1932.

Chambers, Sir Edmund H., The Elizabethan Stare, fl vols.,
Oxford: Oxford University Press, Is???

 

Clark, Arthur H., Thomas He wood: Playwright and Miscellanist,
Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 193l}

Cromwell, Otelia, Thomas %e%wood, §.5tUd¥.$2 the Elizabethan
Drama of Ever Ea e, ale u es in English,
No. IX?VIII, New Have : Yale University Press, 1928.

D'Avenant, Sir William, The Dramatic Works 3; Sir William
D'Avenant, edited By James fiaidfiont, et al., 5 vols.,
Edinburgh: William Paterson, 1873.

Gilbert, A. H., "Thomas Heywood's Debt to Plautus,I JEGP,
Vol. XII, 1913, pp. 593—611. """'""

Greg, Walter W., editor, Henslowe’g Diar , 2 vols., London:
A. H. Bullen, 1904“.

Griffin, Nathaniel E., "Uh-Homeric Elements in the Story

Heywood, Thomas, An A olo for Actors, edited by J. P.
Collier, London, Iégl. Reprinted for the Shakespeare
Society, Vol. 15, no. 3.

I
_ ’. J
.
' o
f
C
a
o - '
. . .
|
(_
.
I
l 0
Q —‘ t , .
C A
\ I

Heywood, Thomas, The Dramatic Works 2; Thomas Hevwood,
edified by John Pearson, 6 vols., Iondon: Pearson,
187 .

IathrOp, Henry E., Translations from the Classics Into
En lish from Caxton to Cha manj'IMZ¥—IEEU,
Un§versity of Wisconsin Studies n nguage and
Literature, No. XXXV, Madison, 1933.

Lyly John, The Com lete Works 23 John ‘1 edited by
’ R. Warwick Bond, 3 vols., Oxford: larendon Press,
1902. .

Martin, Robert G., “Notes on Thomas Heywood's AGES,“ MIN,
v01. XXXIII, 1918, pp. 23‘290

Schelling, Felix E., Elizabethan Playwrights, New York:
Harper & Bros., 9 .

Tatlock, John S. P., "The Siege of Troy in Elizabethan
Literature, ESpecially in Shakespeare and Heywood,”
PMIA, Vol. xxx, 1915, pp. 673—770.

Velte, F. MoWbray, The Bourgeois Elements $3 £23 Dramas 2;
Thomas Heywood: A Dissertation Presented to the
Faculty of r nceton University in Candidacy for
the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, 1922.

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