The Dutch Courtesan by John Marston
Although it was written shortly before or after Queen Elizabeth's death in 1603 and performed by the boy company at Blackfriars, this play foreshadows the light ladies and callous gallants of Restoration comedy. Passion is a scourge, love is humiliation, and friends might as well be enemies. Freevill discards his concubine Franceschina and, for a joke, sets his straight-laced friend Malheureux on to her, who falls for her and promises to carry out her revenge on Freevill by killing him. The play in the theatre, which is fully imagined in the introduction to this edition, impresses on the audience the spuriousness of rigid moral persuasions, especially when they are tried by fits of sexual passion.-
The Duchess of Malfi
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The Spanish Tragedy
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The Country Wife
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Doctor Faustus
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An Ideal Husband
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The Rover
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The Jew of Malta
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Epicoene or The Silent Woman
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Arden of Faversham
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The Tragedy of Mariam
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The Roaring Girl
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The Rivals
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The Importance of Being Earnest
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A Chaste Maid in Cheapside
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"Edward II"
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The School for Scandal
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Tamburlaine
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"The Way of the World"
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Edward II Revised
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Lady Windermere's Fan
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The Shoemaker's Holiday
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The Revenger's Tragedy
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The Witch of Edmonton
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She Stoops to Conquer
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The Knight of the Burning Pestle
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Pygmalion
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Three Late Medieval Morality Plays: Everyman, Mankind and Mundus et Infans
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Thomas Middleton: Four Plays
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The Changeling
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Mrs Warren's Profession
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The Beggar's Opera
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The Malcontent
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The Beaux' Stratagem
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Christopher Marlowe: Four Plays
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Women Beware Women
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The White Devil
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The "Man of Mode"
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Bartholmew Fair
John Marston (c. 1575-1634) was an English playwright who wrote thirteen plays between 1599 and 1609, his two finest being the tragicomedy The Malcontent (1604) and the comedy The Dutch Courtesan (1605). He is noted for his violent imagery and his preoccupation with mankind's failure to uphold Christian virtues. Other plays include the tragedies Antonio's Revenge and Antonio and Mellida (both 1599) and the comedy What You Will (1601). At the turn of the century Marston became involved in the so-called war of the theatres, a prolonged feud with his rival Ben Jonson. Jonson repeatedly satirized him in such plays as Every Man Out of His Humour (1599) and The Poetaster (1601), while Marston replied in Satiromastix (with Thomas Dekker; 1601). Their squabble ended in time for the two to collaborate with George Chapman on the ill-fated Eastward Ho! (1605), which resulted in all three authors being briefly imprisoned. Marston was later imprisoned for offending James I with his tragedy The Insatiate Countess (1610). After his release he took holy orders and wrote no more plays.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780713644753 |
| ISBN 10 | 0713644753 |
| Title | The Dutch Courtesan |
| Author | John Marston |
| Series | New Mermaids |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing PLC |
| Year published | 1997-09-30 |
| Number of pages | 120 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |