Massinger, Philip, 1583-1640 -- Criticism and interpretation
There are one or two passages where the unexpected turn of the thought
rather suggests a Greek original. Thus, in _The Renegado_(515) we are
reminded of _The Acharnians_:(516)
GAZET. What places of credit are there?
CARAZIE. Chief gardener.
GAZET. Out upon’t! ’Twill put me in mind my mother was an herb
woman.
Another passage of THE RENEGADO(517) reminds us of a famous fragment of
Euripides,(518) often mistranslated:
ASAMBEG. At Aleppo
I durst not press you so far: give me leave
To use my own will and command in Tunis.
In _The Virgin Martyr_(519) we find a parallel to _The Hecuba_:(520)
THEOPHILUS. As a curious painter,
When he has made some honourable piece,
Stands off, and with a searching eye examines
Each colour, how ’tis sweeten’d; and then hugs
Himself for his rare workmanship.
In _The Emperor of the East_(521) occurs a parallel quoted by Dr. Walter
Headlam in his notes to _Agamemnon_:(522)
THEODOSIUS. What an earthquake I feel in me!
And on the sudden my whole fabric totters!
My blood within me turns, and through my veins,
Parting with natural redness, I discern it
Chang’d to a fatal yellow.
It is the general opinion of scholars that our Elizabethan dramatists owed
very little to the Greek drama directly, but we cannot forget that
Massinger had had a good education at Oxford, and was a widely read
man.(523) His forensic skill often reminds us of Euripides; and if he did
not know the works of his illustrious predecessor, he would have found in
them a congenial spirit.(524)
The speech of Sanazarro to Giovanni in _The Great Duke of Florence_(525)
reminds us of Creon’s arguments in Sophocles’ _Œdipus Tyrannus_, line 596
κ.τ.λ.
The scene in _The Bondman_,(526) when the senators frighten the mutinous
slaves by shaking their whips, reminds us of the Scythians in
_Herodotus_,(527) but it is also found in _Justin_,(528) and Gifford
points out that it may really have been borrowed from a contemporary book
of travels, Purchas’s _Pilgrims_.(529)
Massinger had a good working knowledge of mythology; thus, references in
his plays to Hercules and Alcides abound, as they do in Shakspere. We find
several false quantities in proper names: Caesarĕa, in _The Virgin
Martyr_; Archidămus, in _The Bondman_; Eubŭlus, in _The Picture_;
Nomothētae, in _The Old Law_(530); Cybēle, in _Believe as You List_.(531)
We may compare Shakspere’s _Andronĭcus_; Anthrŏpos in _Four Plays in One_,
_The Triumph of Time_; and Euphānes in _The Queen of Corinth_.(532)
It seems scarcely worth while to collect the passages which show
Massinger’s knowledge of Latin; the authors he seems to have known best
are Ovid, Juvenal, and Horace. Swinburne and others have commented on his
indulgence in “the commonplace tropes and flourishes of the schoolroom or
the schools.”(533)
APPENDIX III. THE COLLABORATED PLAYS
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account