Decadence/ Decline of Drama/ Jacobean and Caroline Drama/ Post-Shakespearean Drama/ Post-Elizabethan drama

                                  Anushua Chatterjee 

Introduction : As per Merriam-Webster,the word “ decadence” “presupposes a reaching and passing the peak of development and implies a turn downward with a consequent loss in vitality or energy” and “decline” suggests “a more markedly downward direction and greater momentum as well as more obvious evidence of deterioration.” These two words —--- “decadence” and “decline” are generally applied to describe the dramas written and performed during the Jacobean( reign of James I) and Caroline (reign of Charles I) period of England and often these dramas are also termed as “post-Shakespearean dramas”. It is often observed that the culture, art, literature and the overall Renaissance temperament that prevailed and nurtured in the reign of Queen Elizabeth took a downward turn after the succession of James I and eventually Charles I, due to some socio-political reasons. 

Firstly, The death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603 created a socio-political turmoil that undermined the exuberance of the Renaissance spirit. The question of the heir to the throne, the apprehension of civil war and intervention of foreign powers gripped the mind of the people. The situation worsened in the rebellion of Essex in 1601. Therefore, the ascension of James I was quite problematic, due to the overall atmosphere of uncertainty and chaos. Apart from that, James I had a foreign tongue, therefore, any possibility of communication and connection with people was quite disrupted. Added to this, was the immorality of the court that created an overall mood of pessimism, fear and dissatisfaction with the prevalent system. Earlier, the defeat of Spanish Armada (1588),happened in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, made the nationalistic fervour reach its culmination. But, James I's compromising attitude with Spain had somehow loosened that spirit of patriotism and a nationalistic sense of belongingness.Hence, the literature produced during the regime of James I was quite satirical in tone( as in City Comedies, and Jonsonian Comedy of Humours), especially because of the amorality of the courtiers, and the king's policy of Spanish-appeasement. 

Secondly, In the age of Elizabeth, dramas were  patronized by the Queen, the nobles, the courtiers, and groundlings that made drama a huge public space for entertainment.This generated the concept of “box office” which,till date, is regarded as a validation of commercial success. Thus, drama was an inseparable part of common people's life and therefore, the form and the content of those dramas were created as per the taste of the audience. Therefore, Elizabetban dramas were dynamic in terms of plot, characterization and thematic appeal. But, in the reign of James I, it lost contact with common people and came to be patronized only by the amoral courtly classes, and to quote Hardin Craig, “their hangers-on, and the socially irresponsible parts of the population." Consequently, the theater served “somewhat specialized interests”, and was not meant for all. So, the dramatists had to bend on to cater to the somewhat decadent courtly taste with tales of intrigue, cruelty, and immorality couched in a high-flown, "polished" style. This certainly marked the decadence of dramatic spirit and taste which was once so elevated in the reign of Elizabeth. 

Thirdly, to appease the present King and its court, the dramatists sought to choose the themes of intrigue, crime, and licentiousness, specific to the Italian subjects, that led to the revival of the revenge tradition. But, these dramatists lacked, to an extent, the balance and cadence of Shakespeare, which pushed the form to the extremes of cruelty, violence, and the sensationalization of supernaturalism that these revenge dramas were metamorphosed into “a drama of horror” lacking the psychological insight of Shakespeare’s dramatic ventures. 

Fourthly, the absence of Shakespeare, along with his mastery of plot construction, his deep understanding of human characters, his perception of history and its contemporary relevance —--all lead to the decline of the dramatic presentation. Above all, there was hardly any theme, any depth of characterization was left by Shakespeare that the later dramatists can work on. All these factors, along with the tendency to serve the moral laxity of the time through the dramas, declined the dramatic spirit and marked a decadence of drama.

   Decadent Dramatists

     Beaumont and Fletcher : 

The collaboration between the playwrights Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher in the reign of King James I was so successful and popular that they are often named together as a group. It is conjectured that the two dramatists met at the Mermaid tavern under the leadership of Ben Jonson and started working together. Their collaboration started in 1607 and lasted till Beaumont’s death in 1616. They appeared to replace Shakespeare around 1609 as chief dramatist of the King's Men. The first Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1647 contained 35 plays; 53 plays were included in the second folio in 1679. Other works bring the total plays in the canon to about 55, though some scholars put forward only 12 to 15 plays as their collaboration. 

Plays written in collaboration between Beaumont and Fletcher

Comedies: 

The Coxcomb (printed 1647) : one of the play's sources was the "Curious Impertinent" ,an episode in Don Quixote, which was published in French translation in 1608, that translation being the playwrights' source. The plot revolves around the traveller Mercury and his passion for Maria, the wife of his companion Antonio, who eventually gives his wife to Mercury as a token of his friendship. The outraged Maria decides to avenge her husband's foolishness. 

The Captain (printed 1647): This play focuses on the misogynist Jacomo, the titular Captain and the heroine Frank's love for him and her determination to reform and win him. The parallel plot focuses on Julio and Angelo's love for Lelia, the cunning widow. 

The Noble Gentlemen (printed 1647): A farcical comedy centering on a French gentleman, Monsieur Mount-Marine and his ambition of becoming a great courtier. Being concerned about the possible negative consequences of this lofty ambition, his wife fools her husband into believing that the King of France has promoted him to the rank of knight...then, baron...then, earl...then, duke, all in quick succession though his fictitious rise in society is matched by an equally fictitious decline in wealth. 

Love's Cure(printed 1647): This play is subtitled as The Martial Maid. Though the collaboration is still debatable, the most common view is that the play is a work originally by Fletcher and Francis Beaumont, later revised by Massinger. This play, set in Seville, concerns a feud between the houses of two Spanish aristocrats.

The Scornful Lady (printed 1616): The scornful lady (who is given no name) is a cold-hearted manipulator, requiring her lover Elder to travel to France for a year to punish him for some indiscreet behavior on his part. Elder fakes his own death, and plans revenge.The Scornful Lady also exploits her beloved to duel with and kill his closest friend.

The Women Hater (printed 1607) : Subtitled as The Hungry Courtier , this play focuses on the Duke of Milan and his problem of insomnia due to his 15 years old love interest Oriana, who, despite her brother Valore's restrictions, sets out to court to experience what life has to offer her. At the end she is married to the Duke. 

Tragedies : 

Thierry and Theodoret (printed 1621): The dramatization of Thierry and Theodoret is indebted to the events from medieval French history, with its disenchanted depiction of royalty, its eerie instability in terms of genre, and its black comic overtones, that strikes as a distinctive specimen of tragic drama in the Jacobean mould. 

The Maid's Tragedy (printed 1619) : Amintor, a gentleman of Rhodes, breaks his engagement to Aspatia at the king's request and marries Evadne, sister to his friend Melantius. On their wedding night, Evadne reveals that she is the king's mistress and refuses to sleep with him. Amintor initially agrees to conceal the position but later he reveals the truth to Melantius, who passionately reproaches the by now penitent Evadne, and persuades her to murder the king. Meanwhile the desolate Aspatia laments her loss and takes action by disguising herself as her brother and provoking the reluctant Amintor to a duel. He wounds her; as she lies dying, Evadne arrives after committing the king's murder. She hopes to be pardoned by Amintor but he rejects her and Evadne commits suicide; Aspatia reveals herself and also dies; Amintor too takes his own life. 

Cupid's Revenge (printed 1615): The Duke Leontius’ daughter Hidaspes and his son Leucippus decide that Hidaspes birthday wish is to destroy the cult of Cupid that permeates Lycian culture. When his statues are destroyed and temples torn down, Cupid decides to take revenge on the royal family.

Tragi-Comedies : 

Love's Pilgrimage (printed 1647) : The plot of the play derived from Cervantes. 

Philaster (printed-1629): The titular character Philaster, the legitimate heir to the throne of Sicily, is in love with Arethusa, daughter of the usurper to the throne. But she is to be married to Pharamond, a lecherous Spanish prince. When Arethusa exposes Pharamond’s excesses, the engagement is broken, and she is falsely accused of having an affair with her page, Bellario, who is actually Euphrasia, a young woman who is in love with Philaster and formerly served as Philaster’s page. Philaster angrily wounds Arethusa for her alleged affair with Bellario. At the end, Bellario reveals her true identity, and Arethusa and Philaster reconcile. The usurper, fearing a popular uprising, restores Philaster to his throne and returns his lands.

A King and No King (printed 1619):The play's title became almost proverbial to refer to the problem and predicament of King Charles I and the contemporary political crisis. The complex plot centers around Arbaces, the king of Iberia and his military and sexual rival Tigranes of Armenia, both of whom fall in love with Arbaces' supposed sister Panthea. Arbaces has a fatal flaw of an inability to control his wild and extreme mood swings. Adding to this, is his incestuous love for his sister Panthea. It is revealed that Arbaces is a changeling and therefore a ‘no king’:eventually he marries Panthea, and Tigranes returns to his former love Spaconia. Comic relief is provided by cowardly Captain Bessus, one of the funniest characters ever created for the Elizabethan stage.

Individual Contribution of Beaumont : 

The Knight of the Burning Pestle: This five act play by Francis Beaumont, first performed at Blackfriars Theatre in 1607, is the earliest example of parody or pastiche on the genre of chivalric romances in general. It aims to satirize Cervantes’s Don Quixote , Thomas Heywood's The Four Prentices of London and Thomas Dekker's The Shoemaker's Holiday. This play is an example of “a play within a play” , breaking the conventional “fourth wall” of a proscenium theater. The plot centers around a grocer, who with his family and servants go to see a play "The London Merchant," a domestic romantic comedy. Being apprehended that it will cast aspersions on his profession, the grocer angrily castigates the narrator of the "Prologue" by forcing his way onto the stage, along with his wife to establish themselves as censors of the performance. They constantly interfere with the action of the play, by forcing the Players to incorporate a new character; a knight who will uphold the honour of the grocery business and "do valiant deeds." The grocer's apprentice Rafe, who is good at making "pretty speeches," is recruited to portray the knight.This is the eponymous "Knight of the Burning Pestle" . The Players attempt to continue acting their original plot, but are continually forced to bring on Rafe, in his new character, whenever the grocer and his wife are bored or offended by the action and intervene frequently to vent their prejudices, comment on characters, or insist on changes. Rafe's presence compels the Players to improvise more and more in order to keep their story moving, to the point where his adventures become a rather disjoined subplot, and the crisis of the play occurs when their interference at last gets completely out of hand, leading to the climax of the two subplots at the same time. 

The Masque of the Inner Temple and Gray's Inn, masque : It is the example of an English masque ( form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe) which is subtitled as The Masque of the Olympic Knights. The masque was performed on 20 February 1613 at the festive occasion of James I's daughter, Princess Elizabeth with Frederick V. 

Individual Contribution of Beaumont : 

The Knight of the Burning Pestle: This five act play by Francis Beaumont, first performed at Blackfriars Theatre in 1607, is the earliest example of parody or pastiche on the genre of chivalric romances in general. It aims to satirize Cervantes’s Don Quixote , Thomas Heywood's The Four Prentices of London and Thomas Dekker's The Shoemaker's Holiday. This play is an example of “a play within a play” , breaking the conventional “fourth wall” of a proscenium theater. The plot centers around a grocer, who with his family and servants go to see a play "The London Merchant," a domestic romantic comedy. Being apprehended that it will cast aspersions on his profession, the grocer angrily castigates the narrator of the "Prologue" by forcing his way onto the stage, along with his wife to establish themselves as censors of the performance. They constantly interfere with the action of the play, by forcing the Players to incorporate a new character; a knight who will uphold the honour of the grocery business and "do valiant deeds." The grocer's apprentice Rafe, who is good at making "pretty speeches," is recruited to portray the knight.This is the eponymous "Knight of the Burning Pestle" . The Players attempt to continue acting their original plot, but are continually forced to bring on Rafe, in his new character, whenever the grocer and his wife are bored or offended by the action and intervene frequently to vent their prejudices, comment on characters, or insist on changes. Rafe's presence compels the Players to improvise more and more in order to keep their story moving, to the point where his adventures become a rather disjoined subplot, and the crisis of the play occurs when their interference at last gets completely out of hand, leading to the climax of the two subplots at the same time.  

Individual Contribution of Fletcher : 

Pastorals: 

The Faithful Shepherdess : This play is an example of a pastoral tragicomedy centering on the titular character Clorin, a virgin shepherdess, who after the sad demise of her first love prefers solitude and heals the various couples like Perigot and Amoret, as well as Cloe and Alexis from erotic turmoil. The name of the character Amaryllis has its source in Virgil's Eclogues. 

Tragedies: 

Valentinian: This play dramatizes the story of Valentinian, one of the last Roman emperors in the western Roman Empire and his assassination. 

Bonduca : This play is a dramatization of the story of the British Celtic Queen Boudica who led a revolt against the Romans in 60–61 AD. This play is often classified as a historical romance. 

Comedies : 

Monsieur Thomas: The main plot of the play, tells a tale of a romantic conflict between two men Valentine and Francisco, for one woman Cellide. The narrative of the play is borrowed from a French novel. 

The Woman's Prize, or The Tamer Tamed : Written as a counterpart to Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, this play shows how Petruchio the "tamer" is "tamed" by his second wife Maria, whom he marries after the death of Katherine, the "shrew" in Shakespeare's text. Maria's refusal to consummate her marriage till Petruchio changes his ways shows the influence of Aristophanes' Lysistrata. Also the nuptial desire of the character Moroso is influenced by the character Morose in Ben Jonson's comedy The Silent Woman. 

The Chances: The source of this play is Cervantes. The plot revolves around the misadventures of the four men Don John, Don Frederick, Petrucchio and the Duke and their seeking the aristocratic Costantia by conjuring. 

The Pilgrim : When this play was revised in the Restoration era, Sir John Vanbrugh made a prose adaptation of this play, with a Prologue and Epilogue, and a "secular masque" written by John Dryden. 

His others solo contribution in comedy also includes Rule a Wife and Have a Wife, Wit Without Money, The Wild Goose Chase . 

Tragi-Comedies: 

The Loyal Subject : Fletcher modeled his play on an earlier work by Thomas Heywood titled The Royal King and the Loyal Subject. The setting of the play Muscovy is a version of England under the reign of King James I. 

The Humorous Lieutenant : This play is set in the ancient Middle East after the death of Alexander the Great, featuring the major historical figures of the era: Antigonus, his son Demetrius, and Seleucus, Ptolemy, and Lysimachus. The plot centers on the love between Demetrius and Celia. The title character is the play's main comic relief. 

The Island Princess : This play is based on the historical event of the European discovery of the East Indies. 

Apart from these, A Wife for a Month, The Mad Lover, Women Pleased are also some of his tragicomedies. 

             George Chapman 

Poems: Chapman's first published work was his long poem The Shadow of Night. It was divided into two parts ‘Hymnus in Noctem’ and ‘ Hymnus in Cynthium’, dedicated to Night and Cynthia, the Greek Goddess of Moon. His second work was Ovid's Banquet of Sense that parodied the genre of erotic narrative poems like Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis. Chapman is considered to be the "rival poet" of Shakespeare's sonnets (in sonnets 78–86). He also wrote poetic pieces on the exploits of Sir Walter Raleigh, entitled De Guiana, Carmen Epicum (1596). 

Translations: Chapman's reputation was cemented by his continuation of Marlowe's Hero and Leander and his translation of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. In 1616 the complete Iliad and Odyssey appeared in The Whole Works of Homer, the first complete English translation. Chapman's translation of the Odyssey is written in iambic pentameter, whereas his Iliad is written in iambic heptameter that differs from the Greek original written in dactylic hexameter.) He also translated Virgil's Georgics , Fifth Satire of Juvenal (1624) and The Works by Hesiod. John Keats praised Chapman's translation of Homer effusively in his own poem On First Looking Into Chapman's Homer. 

Dramatic works 

Comedies: 

The Blind Beggar of Alexandria (printed 1598) : It was the first play by Chapman that was produced on the stage. The plot of the play is modelled on the Italian tradition of commedia dell'arte. The character of the shepherd boy Cleanthes is considered to be a parody of Christopher Marlowe's Tamburlaine. This play also has an allusion of Odyssey as the pretend-beggar Irus is named after the beggar who foolishly challenges Odysseus to a fight in the final book of The Odyssey.  

An Humorous Day's Mirth (printed 1599): : Written in the vein of Comedy of Humours, a genre that was later popularized by Ben Jonson. As per the characterization in the comedy of Humours, each of his characters represent a type. For example, Dowsecer is melancholic and misanthropic; Dariotto is a fashion-obsessed courtier; Florilla is a Puritan wife whose Puritanism quickly fails the test and Cornelius is a jealous man who doubts his wife's fidelity. The protagonist Lemot resembles a circus ringmaster to preside over the fun. 

All Fools (printed 1605) : This play is regarded by A. C. Swinburne to be the finest comedies in English,having the touch of Plautus and Terence. The plot of the play is based on two classical Roman comedies by Terence, the Heauton Timorumenos and the Adelphoe. 

Monsieur D'Olive (printed 1606): The Main plot of the play is structured by Chapman to express his interest in the Neoplatonist philosophy of Marsilio Ficino.

The Gentleman Usher (printed 1606): Chapman's preoccupation with the concept of the virtuous man who is his own moral authority in the play resonates with his deep commitment to Homer. 

May Day (printed 1611) : Chapman based the plot of May Day, and its Venetian setting, upon a Commedia erudita, a complex, crowded, multiple-plot tangle of intrigue and disguise. This play also incorporates the device of gender disguise and cross-dressing. 

 The Widow's Tears(printed1612) : The last of his comedies, often criticized for the play's cynical values and its harsh attitude toward women, expressing the biases of his era. 

Tragedies : 

The Tragedy of Bussy D'Ambois (1607): His best known tragedy on contemporary history, based on the life of the real Louis de Bussy d'Amboise, who was murdered in 1579.Bussy is portrayed as a malcontent in a world of courtly intrigue. This play is rich in use of classical allusions of Homer's Iliad, Agamemnon and Hercules Oetaeus of Seneca, the Moralia of Plutarch, the Aeneid and Georgics of Virgil, and the Adagia of Erasmus. Bussy to an extent resonates with the Marlovean Hero, being wrapped in a conflict between his idealistic urges and the sheer power of his personality. Though this play is criticized by A. C. Swinburne that the logical and philosophical consistency for dramaturgical efficacy is sacrificed for "force and vehemence of imagination”. 

The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron, Marshall of France (1608): The two plays that comprise the larger work, The Conspiracy of Byron and The Tragedy of Byron reflect contemporary history of French Politics. Byron, a formidable soldier and commander, is marred by one major fault, his overweening pride.These plays bear references to Augustus, Nero, and other ancient figures . A warrant of arrest was issued against Chapman as this play offended the French ambassador, probably because it included a scene which portrayed Henry IV's wife and mistress arguing and physically fighting with each other. 

The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois (1610) : This is sequel to The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron. In this play also Chapman blended tragedy with contemporary history of France during the reign of Henry III. Chapman's primary source for The Revenge was Edward Grimeston's A General Inventory of the History of France (1607). The Revenge tells the story of Clermont D'Ambois,a Christian stoic's revenge for his dead brother Bussy. 

Caesar and Pompey (published 1631): This play is his only work on classical tragedy and also includes some of the elements of medieval morality plays.Caesar and Pompey is considered to have influenced Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra. 

The Tragedy of Chabot, Admiral of France( 1639) : This play was later revised by James Shirley. This is the last play in the series of plays drawn from French politics. It has been argued that Chabot is a "topical allegory on the career of Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset.”

Masque : 

The Memorable Masque of the Middle Temple and Lincoln's Inn: This is considered an allegory of Britain's economic ventures in the New World that eventually led to transatlantic slavery. 

Homage : In Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem The Revolt of Islam, Shelley quotes a verse of Chapman's as homage within his dedication "to Mary__ __", presumably his wife Mary Shelley. Also the Irish playwright Oscar Wilde quoted him in his literary criticism, "The Portrait of Mr. W.H.". 

   Thomas Heywood

Thomas Heywood was called “ prose Shakespeare” by Charles Lamb. 

The Four Prentices of London: A romance, which tells a tale of four apprentices who become knights and travel to Jerusalem. This play provided the primary target of the satire in Francis Beaumont's The Knight of the Burning Pestle. 

A Woman Killed with Kindness: A domestic tragedy that narrates the story of a happy marriage being broken when Anne, the wife, is seduced by her husband’s friend. The title of the play is taken from a proverb in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. 

His other plays include the tragi-comedy The English Traveller, the tragedy Rape of Lucrece, the romance The Royal King and Loyal Subject etc. 

      Thomas Dekkar 

Old Fortunatus : A morality play based on the German legend of Fortunatus and his magic inexhaustible purse. This play is a blend of both prose and verse. 

The Shoemaker's Holiday : Written in the genre of City comedy or Citizen comedy, this play focuses on the life and aspect of the then London society with references to king Henry V. The sources of this play include Thomas Deloney's prose fiction The Gentle Craft; John Stow's A Survey of London. The central character Simone Eyre is modelled on the historical figure Simone Eyre, a merchant. The narrative revolves around three plots dealing with the aristocrat Simon Eyre and his wife, featuring the interclass marriage; the ascension of Simon Eyre to the Mayor of London and the romantic entanglement between Jane and Hammon on the pretext of the falsely informed death of Jane's husband. 

Lust's Dominion : This play is subtitled as The Spanish Moor's Tragedy. Written in the mould of a revenge tragedy following the model of Seneca, dealing with the anti-hero protagonist Moor Eleazar, Prince of Fez, who desires to avenge the Spaniards for the death of his father, even though he is imprisoned. The plot of the play is believed to have a historical backdrop of the Anglo-Moroccan alliance against Spain.In the Restoration age, Aphra Behn adapted the play into Abdelazar, or The Moor's Revenge as her only restoration tragedy. 

Satiromastix: Subtitled as The Untrussing of the Humorous Poet, this play was written as a response to Ben Jonson's The Poetaster and therefore, is involved in the Poetomachia or War of the Theatres. Ben Jonson is ridiculed here through the character named Horace. 

Blurt, Master Constable: Subtitled as the Spaniards' Night Walk , this play is a comedy featuring the love of Fontinelle and Violetta, with quite a lot of similarities with Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado about Nothing. The authorship of the play is debatable and is attributed either to Dekkar Or to Middleton. 

The Honest Whore : Dekkar's most famous and successful play written in the mould of a City comedy, featuring the prostitute Bellafront, who redeems herself. 

Pamphlets : 

 Dekkar's successful pamphlets include The Wonderful Year, a graphic account of London after Queen Elizabeth's death, James I's accession and the spread of bubonic plague. The Seven Deadly Sins of London provides account of the London underworld. 

      John Marston 

Histriomastix : Subtitled as The Player Whipped, this play is considered to be the first olay of Marston. This play, a part of the War of the Theatres, ridiculed Ben Jonson through the character Chrisoganus. Apart from that the play satirizes the contemporary women, the professional actors and allegorically represents how the society leads to war and destruction through the sins of pride, greed and sloth in human nature. 

Antonio and Mellida: This play is written as a romantic comedy that parodies the same genre. By employing the metatheatrical induction, this play focuses on the “ comic crosses of true love” faced by Antonio and Mellida. 

Antonio's Revenge: This play, a sequel to Antonio and Mellida, is written as a Revenge tragedy as Antonio avenges the Duke of Venice for the death of his father and of his fiance Mellida. This play is often considered as a hyperbolic parody of the genre of revenge tragedy. 

Jack Drum's Entertainment: The title of the play is an Elizabethan colloquial for the ill-mannered treatment of an unwanted guest. The plot of the play is loosely based on Philip Sidney's Arcadia, as the love between Pasquil and Katherine and the trials faced by them to reach happiness resonates with Argalus and Parthenia in Arcadia. This play is often regarded as multi generic and satirizes human follies and the madness of being in love. Also this play, as a part of the War of the Theatres, satirizes Ben Jonson through the character of Brabant Senior. 

What You Will: The play focuses on the relationship between two rival poets: the bitter, misanthropic satirist Lampatho Doria, representing Ben Jonson and the generous, lighthearted epicurean Quadratus. 

The Malcontent: This is a satirical comedy centered on a supplanted Duke Altofront who returns to his Dukedom in disguise of Malevole, often discussed as a prototype of Jaques in Shakespeare's As You Like It. 

Parasitaster, or The Fawn: This satirical play focus on the Duke Hercules who disguises himself as the courtier Fawn to look over his son Tiberio, sent to Duke Gonzago as an ambassador, and in the process witnesses the amorality of the courtiers. The play carries an allusion to the Gunpowder plot in 1606. 

The Dutch Courtesan: The narrative is about two friends Freevill and Puritan Malheureux and their turbulent relationship with the passionate Dutch Courtesan Franceshina. 

The Wonder of Women, or The Tragedy of Sophonisba: This play tells the story of Sophonisba’s infidelity and her gradual suicide. 

   Thomas Middleton

Comedies: 

A Trick to Catch the Old One : This is a City Comedy featuring Witgood's marriage to Joyce and the oddities in their ways along with the rivalry between Lucre, Witgood's uncle and Hoard, Joyce’ uncle. 

A Mad World, My Masters: The play belongs to the genre of city comedy, portraying a satirical and cynical view of an amoral and fairly ruthless battle of wits in the urban metropolis of early 17th-century London. 

A Chaste Maid in Cheapside: The play is centered on the marriage of Moll Yellowhammer, the titular maid with her lover Junior Touchwood. 

A Game at Chess: An allegory about England and Spain's political tension. Because of it's anti- Spanish tone, this play irks the Spanish ambassador who prompted James I to withdraw the play. 

Tragedies: 

Women Beware Women : It depicts the degeneration of Bianca, wife of Leantio, after the Duke of Florence seduces her in her husband's presence. T. S. Eliot refers to the Women Beware Women chess game in The Waste Land, Part II, line 137. 

The Changeling : Written in collaboration with William Rowley, this play focuses on Beatrice Joanna, who in her quest to escape marriage to man she dislikes, ends up being entangled in the vicious plots of her servant De Flores who is in love with her. 

 

       John Webster

The White Devil : The full original title of the play is The White Devil; or, The Tragedy of Paulo Giordano Ursini, Duke of Bracciano. With The Life and Death of Vittoria Corombona the famous Venetian Courtesan. It was the first individual work of Webster. The plot is centered on Vittoria Corombona and her adulterous relationship with the Duke of Bracciano as the Duke murders both his wife and Vittoria’s husband. Afterwards they get married. Justice is restored when both the Duke and Vittoria are killed by the Duke’s slain wife's avengers. This play is often regarded as a blend of both Democritean and Epicurean philosophy.

The Duchess of Malfi : This play revolves around a widowed Duchess who marries Anotio Bologna secretly without her brothers’ knowledge. Eventually her brothers Cardinal and Ferdinard killed Antonio and her five children once they discovered the secret of her marriage. Here too, Justice prevails in the downfall of the two evil brothers with the intervention of Bosola. Webster's principal source for this play was William Painter's The Palace of Pleasure. Angela Carter drew inspiration for her werewolf stories, The Company of Wolves and Wolf-Alice, in The Bloody Chamber from The Duchess of Malfi, most notably the line "hairy on the inside", but also "the howling of the wolf is music to the screech-owl", and "I'll go hunt the badger by owl-light. 'Tis a deed of darkness.” Stephen Fry's novel The Stars' Tennis Balls takes its title from Bosola's line in the play. Sleeping Murder by Agatha Christie uses the lines ``Cover her face; mine eyes dazzle; she died young” as the novel's central refrain.

The Devil's Law Case : The Devil's Law Case is centring on a plot twist involving a child's legitimacy and a mother's fidelity. James Russell Lowell called The Devil's Law Case Webster's "best play." 

    Philip Massinger 

The Maid of Honour : This play is a tragi- comedy based on the titular character Camiola's love for Bertoldo but her eventual rejection of him and entering into a nunnery, on the backdrop of War between the duchy of Urbino and Siena, on the context of Aurelia's refusal of Ferdinand, the Duke of Urbino's marriage proposal. A passage in The Maid of Honour served as a source for "The Definition of Love," one of Andrew Marvell's most famous poems.

The Duke of Milan : This tragedy has its source in the history of Italian wars with Spain and The Jewish War. Apart from that, Shakespeare's Othello, and Middleton’s The Revenger's Tragedy and The Second Maiden's Tragedy has its influence in the concepts of unreasoning jealousy and the corpse's poisoned kisses respectively. 

The Roman Actor : This tragedy being influenced by the second Satire of Horace, Ovid's Metamorphosis, and Ben Jonson’s first Roman tragedy Sejanus, is based on the life of the Roman Emperor Domitian, who was murdered in 96AD. 

A New Way to Pay Old Debts : The plot of this play to an extent is indebted to Middleton’s A Trick to Catch the Old One. It is a comedy, featuring an extortioner Sir Giles Overreach, who is tricked into restoring his nephew Willborn's fortunes. This play is a combination of Melodrama, Comedy of Manners and realism. 

The City Madam : This play mocks the social pretensions of the central character Lady Frugal who is obsessed about class. The sources of this play includes A New Way to Pay Old Debts by Massinger himself; Shakespeare's Measure for Measure ; Ben Jonson's Volpone etc. 

         John Ford 

 Ford's first published work was an elegy Fame's Memorial, on Earl of Devonshire. His other famous poem is Christ's Bloody Sweat. Apart from that his two essays The Golden Mean and A Line of Life are published as pamphlets. 

A Bad Beginning Makes a Good Ending: His first play. 

‘Tis Pity She's a Whore : Revolving around the theme of incest, this paly focuses on the siblings Giovanni and Anabella, and their insistence on the rightness of their incestuous passion for each other, regardless of religion, family and society. 

The Broken Heart : Focusing on the noble and virtuous Panthea, who is forced by her brother to leave her love Orgilus and marry Bassanes. 

The Lover's Melancholy : The Lover's Melancholy is based on Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy and depicts the cult of love. 

Perkin Warbeck : A historical play, considered by T. S. Eliot as “unquestionably Ford's highest achievement” and “…..one of the very best historical plays outside of the works of Shakespeare in the whole of Elizabethan and Jacobean drama.” Ford's primary historical sources for the play was The History of the Reign of King Henry VII by Francis Bacon. 

   War of Theatres : 

 The War of Theatres involved John Marston and Thomas Dekkar with Ben Jonson. It is said to begin with a satirical portrait of Jonson in Marston's Histriomastix, which was responded by Jonson in his Every Man Out of His Humour, where Jonson critiqued the style of Marston as “fustian”( thick). Along with it, Jonson satirized him in his Cynthia's Revels. Consequently, Marston Satirized Jonson in his play What You Will as Lampatho Dorio. Later, Jonson's play The Poetaster mocked both Dekkar and Marston’s style of writing through the characters of Crispinus( Marston) and Demetrius(Dekkar). Dekkar, in reply, wrote Satiromastix and called Jonson a punny, a murderer and a bricklayer. Eventually, the three reconciled. With Dekkar, Jonson wrote The King's Entertainment and with Marston and Chapman, Jonson wrote Eastward Ho. 

 

 Plays written in      collaboration 

Eastward Ho : This city comedy was written by George Chapman, Ben Jonson and John Marston. This play, centering around a London goldsmith named Touchstone, satirizes the social customs of contemporary London along with an anti-Scottish tone. This offended James I and the three playwrights were imprisoned as a consequence. 

The Honest Whore: This play was written in two parts; Part 1 is a collaboration between Thomas Dekker and Thomas Middleton, while Part 2 is the solo work of Dekker. 

The Bloody Banquet : This is a revenge tragedy, believed to have been written by Thomas Dekker and Thomas Middleton in collaboration. 

A Fair Quarrel : This tragicomedy was written by Thomas Middleton and William Rowley, having its immediate source from the subplot of Thomas Heywood's 1603 play A Woman Killed with Kindness. 

The Old Law: A tragicomedy, subtitled as A New Way to Please You, was written in collaboration by Thomas Middleton, William Rowley, and Philip Massinger. This play partially deals with a theme of euthanasia. 

Anything For a Quiet Life: This is a city comedy, written by Thomas Middleton and John Webster. 

The Changeling : Written in collaboration between Thomas Middleton and William Rowley, this play focuses on Beatrice Joanna, who in her quest to escape marriage to man she dislikes, ends up being entangled in the vicious plots of her servant De Flores who is in love with her. 

Caesar's Fall: This play was written by John Webster in collaboration with Michael Drayton, Thomas Dekkar, Thomas Middleton and Anthony Munday. 

Lady Jane : This play was written by John Webster in collaboration with Thomas Heywood and others. 

Westward Ho: This city comedy in a satirical vein was written by Thomas Dekker and John Webster that influenced Ben Jonson, George Chapman and John Marston to respond to it by writing Eastward Ho. Thomas Middleton for his later city comedy The Roaring Girl borrowed a plot element from Westward Ho.

Northward Ho: This satire and city comedy was written by Thomas Dekker and John Webster as a response to Eastward Ho by Ben Jonson, George Chapman, and John Marston. 

The Fair Maid of the Inn: This play was written by John Webster in collaboration with Philip Massinger and John Ford. 

A Cure for a Cuckold : This play is a comedy written by John Webster and William Rowley, sharing a complex inter-relationship with a set of other plays of its era, including Marston's The Dutch Courtesan, Beaumont and Fletcher's The Scornful Lady, Fletcher and Massinger's The Little French Lawyer, and Massinger's The Parliament of Love. 

The Roaring Girl : A comedy, subtitled as "Moll Cutpurse" was written by Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker. This play is a fictionalized dramatization of the life of Mary Frith, known as a woman who had gained a reputation as a virago( a woman with abundant masculine virtues) in the early 17th century.

Massinger in Collaboration

The Fatal Dowry: This tragedy was written by Philip Massinger and Nathan Field. In 1702, Nicholas Rowe adapted The Fatal Dowry into a new version entitled The Fair Penitent. 

The Virgin Martyr: This is a tragedy written by Thomas Dekker and Philip Massinger. The play's central event, the martyrdom of St. Dorothea of Caesarea, is mentioned by John Foxe in his Acts and Monuments, or Book of Martyrs.

Massinger with Beaumont and Fletcher 

Thierry and Theodoret: The dramatization of Thierry and Theodoret is indebted to the events from medieval French history, with its disenchanted depiction of royalty, its eerie instability in terms of genre, and its black comic overtones, that strikes as a distinctive specimen of tragic drama in the Jacobean mould.

The Coxcomb : One of the play's sources was the "Curious Impertinent" ,an episode in Don Quixote, which was published in French translation in 1608, that translation being the playwrights' source. The plot revolves around the traveller Mercury and his passion for Maria, the wife of his companion Antonio, who eventually gives his wife to Mercury as a token of his friendship. The outraged Maria decides to avenge her husband's foolishness.

Beggar's Bush : This comedy, presenting a lighthearted, romanticized, Robin-Hood-like view of the world of beggars, thieves, and gypsies, was written by Beaumont and Fletcher in collaboration with Massinger. 

Love's Cure :This play is subtitled as The Martial Maid. Though the collaboration is still debatable, the most common view is that the play is a work originally by Fletcher and Francis Beaumont, later revised by Massinger. This play, set in Seville, concerns a feud between the houses of two Spanish aristocrats

Massinger with Fletcher 

The Little French Lawyer: The plot bears resemblances with several other plays of the era – the Beaumont and Fletcher play The Scornful Lady, John Marston's The Dutch Courtesan, Massinger's The Parliament of Love, and A Cure for a Cuckold, by John Webster and William Rowley.

A Very Woman: This is a tragicomedy, subtitled as The Prince of Tarent. The primary source of this play was a story of Cervantes. The other important source includes Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy. 

The Custom of the Country :This play is a tragicomedy. One of its primary sources include Cervantes, although Cinthio's Hecatommithi also provided material for the play. 

The Double Marriage: A tragedy. The sources of this plot are two tales of Anthony Munday. 

The False One: This classical history tells of the meeting and romance of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra, and the betrayal and death of Pompey the Great at the hands of one of his own officers, the "false one" of the title.. 

The Prophetess: A tragicomedy. 

The Spanish Curate: A comedy. 

The Wandering Lovers Or, The Lovers’ Progress : A tragicomedy. 

Massinger with Nathaniel Field 

The Honest Man's Fortune: A tragicomedy. 

The Queen of Corinth : A tragicomedy

The Knight of Malta: A tragicomedy, written on the Jacobean policy of Spanish-appeasement. The themes also include sexual politics, Conflict between Christians and Muslims, and racial politics as well.