TRB PG English Study Materials Unit 1

UNIT-1
 THE CANTERBURY TALES SUMMARY

 THE FAERIE QUEENE BOOK 1 – HOLINESS
 PROTHALAMION
 EPITHALAMION ESSAY
 OF TRUTH
 OF ADVERSITY
 OF STUDIES
 OF REVENGE
 OF ADVERSITY
 OF AMBITION
 OF FRIENDSHIP
 AN APOLOGY FOR POETRY
 BOOK OF JOB
 DOCTOR FAUSTUS
 SPANISH TRAGEDY
 THE ALCHEMIST
1
THE CANTERBURY TALES SUMMARY
The Canterbury Tales begins with the introduction of each their journey to
Canterbury to the shrine of Thomas a Becket. These pilgrims include a Knight, his son
the Squire, the Knight's Yeoman, a Prioress, a Second Nun, a Monk, a Friar, a Merchant,
a Clerk, a Man of Law, a Franklin, a Weaver, a Dyer, a Carpenter, a Tapestry Maker, a
Haberdasher, a Cook, a Shipman, a Physician, a Parson, a Miller, a Manciple, a Reeve,
a Summoner, a Pardoner, the Wife of Bath, and Chaucer himself. Congregating at the
Tabard Inn, the pilgrims decide to tell stories to pass their time on the way to
Canterbury. The Host of the Tabard Inn sets the rules for the tales. Each of the pilgrims
will tell two stories on the way to Canterbury, and two stories on the return trip. The
Host will decide whose tale is best for meaningfulness and for fun. They decide to draw
lots to see who will tell the first tale, and the Knight receives the honor.
The Knight's Tale is a tale about two knights, Arcite and Palamon, who are
captured in battle and imprisoned in Athens under the order of King Theseus. While
imprisoned in a tower, both see Emelye, the sister of Queen Hippolyta, and fall instantly
in love with her. Both knights eventually leave prison separately: a friend of Arcite begs
Theseus to release him, while Palamon later escapes. Arcite returns to the Athenian
court disguised as a servant, and when Palamon escapes he suddenly finds Arcite. They
fight over Emelye, but their fight is stopped when Theseus finds them. Theseus sets the
rules for a duel between the two knights for Emelye's affection, and each raise an army
for a battle a year from that date. Before the battle, Arcite prays to Mars for victory in
battle, Emelye prays to Diana that she may marry happily, and Palamon prays to Venus
to have Emelye as his wife. All three gods hear their prayers and argue over whose
should get precedence, but Saturn decides to mediate. During their battle, Arcite indeed
is victorious, but as soon as he is crowned victor, he is killed. Before he dies, he
reconciles with Palamon and tells him that he deserves to marry Emelye. Palamon and
Emelye marry.
When the Knight finishes his tale, everybody is pleased with its honorable
qualities, but the drunken Miller insists that he shall tell the next tale. The Miller's Tale,
2
in many ways a version of the Knight’s, is a comic table in which Nicholas, a student
who lives with John the carpenter and his much younger wife, Alison, falls in love with
Alison. Another man, the courtly romantic Absolon, also falls in love with Alison.
Nicholas contrives to sleep with Alison by telling John that a flood equal to Noah's flood
will come soon, and the only way that he, Nicholas and Alison will survive is by staying
in separate kneading tubs placed on the roof of houses, out of sight of all. While John
remained in this kneading tub, Nicholas and Alison leave to have sex, but are interrupted
by Absolon, singing to Alison at her bedroom window. She told him to close his eyes
and he would receive a kiss. He did so, and she pulled down her pants so that he could
kiss her arse. The humiliated Absolon got a hot iron from a blacksmith and returned to
Alison. This time, Nicholas tried the same trick, and Absolon branded his backside.
Nicholas shouted for water, awakening John, who was asleep on the roof. Thinking the
flood had come, he cut the rope and came crashing through the floor of his house,
landing in the cellar.
The pilgrims laughed heartily at this tale, but Oswald the Reeve takes offense,
thinking that the Miller meant to disparage carpenters. In response, The Reeve's Tale
tells the story of a dishonest Miller, Symkyn, who repeatedly cheated his clients, which
included a Cambridge college. Two Cambridge students, Aleyn and John, went to the
miller to buy meal and corn, but while they were occupied Symkyn let their horses run
free and stole their corn. They were forced to stay with Symkyn for the night. That
night, Aleyn seduced the miller's daughter, Molly, while John seduced the miller's wife.
Thanks to a huge confusion of whose bed is who in the dark, Aleyn tells Symkyn of his
exploits, thinking he is John: and the two fight. The miller's wife, awaking and thinking
the devil had visited her, hit Symkyn over the head with a staff, knocking him
unconscious, and the two students escaped with the corn that Symkyn had stolen.
The Cook's Tale was intended to follow the Reeve's Tale, but this tale only exists as a
fragment. Following this tale is the Man of Law's Tale, which tells the story of
Constance, the daughter of a Roman emperor who becomes engaged to the Sultan of
Syria on the condition that he converts to Christianity. Angered by his order to convert
his country from Islam, the mother of the Sultan assassinates her son and Constance
barely escapes. She is sent on a ship that lands in Britain, where she is taken in by the
3
warden of a nearby castle and his wife, Dame Hermengild. Both of them soon convert
to Christianity upon meeting her. A young knight fell in love with Constance, but when
she refused him, he murdered Dame Hermengild and attempted to frame Constance.
However, when King Alla made the knight swear on the Bible that Constance murdered
Hermengild, his eyes burst. Constance marries King Alla and they have a son,
Mauritius, who is born when Alla is at war in Scotland. Lady
Donegild contrives to have Constance banished by intercepting the letters between Alla
and Constance and replacing them with false ones. Constance is thus sent away again,
and on her voyage her ship comes across a Roman ship. A senator returns her to Rome,
where nobody realizes that she is the daughter of the emperor. Eventually, King Alla
makes a pilgrimage to Rome, where he meets Constance once more, and the Roman
emperor realizes that Mauritius is his grandson and names him heir to the throne.
The Wife of Bath begins her tale with a long dissertation on marriage in which she
recounts each of her five husbands. Her first three husbands were old men whom she
would hector into providing for her, using guilt and refusal of sexual favors. However,
the final two husbands were younger men, more difficult to handle. The final husband,
Jankin, was a twenty-year-old, half the Wife of Bath's age. He was more trouble, as he
refused to let the Wife of Bath dominate him and often read literature that proposed that
women be submissive. When she tore a page out of one of his books, Jankin struck her,
causing her to be deaf in one ear. However, he felt so guilty at his actions that from that
point in the marriage, he was totally submissive to her and the two remained happy. The
Wife of Bath's Tale is itself a story of marriage dynamic. It tells the tale of a knight
who, as punishment for raping a young woman, is sentenced to death. However, he is
spared by the queen, who will grant him freedom if he can answer the question "what
do women want?" The knight cannot find a satisfactory answer until he meets an old
crone, who promises to tell him the answer if he marries her. He agrees, and receives
his freedom when he tells the queen that women want sovereignty over their husbands.
However, the knight is dissatisfied that he must marry the old, low-born hag. She
therefore tells him that he can have her as a wife either old and ugly yet submissive, or
young and beautiful yet dominant. He chooses to have her as a young woman, and
although she had authority in marriage the two were completely happy from that point.
4
The Friar asks to tell the next tale, and asks for pardon from the Summoner, for he will
tell a tale that exposes the fraud of that profession.
The Friar's Tale tells about a wicked summoner who, while delivering summons for the
church court, comes across a traveling yeoman who eventually reveals himself to be the
devil himself. The two share trade secrets, and the devil tells him that they will meet
again in hell if the summoner continues to pursue his trade. The summoner visits an old
woman and issues her a summons, then offers to accept a bribe as a payment to prevent
her excommunication. The old woman believes that she is without sin and curses the
summoner. The devil then appears and casts the summoner into hell.
The Summoner was enraged by the Friar's Tale. Before he begins his tale, he tells a
short anecdote: a friar visited hell and was surprised to see that there were no other
friars. The angel who was with him then lifted up Satan's tail and thousands of friars
swarmed out from his arse. The Summoner's Tale is an equally vitriolic attack on friars.
It tells of a friar who stays with an innkeeper and his wife and bothers them about not
contributing enough to the church and not attending recently. When the innkeeper tells
him that he was not recently in church because he has been ill and his infant daughter
recently died, the friar attempted to placate him and then asked for donations once more.
Thomas the innkeeper promised to give the friar a “gift” and gives him a loud fart.
The Clerk, an Oxford student who has remained quiet throughout the journey, tells the
next tale on the orders of the Host. The Clerk's Tale recounts a story about Walter, an
Italian marquis who finally decides to take a wife after the people of his province object
to his longtime status as a bachelor. Walter marries Griselde, a low-born but amazingly
virtuous woman whom everybody loves. However, Walter decides to test her devotion.
When their first child, a daughter, is born, Walter tells her that his people are unhappy
and wish for the child's death. He takes away the child, presumably to be murdered, but
instead sends it to his sister to be raised. He does the same with their next child, a son.
Finally, Walter tells Griselde that the pope demands that he divorce her. He sends her
away from his home. Each of these tragedies Griselde accepts with great patience.
Walter soon decides to make amends, and sends for his two children. He tells Griselde
that he will marry again, and introduces her to the presumed bride, whom he then reveals
is their daughter. The family is reunited once more. The Clerk ends with the advice that
5
women should strive to be as steadfast as Griselde, even if facing such adversity is
unlikely and perhaps impossible.
The Merchant praises Griselde for her steadfast character, but claims that his wife is far
different from the virtuous woman of the Clerk's story. He instead tells a tale of an
unfaithful wife. The Merchant's Tale tells a story of January, an elderly blind knight
who decides to marry a young woman, despite the objections of his brother, Placebo.
January marries the young and beautiful May, who soon becomes dissatisfied with his
sexual attentions to her and decides to have an affair with his squire, Damian, who has
secretly wooed her by signs and tokens. When January and May are in their garden,
May sneaks away to have sex with Damian. The gods Pluto and Proserpina come upon
Damian and May and Pluto restores January's sight so that he may see what his wife is
doing. When January sees what is occurring, May tells him not to believe his eyes –
they are recovering from the blindness - and he believes her: leading to an onthe-surface
happy ending.
The Squire tells the next tale, which is incomplete. The Squire's Tale begins with a
mysterious knight arriving at the court of Tartary. This knight gives King Cambyuskan
a mechanical horse that can transport him anywhere around the globe and return him
within a day. Further, he gives Canacee, the daughter of Cambyuskan, a mirror that can
discern honesty and a ring that allows the wearer to know the language of animals and
the healing properties of all herbs. Canacee uses this ring to aid a bird who has been
rejected in love, but the tale then abruptly ends.
The Franklin's Tale that follows tells of the marriage between the knight Arviragus and
his wife, Dorigen. When Arviragus travels on a military expedition, Dorigen laments
his absence and fears that, when he returns, his ship will be wrecked upon the rocks off
the shore. A young man, Aurelius, falls in love with her, but she refuses to return his
favors. She agrees to have an affair with Aurelius only on the condition that he find a
way to remove the rocks from the shore, a task she believes impossible. Aurelius pays
a scholar who creates the illusion that the rocks have disappeared, while Arviragus
returns. Dorigen admits to her husband the promise that she has made, and Arviragus
tells her that she must fulfill that promise. He sends her to have an affair with Aurelius,
but he realizes the pain that it would cause Dorigen and does not make her fulfill the
6
promise. The student in turn absolves Aurelius of his debt. The tale ends with the
question: which of these men behaved most generously and nobly?
The Physician's Tale that follows tells of Virginius, a respected Roman knight whose
daughter, Virginia, was an incomparable beauty. Appius, the judge who governed his
town, lusted after Virginia and collaborated with Claudius, who claimed in court that
Virginia was his slave and Virginius had stolen her. Appius orders that Virginia be
handed over to him. Virginius, knowing that Appius and Claudius did this in order to
rape his daughter, instead gave her a choice between death or dishonor. She chooses
death, and Virginius chops off his daughter's head, which he brings to Appius and
Claudius. The people were so shocked by this that they realized that Appius and
Claudius were frauds. Appius was jailed and committed suicide, while Claudius was
banished.
The Pardoner prefaces his tale with an elaborate confession about the deceptive nature
of his profession. He tells the secrets of his trade, including the presentation of useless
items as saints' relics. The Pardoner's Tale concerns three rioters who search for Death
to vanquish him. They find an old man who tells them that they may find Death under
a nearby tree, but under this tree they only find a large fortune. Two of the rioters send
the third into town to purchase food and drink for the night (when they intend to escape
with their fortune) and while he is gone they plan to murder him. The third rioter poisons
the drink, intending to take all of the money for himself. When he returns, the two rioters
stab him, then drink the poisoned wine and die themselves. The three rioters thus find
Death in the form of avarice. The Pardoner ends his tale with a diatribe against sin,
imploring the travelers to pay him for pardons, and be absolved, but the Host berates
him scatalogically into silence.
The next story, The Shipman's Tale, is the story of a thrifty merchant and his wife. The
wife tells a monk, the merchant’s close friend, that she is unhappy in her marriage, and
asks if she might borrow a hundred francs of his. In return for the loan, she agrees, she
will sleep with him. The monk then borrows the money from the merchant himself,
sleeps with his wife, and pays her her husband’s money. When the merchant asks for
his money back, the monk tells him it he gave it to the wife: and when the merchant
7
confronts his wife, the wife simply tells him that she will repay the debt to her husband
in bed.
The Prioress' Tale tells the story of a young Christian child who lived in a town in Asia
that was dominated by a vicious Jewish population. One child learned the “Alma
redemptoris”, a song praising the Virgin Mary, and traveled home from school singing
it. The Jews, angry at his behavior, took the child and slit his throat, leaving him in a
cesspit to die. The boy's mother searched frantically for her son. When she found him,
he was not yet dead, for the Virgin Mary had placed a grain on his tongue that would
allow him to speak until it was removed. When this was removed, the boy passed on to
heaven. The story ends with a lament for the young boy and a curse for the Jews who
perpetrated the heinous crime.
Chaucer himself tells the next tale, The Tale of Sir Thopas, a florid and fantastical poem
in rhyming couplets that serves only to annoy the other pilgrims. The Host interrupts
Chaucer shortly into this tale, and tells him to tell another. Chaucer then tells The Tale
of Melibee, one of two tales that is in prose (the other is the Parson’s Tale). This tale is
about Melibee, a powerful ruler whose enemies attack his family. When deciding
whether to declare war on his enemies, Prudence, his wife, advises him to remain
merciful, and they engage in a long debate over the appropriate course of action.
Melibee finally gives his enemies the option: they can receive a sentence either from
him or from his wife. They submit to Melibee's judgment, and he intends to disinherit
and banish the perpetrators. However, he eventually submits to his wife's plea for
mercy.
The Monk's Tale is not a narrative tale at all, but instead an account of various historical
and literary figures who experience a fall from grace. These include Adam, Samson,
Hercules,
King Pedro of Spain, Bernabo Visconti, Nero, Julius Caesar, and Croesus. The Knight
interrupts the Monk's Tale, finding his listing of historical tragedies monotonous and
depressing, and is backed up by the Host.
The Nun's Priest's Tale tells the story of the rooster Chaunticleer and the hen Pertelote.
Chaunticleer was ill one night and had a disturbing dream that he was chased by a fox.
8
He feared this dream was prophetic, but Pertelote assured him that his dream merely
stemmed from his imbalanced humours and that he should find herbs to cure himself.
Chaunticleer insisted that dreams are signifiers, but finally agreed with his wife.
However, Chaunticleer is indeed chased by a fox, and carried off – but is saved when
he tricks the fox into opening his mouth, allowing Chaunticleer to fly away.
Chaucer follows this with The Second Nun's Tale. This tale is a biography of
SaintCecilia, who converts her husband and brother to Christianity during the time of
the Roman empire, when Christian beliefs were illegal. Her brother and husband are
executed for their beliefs, and she herself is cut three times with a sword during her
execution, but does not immediately die. Rather, she lingers on for several more days,
during which time she orders that her property be distributed to the poor. Upon her death
Pope Urbandeclared her a saint.
After the Second Nun finishes her tale, a Canon (alchemist) and his Yeoman join the
band of travelers. The Canon had heard how they were telling tales, and wished to join
them. The Yeoman speaks incessantly about the Canon, praising him hugely, but then
retracts his praise, annoying the Canon, who suddenly departs. The Yeoman therefore
decides to tell a tale about a duplicitous Canon: not, he says, his master. The Canon's
Yeoman's Tale is a story of the work of a canon and the means by which they defraud
people by making them think that they can duplicate money.
The Host tells the Cook to tell the next tale, but he is too drunk to coherently tell one.The
Manciple therefore tells a tale. The Manciple's Tale is the story of how Phoebus, when
he assumed mortal form, was a jealous husband. He monitored his wife closely, fearing
that she would be unfaithful. Phoebus had a white crow that could speak the language
of humans and could sing beautiful. When the white crow learns that Phoebus' wife was
unfaithful, Phoebus plucked him of his feathers and threw him out of doors. According
to the Manciple, this explains why crows are black and can only sing in an unpleasant
tone.
The Parson tells the final tale. The Parson's Tale is not a narrative tale at all, however,
but rather an extended sermon on the nature of sin and the three parts necessary for
forgiveness: contrition, confession, and satisfaction. The tale gives examples of the
9
seven deadly sins and explains them, and also details what is necessary for redemption.
Chaucer ends the tales with a retraction, asking those who were offended by the tales to
blame his rough manner and lack of education, for his intentions were not immoral,
while asking those who found something redeemable in the tales to give credit to Christ.
ABOUT THE CANTERBURY TALES
The Canterbury Tales is at once one of the most famous and most frustrating
works of literature ever written. Since its composition in late 1300s, critics have
continued to mine new riches from its complex ground, and started new arguments
about the text and its interpretation. Chaucer’s richly detailed text, so Dryden said, was
“God’s plenty”, and the rich variety of the Tales is partly perhaps the reason for its
success. It is both one long narrative (of the pilgrims and their pilgrimage) and an
encyclopedia of shorter narratives; it is both one large drama, and a compilation of most
literary forms known to medieval literature: romance, fabliau, Breton lay, moral fable,
verse romance, beast fable, prayer to the Virgin… and so the list goes on. No single
literary genre dominates the Tales. The tales include romantic adventures, fabliaux,
saint's biographies, animal fables, religious allegories and even a sermon, and range in
tone from pious, moralistic tales to lewd and vulgar sexual farces. More often than not,
moreover, the specific tone of the tale is extremely difficult to firmly pin down.
This, indeed, is down to one of the key problems of interpreting the Tales
themselves - voice: how do we ever know who is speaking? Because Chaucer, early in
the Tales, promises to repeat the exact words and style of each speaker as best he can
remember it, there is always a tension between Chaucer and the pilgrim's voice he
ventriloquises as he re-tells his tale: even the "Chaucer" who is a character on the
pilgrim has a distinct and deliberately unChaucerian voice. Is it the Merchant’s voice –
and the Merchant’s opinion – or Chaucer’s? Is it Chaucer the character or Chaucer the
writer? If it is Chaucer’s, are we supposed to take it at face value, or view it ironically?
It is for this reason that, throughout this ClassicNote, a conscious effort has been made
to refer to the speaker of each tale (the Merchant, in the Merchant’s Tale, for example)
as the “narrator”, a catchall term which represents both of, or either one of, Chaucer and
the speaker in question.
10
No-one knows for certain when Chaucer began to write the Tales – the
pilgrimage is usually dated 1387, but that date is subject to much scholarly argument –
but it is certain that Chaucer wrote some parts of the Tales at different times, and went
back and added Tales to the melting pot. The Knight’s Tale, for example, was almost
certainly written earlier than the Canterbury project as a separate work, and then adapted
into the voice of the Knight; and the Second Nun’s Tale, as well as probably the Monk’s,
probably have a similar compositional history.
Chaucer drew from a rich variety of literary sources to create the Tales, though
his principal debt is likely to Boccaccio’s Decameron, in which ten nobles from
Florence, to escape the plague, stay in a country villa and amuse each other by each
telling tales. Boccaccio likely had a significant influence on Chaucer. The Knight's Tale
was an English version of a tale by Boccaccio, while six of Chaucer's tales have possible
sources in the Decameron: the Miller's
Tale, the Reeve's, the Clerk's, the Merchant's, the Franklin's, and the Shipman's.
However, Chaucer's pilgrims to Canterbury form a wider range of society compared to
Boccaccio's elite storytellers, allowing for greater differences in tone and substance.
The text of the Tales itself does not survive complete, but in ten fragments (see
‘The texts of the Tales’ for further information and specific orders). Due to the fact that
there are no links made between these ten fragments in most cases, it is extremely
difficult to ascertain precisely in which order Chaucer wanted the tales to be read. This
Classic Note corresponds to the order followed in Larry D. Benson’s “Riverside
Chaucer”, which is undoubtedly the best edition of Chaucer currently available.
CHARACTER LIST
The Host
“Host” or "Harry Bailly": The proprietor of the Tabard Inn where the pilgrims to
Canterbury stay before beginning their journey. He accompanies the pilgrims on their
journey. It is the Host who devised the scheme of the tales, proposing that each tell two
tales on the way to Canterbury, and he frequently mediates arguments between pilgrims
11
and suggests who shall tell the next story. He has a bit of a class complex, and can be
seen regularly toadying up to the upper-class and higher-status characters.
The Knight
A noble fighter who served in the Crusades. He travels with his son, the Squire. The
Knight tells the first tale, a romantic tale of a love triangle between two knights and a
woman they both love.
The Squire
A "lusty bachelor" of twenty, the Squire is the son of the Knight, and the only pilgrim
other than Chaucer stated as having literary ambitions: he can "wel endite". He tells an
interrupted tale concerning the gifts that a mysterious knight brings to the court of
Tartary.
The Knight's Yeoman

The Yeoman is the second servant who travels with the Knight. He does not tell a tale.
The Prioress
A delicate, sentimental woman, the Prioress weeps over any small tragedy such as the
death of a mouse. She attempts to appear refined, but her refinement is superficial. Her
tale concerns the murder of a small child at the hands of Jews who loathe the child for
singing about the Virgin Mary.
The Second Nun

The secretary to the Prioress, the Second Nun tells as her tale the biography of Saint
Cecilia.
The Monk
A robust and masculine man, the Monk travels with the Prioress and Second Nun.
The Friar (Hubert)

He is an immoral man concerned largely with profit rather than turning men away from
sin. His tale is an attack on the wickedness of summoners.
The Merchant
12
He is an arrogant man obsessed with profit margins. His story is a comic tale concerning
an elderly blind man who takes a young wife who proves unfaithful.
The Clerk
The Clerk is a student at Oxford, and his lack of an actual profession leaves him
impoverished. Although educated, his intellectual pursuits have left him virtually
unemployable. He tells a tale of the humble Griselde, who marries a man of high status
who cruelly tests her devotion to him.
The Man of Law

The lawyer tells a religiously inspired tale concerning Constance, a woman who
suffers a number of tragedies but is at each turn saved by her devotion to her Christian
beliefs.
The Franklin
He travels with the Man of Law. The Franklin is a man who takes delight in all simple
pleasures, most prominently culinary ones. His story is that of a woman who promises
to have an affair with a man if he can save her husband.
The Weaver
One of the five guildsmen who travel with the pilgrims to Canterbury, the Weaver does
not tell a tale.
The Dyer
One of the five guildsmen who travel with the pilgrims to Canterbury, the Dyer does
not tell a tale.
The Carpenter
One of the five guildsmen who travel with the pilgrims to Canterbury, he does not tell
a tale.
The Tapestry-Maker
a tale.
The Haberdasher
13
a tale.
The Cook
A lewd and vulgar man, the Cook often engages in violent and contentious behavior.
He tells a tale that appears to be a fabliau. However, this tale does not exist in a
completed form.
The Shipman
He tells the tale of a woman who agrees to have an affair with a monk who will pay her
so that she can repay a debt to her husband, but this monk ultimately borrows this money
from the husband himself.
The Physician
The Physician tells a tale about a father who, in order to protect his daughter from
scoundrels who contrive to rape her, murders his daughter.
The Wife of Bath

The most ostentatious of the travelers, the Wife of Bath has been married five times and
is currently searching for another man to marry. The Wife of Bath is opinionated and
boisterous, and her tale, which centers around the question "what do women want?,"
promotes her view that women wish to have authority over men.
The Parson
The Parson is a man devoted to his congregation, decent and principled. His tale is a
long dissertation on the definition of sin and its various forms.
The Miller
A large man with an imposing physique, the Miller is rude and contemptuous of his
fellow travelers. His tale is a comic story of a devious student who contrives to have an
affair with the wife of a dimwitted carpenter.
The Manciple
14
Also trained in the law, the Manciple tells a fable that attributes the dark appearance
and unpleasant sound of crows to the actions of a white crow who told the god Phoebus
of his wife's infidelity.
The Reeve
A slender man with a fiery temper, he tells a tale in response to the Miller's Tale. His
tale concerns a villainous Miller who is humiliated by two Oxford students.
The Summoner
The profession of the summoner is to issue summons for people to appear in front of
the Church court, and in this the Summoner is quite unfair. He tells a tale in response
to the Friar's diatribe against summoners that parodies the Friar's profession.
The Pardoner
An effeminate and shamelessly immoral man, the Pardoner is intensely selfloathing yet
devoted to his task of defrauding people of their money by making them believe that
they have sinned and need to buy pardons. His tale is an allegory about three rioters
who find death through their avarice. The Pardoner uses this tale as an attempt to sell
pardons to the company, but is silenced by the Host.
The Canon
A mysterious and threatening figure, he and his Yeoman are not original travelers with
the pilgrims to Canterbury. They seek out the party when they learn about the tales that
they have been telling. When the Canon's Yeoman reveals too much about his master's
profession, the Canon suddenly disappears.
The Canon's Yeoman

The assistant to the Canon, he speaks openly about his master's tricks as an alchemist,
prompting the Canon to leave the pilgrims. The Yeoman then admits that he regrets the
deceptions of his master, and tells a tale that details the methods of a canon's fraud.
Arcite
Theban knight who is imprisoned in Athens but released on the intervention of his friend
Pirithous, he and his friend Palamon both fall in love with Emelye. He prays to Mars
for aid in his duel with Palamon for Emelye, and although he wins the battle, he
suddenly is killed in an earthquake upon his victory.
15
Palamon
Theban knight who is imprisoned in Athens. Both he and Arcite fall in love with
Emelye. Before the duel for her hand in marriage, Palamon prays to Venus, the goddess
of love, to win Emelye as a wife. Although he loses the battle, he wins Emelye as a wife
when Arcite dies.
Emelye
The sister of Hippolyta, she is a pawn within the struggle between Arcite and Palamon,
both who have fallen in love with her. Although she wishes to remain chaste in honor
of the goddess, Diana, she accepts that she must marry one of the two knights.
Theseus
The King of Athens, he wages war upon Thebes in response to the injustice of the
Theban king, and imprisons Arcite and Palamon. He sets the rules and regulations of
their duel for Emelye.
Hippolyta
The Queen of Scythia, she is the husband of Theseus, King of Athens, and the sister of
Emelye.
Pirithous
A prince and childhood friend of Theseus, he intervenes to have Arcite released from
prison on the condition that he never return to Athens.
Lycurgus
The king of Thrace, he fights with Palamon during his duel with Arcite.
Emetreus
The king of India, he fights with Arcite during his duel with Palamon.
John
An oafish carpenter, he is an older man who marries the much younger Alison. He
foolishly believes Nicholas' prediction that a second great flood is coming, and hides in
a kneading bucket on his roof in preparation for it.
16
Alison
The crafty wife of John the carpenter, Alison is much younger than her husband. She
has an affair with Nicholas, a boarder who stays with her and her husband.
Nicholas
An Oxford student who boards with John and Alison, Nicholas claims to study
astronomy. He comes up with the fantastic fabliau "Noah's Ark" trick which makes up
most of the plot of the tale.
Absolon
A delicate, courtly lover who pursues Alison, he is a skilled musician and an unabashed
romantic. He suffers humiliation at the hands of Alison, but gets revenge on Nicholas.
Symkyn
A vulgar, dishonest and foolish miller, Symkyn repeatedly cheats his customers out of
grain. He receives his comeuppance when two Cambridge students that he has cheated
seduce his wife and daughter then steal their grain back from him.
Aleyn
A Cambridge student who seduces the miller's daughter, Molly, when he and John stay
at the miller's house.
John (2)
A Cambridge student who seduces the miller's wife when he and Aleyn stay at the
Miller's house.
Molly
The daughter of the Miller, she is a somewhat unattractive young woman, yet Aleyn
nevertheless seduces her when the two students stay at the miller's home.
Constance
The daughter of the Roman emperor, she is given to be married to the Sultan of Syria
after he agrees to convert to Christianity. But when his mother opposes this, she
narrowly escapes an assassination attempt and ends up in England, where she marries
17
King Alla. After escaping treachery once more, Constance is sent back to Rome. She is
a devoted Christian whose faith aids her throughout all of her travails.
The Sultan
The King of Syria, he agrees to convert to Christianity to marry Constance, but his
actions infuriate his mother, who has him assassinated.
The Sultana
Villainous mother of the Sultan, she refuses to convert from Islam on the orders of her
son and plots his assassination.
Dame Hermengild
The wife of the Warden of the Northumberland region where Constance lands in
England, she converts to Christianity through the influence of Constance. A devious
knight murders her in an attempt to frame Constance.
The Warden
The husband of Dame Hermengild, he watches over the castle of Northumberland
while King Alla is at war. He converts to Christianity along with his wife.
King Alla
The English king of Northumberland, he marries Constance but is separated from her
because of the machinations of his mother, Lady Donegild.
Lady Donegild
The treacherous mother of King Alla, she contrives to have Constance and her child
banished from England. King Alla murders her for her evil actions.
Mauritius
The son of King Alla and Constance, he becomes the emperor of Rome when
Constance's father realizes his royal lineage.
Jankin
The fifth husband of the Wife of Bath, he was much younger than she and prone to
reading misogynist religious texts that offended his wife. When he hurt her out of
18
anger, he realized his error and submitted to her authority, after which he and his wife
had a perfectly happy marriage.
The Knight (2)
After raping a young woman, the knight is sentenced to death, but spared by the queen,
who decides that the knight will receive mercy if he can answer the question "what do
women want?"
The Lothly Lady

This elderly woman tells the Knight what women really desire on the condition that he
will marry her. When he grants her the authority in marriage, the old woman transforms
into a beautiful young woman.
The Summoner (2)

The summoner, who is given no proper name, is a typical representation of his
profession, according to the Friar. He meets the devil and shares trade secrets, and is
cast into hell for his sinful behavior.
Satan
Introducing himself as a yeoman, he and the summoner become compatriots until he
finally casts the summoner into hell.
The Friar
This boorish friar is rude and presumptuous, oblivious to the conditions of Thomas and
his wife, who take him in as a boarder. Although ostensibly polite and refined, the friar
callously begs Thomas for money.
Thomas
Owner of a home where the Friar stays, his infant child had recently died and he himself
has taken ill. When the Friar begs him for money, Thomas pays him with the "gift" of
a fart.
Griselde
19
A woman of low status, she marries Walter, the marquis of Saluzzo, but is subjected to
a number of trials that her husband devises to prove her worth. She handles each of
these trials honorably, proving herself dedicated and steadfast in the face of any tragedy.
Walter
The marquis of Saluzzo, he is a dedicated bachelor until the people of his region insist
that he takes a wife. When he marries Griselde, he subjects her to a number of trials
meant to prove her worth, each of them cruel and heartless.
Janicula
The father of Griselde. She returns to him after she has been cast out of her home by
Walter.
January
A wealthy knight and perpetual bachelor, at the age of sixty this blind man decides to
take a young wife. When he marries May, he bores her with his insistent sexual desire,
leading her to have an affair. He regains his sight when Pluto and Proserpina find May
having sex with Damian in his presence.
May
The young wife of January, she soon tires of his persistent and monotonous sexual
desire and has an affair with January's squire, Damian. When January regains his sight
and sees her engaged in a tryst with Damian, she insists that he should not believe his
eyes.
Damian
January's squire, he has an affair with May.
Placebo
A friend of January's who argues for the merits of marrying a young woman at such an
elderly age.
Pluto
20
The king of the fairies, he and his wife stumble upon January, May and Damian when
the latter two have a sexual encounter. He restores January's sight.
Proserpina She is the wife of Pluto.
Canacee
The daughter of the King of Tartary, she receives the gift of knowing the language of
animals and the healing properties of every herb.
Cambyuskan
The King of Tartary. A mysterious knight brings him a mechanical horse that can
transport him anywhere across the globe.
Arviragus
A devoted knight and husband to Dorigen, he travels to Britain to engage in war,
causing great grief to his wife. He gives up his wife so that she may preserve her honor.
Dorigen
The wife of Arviragus, she becomes intensely depressed when he leaves for Britain,
fearing for his life. She promises to have an affair with Aurelius if he can make the
rocks that obstruct the shore on which Arviragus will land disappear.
Aurelius
A young squire who falls in love with Dorigen, he pays the Orleans student to make the
rocks off of the Brittany shore disappear so that Dorigen will have an affair with him.
But he gives her up when he realizes the pain that it would cause her.
The Orleans Student

A law student skilled in creating apparitions, he contrives to have the rocks off of the
Brittany shore disappear, but when Aurelius does not engage in an affair with Dorigen,
he forgives Aurelius of his debt for creating the apparition.
Virginius
An honorable and well-loved knight, he murders his daughter when Appius and
Claudius scheme to have her raped.
21
Virginia
The daughter of Virginius, her incomparable beauty leads Appius to lust after her and
scheme to have her raped.
Appius
A corrupt judge who governs the town where Virginius resides, he contrives to have
Claudius claim that Virginius had stolen his slave from him. When his scheme is
revealed, he is taken to jail where he commits suicide.
Claudius
A churl who schemes with Appius, he claims that Virginia is his slave and that Virginius
stole her from him. When his treachery is revealed, he is banished.
The Three Rioters

Three indistinguishable troublemakers who engage in all sorts of lewd behavior, they
go on a search for Death and end up finding it in the form of gold coins.
The Old Man

An aged man who cannot die, he wishes to trade his body with a younger man. He tells
the three rioters where they may find Death.
The Merchant (2)

A devoted entrepreneur, he is somewhat stingy but dedicated to his business and to
thrifty behavior. He insists that his wife repay one hundred francs that he lent her,
leading her to seek the sum from Dan John.
Dan John
This monk claims to be a cousin of the merchant. He agrees to lend the merchant's life
one hundred francs if she has an affair with him, then borrows the sum from the husband
that she intends to repay.
The Wife
A dissatisfied wife, she claims that her husband, the merchant, is a stingy man who does
not satisfy her. Displeased that her husband wants her to repay a one hundred franc
debt, she agrees to an affair with Dan John for that sum. When the merchant offers that
he has been repaid in his own money, she tells him that she will repay him through sex.
22
Melibee
A mighty and rich ruler, his enemies rape his wife and attack his daughter, leading him
to strive for a war of retribution - yet his wife implores him to be merciful.
Prudence
The wife of Melibee, she is raped by his enemies, but wishes to grant them mercy.
Sophie
The young daughter of Melibee, she is left for dead by his enemies when they wound
her in five places, but nevertheless barely survives.
Chaunticleer
This rooster, peerless in his crowing, has seven companions, the most honored of which
is Pertelote. He dreams that he will be chased by a fox, a prophecy that comes true. He
is also a strong believer in this prophetic power of dreams. Chaunticleer's name means
clearvoiced, or bright-song.
Pertelote
The most favored of Chanticleer's companions, this hen is essentially his 'wife.' She
dismisses his idea that dreams predict future events, claiming that his ill temper stems
from stomach maladies. But her advice to find healing herbs ultimately leads to the
fulfillment of his prophecy.
Cecilia
Devout elite Roman woman who dies for her adherence to Christianity.
Valerian
Eventual husband of Cecilia who converts to Christianity upon the influence of Pope
Urban. He is executed for his beliefs.
Pope Urban
Christian leader who baptizes Valerian and Tibertius and claims that Cecilia is a saint.
Tibertius
23
The brother of Cecilia, he converts to Christianity, but is executed with Valerian for his
Christian beliefs.
Almachius
Roman prefect who ordered the deaths of Cecilia, Valerian and Tibertius for their
Christian beliefs.
Maximus
Roman sergeant who claimed to see the spirits of Valerian and Tibertius ascending to
heaven when they are executed, prompting many to convert to Christianity.
Phoebus
Deity who, when he lived on earth, took a wife who was unfaithful to him, despite his
insistence on watching her. He teaches his prized white crow to speak the language of
humans.
The Crow
This beautiful white crow can speak the language of humans, having been taught by
Phoebus. But when he tells Phoebus that his wife had an affair, Phoebus plucks him and
curses him, condemning all crows to be forever black and harsh of voice.
Justinus : A friend of January's who argues against him taking a young wife.
GENERAL PROLOGUE
"When April comes with his sweet, fragrant showers, which pierce the dry
ground of March, and bathe every root of every plant in sweet liquid, then people desire
to go on pilgrimages." Thus begins the famous opening to The Canterbury Tales. The
narrator (a constructed version of Chaucer himself) is first discovered staying at the
Tabard Inn in Southwark (in London), when a company of twenty-nine people descend
on the inn, preparing to go on a pilgrimage to Canterbury. After talking to them, he
agrees to join them on their pilgrimage.
24
Yet before the narrator goes any further in the tale, he describes the
circumstances and the social rank of each pilgrim. He describes each one in turn,
starting with the highest status individuals.
The Knight is described first, as befits a 'worthy man' of high status. The Knight
has fought in the Crusades in numerous countries, and always been honored for his
worthiness and courtesy. Everywhere he went, the narrator tells us, he had a 'sovereyn
prys' (which could mean either an 'outstanding reputation', or a price on his head for the
fighting he has done). The Knight is dressed in a 'fustian' tunic, made of coarse cloth,
which is stained by the rust from his coat of chainmail.
The Knight brings with him his son, The Squire, a lover and a lusty bachelor,
only twenty years old. The Squire cuts a rather effeminate figure, his clothes
embroidered with red and white flowers, and he is constantly singing or playing the
flute. He is the only pilgrim (other than, of course, Chaucer himself) who explicitly has
literary ambitions: he 'koude songes make and wel endite' (line 95).
The Yeoman (a freeborn servant) also travels along with the Knight's entourage,
and is clad in coat and hood of green. The Yeoman is excellent at caring for arrows, and
travels armed with a huge amount of weaponry: arrows, a bracer (arm guard), a sword,
a buckler, and a dagger as sharp as a spear. He wears an image of St. Christopher on his
breast.
Having now introduced the Knight (the highest ranking pilgrim socially), the
narrator now moves on to the clergy, beginning with The Prioress, called 'Madame
Eglantine' (or, in modern parlance, Mrs. Sweetbriar). She could sweetly sing religious
services, speaks fluent French and has excellent table manners. She is so charitable and
piteous, that she would weep if she saw a mouse caught in a trap, and she has two small
dogs with her. She wears a brooch with the inscription 'Amor vincit omnia' ('Love
conquers all'). The Prioress brings with her her 'chapeleyne' (secretary), the Second
Nun.
The Monk is next, an extremely fine and handsome man who loves to hunt, and
who follows modern customs rather than old traditions. This is no bookish monk,
25
studying in a cloister, but a man who keeps greyhounds to hunt the hare. The Monk is
well-fed, fat, and his eyes are bright, gleaming like a furnace in his head.
The Friar who follows him is also wanton and merry, and he is a 'lymytour' by
trade (a friar licensed to beg in certain districts). He is extremely well beloved of
franklins (landowners) and worthy woman all over the town. He hears confession and
gives absolution, and is an excellent beggar, able to earn himself a farthing wherever he
went. His name is Huberd. The Merchant wears a forked beard, motley clothes and
sat high upon his horse. He gives his opinion very solemnly, and does excellent business
as a merchant, never being in any debt. But, the narrator ominously remarks, 'I noot
how men hym calle' (I don't know how men call him, or think of him).
The Clerk follows the Merchant. A student of Oxford university, he would

rather have twenty books by Aristotle than rich clothes or musical instruments, and
thus is dressed in a threadbare short coat. He only has a little gold, which he tends to
spend on books and learning, and takes huge care and attention of his studies. He never
speaks a word more than is needed, and that is short, quick and full of sentence (the
Middle-English word for 'meaningfulness' is a close relation of 'sententiousness').
The Man of Law (referred to here as 'A Sergeant of the Lawe') is a judicious
and dignified man, or, at least, he seems so because of his wise words. He is a judge
in the court of assizes, by letter of appointment from the king, and because of his high
standing receives many grants. He can draw up a legal document, the narrator tells us,
and no-one can find a flaw in his legal writings. Yet, despite all this money and social
worth, the Man of Law rides only in a homely, multi-coloured coat.
A Franklin travels with the Man of Law. He has a beard as white as a daisy,
and of the sanguine humour (dominated by his blood). The Franklin is a big eater,
loving a piece of bread dipped in wine, and is described (though not literally!) as
Epicurus' son: the Franklin lives for culinary delight. His house is always full of meat
pie, fish and meat, so much so that it 'snewed in his hous of mete and drynke'. He
changes his meats and drinks according to what foods are in season.
26
A Haberdasher and a Carpenter, a Weaver, a Dyer and a Tapycer (weaver
of tapestries) are next described, all of them clothed in the same distinctive
guildsman's dress. Note that none of these pilgrims, in the end, actually tell a tale.
A Cook had been brought along to boil the chicken up with marrow bones and
spices, but this particular Cook knows a draught of ale very well indeed, according to
the narrator. The Cook could roast and simmer and boil and fry, make stews and hashes
and bake a pie well, but it was a great pity that, on his shin, he has an ulcer.
A Shipman from Dartmouth is next - tanned brown from the hot summer sun,
riding upon a carthorse, and wearing a gown of coarse woolen cloth which reaches to
his knees. The Shipman had, many times, drawn a secret draught of wine on board ship,
while the merchant was asleep. The Shipman has weathered many storms, and knows
his trade: he knows the locations of all the harbors from Gotland to Cape Finistere. His
shape is called 'the Maudelayne'.
A Doctor of Medicine is the next pilgrim described, clad in red and blue, and
no-one in the world can match him in speaking about medicine and surgery. He knows
the cause of every illness, what humor engenders them, and how to cure them. He is a
perfect practitioner of medicine, and he has apothecaries ready to send him drugs and
mixtures. He is well-read in the standard medical authorities, from the Greeks right
through to Chaucer's contemporary Gilbertus Anglicus. The Doctor, however, has not
studied the Bible.
The Wife of Bath was 'somdel deef' (a little deaf, as her tale will later expand
upon) and that was a shame. The Wife of Bath is so adept at making cloth that she
surpasses even the cloth-making capitals of Chaucer's world, Ypres and Ghent, and she
wears coverchiefs (linen coverings for the head) which must (the narrator assumes) have
'weyeden ten pound'. She had had five husbands through the church door, and had been
at Jerusalem, Rome and Boulogne on pilgrimage. She is also described as 'Gat-tothed'
(traditionally denoting lasciviousness), and as keeping good company, she knows all
the answers about love: 'for she koude of that art the olde daunce' (she knew the whole
dance as far as love is concerned!).
27
A good religious man, A Parson of a Town, is next described, who, although
poor in goods, is rich in holy thought and work. He's a learned man, who truly preaches
Christ's gospel, and devoutly teaches his parishioners. He travels across his big parish
to visit all of his parishioners, on his feet, carrying a staff in his hand. He is a noble
example to his parishioners ('his sheep', as they are described) because he acts first, and
preaches second (or, in Chaucer's phrase, 'first he wroghte, and afterward he taughte').
The narrator believes that there is no better priest to be found anywhere.
With the Parson travels a Plowman (who does not tell a tale), who has hauled
many cartloads of dung in his time. He is a good, hard-working man, who lives in peace
and charity, and treats his neighbor as he would be treated. He rides on a mare, and
wears a tabard (a workman's loose garment).
A Miller comes next, in this final group of pilgrims (now at the bottom of the
class scale!).
He is big-boned and has big muscles, and always wins the prize in wrestling matches.
There's not a door that he couldn't lift off its hinges, or break it by running at it head-
first. He has black, wide nostrils, carries a sword and a buckler (shield) by his side,
and has a mouth like a great furnace. He's good at stealing corn and taking payment
for it three times. But then, Chaucer implies, there are no honest millers.
A noble Manciple (a business agent, purchaser of religious provisions) is the

next pilgrim to be described, and a savvy financial operator. Though a common man,
the Manciple can run rings round even a 'heep of lerned men'. The Manciple, his
description ominously ends, 'sette hir aller cappe': deceived them all.
The Reeve, a slender, choleric man, long-legged and lean ("ylyk a staf"). He
knows exactly how much grain he has, and is excellent at keeping his granary and his
grain bin. There is no bailiff, herdsman or servant about whom the Reeve does not
know something secret or treacherous; as a result, they are afraid of him 'as of the
deeth'.
The Summoner is next, his face fire-red and pimpled, with narrow eyes. He
has a skin disease across his black brows, and his beard (which has hair falling out of
28
it) and he is extremely lecherous. There is, the narrator tells us, no ointment or cure,
or help him to remove his pimples. He loves drinking wine which is as 'reed as blood',
and eating leeks, onions and garlic. He knows how to trick someone.
Travelling with the Summoner is a noble Pardoner, his friend and his
companion (in what sense Chaucer intends the word 'compeer', meaning companion,
nobody knows) and the last pilgrim-teller to be described. He sings loudly 'Come hither,
love to me', and has hair as yellow as wax, which hangs like flaxen from his head. He
carries a wallet full of pardons in his lap, brimful of pardons come from Rome. The
Pardoner is sexually ambiguous - he has a thin, boyish voice, and the narrator wonders
whether he is a 'geldyng or a mare' (a eunuch or a homosexual).
The narrator writes that he has told us now of the estate (the class), the array (the
clothing), and the number of pilgrims assembled in this company. He then makes an
important statement of intent for what is to come: he who repeats a tale told by another
man, the narrator says, must repeat it as closely as he possibly can to the original teller
- and thus, if the tellers use obscene language, it is not our narrator's fault.
The Host is the last member of the company described, a large man with bright,
large eyes - and an extremely fair man. The Host welcomes everyone to the inn, and
announces the pilgrimage to Canterbury, and decides that, on the way there, the
company shall 'talen and pleye' (to tell stories and amuse themselves). Everyone
consents to the Host's plan for the game, and he then goes on to set it out.
What the Host describes is a tale-telling game, in which each pilgrim shall tell
two tales on the way to Canterbury, and two more on the way home; whoever tells the
tale 'of best sentence and moost solas' shall have supper at the cost of all of the other
pilgrims, back at the Inn, once the pilgrimage returns from Canterbury. The pilgrims
agree to the Host's suggestion, and agree to accord to the Host's judgment as master of
the tale-telling game. Everyone then goes to bed.
The next morning, the Host awakes, raises everyone up, and 'in a flok' the
pilgrimage rides towards 'the Wateryng of Seint Thomas', a brook about two miles from
London. The Host asks the pilgrims to draw lots to see who shall tell the first tale, the
Knight being asked to 'draw cut' first and, whether by 'aventure, or sort, or cas', the
29
Knight draws the straw to tell the first tale. The pilgrims ride forward, and the Knight
begins to tell his tale.
THE CANTERBURY TALES SUMMARY
In the beauty of April, the Narrator and 29 oddly assorted travelers happen to
meet at the Tabard Inn in Southwark, London. This becomes the launching point for
their 60-mile, four-day religious journey to the shrine of St. Thomas à Becket at the
Cathedral in Canterbury. Great blessing and forgiveness were to be heaped upon those
who made the pilgrimage; relics of the saint were enshrined there, and miracles had
been reported by those who prayed before the shrine. Chaucer's pilgrims, however, are
not all traveling for religious reasons. Many of them simply enjoy social contact or the
adventure of travel.
As the travelers are becoming acquainted, their Host, the innkeeper Harry Bailley,
decides to join them. He suggests that they pass the time along the way by telling stories.
Each pilgrim is to tell four stories—two on the way to Canterbury, and two on the return
trip—a total of 120 stories. He will furnish dinner at the end of the trip to the one who
tells the best tale. The framework is thus laid out for the organization of The Canterbury
Tales.
Chaucer, the Narrator, observes all of the characters as they are arriving and getting
acquainted. He describes in detail most of the travelers which represent a cross-section
of fourteenth-century English society. All levels are represented, beginning with the
Knight who is the highest ranking character socially. Several levels of holiness and
authority in the clergy are among the pilgrims while the majority of the characters are
drawn from the middle class. A small number of the peasent class are also making the
journey, most of them as servants to other pilgrims.
As the travelers begin their journey the next morning, they draw straws to see who will
tell the first tale. The Knight draws the shortest straw. He begins the storytelling with a
long romantic epic about two brave young knights who both fall in love with the same
woman and who spend years attempting to win her love.
30
Everyone enjoys the tale and they agree that the trip is off to an excellent start.
When the Host invites the Monk to tell a story to match the Knight's, the Miller, who is
drunk, becomes so rude and insistent that he be allowed to go next that the Host allows
it. The Miller's tale is indeed very funny, involving several tricks and a very dirty prank
as a young wife conspires with her lover to make love to him right under her husband's
nose.
The Miller's fabliau upsets the Reeve because it involves an aging carpenter
being cuckolded by his young wife, and the Reeve himself is aging and was formerly a
carpenter. Insulted by the Miller, the Reeve retaliates with a tale about a miller who is
made a fool of in very much the same manner as the carpenter in the preceding rendition.
After the Reeve, the Cook speaks up and begins to tell another humorous
adventure about a thieving, womanizing young apprentice. Chaucer did not finish
writing this story; it stops almost at the beginning.
When the dialogue among the travelers resumes, the morning is half gone and
the Host, Harry Bailley, urges the Man of Law to begin his entry quickly. Being a
lawyer, the Man of Law is very long-winded and relates a very long story about the life
of a noblewoman named Constance who suffers patiently and virtuouly through a great
many terrible trials. In the end she is rewarded for her perseverence.
The Man of Law's recital, though lengthy, has pleased the other pilgrims very
much. Harry Bailley then calls upon the Parson to tell a similar tale of goodness; but
the Shipman, who wants to hear no more sermonizing, says he will take his turn next
and will tell a merry story without a hint of preaching. Indeed, his story involves a lov
ly wife who cuckolds her husband to get money fo a new dress and gets away with the
whole affair.
Evidently looking for contrast in subject matter, the Host next invites the Prioress
to give them a story. Graciously, she relates a short legend about a little schoolboy who
is martyred and through whose death a miracle takes place.
After hearing this miraculous narrative, all of the travelers become very subdued,
so the Host calls upon the Narrator (Chaucer) to liven things up. Slyly making fun of
31
the Host's literary pretensions, Chaucer recites a brilliant parody on knighthood
composed in low rhyme. Harry hates Chaucer's poem and interrupts to complain; again
in jest, Chaucer tells a long, boring version of an ancient myth. However, the Host is
very impressed by the serious moral tone of this inferior tale and is hightly
complimentary.
Since the myth just told involved a wise and patient wife, Harry Bailley takes
this opportunity to criticize his own shrewish wife. He then digresses further with a
brief commentary on monks which leads him to call upon the pilgrim Monk for his
contribution to the entertainment.
The Monk belies his fun-loving appearance by giving a disappointing recital

about famous figures who are brought low by fate. The Monk's subject is so dreary that
the Knight stops him, and the Host berates him for lowering the morale of the party.
When the Monk refuses to change his tone, the Nun's Priest accepts the Host's request
for a happier tale. The Priest renders the wonderful fable of Chanticleer, a proud rooster
taken in by the flattery of a clever fox.
Harry Bailley is wildly enthusiastic about the Priest's tale, turning very bawdy in
his praise. The earthy Wife of Bath is chosen as the next participant, probably because
the Host suspects that she will continue in the same bawdy vein. However, the Wife
turns out to be quite a philosopher, prefacing her tale with a long discourse on marriage.
When she does tell her tale, it is about the marriage of a young and virile knight to an
ancient hag.
When the Wife has concluded, the Friar announces that he will tell a worthy tale
about a summoner. He adds that everyone knows there is nothing good to say about
summoners and tells a story which proves his point.
Infuriated by the Friar's insulting tale, the Summoner first tells a terrible joke
about friars and then a story which condemns them, too. His rendering is quite coarse
and dirty.
Hoping for something more uplifting next, the Host gives the Cleric his chance,
reminding the young scholar not to be too scholarly and to put in some adventure.
32
Obligingly, the Cleric entertains with his tale of the cruel Walter of Saluzzo who tested
his poor wife unmercifully.
The Cleric's tale reminds the Merchant of his own unhappy marriage and his
story reflects his state. It is yet another tale of a bold, unfaithful wife in a marriage with
a much older man. When the Merchant has finished, Harry Bailley again interjects
complaints about his own domineering wife, but then requests a love story of the Squire.
The young man begins an exotic tale that promises to be a fine romance, but Chaucer
did not complete this story, so it is left unfinished.
The dialogue resumes with the Franklin complimenting the Squire and trying to imitate
his eloquence with an ancient lyric of romance.
There is no conversation among the pilgrims before the Physician's tale. His
story is set in ancient Rome and concerns a young virgin who prefers death to dishonor.
The Host has r ally tak n the Physician's sad story to heart and begs Padoner to
lift his spirits with a happier tale. However, the other pilgrims want something more
instructive, so the Pardoner obliges. After revealing himself to be a very wicked man,
the Pardoner instructs the company with an allegory about vice leading three young
men to their deaths. When he is finished, the Pardoner tries to sell his fake relics to his
fellow travellers, but the Host prevents him, insulting and angering him in the process.
The Knight has to intervene to restore peace.
The Second Nun then tells the moral and inspiring life of St. Cecelia. About five
miles later, a Canon and his Yeoman join the party, having ridden madly to catch up.
Converstion reveals these men to be outlaws of sorts, but they are made welcome and
invited to participate in the storytelling all the same. When the Canon's Yeoman reveals
their underhanded business, the Canon rides off in a fit of anger, and the Canon's
Yeoman relates a tale about a cheating alchemist, really a disclosure about the Canon.
It is late afternoon by the time the Yeoman finishes and the Cook has become so
drunk that he falls off his horse. There is an angry interchange between the Cook and
the Manciple, and the Cook has to be placated with more wine. The Manciple then tells
his story, which is based on an ancient myth and explains why the crow is black. At
sundown the Manciple ends his story. The Host suggests that the Parson conclude the
33
day of tale-telling with a fable. However, the Parson preaches a two-hour sermon on
penitence instead. The Canterbury Tales end here.
Although Chaucer actually completed only about one-fifth of the proposed 120
tales before his death, The Canterbury Tales reflects all the major types of medieval
literature. They are defined for the reader as follows:
Romance: a narrative in metrical verse; tales of love, adventure, knightly combat, and
ceremony.
Fabliau: stories based on trickery and deception; often involves adultery
Myth: a story originating in classical literature
Breton Lais: a type of fairy tale; set in the Brittany province of France; contains fairies,
elves, folk wisdom, and folktales
Beast Fable: animals personify human qualities and act out human situations; usually
teaches a lesson Sermon: a Christian lesson
Exemplum: a story which teaches a well-known lesson
Saint's Legend: inspiring story of the life and death of a saint
Miracle Story: one in which a saint or the Virgin Mary intervenes with a miracle in
response to the faithfulness of a follower
Allegory: a tale in which persons represent abstract qualities; i.e., Death, Virtue, Love
Mock Romance: parodies, or makes fun of, the usual subjects of romance These genres
are further explained in the analyses of individual tales.
Title: Knight*
Station: Lower Aristocracy
Tale: Roman de Thebe. Palamon and Arcite fall in love with the same woman and must
fight each other to gain the right to marry her.
34
Title: Squire
Station: Lower Aristocracy (Father is the Knight)
.
Title: Yeman(*)
Station: Lower Aristocracy/Middle Class
Lines: 101-116
Traits:Dresses in green
Tale: None
Title: Prioress (Madame Eglantine)

Station: Clergy (once aristocracy)
Tale:Play on Hugh of Lincoln. Anti-Semitic in tone but uses pathos very well.
Title: Nun
Station: Clergy
Traits: Travels with Prioress
Title: Chapeleyne
Station: Clergy
Tale: None
Title: Three Priests

Station: Clergy
Title: Monk
Station: Clergy (maybe once aristocracy)
Traits:Loves hunting
Tale: A series of tragedies foregrounding the fickleness of fortune.
Title: Friar (Hubert) Station: Clergy

Traits:
35
4 orders of friars o Dominicans (or Black Friars) o
Augustinians (or Austin Friars) o Franciscans (or
Grey Friars) o Carmelites (or White Friars)
Tale:A summoner, who blackmails the poor and innocent, meets up with a
demon. When a widow curses the summoner, the fiend takes him to hell.
Title: Merchant
Station: Middle Class
Traits:Finely dressed , Shrewd businessman
Tale: And elderly man, January, marries a young intelligent wife, May. She has an
affair with his squire in a pear tree.
Title: Clerk* Station: Middle Class

Traits:
University student Requires
1. Male
2. Member of clergy
Eternal student not worldly enough for a job
Tale: King Walter repeatedly tests his lowborn wife, Griselda. She responds
with patience.
Title: Sergeant of the Law

Title: Franklin (Land Owner)

Title: Five Guildsmen (Haberdasshere, carpenter, weaver, dyer, Tapestry weaver)

Traits:Rich, their wives were in front of all on feast days,They bring their
own cook
Tale: None
36
Title: Cook (Roger)
Traits:Cook to the guildsman, Excellent cook, Sore on leg Tale: Fabliau. A
gambler moves in with another man whose wife is a whore. Interrupted
Title: Shipman
Title: Doctor
Title: Wife of Bath (Alison)

Traits:Deaf *physical *intellectually –only hears part Cloth maker, wealthy,Rank
conscience (ll. 449-52) goes to church to be seen
Head dress 10 pounds
Tale: Knight, accused of rape, must go on a quest to discover what women want.
Title: Parson*
Station: Clergy/Lower Class
Title: Plowman*
Station: Lower class
Traits:Works in the name of God
Title: Miller
Traits:As Shawn Hughes put it “probably played professional football”
Title: Manciple
Title: Reeve (Oswald)
37
Title: Summoner
Station: Clergy
Title: Pardoner
Station: Clergy
Title: Host
Tale: None. He is the judge of the tales.

Title: Canon’s Yeoman
Tale: The first part is autobiographical. The Yeoman explains that they are failed
alchemists. In the second part, a canon tricks a priest into thinking that he has
discovered a method for alchemy.
Title: Chaucer the Pilgrim

Station: Unknown
Tale: “Sir Topas” Sir Topas is in search of the Elf Queen. He meets a giant and agrees
to fight, then rides home to get ready. (Interrupted). “The
Tale of Melibee” Three burglars break into Melibee’s house
38
THE FAERIE QUEENE BOOK 1 – HOLINESS
Summary
The Faerie Queene tells the stories of several knights, each representing a
particular virtue, on their quests for the Faerie Queene, Gloriana. Redcrosse is the knight
of Holiness, and must defeat both theological error and the dragon of deception to free
the parents of Una ("truth"). Guyon is the knight of Temperance, who must destroy the
fleshly temptations of Acrasia's Bower of Bliss. Britomart, a woman in disguise as a
male knight, represents Chastity; she must find her beloved and win his heart. Artegall,
the knight of Justice, must rescue the lady Eirene from an unjust bondage. Cambell and
Triamond, the knights of Friendship, must aid one another in defense of various ladies'
honor. Finally, Calidore, the knight of Courtesy, must stop the Blatant Beast from
spreading its slanderous venom throughout the realm.
Each quest is an allegory, and the knight given the quest represents a person's internal
growth in that particular virtue. Such growth happens through various trials, some of
which the knights fail, showing how personal development is a struggle requiring the
aid of other forces and virtues to make it complete.
ABOUT THE FAERIE QUEENE
The Faerie Queene was written over the course of about a decade by Edmund
Spenser. He published the first three books in 1590, then the next four books (plus
revisions to the first three) in 1596. It was originally intended to be twelve books long,
with each book detailing a specific Christian virtue in its central character. When he
presented the first three books at the court of Queen Elizabeth, Spenser was looking for
the prestige, political position, and monetary compensation he believed the work
merited. However, he came away disappointed by the relatively small stipend (to his
39
mind) that he received, and attributed his lack of spectacular success with Elizabeth to
her advisor and Spenser's political opposite, Lord Burghley.
In Books Four through Six, Spenser seems to change the direction of the epic somewhat,
possibly curtailing his ambition to reach twelve Books in total. Arthur still becomes an
important figure in the epic, with his quest to reach Gloriana forming the backdrop to
his interactions with the central knights of each Book, but the latter three Books are
more intertwined than are the first three. Book 1 seems to be literarily perfect as a stand-
along story, whereas the other books leave an increasing number of unresolved plot
threads to be resolved in later sections. Nonetheless, the six books Spenser managed to
complete have their own internal consistency and leave nothing for a seventh section to
wrap up. Edmund Spenser died before he could complete another book of The Faerie
Queene.
CHARACTER LIST
Redcrosse : The knight of Holiness, who is in fact a "tall clownishe yonge man" who
alone would take the quest to free Una's parents from the dragon. His adventures
represent the individual Christian's struggles to maintain personal holiness while
avoiding pride in all its forms.
Una : Una is the Truth--both the absolute spiritual truth and what Spenser considered
to be the true faith of the Protestant Christian Church. Her encouragement and help
keeps Redcrosse knight from doom and helps to build him into a mighty warrior capable
of defeating the dragon that has imprisoned her parents.
Archimago :A sorcerer and deceiver, Archimago seeks to overcome Una through false
appearances and lies. He causes Redcrosse to doubt Una's fidelity, disguises himself as
Redcrosse in an attempt to take Una, and even attempts to stop Redcrosse's betrothal to
Una by insisting that Duessa has a prior claim on him. Each time his deception is
uncovered, rendering him powerless.
40
Duessa : Duessa is "duplicity," the opposite of Una ("Truth"). She is first seen as
paramour to the evil knight Sansfoy ("Faithlessness") and lies about her identity to
Redcrosse in an attempt to seduce him. She eventually succeeds in winning Redcrosse's
favor and dragging him into Orgoglio's dungeon, but her efforts are undone by the
intervention of Una and Prince Arthur.
Duessa appears later in the epic as part of the negative tetrad of Blandamour, Paridell,
Ate and herself. She is put on trial and executed in Book 5.
Orgoglio : A bestial giant whose name means "pride" in Italilan, Orgoglio defeats
Redcrosse knight when Duessa weakens the champion. Orgoglio is in turn defeated by
the virtuous Prince Arthur, who dismembers him. Orgoglio's torso deflates once he is
defeated, suggesting his great size resulted from being "puffed up" like a balloon full of
air.
Prince Arthur :The ultimate hero of the epic, Prince Arthur is the younger version of
King Arthur. King Arthur already had a place in the mythic consciousness of Britons,
and legends had accumulated around his name, including one that he would one day
return from his long, healing sleep to lead Britain into a new Golden Age. He is the
ideal consort for Gloriana, the Faerie Queene.
Guyon :Guyon is the knight of Temperance (self-control), although his role carries with
it a touch of irony. Guyon above all other knights struggles the most with his symbolic
virtue; more than once he comes near to killing an opponent in rage, and once he even
threatened Britomart's old nurse with violence. Nonetheless, Guyon is successful in his
quest to destroy Acrasia's Bower of Bliss.
Britomart :Britomart is the knight of Chastity. Her secret identity as a female knight
makes her stand out from among her male peers, as does her amazing prowess in battle
(she aids Redcrosse against his enemies, unhorses Guyon, and defeats Artegall in their
first encounter). Her femininity makes her immune to the temptations the male knights
face from sultry witches and immoderate damsels, making her the ideal of Chastity. She
41
is in love with Artegall, whom she first saw in Merlin's magic mirror, and her quest is
to find and wed him.
Cambell :Cambell is half of the duo (completed by Triamond) which represents

Friendship. As Friendship requires a relationship with another, this virtue is symbolized
by a good friend to another knight, rather than just by a single knight on a quest. Cambell
forms part of the postiive tetrad made up of himself, Triamond, his sister (and
Triamond's beloved) Canacee, and his own beloved (and Triamond's sister) Cambia.
Artegall :Artegall is the knight of Justice. His name means "like Arthur," thus
identifying him with the ultimate knight in the epic, Prince Arthur. Like Arthur, he falls
in love with a chaste and powerful woman (Britomart) and is an agent of Justice. On
his quest to free the lady Eirene, Artegall is given an unusual squire: Talus, the man
made of iron. Talus represents cold, unrelenting justice, while Artegall must learn how
to properly temper justice with mercy.
Calidore :Calidore is the knight of Courtesy. His quest is to find and stop the Blatant
Beast (or Slander). He represents proper behavior in public, particularly in "civilized"
society; thus, his quest to stop Slander carries with it the message that a properly
behaved people will refrain from giving slander freedom to work its evil among them.
Florimell :Florimell is the most beautiful woman in the epic (at least outwardly). She
is more flighty and less independent than either Britomart or Belphoebe, and spends
much of the epic running away from someone or something. She represents the fleeting
nature of beauty, and the reactions of other knights, both virtuous and base, shows how
easily men's heads can be turned by a pretty face.
SUMMARY
Canto 1
42
A knight, identified only by the red cross on his shield, accompanies an unnamed lady
(later revealed to be Una) across a plain. A storm arises, forcing them to take shelter in
a beautiful forest; unfortunately, the forest turns out to be the “Wandering Wood,”
where the monster Errour makes her den. Una realizes this and warns Redcrosse not to
venture forth, but the knight proceeds anyway and finds himself locked in battle with
Errour. Errour gains the advantage by spewing forth vile misinformation at Redcrosse,
but Una encourages him to stand firm in his faith. Doing so, Redcrosse is able to gain
the upper hand and strangle Errour. He leaves Errour’s body to her foul offspring, who
gorge themselves on the body until they burst.
Redcrosse and Una depart the forest and encounter a hermit, who is actually the
sorcerer Archimago in disguise. Archimago offers them shelter, but while they sleep,
he plots against them with his dark arts. The sorcerer summons sprites (nature spirits)
to do his bidding: one he sends to Morpheus, god of sleep, to procure a lying dream
of Una’s unfaithfulness to Redcrosse; another he transforms into a duplicate Una to
seduce Redcrosse. Redcrosse resists, however, driving the sprite away.
Canto 2
Despite his success against the falseDuessa, Redcrosse loses his faith in her when the
lying dream shows Una “sporting” with another knight. He abandons Una and flees
into the forest, there encountering the knight Sansfoy (“faithlessness”) and Sansfoy’s
lady, Duessa (“duplicity”). The knights joust, with Redcrosse winning and Sansfoy
fleeing without his lady. Duessa introduces herself to Redcrosse as Fidessa (fidelity)
and obtains Redcrosse’s promise to accompany and defend her. Duessa leads
Redcrosse to a bower, where a wounded tree tells Redcrosse that it was once a man
but was transformed into this sickly, immobile state by Duessa. Redcrosse does not
connect the Duessa of the tree’s story to the Fidessa he is protecting, partially because
Duessa distracts him with her charms before he can think the story through.
Canto 3
The scene shifts back to Una, afraid and alone in the forest. A great lion charges her,
intent on devouring her, but upon reaching her, it is overcome by her virtue and instead
43
kisses her. The lion becomes her devoted protector, taking the place Redcrosse
abandoned. Una and the lion come upon Abessa (absence), who invites them to follow
her to her home to stay with herself and her mother. As the lion approaches the house,
the mother and daughter cower in fear, but Una is given lodging. That night Kirkrapine
(church robber) comes to visit his beloved Abessa, bringing his ill-gotten gains to her;
however, the lion discovers Kirkrapine’s presence and kills him.
The next morning, Una departs Abessa’s home. Redcrosse approaches her, although he
is really Archimago in disguise. Una believes the deception, but her unfounded joy is
shortlived as the brother of Sansfoy, Sansloy, attacks the false Redcrosse and defeats
him. Sansloy removes his opponent’s helmet, revealing Archimago’s deception. The
knight then lays claim to Una, since she is without a protector. The lion attempts to
defend Una, but Sansloy kills it and drags her away.
Canto 4
Duessa brings Redcrosse to the House of Pride, run by Lucifera. Here he meets the
seven deadly sins (Pride, Sloth, Gluttony, Lechery, Avarice,
Envy, and Wrath). Another of Sansfoy’s brothers, Sansjoy, recognizes Redcrosse as his
brother’s killer and seeks vengeance in a duel with him.
Canto 5
Sansjoy and Redcrosse duel, with Redcrosse ultimately winning. Duessa asks
Redcrosse to spare Sansjoy’s life, but Redcrosse is too deep into his own rage and pride
to heed her.
Duessa creates an obscuring mist to prevent Redcrosse from killing Sansjoy; she then
helps Sansjoy escape to the underworld to heal. Redcrosse, warned of the dungeons
hidden beneath the House of Pride, departs while Duessa is occupied.
Canto 6
When Sansloy attempts to have his way with Una, she cries out and is heard by nearby
fauns and satyrs. The woodland spirits arrive and frighten Sansloy away, then take Una
to their home. Beguiled by Una’s beauty, the fauns and satyrs begin paying obeisance
to Una; Una immediately decries these actions as false worship, so the sylvan creatures
44
turn their adulation to Una’s donkey. Eventually the halfhuman, half-satyr knight
Satyrane arrives and being also struck by Una’s virtue, pledges to protect her. Satyrane
leads Una from the village of the fauns and satyrs in an effort to track Redcrosse. Instead
of Redcrosse, the two find Archimago, this time disguised as a pilgrim, who claims that
the knight Sansloy has killed Redcrosse. Archimago gives them directions to find
Sansloy; Satyrane challenges Sansloy to combat, and while they fight, Una runs away.
Archimago follows her.
Canto 7
As he is making his way through the forest, Duessa accosts Redcrosse. They mend their
strained relationship, consummating it in sexual intimacy. Redcrosse is weakened by
the encounter, making him easy prey for the giant Orgoglio. Duessa prevents Orgoglio
from killing Redcrosse, offering herself as paramour to the giant. Orgoglio imprisons
Redcrosse in his dungeon, and then gives Duessa a magnificent beaststeed. Redcrosse’s
dwarf assistant escapes Orgoglio’s dungeon to find Una. He explains the situation to
Una, who then encounters Prince Arthur. Telling him of her plight, Una gains the
protection of Prince Arthur and takes him on as her champion against Orgoglio.
Canto 8
Arthur and Orgoglio do battle, with Arthur wounding Orgoglio by cutting off his left
arm. Duessa attempts to help Orgoglio, but Arthur attacks her beast to drive her away.
Orgoglio re-enters combat with Arthur, only to be dismembered. Orgoglio falls to the
ground, his body releasing a great gust of air as it collapses. Duessa is placed into the
care of Arthur’s squire while Ignaro leads the Prince into the castle.
Redcrosse escapes the castle, but is weakened by his sinful behavior. Una takes him
back by her side, but seeks to teach Redcrosse a lesson beginning with Duessa’s true
form. Una allows Duessa to live on the condition that she will show herself for what
she truly is; Duessa agrees, revealing herself to be a loathsome, misshapen creature.
Canto 9
Arthur, accompanying Redcrosse and Una, tells them of his quest for the Faerie Queene.
The two knights swear their friendship for one another, exchange gifts, and then go their
45
separate ways. Redcrosse and Una then encounter a frightened knight wearing a noose
around his neck. The knight has come from an encounter with the creature Despair.
Redcrosse vows to battle Despair. Redcrosse finds his cave, a corpse-littered abattoir in
which Despair has just finished killing his latest victim. Despair seeks to convince
Redcrosse that his sins are too great to bear, and that he should end his own life now
rather than sinning even more. Una prevents Redcrosse from stabbing himself and must
take him away to renew his strength and faith.
Canto 10
Una takes Redcrosse to the House of Holiness to heal and regain his strength. Humility
leads them to Dame Caelia and her three daughters, Fidelia, Speranza, and Charissa.
Redcrosse confesses his sins, learns the right way, and regains his strength as he
undergoes a series of encounters representing his increase in holiness; the training
culminates in a vision of the New Jerusalem. He speaks with Contemplation, who
reminds him that he must complete his earthly quest before he can hope to enter heaven.
Canto 11
Redcrosse finally battles the dragon that has been terrorizing Una’s parents. The battle
takes three days. On the first, Redcrosse wounds the dragon’s wing, but is himself
engulfed in the dragon’s flames until he falls into the Well of Life. On the second day
Redcrosse manages to cut off the dragon’s tail, but not before being stung and knocked
down under the Tree of Life (which heals him for the next day’s battle). On the third
day, the dragon tries to devour Redcrosse whole, but the knight is able to drive his spear
through the dragon’s mouth, killing it. Canto 12 Una’s parents and the castle at large
celebrate the dragon’s defeat. Redcrosse is engaged to Una, but must first complete his
six-month obligation to the Faerie Queene. Archimago makes an appearance to accuse
Redcrosse of having a prior engagement to Duessa. Una reveals Archimago’s identity,
resulting in his imprisonment. Redcrosse departs to the Faerie Queen, leaving Una to
await his return and their wedding day.
46
PROTHALAMION
Prothalamion, a spousal verse by Edmund Spenser is one of the loveliest

wedding odes. The verse is essentially the wedlock of twin sisters; Lady Catherine and
Lady Elizabeth with Henry Gilford and William Peter.
Conversely, on comparison with Epithalamion, the verse is considered less

realistic and unappealing. Spenser incorporates classical imagery strongly with a
beautiful atmosphere in the poem. The emphasis of renaissance on Prothalamion brings
a tinge of mythological figures like Venus, Cynthia and Titan.
PROTHALAMION ESSAY
Stanza 1: The poet walks along the banks of River Thames to forget the worries of his
personal life. He was completely frustrated with the Job at the court and all he wanted
is some mental peace. The cool breeze covered the heat of the sun by reflecting a shade
of tender warmth. There are flowers everywhere and the birds chirp happily. The poet
as a refrain requests the river to flow softly until he ends his song.
Stanza 2: The poet happens to see a group of nymphs along the banks of the river.
Here the poet makes use of first Mythological figure, the nymphs which are
supernatural maidens known for their purity. Every nymph looked stunning and had
loose strands of hair falling to the shoulders. Nymphs together prepared bouquets of
flowers with primroses, white lilies, red roses, tulips, violets and daisies.
Stanza 3: As the second mystic entity, Spenser introduces the swans. Swans that swam
across the river looked holy and whiter than Jupiter who disguised as a swan to win his
love, Leda. But, yes, what Spenser says next is that these swans are shinier than Leda
herself. The River Thames requests its waters not to dirty the sacred wings of the swan.
47
Stanza 4: The nymphs were all dumb struck watching the swans swim across the river.
Swans are usually assigned to drawing the chariot of Venus, the goddess of love. The
white lilies are matched to the purity or virginity of the nymphs.
Stanza 5: As the next step, the nymphs prepare poises and a basket of flowers which
look like bridal chamber adorned with flowers. The nymphs on excitement of the
upcoming wedding throw the flowers over the River Thames and birds. The nymphs
also prepare a wedding song. With all the fragrance of flowers, Thames exactly looked
like the Peneus, the river of ancient fame flowing along the Tempe and the Thessalian
valley.
Stanza 6: The song of the nymph mesmerizes with an enchanting musical effect. Here
Spenser wishes the couple live forever with swans’ contented heart and eternal bliss as
these birds are the wonder of heaven. He also prays to Cupid and Venus to bless the
couple with love and care lest they be safe from deceit and dislike. With endless
affluence and happiness, their kids must be a sign of dignity and a threat to immoral
people.
Stanza 7: The river Lee, with headquarters at Kent, flows with happiness on such an
occasion. As the birds flew above the swans, the sight looked like moon (Cynthia)
shining above the stars.
Stanza 8: Once the wedding starts at London, the poet begins to recollect his encounters
at the mansion and the building where the wedding occurs.
Stanza 9: The Earl of Essex lived in the mighty castle which actually was the venue of
the wedding. He was so chivalrous that he served as a danger to foreign countries. His
brave attack on Spain shot him to fame and entire Spain shook at his very name. Queen
Elizabeth was so proud of him and he deserves to be celebrated with a poem.
48
Stanza 10: The Earl of Sussex walked towards the river and he looked fresh with his
lovely golden hair. He was accompanied by two young men who were brave, handsome
and glorious. They resembled the Twins of Jupiter namely, Castor and Pollux. The men
held the hands of the brides and their wedlock begun thereby.
With all the necessary ingredients for a successful verse, Prothalamion is embroidered
with long lasting style and simplicity.
EPITHALAMION ESSAY
Epithalamion is an ode written to commemorate the nuptials of the speaker and

his bride. The song begins before dawn and progresses through the wedding ceremony
and into the consummation night of the newlywed couple. Throughout Epithalamion,
the speaker marks time by referencing the physical movements of the wedding party,
the positions of the sun and other celestial bodies, and the light and darkness that fill
the day.
Although firmly within the classical tradition, Epithalamion takes its setting and several
of its images from Ireland, where Edmund Spenser's wedding to Elizabeth Boyle
actually took place. Some critics have seen in this Irish connection a commentary within
the poem of the proper relationship between ruling England (the groom) and subject
Ireland (the bride). Spenser's love for the Irish countryside is clear through his vivid
descriptions of the natural world surrounding the couple, while his political views
regarding English supremacy is hinted at in the relationship between the bride and
groom themselves.
Other critics have seen Spenser's gift to his bride not simply as a celebration of their
wedding day, but a poetic argument for the kind of husband-wife relationship he expects
the two of them to have.
49
Epithalamion was written in 1594 to celebrate Spenser's marriage to Elizabeth Boyle,
and published the following year. Like Amoretti, Epithalamion is at first personal and
intimate, but nonetheless clearly polished for the reading public. The ode concerns itself
largely with the passage of time, and is itself an attempt on Spenser's part to immortalize
the day of his wedding by setting it down in words which time cannot alter. The
wedding day is described in accurate detail, down to the position of the sun, moon, and
stars on that specific June day in 1594. Thus, many otherwise unknown biographical
details of Spenser's wedding day come to light through this poem; in that sense at the
very least it marks a success in Spenser's attempt to memorialize his wedding day as
permanently as possible.
While Epithalamion is clearly a paean to Christian marriage, some critics have seen in
it either a commentary on the behaviors Spenser expected of his bride, or a political
statement prescribing the proper relationship between governing England and subject
Ireland.
EPITHALAMION STANZAS 1 THROUGH 12
Epithalamion is an ode written by Edmund Spenser as a gift to his bride,

Elizabeth Boyle, on their wedding day. The poem moves through the couples' wedding
day, from the groom's impatient hours before dawn to the late hours of night after the
husband and wife have consummated their marriage. Spenser is very methodical in his
depiction of time as it passes, both in the accurate chronological sense and in the
subjective sense of time as felt by those waiting in anticipation or fear.
As with most classically-inspired works, this ode begins with an invocation to the
Muses to help the groom; however, in this case they are to help him awaken his bride,
not create his poetic work. Then follows a growing procession of figures who attempt
to bestir the bride from her bed. Once the sun has risen, the bride finally awakens and
begins her procession to the bridal bower. She comes to the "temple" (the sanctuary of
the church wherein she is to be formally married to the groom) and is wed, then a
celebration ensues. Almost immediately, the groom wants everyone to leave and the
day to shorten so that he may enjoy the bliss of his wedding night. Once the night
50
arrives, however, the groom turns his thoughts toward the product of their union,
praying to various gods that his new wife's womb might be fertile and give him multiple
children.
Stanza 1
Summary
The groom calls upon the muses to inspire him to properly sing the praises of his
beloved bride. He claims he will sing to himself, "as Orpheus did for his own bride."
As with most of the following stanzas, this stanza ends with the refrain "The woods
shall to me answer and my Eccho ring."
Analysis
In the tradition of classical authors, the poet calls upon the muses to inspire him. Unlike
many poets, who called upon a single muse, Spenser here calls upon all the muses,
suggesting his subject requires the full range of mythic inspiration. The reference to
Orpheus is an allusion to that hero's luring of his bride's spirit from the realm of the
dead using his beautiful music; the groom, too, hopes to awaken his bride from her
slumber, leading her into the light of their wedding day.
Stanza 2
Summary
Before the break of day, the groom urges the muses to head to his beloved's bower,
there to awaken her. Hymen, god of marriage, is already awake, and so too should the
bride arise. The groom urges the muses to remind his bride that this is her wedding day,
an occasion that will return her great delight for all the "paynes and sorrowes past."
Analysis
Another classical figure, Hymen, is invoked here, and not for the last time. If the god
of marriage is ready, and the groom is ready, then he expects his bride to make herself
ready as well. The focus is on the sanctity of the wedding day--this occasion itself
should urge the bride to come celebrate it as early as possible. Here it is the marriage
ceremony, not the bride (or the groom) which determines what is urgent.
51
Stanza 3
Summary
The groom instructs the muses to summon all the nymphs they can to accompany them
to the bridal chamber. On their way, they are to gather all the fragrant flowers they can
and decorate the path leading from the "bridal bower," where the marriage ceremony is
to take place, to the door of the bride's chambers. If they do so, she will tread nothing
but flowers on her procession from her rooms to the site of the wedding. As they adorn
her doorway with flowers, their song will awaken the bride
Analysis
This celebration of Christian matrimony here becomes firmly entrenched in the classical
mythology of the Greeks with the summoning of the nymphs. No more pagan image
can be found than these nature-spirits strewing the ground with various flowers to make
a path of beauty from the bride's bedchamber to the bridal bower. Although Spenser
will later develop the Protestant marriage ideals, he has chosen to greet the wedding
day morning with the spirits of ancient paganism instead.
Stanza 4
Summary
Addressing the various nymphs of other natural locales, the groom asks that they tend
to their specialties to make the wedding day perfect. The nymphs who tend the ponds
and lakes should make sure the water is clear and unmolested by lively fish, that they
may see their own reflections in it and so best prepare themselves to be seen by the
bride. The nymphs of the mountains and woods, who keep deer safe from ravening
wolves, should exercise their skills in keeping these selfsame wolves away from the
bride this wedding day. Both groups are to be present to help decorate the wedding site
with their beauty.
Analysis
Here Spenser further develops the nymph-summoning of Stanza 3. That he focuses on

the two groups' abilities to prevent disturbances hints that he foresaw a chance of some
52
misfortune attending the wedding. Whether this is conventional "wedding day jitters"
or a more politically-motivated concern over the problem of Irish uprisings is uncertain,
but the wolves mentioned would come from the forests--the same place Irish resistance
groups use to hide their movements and strike at the occupying English with impunity.
Stanza 5
Summary
The groom now addresses his bride directly (even if she is not present) to urge her to
awaken. Sunrise is long since gone and Phoebus, the sungod, is showing "his glorious
hed." The birds are already singing, and the groom insists their song is a call to joy
directed at the bride.
Analysis
The mythical figures of Rosy Dawn, Tithones, and Phoebus are here invoked to
continue the classical motif of the ode. Thus far, it is indistinguishable in content from
a pagan weddingsong. That the groom must address his bride directly demonstrates both
his impatience and the ineffectiveness of relying on the muses and nymphs to summon
forth the bride.
Stanza 6
Summary
The bride has finally awakened, and her eyes likened to the sun wit their "goodly
beams/More bright then Hesperus." The groom urges the "daughters of delight" to
attend to the bride, but summons too the Hours of Day and Night, the Seasons, and the
"three handmayds" of Venus to attend as well. He urges the latter to do for his bride
what they do for Venus, sing to her as they help her dress for her wedding.
Analysis
There is a second sunrise here as the "darksome cloud" is removed from the bride's
visage and her eyes are allowed to shine in all their glory. The "daughters of delight"
are the nymphs, still urged to attend on the bride, but here Spenser introduces the
53
personifications of time in the hours that make up Day, Night, and the seasons. He will
return to this time motif later, but it is important to note that here he sees time itself
participating as much in the marriage ceremony as do the nymphs and handmaids of
Venus.
Stanza 7
Summary
The bride is ready with her attendant virgins, so now it is time for the groomsmen and
the groom himself to prepare. The groom implores the sun to shine brightly, but not
hotly lest it burn his bride's fair skin. He then prays to Phoebus, who is both sun-god
and originator of the arts, to give this one day of the year to him while keeping the rest
for himself. He offers to exchange his own poetry as an offering for this great favor.
Analysis
The theme of light as both a sign of joy and an image of creative prowess begins to be
developed here, as the groom addresses Phoebus. Spenser refers again to his own poetry
as a worthy offering to the god of poetry and the arts, which he believes has earned him
the favor of having this one day belong to himself rather than to the sun-god.
Stanza 8
Summary
The mortal wedding guests and entertainment move into action. The minstrels play their
music and sing, while women play their timbrels and dance. Young boys run throughout
the streets crying the wedding song "Hymen io Hymen, Hymen" for all to hear. Those
hearing the cries applaud the boys and join in with the song.
Analysis
Spenser shifts to the real-world participants in the wedding ceremony, the entertainment
and possible guests. He describes a typical (if lavish) Elizabethan wedding complete
with elements harking back to classical times. The boys' song "Hymen io Hymen,
Hymen" can be traced back to Greece, with its delivery by Gaius Valerius Catullus in
the first century
54
B.C. Stanza 9
Summary
The groom beholds his bride approaching and compares her to Phoebe (another name
for Artemis, goddess of the moon) clad in white "that seemes a virgin best." He finds
her white attire so appropriate that she seems more angel than woman. In modesty, she
avoids the gaze of the myriad admirers and blushes at the songs of praise she is
receiving.
Analysis
This unusual stanza has a "missing line"-- a break after the ninth line of the stanza (line
156). The structure probably plays into Spenser's greater organization of lines and
meter, which echo the hours of the day with great mathematical precision. There is no
aesthetic reason within the stanza for the break, as it takes place three lines before the
verses describing the bride's own reaction to her admirers.
The comparison to Phoebe, twin sister of Phoebus, is significant since the groom has
essentially bargained to take Phoebus' place of prominence this day two stanzas ago.
He sees the bride as a perfect, even divine, counterpart to himself this day, as Day and
Night are inextricably linked in the passage of time.
Stanza 10
Summary
The groom asks the women who see his bride if they have ever seen anyone so beautiful
in their town before. He then launches into a list of all her virtues, starting with her eyes
and eventually describing her whole body. The bride's overwhelming beauty causes the
maidens to forget their song to stare at her.
Analysis
Spenser engages the blason convention, in which a woman's physical features are
picked out and described in metaphorical terms. Unlike his blasons in Amoretti, this
listing has no overarching connection among the various metaphors. Her eyes and
55
forehead are described in terms of valuable items (sapphires and ivory), her cheeks and
lips compared to fruit (apples and cherries), her breast is compared to a bolw of cream,
her nipples to the buds of lilies, her neck to an ivory tower, and her whole body
compared to a beautiful palace. Stanza 11
Summary 11
The groom moves from the external beauty of the bride to her internal beauty, which he
claims to see better than anyone else. He praises her lively spirit, her sweet love, her
chastity, her faith, her honor, and her modesty. He insists that could her observers see
her inner beauty, they would be far more awestruck by it than they already are by her
outward appearance.
Analysis
Although not a blason like the last stanza, this set of verses is nonetheless a catalogue
of the bride's inner virtues. Spenser moves for a moment away from the emphasis on
outward beauty so prominent in this ode and in pagan marriage ceremonies, turning
instead to his other classical influence: Platonism. He describes the ideal woman,
unsullied by fleshly weakness or stray thoughts. Could the attendants see her true
beauty-her absolute beauty--they would be astonished like those who saw "Medusaes
mazeful hed" and were turned to stone.
Stanza 12
Summary
The groom calls for the doors to the temple to be opened that his bride may enter in and
approach the altar in reverence. He offers his bride as an example for the observing
maidens to follow, for she approaches this holy place with reverence and humility.
Analysis
Spenser shifts the imagery from that of a pagan wedding ceremony, in which the bride
would be escorted to the groom's house for the wedding, to a Protestant one taking place
in a church (although he describes it with the pre-Christian term "temple"). The bride
enters in as a "Saynt" in the sense that she is a good Protestant Christian, and she
56
approaches this holy place with the appropriate humility. No mention of Hymen or
Phoebus is made; instead the bride approaches "before th' almighties vew." The
minstrels have now become "Choristers" singing "praises of the Lord" to the
accompaniment of organs.
Stanza 13
Summary
The bride stands before the altar as the priest offers his blessing upon her and upon the
marriage. She blushes, causing the angels to forget their duties and encircle here, while
the groom wonders why she should blush to give him her hand in marriage.
Analysis
Now firmly entrenched in the Christian wedding ceremony, the poem dwells upon the
bride's reaction to the priest's blessing, and the groom's reaction to his bride's response.
Her blush sends him toward another song about her beauty, but he hesitates to commit
wholly to that. A shadow of doubt crosses his mind, as he describes her downcast eyes
as "sad" and wonders why making a pledge to marry him should make her blush. Stanza
14
Summary
The Christian part of the wedding ceremony is over, and the groom asks that the bride
to be brought home again and the celebration to start. He calls for feasting and drinking,
turning his attention from the "almighty" God of the church to the "God Bacchus,"
Hymen, and the Graces.
Analysis
Spenser slips easily (perhaps even hastily) away from teh Protestant wedding ceremony
back to the pagan revelries. Forgotten is the bride's humility at the altar of the Christian
God; instead he crowns Bacchus, god of wine and revelry, and Hymen was requesting
the Graces to dance. Now he wants to celebrate his "triumph" with wine "poured out
without restraint or stay" and libations to the aforementioned gods. He considers this
57
day to be holy for himself, perhaps seeing it as an answer to his previous imprecation
to Phoebus that this day belong to him alone.
Stanza 15
Summary
The groom reiterates his affirmation that this day is holy and calls everyone to celebrate
in response to the ringing bells. He exults that the sun is so bright and the day so
beautiful, then changes his tone to regret as he realize his wedding is taking place on
the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, and so his nighttime nuptial bliss will
be delayed all the longer, yet last only briefly.
Analysis
By identifying the exact day of the wedding (the summer solstice, June 20), Spenser
allows the reader to fit this poetic description of the ceremony into a real, historical
context. As some critics have noted, a timeline of the day superimposed over the verse
structure of the entire ode produces an accurate, line-by-line account of the various
astronomical events (sunrise, the position of the stars, sunset).
Stanza 16
Summary
The groom continues his frustrated complaint that the day is too long, but grows hopeful
as at long last the evening begins its arrival. Seeing the evening start in the East, he
addresses is as "Fayre childe of beauty, glorious lampe of loue," urging it to come
forward and hasten the time for the newlyweds to consummate their marriage.
Analysis
Again focused on time, the speaker here is able to draw hope from the approach of
twilight. He is eager to be alone with his bride, and so invokes the evening star to lead
the bride and groom to their bedchamber.
Stanza 17
Summary
58
The groom urges the singers and dancers to leave the wedding, but take the bride to her
bed as they depart. He is eager to be alone with his bride, and compares the sight of her
lying in bed to that of Maia, the mountain goddess with whom Zeus conceived Hermes.
Analysis
The comparison to Zeus and Maia is significant in that it foreshadows another desire of
the groom, procreation. Besides being eager to make love to his new bride, the speaker
is also hoping to conceive a child. According to legend and tradition, a child conceived
on the summer solstice would grow into prosperity and wisdom, so the connection to
the specific day of the wedding cannot be ignored.
Stanza 18
Night has come at last, and the groom asks Night to cover and protect them. He makes
another comparison to mythology, this time Zeus' affair with Alcmene and his affair
with Night herself.
Analysis
Here again Spenser uses a classical allusion to Zeus, mentioning not only the woman
with whom Zeus had relations, but also their offspring.
Alcmene was a daughter of Pleiades and, through Zeus, became the mother of Hercules.
The focus has almost shifted away from the bride or the act of consummation to the
potential child that may come of this union.
Stanza 19
Summary
The groom prays that no evil spirits or bad thoughts would reach the newlyweds this
night. The entire stanza is a list of possible dangers he pleads to leave them alone.
Analysis
At the moment the bride and groom are finally alone, the speaker shifts into an almost
hysterical litany of fears and dreads. From false whispers and doubts, he declines into
superstitious fear of witches, "hob Goblins," ghosts, and vultures, among others.
59
Although some of these night-terrors have analogs in Greek mythology, many of them
come from the folklore of the Irish countryside. Spenser reminds himself and his readers
that, as a landed Englishman on Irish soil, there is danger yet present for him, even on
his wedding night.
Stanza 20
Summary
The groom bids silence to prevail and sleep to come when it is the proper time. Until
then, he encourages the "hundred little winged loues" to fly about the bed. These tiny
Cupids are to enjoy themselves as much as possible until daybreak.
Analysis
The poet turns back to enjoying his beloved bride, invoking the "sonnes of Venus" to
play throughout the night. While he recognizes that sleep can and must come eventually,
he hopes to enjoy these "little loves" with his bride as much as possible.
Stanza 21
Summary
The groom notices Cinthia, the moon, peering through his window and prays to her for
a favorable wedding night. He specifically asks that she make his bride's "chaste womb"
fertile this night. Analysis
Spenser continues his prayer for conception, this time addressing Cinthia, the moon. He
asks her to remember her own love of the "Latmian shephard" Endymion--a union that
eventually produced fifty daughters, the phases of the moon. He specifically calls a
successful conception "our comfort," placing his emotional emphasis upon the fruit of
the union above the act of union itself. The impatient lover of the earlier stanzas has
become the would-be father looking for completion in a future generation.
Stanza 22
Summary
60
The groom adds more deities to his list of patron. He asks Juno, wife of Zeus and
goddess of marriage, to make their union strong and sacred, then turns her attention
toward making it fruitful. So, too, he asks Hebe and Hymen to do the same for them.
Analysis
While asking Juno to bless the marriage, the speaker cannot refrain from asking for
progeny. So, too, he invokes Hebe (goddess of youth) and Hymen to make their
wedding night one of fortunate conception as well as wedded bliss. While he does return
to the hope or prayer that the marriage will remain pure, the speaker still places
conception as the highest priority of the night.
Stanza 23
Summary
The groom utters and all-encompassing prayer to all the gods in the heavens, that they
might bless this marriage. He asks them to give him "large posterity" that he may raise
up generations of followers to ascend to the heavens in praise of the gods. He then
encourages his bride to rest in hope of their becoming parents.
Analysis
Spenser brings this ode to a major climax, calling upon all the gods in the heavens to
bear witness and shower their blessings upon the couple. He states in no uncertain terms
that the blessing he would have is progeny--he wishes nothing other than to have a child
from this union. In typical pagan bargaining convention, the speaker assures the gods
that if they give him children, these future generations will venerate the gods and fill
the earth with "Saints."
Stanza 24
Summary
The groom addresses his song with the charge to be a "goodly ornament" for his bride,
whom he feels deserves many physical adornments as well. Time was too short to
procure these outward decorations for his beloved, so the groom hopes his ode will be
an "endlesse moniment" to her.
61
Analysis
Spenser follows Elizabeth convention in returning to a self-conscious meditation upon

his ode itself. He asks that this ode, which he is forced to give her in place of the many
ornaments which his bride should have had, will become an altogether greater
adornment for her. He paradoxically asks that it be "for short time" and "endless"
monument for her, drawing the reader's attention back to the contrast between earthly
time, which eventually runs out, and eternity, which lasts forever in a state of perfection.
OF TRUTH
"What is truth?" said jesting Pilate, and would not stay for an answer. Certainly
there be that delight in giddiness, and count it a bondage to fix a belief, affecting free-
will in thinking as well as in acting. And though the sects of philosophers of that kind
be gone, yet there remain certain discoursing wits which are of the same veins, though
there be not so much blood in them as was in those of the ancients. But it is not only the
difficulty and labor which men take in finding out of truth, nor again that when it is
found it imposeth upon men's thoughts, that doth bring lies in favor, but a natural though
corrupt love of the lie itself. One of the later school of the Grecians examineth the
matter, and is at a stand to think what should be in it, that men should love lies where
neither they make for pleasure, as with poets, nor for advantage, as with the merchant;
but for the lie's sake. But I cannot tell: this same truth is a naked and open daylight that
doth not show the masques and mummeries and triumphs of the world half so stately
and daintily as candlelights. Truth may perhaps come to the price of a pearl that showeth
best by day; but it will not rise to the price of a diamond or carbuncle, that showeth best
in varied lights. A mixture of a lie doth ever add pleasure. Doth any man doubt that if
there were taken out of men's minds vain opinions, flattering hopes, false valuations,
imaginations as one would, and the like, but it would leave the minds of a number of
men poor shrunken things, full of melancholy and indisposition, and unpleasing to
themselves? One of the fathers, in great severity, called poesyvinum daemonum [the
wine of devils] because it filleth the imagination, and yet it is but with the shadow of a
lie. But it is not the lie that passeth through the mind, but the lie that sinketh in and
settleth in it that doth the hurt, such as we spake of before. But howsoever these things
62
are thus in men's depraved judgments and affections, yet truth, which only doth judge
itself, teacheth that the inquiry of truth, which is the love-making or wooing of it; the
knowledge of truth, which is the presence of it; and the belief of truth, which is the
enjoying of it, is the sovereign good of human nature. The first creature of God in the
works of the days was the light of the sense; the last was the light of reason; and his
Sabbath work ever since is the illumination of his spirit. First he breathed light upon the
face of the matter, or chaos; then he breathed light into the face of man; and still he
breatheth and inspireth light into the face of his chosen. The poet that beautified the sect
that was otherwise inferior to the rest, saith yet excellently well, "It is a pleasure to stand
upon the shore, and to see ships tossed upon the sea; a pleasure to stand in the window
of a castle, and to see a battle and the adventures thereof below; but no pleasure is
comparable to the standing upon the vantage ground of truth (a hill not to be
commanded, and where the air is always clear and serene), and to see the errors and
wanderings and mists and tempests in the vale below"*; so always that this prospect be
with pity, and not with swelling or pride. Certainly it is heaven upon earth to have a
man's mind move in charity, rest in providence, and turn upon the poles of truth.
To pass from theological and philosophical truth to the truth of civil business: it will be
acknowledged, even by those that practice it not, that clear and round dealing is the
honor of man's nature, and that mixture of falsehood is like alloy in coin of gold and
silver, which may make the metal work the better, but it embaseth it. For these winding
and crooked courses are the goings of the serpent, which goeth basely upon the belly
and not upon the feet. There is no vice that doth so cover a man with shame as to be
found false and perfidious; and therefore Montaigne saith prettily, when he inquired the
reason why the word of the lie should be such a disgrace and such an odious charge.
Saith he, "If it be well weighed, to say that a man lieth, is as much as to say that he is
brave towards God, and a coward towards man." For a lie faces God, and shrinks from
man. Surely the wickedness of falsehood and breach of faith cannot possibly be so
highly expressed as in that it shall be the last peal to call the judgments of God upon the
generations of men: it being foretold that when Christ cometh, "He shall not find faith
upon the earth."
63
OF ADVERSITY
IT WAS an high speech of Seneca (after the manner of the Stoics), that the good
things, which belong to prosperity, are to be wished; but the good things, that belong to
adversity, are to be admired. Bona rerum secundarum optabilia; adversarum mirabilia.
Certainly if miracles be the command over nature, they appear most in adversity. It is
yet a higher speech of his, than the other (much too high for a heathen), It is true
greatness, to have in one the frailty of a man, and the security of a God. Vere magnum
habere fragilitatem hominis, securitatem Dei. This would have done better in poesy,
where transcendences are more allowed. And the poets indeed have been busy with it;
for it is in effect the thing, which figured in that strange fiction of the ancient poets,
which seemeth not to be without mystery; nay, and to have some approach to the state
of a Christian; that Hercules, when he went to unbind Prometheus (by whom human
nature is represented), sailed the length of the great ocean, in an earthen pot or pitcher;
lively describing Christian resolution, that saileth in the frail bark of the flesh, through
the waves of the world. But to speak in a mean. The virtue of prosperity, is temperance;
the virtue of adversity, is fortitude; which in morals is the more heroical virtue.
Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity is the blessing of the
New; which carrieth the greater benediction, and the clearer revelation of God’s favor.
Yet even in the Old Testament, if you listen to David’s harp, you shall hear as many
hearse-like airs as carols; and the pencil of the Holy Ghost hath labored more in
describing the afflictions of Job, than the felicities of Solomon. Prosperity is not without
many fears and distastes; and adversity is not without comforts and hopes. We see in
needle-works and embroideries, it is more pleasing to have a lively work, upon a sad
and solemn ground, than to have a dark and melancholy work, upon a lightsome ground:
judge therefore of the pleasure of the heart, by the pleasure of the eye. Certainly virtue
is like precious odors, most fragrant when they are incensed, or crushed: for prosperity
doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue.
64
OF STUDIES
STUDIES serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for
delight, is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in
the judgment, and disposition of business. For expert men can execute, and perhaps
judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling
of affairs, come best, from those that are learned. To spend too much time in studies is
sloth; to use them too much for ornament, is affectation; to make judgment wholly by
their rules, is the humor of a scholar. They perfect nature, and are perfected by
experience: for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need proyning, by study; and
studies themselves, do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded
in by experience. Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men
use them; for they teach not their own use; but that is a wisdom without them, and above
them, won by observation. Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take
for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider. Some books are
to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is,
some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some
few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some books also may be read
by deputy, and extracts made of them by others; but that would be only in the less
important arguments, and the meaner sort of books, else distilled books are like
common distilled waters, flashy things. Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready
man; and writing an exact man. And therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a
great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit: and if he read little, he
had need have much cunning, to seem to know, that he doth not. Histories make men
wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtile; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic
and rhetoric able to contend. Abeunt studia in mores. Nay, there is no stond or
impediment in the wit, but may be wrought out by fit studies; like as diseases of the
body, may have appropriate exercises. Bowling is good for the stone and reins; shooting
for the lungs and breast; gentle walking for the stomach; riding for the head; and the
like. So if a man’s wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics; for in
demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little, he must begin again. If his wit
be not apt to distinguish or find differences, let him study the Schoolmen; for they are
cymini sectores. If he be not apt to beat over matters, and to call up one thing to prove
65
and illustrate another, let him study 197 the lawyers’ cases. So every defect of the mind,
may have a special receipt.
OF REVENGE
REVENGE is a kind of wild justice; which the more man’ s nature runs to, the
more ought law to weed it out. For as for the first wrong, it doth but offend the law; but
the revenge of that wrong, putteth the law out of office. Certainly, in taking revenge, a
man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior; for it is a prince’s
part to pardon. And Solomon, I am sure, saith, It is the glory of a man, to pass by an
offence. That which is past is gone, and irrevocable; and wise men have enough to do,
with things present and to come; therefore they do but trifle with them selves, that labor
in past matters. There is no man doth a wrong, for the wrong’s sake; but thereby to
purchase himself profit, or pleasure, or honor, or the like. Therefore why should I be
angry with a man, for loving himself better than me? And if any man should do wrong,
merely out of ill-nature, why, yet it is but like the thorn or briar, which prick and scratch,
because they can do no other. The most tolerable sort of revenge, is for those wrongs
which there is no law to remedy; but then let a man take heed, the revenge be such as
there is no law to punish; else a man’s enemy is still before hand, and it is two for one.
Some, when they take revenge, are desirous, the party should know, whence it cometh.
This is the more generous. For the delight seemeth to be, not so much in doing the hurt,
as in making the party repent. But base and crafty cowards, are like the arrow that flieth
in the dark. Cosmus, duke of Florence, had a desperate saying against perfidious or
neglecting friends, as if those wrongs were unpardonable; You shall read (saith he) that
we are commanded to forgive our enemies; but you never read, that we are commanded
to forgive our friends. But yet the spirit of Job was in a better tune: Shall we (saith he)
take good at God’s hands, and not be content to take evil also? And so of friends in a
proportion. This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge, keeps his own wounds
green, which otherwise would heal, and do well. Public revenges are for the most part
fortunate; as that for the death of Caesar; for the death of Pertinax; for the death of
Henry the Third of France; and many more. But in private revenges, it is not so. Nay
66
rather, vindictive persons live the life of witches; who, as they are mischievous, so end
they infortunate.
OF AMBITION
AMBITION is like choler; which is an humor that maketh men active, earnest,
full of alacrity, and stirring, if it be not stopped. But if it be stopped, and cannot have
his way, it becometh adust, and thereby malign and venomous. So ambitious men, if
they find the way open for their rising, and still get forward, they are rather busy than
dangerous; but if they be checked in their desires, they become secretly discontent, and
look upon men and matters with an evil eye, and are best pleased, when things go
backward; which is the worst property in a servant of a prince, or state. Therefore it is
good for princes, if they use ambitious men, to handle it, so as they be still progressive
and not retrograde; which, because it cannot be without inconvenience, it is good not to
use such natures at all. For if they rise not with their service, they will take order, to
make their service fall with them. But since we have said, it were good not to use men
of ambitious natures, except it be upon necessity, it is fit we speak, in what cases they
are of necessity. Good commanders in the wars must be taken, be they never so
ambitious; for the use of their service, dispenseth with the rest; and to take a soldier
without ambition, is to pull off his spurs. There is also great use of ambitious men, in
being screens to princes in matters of danger and envy; for no man will take that part,
except he be like a seeled dove, that mounts and mounts, because he cannot see about
him. There is use also of ambitious men, in pulling down the greatness of any subject
that overtops; as Tiberius used Marco, in the pulling down of Sejanus. Since, therefore,
they must be used in such cases, there resteth to speak, how they are to be bridled, that
they may be less dangerous. There is less danger of them, if they be of mean birth, than
if they be noble; and if they be rather harsh of nature, than gracious and popular: and if
they be rather new raised, than grown cunning, and fortified, in their greatness. It is
counted by some, a weakness in princes, to have favorites; but it is, of all others, the
best remedy against ambitious greatones. For when the way of pleasuring, and
displeasuring, lieth by the favorite, it is impossible any other should be overgreat.
Another means to curb them, is to balance them by others, as proud as they. But then
67
there must be some middle counsellors, to keep things steady; for without that ballast,
the ship will roll too much. At the least, a prince may animate and inure some meaner
persons, to be as it were scourges, to ambitions men. As for the having of them
obnoxious to ruin; if they be of fearful natures, it may do well; but if they be stout and
daring, it may precipitate their designs, and prove dangerous. As for the pulling of them
down, if the affairs require it, and that it may not be done with safety suddenly, the only
way is the interchange, continually, of favors and disgraces; whereby they may not
know what to expect, and be, as it were, in a wood. Of ambitions, it is less harmful, the
ambition to prevail in great things, than that other, to appear in every thing; for that
breeds confusion, and mars business. But yet it is less danger, to have an ambitious man
stirring in business, than great in dependences. He that seeketh to be eminent amongst
able men, hath a great task; but that is ever good for the public. But he, that plots to be
the only figure amongst ciphers, is the decay of a whole age. Honor hath three things in
it: the vantage ground to do good; the approach to kings and principal persons; and the
raising of a man’s own fortunes. He that hath the best of these intentions, when he
aspireth, is an honest man; and that prince, that can discern of these intentions in another
that aspireth, is a wise prince. Generally, let princes and states choose such ministers,
as are more sensible of duty than of using; and such as love business rather upon
conscience, than upon bravery, and let them discern a busy nature, from a willing mind.
OF FRIENDSHIP
IT HAD been hard for him that spake it to have put more truth and untruth
together in few words, than in that speech, Whatsoever is delighted in solitude, is either
a wild beast or a god. For it is most true, that a natural and secret hatred, and aversation
towards society, in any man, hath somewhat of the savage beast; but it is most untrue,
that it should have any character at all, of the divine nature; except it proceed, not out
of a pleasure in solitude, but out of a love and desire to sequester a man's self, for a
higher conversation: such as is found to have been falsely and feignedly in some of the
heathen; as Epimenides the Candian, Numa the Roman, Empedocles the Sicilian, and
68
Apollonius of Tyana; and truly and really, in divers of the ancient hermits and holy
fathers of the church. But little do men perceive what solitude is, and how far it
extendeth. For a crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk
but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love. The Latin adage meeteth with it a little:
Magna civitas, magna solitudo; because in a great town friends are scattered; so that
there is not that fellowship, for the most part, which is in less neighborhoods. But we
may go further, and affirm most truly, that it is a mere and miserable solitude to want
true friends; without which the world is but a wilderness; and even in this sense also of
solitude, whosoever in the frame of his nature and affections, is unfit for friendship, he
taketh it of the beast, and not from humanity.
A principal fruit of friendship, is the ease and discharge of the fulness and swellings of
the heart, which passions of all kinds do cause and induce. We know diseases of
stoppings, and suffocations, are the most dangerous in the body; and it is not 93 much
otherwise in the mind; you may take sarza to open the liver, steel to open the spleen,
flowers of sulphur for the lungs, castoreum for the brain; but no receipt openeth the
heart, but a true friend; to whom you may impart griefs, joys, fears, hopes, suspicions,
counsels, and whatsoever lieth upon the heart to oppress it, in a kind of civil shrift or
confession.
It is a strange thing to observe, how high a rate great kings and monarchs do set upon
this fruit of friendship, whereof we speak: so great, as they purchase it, many times, at
the hazard of their own safety and greatness. For princes, in regard of the distance of
their fortune from that of their subjects and servants, cannot gather this fruit, except (to
make themselves capable thereof) they raise some persons to be, as it were, companions
and almost equals to themselves, which many times sorteth to inconvenience. The
modern languages give unto such persons the name of favorites, or privadoes; as if it
were matter of grace, or conversation. But the Roman name attaineth the true use and
cause thereof, naming them participes curarum; for it is that which tieth the knot. And
we see plainly that this hath been done, not by weak and passionate princes only, but
by the wisest and most politic that ever reigned; who have oftentimes joined to
themselves some of their servants; whom both themselves have called friends, and
allowed other likewise to call them in the same manner; using the word which is
received between private men. L. Sylla, when he commanded Rome, raised Pompey
69
(after surnamed the Great) to that height, that Pompey vaunted himself for Sylla's
overmatch. For when he had carried the consulship for a friend of his, against the pursuit
of Sylla, and that Sylla did a little resent thereat, and began to speak great, Pompey
turned upon him again, and in effect bade him be quiet; for that more 94 men adored
the sun rising, than the sun setting. With Julius Caesar, Decimus Brutus had obtained
that interest as he set him down in his testament, for heir in remainder, after his nephew.
And this was the man that had power with him, to draw him forth to his death. For when
Caesar would have discharged the senate, in regard of some ill presages, and specially
a dream of Calpurnia; this man lifted him gently by the arm out of his chair, telling him
he hoped he would not dismiss the senate, till his wife had dreamt a better dream. And
it seemeth his favor was so great, as Antonius, in a letter which is recited verbatim in
one of Cicero's
Philippics, calleth him venefica, witch; as if he had enchanted Caesar. Augustus raised
Agrippa (though of mean birth) to that height, as when he consulted with Maecenas,
about the marriage of his daughter Julia, Maecenas took the liberty to tell him, that he
must either marry his daughter to Agrippa, or take away his life; there was no third way,
he had made him so great. With Tiberius Caesar, Sejanus had ascended to that height,
as they two were termed, and reckoned, as a pair of friends. Tiberius in a letter to him
saith, Haec pro amicitia nostra non occultavi; and the whole senate dedicated an altar
to Friendship, as to a goddess, in respect of the great dearness of friendship, between
them two. The like, or more, was between Septimius Severus and Plautianus. For he
forced his eldest son to marry the daughter of Plautianus; and would often maintain
Plautianus, in doing affronts to his son; and did write also in a letter to the senate, by
these words: I love the man so well, as I wish he may over-live me. Now if these princes
had been as a Trajan, or a Marcus Aurelius, a man might have thought that this had
proceeded of an abundant goodness of nature; but being men so wise, of such strength
and severity of mind, and so extreme lovers of themselves, as all these were, it proveth
most plainly that they found their own felicity (though as 95 great as ever happened to
mortal men) but as an half piece, except they mought have a friend, to make it entire;
and yet, which is more, they were princes that had wives, sons, nephews; and yet all
these could not supply the comfort of friendship.
70
It is not to be forgotten, what Comineus observeth of his first master, Duke Charles the
Hardy, namely, that he would communicate his secrets with none; and least of all, those
secrets which troubled him most. Whereupon he goeth on, and saith that towards his
latter time, that closeness did impair, and a little perish his understanding. Surely
Comineus mought have made the same judgment also, if it had pleased him, of his
second master, Lewis the Eleventh, whose closeness was indeed his tormentor. The
parable of Pythagoras is dark, but true; Cor ne edito; Eat not the heart. Certainly, if a
man would give it a hard phrase, those that want friends, to open themselves unto, are
cannibals of their own hearts. But one thing is most admirable (wherewith I will
conclude this first fruit of friendship), which is, that this communicating of a man's self
to his friend, works two contrary effects; for it redoubleth joys, and cutteth griefs in
halves. For there is no man, that imparteth his joys to his friend, but he joyeth the more;
and no man that imparteth his griefs to his friend, but he grieveth the less. So that it is
in truth, of operation upon a man's mind, of like virtue as the alchemists use to attribute
to their stone, for man's body; that it worketh all contrary effects, but still to the good
and benefit of nature. But yet without praying in aid of alchemists, there is a manifest
image of this, in the ordinary course of nature. For in bodies, union strengtheneth and
cherisheth any natural action; and on the other side, weakeneth and dulleth any violent
impression: and even so it is of minds. 96
The second fruit of friendship, is healthful and sovereign for the understanding, as the
first is for the affections. For friendship maketh indeed a fair day in the affections, from
storm and tempests; but it maketh daylight in the understanding, out of darkness, and
confusion of thoughts. Neither is this to be understood only of faithful counsel, which
a man receiveth from his friend; but before you come to that, certain it is, that whosoever
hath his mind fraught with many thoughts, his wits and understanding do clarify and
break up, in the communicating and discoursing with another; he tosseth his thoughts
more easily; he marshalleth them more orderly, he seeth how they look when they are
turned into words: finally, he waxeth wiser than himself; and that more by an hour's
discourse, than by a day's meditation. It was well said by Themistocles, to the king of
Persia, That speech was like cloth of Arras, opened and put abroad; whereby the
imagery doth appear in figure; whereas in thoughts they lie but as in packs. Neither is
this second fruit of friendship, in opening the understanding, restrained only to such
71
friends as are able to give a man counsel; (they indeed are best;) but even without that,
a man learneth of himself, and bringeth his own thoughts to light, and whetteth his wits
as against a stone, which itself cuts not. In a word, a man were better relate himself to
a statua, or picture, than to suffer his thoughts to pass in smother.
Add now, to make this second fruit of friendship complete, that other point, which lieth
more open, and falleth within vulgar observation; which is faithful counsel from a
friend. Heraclitus saith well in one of his enigmas, Dry light is ever the best. And certain
it is, that the light that a man receiveth by counsel from another, is drier and purer, than
that which cometh from his own understanding and judgment; which is ever infused,
and 97 drenched, in his affections and customs. So as there is as much difference
between the counsel, that a friend giveth, and that a man giveth himself, as there is
between the counsel of a friend, and of a flatterer. For there is no such flatterer as is a
man's self; and there is no such remedy against flattery of a man's self, as the liberty of
a friend. Counsel is of two sorts: the one concerning manners, the other concerning
business. For the first, the best preservative to keep the mind in health, is the faithful
admonition of a friend. The calling of a man's self to a strict account, is a medicine,
sometime too piercing and corrosive. Reading good books of morality, is a little flat and
dead. Observing our faults in others, is sometimes improper for our case. But the best
receipt (best, I say, to work, and best to take) is the admonition of a friend. It is a strange
thing to behold, what gross errors and extreme absurdities many (especially of the
greater sort) do commit, for want of a friend to tell them of them; to the great damage
both of their fame and fortune: for, as St. James saith, they are as men that look
sometimes into a glass, and presently forget their own shape and favor. As for business,
a man may think, if he win, that two eyes see no more than one; or that a gamester seeth
always more than a looker-on; or that a man in anger, is as wise as he that hath said over
the four and twenty letters; or that a musket may be shot off as well upon the arm, as
upon a rest; and such other fond and high imaginations, to think himself all in all. But
when all is done, the help of good counsel, is that which setteth business straight. And
if any man think that he will take counsel, but it shall be by pieces; asking counsel in
one business, of one man, and in another business, of another man; it is well (that is to
say, better, perhaps, than if he asked none at all); but he runneth two dangers: one, that
he shall not be faithfully counselled; for it is a rare thing, except it be from a perfect and
72
98 entire friend, to have counsel given, but such as shall be bowed and crooked to some
ends, which he hath, that giveth it. The other, that he shall have counsel given, hurtful
and unsafe (though with good meaning), and mixed partly of mischief and partly of
remedy; even as if you would call a physician, that is thought good for the cure of the
disease you complain of, but is unacquainted with your body; and therefore may put
you in way for a present cure, but overthroweth your health in some other kind; and so
cure the disease, and kill the patient. But a friend that is wholly acquainted with a man's
estate, will beware, by furthering any present business, how he dasheth upon other
inconvenience. And therefore rest not upon scattered counsels; they will rather distract
and mislead, than settle and direct.
After these two noble fruits of friendship (peace in the affections, and support of the
judgment), followeth the last fruit; which is like the pomegranate, full of many kernels;
I mean aid, and bearing a part, in all actions and occasions. Here the best way to
represent to life the manifold use of friendship, is to cast and see how many things there
are, which a man cannot do himself; and then it will appear, that it was a sparing speech
of the ancients, to say, that a friend is another himself; for that a friend is far more than
himself. Men have their time, and die many times, in desire of some things which they
principally take to heart; the bestowing of a child, the finishing of a work, or the like. If
a man have a true friend, he may rest almost secure that the care of those things will
continue after him. So that a man hath, as it were, two lives in his desires. A man hath
a body, and that body is confined to a place; but where friendship is, all offices of life
are as it were granted to him, and his deputy. For he may exercise them by his friend.
How many things are there which a man 99
cannot, with any face or comeliness, say or do himself? A man can scarce allege his
own merits with modesty, much less extol them; a man cannot sometimes brook to
supplicate or beg; and a number of the like. But all these things are graceful, in a friend's
mouth, which are blushing in a man's own. So again, a man's person hath many proper
relations, which he cannot put off. A man cannot speak to his son but as a father; to his
wife but as a husband; to his enemy but upon terms: whereas a friend may speak as the
case requires, and not as it sorteth with the person. But to enumerate these things were
endless; I have given the rule, where a man cannot fitly play his own part; if he have
not a friend, he may quit the stage.
73
AN APOLOGY FOR POETRY
Sir Phillip Sidney was a courtier, soldier, statesman, amateur scholar and a poet
in his days of the 16th century. In our context of literary criticism, he is known for his
essay named An Apology for Poetry, where he both explores the core concepts and
answers to earlier criticism of poetry. The text itself deals with three major topics: The
dignity – or power – of poetry and the addressing of general critique against poetry,
especially those of Plato, and an examination of the current state of English literature1.
In this essay I will provide some background for Sidney’s literary criticism and explore
these topics, and see how it fits with similar theories.
We need to go back in time for fully understanding the background that Sidney wrote
his text against. While Plato (ca. 427 – 247 B.C.E.) did not write any explicit literary
theories, he criticized poetry through his texts, mainly Ion and Republic. This was based
on a scepticism regarding poetical representation of forms or ideas, as this would
distance one from the timeless ideals. In the idea-world of Plato, every physical chair is
a copy of the mere idea of the chair, and a drawing of that chair is a copy of a copy of
the original idea. This model applies to poetry in the same way2, and for Plato (or
Socrates) was not poetry any form of art, but merely “a form of divinely inspired
madness.”3 But Plato’s and Socrates’ critique against poetry must be seen in the light
of the society they lived in, where it was common belief “that poets know all crafts, all
human affairs.”4 On the other hand, Aristotle, Plato’s pupil, took one step further in
area of literary criticism by writing a text about poetry itself, Poetics. In this text he
explores poetry, but most important, he defines it as a craft.
An Apology for Poetry (1595) was written in a 16th century renaissance literary climate
that was concerned about the aesthetic problems regarding the object and purpose of
poetry’s representation. Therefore, Sidney’s definition of poetry as a craft or “art of
imitation” is highly relevant, but not original, as it draws heavily on a number of
theorists, all the way back to Aristotle.
When Sir Pilip Sidney wrote his essay, it is considered that it was an answer to the
attack on theatres called The School of Abuse by Stephen Gosson, which was published
74
in 15796. This text draws upon the arguments of Plato’s Republic, and therefore, in a
modern context, where Republic is much more well-known than The School of Abuse,
An Apology can be read as a direct answer to the Republic.
The answers to Plato’s criticism can be read through the text, and early on he accuses
Plato for being hypocritical:
And Truly, even Plato, whosoever well considereth shall find that in the body of his
work, though the inside and strength were philosophy, the skin as it were and beauty
depended most of poetry, for all standeth upon dialogues, (…) besides his poetical
describing the circumstances of their meetings, (…) which who knoweth not to be
flowers of poetry did never walk into Apollo’s garden. (…)7
While this seems like an easy attack on Plato, it leads us towards one of Sidney’s main
arguments:
[N]either philosopher nor historiographer could have entered into the gates of popular
judgements if they had not taken a great passport of poetry [.]8
Sidney states that poetry – as Aristotle labelling it as mimesis, representing,

counterfeiting – has a mission of “teach and delight”9 in several ways.
Simply put, Sidney argues that poetry is above both history and philosophy because “it
combines the moral precepts of the one with the entertaining examples of the other, all
while cloaking its lessons with the pleasurable devices of art”10 . He does that through
a variety of passages, most explicitly here:
The philosopher (…) and the historian (…) would win the goal, the one by percept, the
other by example. But both not having both, do both halt. (…) Now doth the peerless
poet perform both[.]11
Poetry is superior to the other two in teaching human virtues, but poetry as an art or
craft, building upon Aristotle’s definition of poetry, is also superior to every other:
There is no art delivered to mankind that hath not the works of nature as his principal
object, without which they could not consist. (…) Only the poet, disdaining to be tied
75
to any such objections, lifted up with the vigor of his own invention, (…) not enclosed
within the narrow warrant of her [nature] gift12
[T]he poet, with the same hand of delight, doth draw the mind more effectually than
any other art doth.13. In the next part of the essay, Sidney argues against specific
critiques of poetry. Most noteworthy is the accusation of poets being liars, put forward
by Ovid in Remedia Amorris:
I think truly, that of all writers under the sun the poet is the least liar, and, though he
would, as a poet can scarcely be a liar. (…) Now for the poet, he nothing affirms, and
therefore never lieth. (…) The poet never maketh any circles about your imagination
to conjure you to believe for true what he writes.14
Simply put, by denouncing the mere prerequisite for the accusation – a poet intends to
state the truth (or a truth) – Sidney argues that the statement is invalid. But while a poet
may not be able to lie, Sidney does not fight the notion of poetry being abused. But that
would be using the poetry in the wrong way, in other words “that man’s wit abuseth
poetry”15. He elaborates, and at the same time builds upon his argument of poetry being
superior to other methods of teaching virtues:
Nay truly, though I yeld that poesy may not only be abused, but that being abused, by
the reasons of his sweet charming force it can do more hurt than any other army of
words, (…) that whatsoever being abused doth most harm, being rightly used (…) doth
most good.16
Later, Sidney also directly addresses Plato’s reasons for objecting to poetry through a
passage:
[L]et us boldly examine with what reasons he did it. First, truly a man might maliciously
object that Plato, being a philosopher, was a natural enemy of poets: for indeed, after
the philosopher (…) [was] making a school-art of that [virtues, knowledge] poets did
only teach by divine delightfulness, (…) [they] sought by all means to discredit their
masters.
76
Sidney goes on with the argument of poetry and poets being superior to philosophy and
philosophers, also with the curious note of poets not authorizing “abominable
filthiness” (homosexuality) and a community including women
We can easily draw some conclusions on Sidney’s view upon poetry. He leans towards
Aristotle definition of the craft or art, and objects heavily to Plato’s categorisation.
Poetry is not a copy of a copy of the ideal or idea; poetry may exist only for itself, as a
way of conveying images. Its definition holds no boundaries for the poet, and he is free
to use any means for creating images. The images used by the poet may represent the
nature, or be superior to the representation given by nature, or only be the poet’s
creation.
In the context of the history of literary criticism, we can see Sidney’s influence in Percy
Bysshe Shelley’s later text A Defence of Poetry (1840). But while the two theorists
seems to have similar opinion on the surface, like the one of poetry combining images
with teaching, and the poets being the earliest authors; teachers of religion and prophets.
Shelley argues famously that the poets are the ones that invents and develops the
language, the “unacknowledged legislators of the World”18; the poetry exists – and
therefore language – as an extension of the human creative mind, not the rational. This
is not unlike Sidney’s theories about the poet being the only craftsman and artist that is
not limited by boundaries set by the nature. Both theorists define poetry and set it
superior to nature itself, and defend poetry against its objectors.
But although Sidney and Shelley seem to agree on most topics, they differ on a
fundamental basis:
Sidney believes that poetry teaches “doctrines [that exists] in some legislatively
competent authority itself”19, but Shelley on the other hand states that poetry itself can
be a source of motives for good actions:
[P]oetry (…) awakens and enlarges the mind itself by rendering the receptable of a
thousand u napprehended combinations of thought. (…) The great instrument of moral
good is the imagination; and poetry administers to the effect by acting upon the cause.20
77
In this essay I have provided historical context and pointed out Sidney’s main arguments
in An Apology for Poetry, and how he argues against Plato’s criticism against poetry.
Further on, I have given examples from the source text, explained and tied them
together, before comparing Sidney’s
Apology to Percy Bysshe Shelley’s A Defence of Poetry.
BOOK OF JOB
Summary
Job is a wealthy man living in a land called Uz with his large family and
extensive flocks. He is “blameless” and “upright,” always careful to avoid doing evil
(1:1). One day, Satan (“the Adversary”) appears before God in heaven. God boasts to
Satan about Job’s goodness, but Satan argues that Job is only good because God has
blessed him abundantly. Satan challenges God that, if given permission to punish the
man, Job will turn and curse God. God allows Satan to torment Job to test this bold
claim, but he forbids Satan to take Job’s life in the process. In the course of one day,
Job receives four messages, each bearing separate news that his livestock, servants, and
ten children have all died due to marauding invaders or natural catastrophes. Job tears
his clothes and shaves his head in mourning, but he still blesses God in his prayers.
Satan appears in heaven again, and God grants him another chance to test Job. This
time, Job is afflicted with horrible skin sores. His wife encourages him to curse God
and to give up and die, but Job refuses, struggling to accept his circumstances.
Three of Job’s friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, come to visit him, sitting with Job
in silence for seven days out of respect for his mourning. On the seventh day, Job
speaks, beginning a conversation in which each of the four men shares his thoughts on
Job’s afflictions in long, poetic statements.
Job curses the day he was born, comparing life and death to light and darkness. He
wishes that his birth had been shrouded in darkness and longs to have never been born,
feeling that light, or life, only intensifies his misery. Eliphaz responds that Job, who has
78
comforted other people, now shows that he never really understood their pain. Eliphaz
believes that Job’s agony must be due to some sin Job has committed, and he urges Job
to seek God’s favor. Bildad and Zophar agree that Job must have committed evil to
offend God’s justice and argue that he should strive to exhibit more blameless behavior.
Bildad surmises that Job’s children brought their deaths upon themselves. Even worse,
Zophar implies that whatever wrong Job has done probably deserves greater
punishment than what he has received.
Job responds to each of these remarks, growing so irritated that he calls his friends
“worthless physicians” who “whitewash [their advice] with lies” (13:4). After making
pains to assert his blameless character, Job ponders man’s relationship to God. He
wonders why God judges people by their actions if God can just as easily alter or forgive
their behavior. It is also unclear to Job how a human can appease or court God’s justice.
God is unseen, and his ways are inscrutable and beyond human understanding.
Moreover, humans cannot possibly persuade God with their words. God cannot be
deceived, and Job admits that he does not even understand himself well enough to
effectively plead his case to God. Job wishes for someone who can mediate between
himself and God, or for God to send him to Sheol, the deep place of the dead.
Job’s friends are offended that he scorns their wisdom. They think his questions are
crafty and lack an appropriate fear of God, and they use many analogies and metaphors
to stress their ongoing point that nothing good comes of wickedness. Job sustains his
confidence in spite of these criticisms, responding that even if he has done evil, it is his
own personal problem. Furthermore, he believes that there is a “witness” or a
“Redeemer” in heaven who will vouch for his innocence (16:19, 19:25). After a while,
the upbraiding proves too much for Job, and he grows sarcastic, impatient, and afraid.
He laments the injustice that God lets wicked people prosper while he and countless
other innocent people suffer. Job wants to confront God and complain, but he cannot
physically find God to do it. He feels that wisdom is hidden from human minds, but he
resolves to persist in pursuing wisdom by fearing God and avoiding evil.
79
Without provocation, another friend, Elihu, suddenly enters the conversation. The
young Elihu believes that Job has spent too much energy vindicating himself rather than
God. Elihu explains to Job that God communicates with humans by two ways—visions
and physical pain. He says that physical suffering provides the sufferer with an
opportunity to realize God’s love and forgiveness when he is well again, understanding
that God has “ransomed” him from an impending death (33:24). Elihu also assumes that
Job must be wicked to be suffering as he is, and he thinks that Job’s excessive talking
is an act of rebellion against God.
God finally interrupts, calling from a whirlwind and demanding Job to be brave and
respond to his questions. God’s questions are rhetorical, intending to show how little
Job knows about creation and how much power God alone has. God describes many
detailed aspects of his creation, praising especially his creation of two large beasts, the
Behemoth and Leviathan. Overwhelmed by the encounter, Job acknowledges God’s
unlimited power and admits the limitations of his human knowledge. This response
pleases God, but he is upset with Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar for spouting poor and
theologically unsound advice. Job intercedes on their behalf, and God forgives them.
God returns Job’s health, providing him with twice as much property as before, new
children, and an extremely long life. Analysis
The Book of Job is one of the most celebrated pieces of biblical literature, not only
because it explores some of the most profound questions humans ask about their lives,
but also because it is extremely well written. The work combines two literary forms,
framing forty chapters of verse between two and a half chapters of prose at the
beginning and the end. The poetic discourse of Job and his friends is unique in its own
right. The lengthy conversation has the unified voice and consistent style of poetry, but
it is a dialogue between characters who alter their moods, question their motives, change
their minds, and undercut each other with sarcasm and innuendo. Although Job comes
closest to doing so, no single character articulates one true or authoritative opinion.
Each speaker has his own flaws as well as his own lofty moments of observation or
astute theological insight.
80
The interaction between Job and his friends illustrates the painful irony of his situation.
Our knowledge that Job’s punishment is the result of a contest between God and Satan
contrasts with Job’s confusion and his friends’ lecturing, as they try to understand why
Job is being punished. The premise of the friends’ argument is that misfortune only
follows from evil deeds. Bildad instructs Job, “if you are pure and upright, / surely then
[God] will rouse himself / for you” and he later goads Job to be a “blameless person”
(8:6, 8:20). The language in these passages is ironic, since, unbeknownst to Job or Job’s
friends, God and Satan do in fact view Job as “blameless and upright.” This contrast
shows the folly of the th ree friends who ignore Job’s pain while purporting to
encourage him. The interaction also shows the folly of trying to understand God’s ways.
The three friends and Job have a serious theological conversation about a situation that
actually is simply a game between God and Satan. The fault of Job and his friends lies
in trying to explain the nature of God with only the limited information available to
human knowledge, as God himself notes when he roars from the whirlwind, “Who is
this that darkness counsel / by words without / knowledge?” (38:2).
The dominant theme of Job is the difficulty of understanding why an allpowerful God
allows good people to suffer. Job wants to find a way to justify God’s actions, but he
cannot understand why there are evil people who “harm the childless woman, / and do
no good to the widow,” only to be rewarded with long, successful lives (24:21). Job’s
friends, including Elihu, say that God distributes outcomes to each person as his or her
actions deserve. As a result of this belief, they insist that Job has committed some
wrongdoing to merit his punishment. God himself declines to present a rational
explanation for the unfair distribution of blessings among men. He boasts to Job, “Have
you comprehended the / expanse of the earth? / Declare, if you know all this” (38:18).
God suggests that people should not discuss divine justice since God’s power is so great
that humans cannot possibly justify his ways.
One of the chief virtues of the poetry in Job is its rhetoric. The book’s rhetorical
language seeks to produce an effect in the listener rather than communicate a literal
idea. God’s onslaught of rhetorical questions to Job, asking if Job can perform the same
things he can do, overwhelms both Job and the reader with the sense of God’s extensive
power as well as his pride. Sarcasm is also a frequent rhetorical tool for Job and his
81
friends in their conversation. After Bildad lectures Job about human wisdom, Job
sneers, “How you have helped one / who has no power! / How you have assisted the
arm / that has no strength!” (26:2). Job is saying that he already knows what Bildad has
just explained about wisdom. The self-deprecating tone and sarcastic response are rare
elements in ancient verse. Such irony not only heightens the playfulness of the text but
suggests the characters are actively responding to each other, thus connecting their
seemingly disparate speeches together. The poetry in Job is a true dialogue, for the
characters develop ideas and unique personalities throughout the course of their
responses.
CHARACTER LIST
God - The creator of the world and an all-powerful being. God calls himself the only
true deity worthy of human worship. As the figurehead of Israel and the force behind
every event, God acts as the unseen hero of the Old Testament. God reveals his
intentions by speaking to people. Physical manifestations of God are always indirect or
symbolic. God appears in many different forms, including an angel, a wrestler, a burst
of fire, and a quiet whisper.
Abraham - The patriarch of the Hebrew people. Abraham is traditionally called

“Father Abraham” because the Israelite people and their religion descend from him.
God establishes his covenant, or promise, with Abraham, and God develops an ongoing
relationship with the Israelites through
Abraham’s descendants. Abraham practices the monotheistic worship of God, and his
resilient faith in God, despite many challenges, sets the pattern for the Israelite
religion’s view of righteousness.
Moses - The reluctant savior of Israel in its exodus from Egyptian bondage to the
promised land. Moses mediates between God and the people, transforming the Israelites
from an oppressed ethnic group into a nation founded on religious laws. Moses’s
legendary miracles before Pharaoh, along with his doubts and insecurities, make him
82
the great mortal hero of the Old Testament. He is the only man ever to know God “face
to face.” Four out of the five books of the Pentateuch are devoted to Moses and Israel’s
activities under his leadership.
David - The king of Israel and the founder of Jerusalem, or “Zion.” David’s reign marks
the high point of Israel in the biblical narrative. Although David’s claim to the throne
is threatened by Saul and by David’s own son, Absalom, David maintains his power by
blending shrewd political maneuvering with a magnanimous and forgiving treatment of
his enemies. David’s decision to bring the Ark of the Covenant—Israel’s symbol of
God—to the capital of Jerusalem signals the long-awaited unification of the religious
and political life of Israel in the promised land.
Jacob - The grandson of Abraham, Jacob is the third patriarch of the Israelite people
and the father of the twelve sons who form the tribes of Israel. Jacob experiences a life
fraught with deception, bewilderment, and change. He steals his brother Esau’s
inheritance right and wrestles with God on the banks of the Jabbok River.
Appropriately, the nation that springs from Jacob’s children derives its name from
Jacob’s Godgiven name, “Israel.” “Israel” means “struggles with God,” and Jacob’s
struggles are emblematic of the tumultuous story of the nation of Israel.
Joseph - Jacob’s son and the head official for the Pharaoh of Egypt. Despite being sold
into slavery by his brothers, Joseph rises to power in Egypt and saves his family from
famine. Joseph’s calm and gracious response to his brothers’ betrayal introduces the
pattern of forgiveness and redemption that characterizes the survival of the Israelite
people throughout the Old Testament.
Saul - Israel’s first king. After God chooses Saul to be king, Saul loses his divine right
to rule Israel by committing two religious errors. Saul acts as a character foil to David,
because his plot to murder
David only highlights David’s mercy to Saul in return. Saul’s inner turmoil over the
inscrutability of God’s exacting standards makes him a sympathetic but tragic figure.
Solomon - David’s son and the third king of Israel. Solomon builds the opulent Temple
in Jerusalem and ushers in Israel’s greatest period of wealth and power. God grants
83
Solomon immense powers of knowledge and discernment in response to Solomon’s
humble request for wisdom.
Solomon’s earthly success hinders his moral living, however, and his weakness for
foreign women and their deities leads to Israel’s downfall.
Elijah & Elisha - The prophets who oppose the worship of the god Baal in Israel. After
the division of Israel into two kingdoms, Elijah and his successor, Elisha, represent the
last great spiritual heroes before Israel’s exile. Their campaign in northern Israel against
King Ahab and Jezebel helps to lessen Israel’s growing evil but does not restore Israel’s
greatness. Israel’s demise makes Elijah and Elisha frustrated doomsayers and miracle
workers rather than national leaders or saviors.
Adam & Eve - The first man and woman created by God. Adam and Eve introduce
human evil into the world when they eat the fruit of a tree God has forbidden them to
touch.
Noah - The survivor of God’s great flood. Noah obediently builds the large ark, or
boat, that saves the human race and the animal kingdom from destruction. Noah is the
precursor to Abraham, because Noah represents the first instance of God’s attempt to
form a covenant with humanity through one person.
Isaac - Abraham’s son and the second member in the triumvirate of Israel’s patriarchs.
Isaac’s importance consists less in his actions than in the way he is acted upon by others.
God tests
Abraham by commanding him to kill his son Isaac, and Isaac’s blindness and senility
allow his own son Jacob to steal Isaac’s blessing and the inheritance of God’s covenant.
Aaron - Moses’s brother, who assists Moses in leading the Israelites out of Egypt. God
designates Aaron to be the first high priest in Israel. The quiet Aaron often stands
between Moses and the people to soften Moses’s angry response to their sinful behavior.
Joshua - The successor of Moses as Israel’s leader. Joshua directs the people in their
sweeping military campaign to conquer and settle the Promised Land. Joshua’s
persistent exhortations to Israel to remain obedient to God imply that he doubts Israel
will do so. His exhortations foreshadow Israel’s future religious struggles.
84
Samson - One of Israel’s judges and an epic hero who thwarts the neighboring
Philistines with his superhuman strength. Samson is rash, belligerent, and driven by lust
for foreign women—qualities that contradict Jewish religious ideals. Samson’s long
hair is both the source of his strength and the symbol of his religious devotion to God
as a Nazirite. Samson’s character demonstrates that in the bible, heroic potential is
gauged not by human excellence but by faith in God.
Samuel - The last of Israel’s judges and the prophet who anoints both Saul and David
as king.
Samuel fulfills political and priestly duties for Israel, but he ushers in Israel’s monarchy
mainly as a prophet—one who pronounces God’s words and decisions. Samuel’s stoic
and aloof position in Israel allows Saul to struggle with God and his fate on his own.
Absalom - David’s son, who attempts to overthrow his father’s throne. Absalom’s
violent rise to power suggests that the evil that corrupts Israel comes from within.
Joab - King David’s loyal military commander. Joab serves as a foil to David’s
successful combination of religion and politics. Joab’s reasonable desire to see justice
and retribution delivered to the kingdom’s traitors emphasizes the unusual quality of
David’s kindness to his enemies.
Rehoboam & Jeroboam - The opposing kings who divide Israel into the northern
kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Rehoboam and Jeroboam
introduce rampant worship of idols and false gods into their kingdoms. Each king acts
both as a point of contrast and a double, or mirror, for the other, allowing the biblical
reader to trace the rapid growth of evil in Israel’s two kingdoms.
Ahab & Jezebel - The most wicked rulers of Israel. Ahab and Jezebel spread cult
worship of the pagan god Baal throughout the northern kingdom. Dogs gather to eat
their blood at their deaths, fulfilling Elijah’s prophecy.
Esther - A timid Jewish girl who becomes the queen of Persia. Esther boldly and
cunningly persuades the king of Persia to remove his edict calling for the death of the
exiled Jews.
85
Job - The subject of God and Satan’s cosmic experiment to measure human faithfulness
to God in the midst of immense pain. Job scorns false contrition and the advice of his
friends, preferring instead to question God’s role in human suffering. He retains an open
and inquisitive mind, remaining faithful in his refusal to curse God.
DOCTOR FAUSTUS (MARLOWE) SUMMARY
Doctor Faustus, a talented German scholar at Wittenburg, rails against the limits
of human knowledge. He has learned everything he can learn, or so he thinks, from the
conventional academic disciplines. All of these things have left him unsatisfied, so now
he turns to magic. A Good Angle and an Evil Angel arrive, representing Faustus' choice
between Christian conscience and the path to damnation. The former advises him to
leave off this pursuit of magic, and the latter tempts him. From two fellow scholars,
Valdes and Cornelius, Faustus learns the fundamentals of the black arts. He thrills at
the power he will have, and the great feats he'll perform. He summons the devil
Mephostophilis. They flesh out the terms of their agreement, with Mephostophilis
representing Lucifer. Faustus will sell his soul, in exchange for twenty-four years of
power, with Mephostophilis as servant to his every whim.
In a comic relief scene, we learn that Faustus' servant Wagner has gleaned some magic
learning. He uses it to convince Robin the Clown to be his servant.
Before the time comes to sign the contract, Faustus has misgivings, but he puts them
aside. Mephostophilis returns, and Faustus signs away his soul, writing with his own
blood. The words "Homo fuge" ("Fly, man) appear on his arm, and Faustus is seized by
fear. Mephostophilis distracts him with a dance of devils. Faustus requests a wife, a
demand Mephostophilis denies, but he does give Faustus books full of knowledge.
Some time has passed. Faustus curses Mephostophilis for depriving him of heaven,
although he has seen many wonders. He manages to torment Mephostophilis, he can't
stomach mention of God, and the devil flees. The Good Angel and Evil Angel arrive
again. The Good Angel tells him to repent, and the Evil Angel tells him to stick to his
wicked ways. Lucifer, Belzebub, and Mephostophilis return, to intimidate Faustus. He
is cowed by them, and agrees to speak and think no more of God. They delight him with
86
a pageant of the Seven Deadly Sins, and then Lucifer promises to show Faustus hell.
Meanwhile, Robin the Clown has gotten one of Faustus' magic books.
Faustus has explored the heavens and the earth from a chariot drawn by dragons, and is
now flying to Rome, where the feast honoring St. Peter is about to be celebrated.
Mephostophilis and Faustus wait for the Pope, depicted as an arrogant, decidedly
unholy man. They play a series of tricks, by using magic to disguise themselves and
make themselves invisible, before leaving.
The Chorus returns to tell us that Faustus returns home, where his vast knowledge of
astronomy and his abilities earn him wide renown. Meanwhile, Robin the Clown has
also learned magic, and uses it to impress his friend Rafe and summon Mephostophilis,
who doesn't seem too happy to be called.
At the court of Charles V, Faustus performs illusions that delight the Emperor. He also
humiliates a knight named Benvolio. When Benvolio and his friends try to avenge the
humiliation, Faustus has his devils hurt them and cruelly transform them, so that horns
grow on their heads.
Faustus swindles a Horse-courser, and when the Horse-courser returns, Faustus plays a
frightening trick on him. Faustus then goes off to serve the Duke of Vanholt. Robin the
Clown, his friend Dick, the Horse-courser, and a Carter all meet. They all have been
swindled or hurt by Faustus' magic. They go off to the court of the Duke to settle scores
with Faustus.
Faustus entertains the Duke and Duchess with petty illusions, before Robin the Clown
and his band of ruffians arrives. Faustus toys with them, besting them with magic, to
the delight of the Duke and Duchess. Faustus' twentyfour years are running out.
Wagner tells the audience that he thinks Faustus prepares for death. He has made his
will, leaving all to Wagner. But even as death approaches, Faustus spends his days
feasting and drinking with the other students. For the delight of his fellow scholars,
Faustus summons a spirit to take the shape of Helen of Troy. Later, an Old Man enters,
warning Faustus to repent. Faustus opts for pleasure instead, and asks Mephostophilis
to bring Helen of Troy to him, to be his love and comfort during these last days.
Mephostophilis readily agrees.
87
Later, Faustus tells his scholar friends that he is damned, and that his power came at the
price of his soul. Concerned, the Scholars exit, leaving Faustus to meet his fate.
As the hour approaches, Mephostophilis taunts Faustus. Faustus blames Mephostophilis

for his damnation, and the devil proudly takes credit for it. The Good and Evil Angel
arrive, and the Good Angel abandons Faustus. The gates of Hell open. The Evil Angel
taunts Faustus, naming the horrible tortures seen there.
The Clock strikes eleven. Faustus gives a final, frenzied monologue, regretting his
choices. At midnight the devils enter. As Faustus begs God and the devil for mercy, the
devils drag him away. Later, the Scholar friends find Faustus' body, torn to pieces.
Epilogue. The Chorus emphasizes that Faustus is gone, his once-great potential wasted.
The Chorus warns the audience to remember his fall, and the lessons it offers.
ABOUT DOCTOR FAUSTUS (MARLOWE)
Marlowe lived in a time of great transformation for Western Europe. New

advances in science were overturning ancient ideas about astronomy and physics. The
discovery of the Americas had transformed the European conception of the world.
Increasingly available translations of classical texts were a powerful influence on
English literature and art. Christian and pagan worldviews interacted with each other in
rich and often paradoxical ways, and signs of that complicated interaction are present
in many of Marlowe's works. England, having endured centuries of civil war, was in
the middle of a long period of stability and peace.
Not least of the great changes of Marlowe's time was England's dramatic rise to world
power. When Queen Elizabeth came to power in 1558, six years before Marlowe's birth,
England was a weak and unstable nation. Torn by internal strife between Catholics and
Protestants, an economy in tatters, and unstable leadership, England was vulnerable to
invasion by her stronger rivals on the continent. By the time of Elizabeth's death in
1603, she had turned the weakling of Western Europe into a power of the first rank,
poised to become the mightiest nation in the world. When the young Marlowe came to
London looking to make a life in the theatre, England's capitol was an important center
88
of trade, learning, and art. As time passed, the city's financial, intellectual, and artistic
importance became still greater, as London continued its transformation from
unremarkable center of a backwater nation to one of the world's most exciting
metropolises. Drama was entering a golden age, to be crowned by the glory of
Shakespeare. Marlowe was a great innovator of blank verse, unrhymed lines of iambic
pentameter. The richness of his dramatic verse anticipates Shakespeare, and some argue
that Shakespeare's achievements owed considerable debt to Marlowe's influence.
Like the earlier play, Tamburlaine, Doctor Faustus is a play of deep questions
concerning morality, religion, and man's relationship to both. England was a Protestant
country since the time of Queen Elizabeth I's father, Henry VIII. Although theological
and doctrinal differences existed between the Church of England and the Roman
Catholic Church, the former still inherited a wealth of culture, thought and tradition
from the latter. Christianity was a mix of divergent and often contradictory influences,
including the religious traditions of the Near East, the heritage of classical Greco-
Roman thought and institutions, mystery religions, and north European superstition and
magic.
Sorcery and magic were part of widespread belief systems throughout Europe that
predated Christianity. These early beliefs about magic were inextricable from folk
medicine. Women in particular used a mix of magic and herbal medicine to treat
common illnesses. But as Christianity spread and either assimilated or rejected other
belief systems, practitioners of magic came to be viewed as evil. In the fifth century
CE, St. Augustine, perhaps the most influential Christian thinker after St. Paul,
pronounced all sorcery to be the work of evil spirits, to distinguish it from the good
"magic" of Christian ritual and sacrament. The view of the sorcerer changed
irrevocably. Magic was devil-worship, outside the framework of Church practice and
belief, and those who practiced it were excommunicated and killed.
The Protestant Reformation did not include reform of this oppressive and violent
practice. Yet magic continued to keep a hold on people's imaginations, and benign and
ambiguous views of magic continued to exist in popular folklore. The conceptions of
scholarship further complicated the picture, especially after the Renaissance. Scholars
89
took into their studies subjects not considered scientific by today's standards: astrology,
alchemy, and demonology. Some of these subjects blurred the lines between acceptable
pursuit of knowledge and dangerous heresy.
As this new Christian folklore of sorcery evolved, certain motifs rose to prominence.
Once Christ was rejected, a sorcerer could give his soul to the devil instead, receiving
in exchange powers in this life, here and now. Numerous Christian stories feature such
bargains, and one of the most famous evolved around the historical person Johanned
Faustus, a German astrologer of the early sixteenth century. Marlowe took his plot from
an earlier German play about Faustus, but he transformed an old story into a
powerhouse of a work, one that has drawn widely different interpretations since its first
production. Marlowe's Doctor Faustus is first great version of the story, although not
the last. In the nineteenth century, the great German writer Johann Wolfgang van
Goethe gave the story its greatest incarnation in Faust. Faustus' name has become part
of our language. "Faustian bargain" has come to mean a deal made for earthly gain at a
high ethical and spiritual cost, or alternately any choice with short-lived benefits and a
hell of a price.
The chronology of Marlowe's plays is uncertain. Doctor Faustus's composition may

have immediately followed Tamburlaine, or may not have come until 1592.
Two versions of the play were printed, neither during Marlowe's life. The 1604 version
is shorter (1517 lines), and until the twentieth century was considered the authoritative
text. The 1616 version is longer (2121 lines), but the additions were traditionally
thought to have been written by other playwrights. Twentieth century scholarship
argues that the B text (of 1616) is in fact closer to the original, though possibly with
some censorship. The Penguin Books edition used for this study guide uses the longer
B text as the basis while incorporating sections of A that are recognizably superior.
CHARACTER LIST
Faustus Himself
He sells his soul to the devil
90
Faustus
A brilliant man, who seems to have reached the limits of natural knowledge. Faustus
is a scholar of the early sixteenth century in the German city of Wittenburg. He is
arrogant, fiery, and possesses a thirst for knowledge. Faustus is the absolute center of
the play, which has few truly developed characters.
Mephostophilis
From the Hebrew, mephitz, destroyer, and tophel, liar. A devil of craft and cunning.
He is the devil who comes at Faustus' summoning, and the devil who serves Faustus
for 24 years.
In lore, Mephostophilis (also spelled Mephistopheles, or Miphostophiles, and also
called Mephisto) seems to be a relative latecomer in the recognized hierarchy of
demons. He possibly was created for the Faustus legend.
Wagner
Servant to Faustus. He steals Faustus' books and learns how to summon demons. At the
end of the play, he seems concerned about his master's fate.
Good Angel and Evil Angel
Personifications of Faustus' inner turmoil, who give differing advice to him at key
points. Their characters also reflect Christian belief that humans are assigned guardian
angels, and that devils can influence human thoughts.
Valdes
Friend to Faustus, who teaches him the dark arts. He appears only in Act One.
Cornelius
Friend to Faustus, who teaches him the dark arts. He appears only in Act One.
Lucifer
91
Satan. "Lucifer" original meant Venus, referring to the planet's brilliance. In Christian
lore, Lucifer is sometimes thought to be another name of Satan. Some traditions say
that Lucifer was Satan's name before the fall, while the Fathers of the Catholic Church
held that Lucifer was not Satan's proper name but a word showing the brilliance and
beauty of his station before the fall. He appears at a few choice moments in Doctor
Faustus, and Marlowe uses "Lucifer" as Satan's proper name.
Belzebub
One of Lucifer's officers. A powerful demon.
The Seven Deadly Sins
Personifications of the Seven Deadly Sins, not acts but impulses or motivations that
lead men to sinful actions. They array themselves in a pageant before Faustus, although
scholars think now that this section was not written by Marlowe.
Clown / Robin
Robin learns demon summoning by stealing one of Faustus' books. He is the chief
character in a number of scenes that provide comic relief from the main story.
Dick
A friend of Robin's. He is one of the characters peopling the few comic relief scenes.
Rafe
A horse ostler, or groomer, and friend to Robin. With the Clown, he summons
Mephostophilis, who is none too pleased to be called.
Vintner
A wine merchant or a wine maker. This Vintner chases down Robin and Rafe after they
steal a silver goblet from him.
Carter
A man who meets Faustus while carting hay to town. Faustus swindles him. Horse-
Courser
A man who buys Faustus' horse. Faustus swindles him.
92
Hostess
An ale wench. She treats Robin and his friends kindly.
The Pope
Yeah, that Pope. In a move that would have pleases his Protestant audience, Marlowe
depicts him as cruel, power-mad, and far from holy. Faustus plays some cheap tricks
on him.
Bruno
A man who would be Pope, selected by the German emperor and representing the
conflicts between Church and state authority.
Raymond
King of Hungary. He serves the Pope.
Charles
The German Emperor. Faustus performs at his court.
Martino
Knight in the court of the German Emperor. Friend to Benvolio and Frederick. When
Benvolio seeks revenge against Faustus, Martino decides to help out of loyalty.
Frederick
Knight in the court of the German Emperor. Friend to Martino and Benvolio. When
Benvolio seeks revenge against Faustus, Frederick decides to help out of loyalty.
Benvolio
Knight in the court of the German Emperor. Friend to Martino and Frederick. When
Faustus humiliates him, he seeks revenge.
Saxony
A man attending at the court of the German Emperor.
Duke of Vanholt
A nobleman. Faustus performs illusions at his court.

93
Duchess of Vanholt
A noblewoman. Faustus fetches her grapes in January.
SPANISH TRAGEDY-THOMAS KYD
The Spanish Tragedy begins with the ghost of Don Andrea, a Spanish nobleman
killed in a recent battle with Portugal. Accompanied by the spirit of Revenge, he tells
the story of his death; he was killed in handto-hand combat with the Portuguese prince
Balthazar, after falling in love with the beautiful Bel-Imperia and having a secret affair
with her. When he faces the judges who are supposed to assign him to his place in the
underworld, they are unable to reach a decision and instead send him to the palace of
Pluto and Proserpine, King and Queen of the Underworld. Proserpine decides that
Revenge should accompany him back to the world of the living, and, after passing
through the gates of horn, this is where he finds himself. The spirit of Revenge promises
that by the play's end, Don Andrea will see his revenge.
Andrea returns to the scene of the battle where he died, to find that the Spanish
have won. Balthazar was taken prisoner shortly after Andrea's death, by the Andrea's
good friend Horatio, son of Hieronimo, the Knight Marshal of Spain. But a dispute
ensues between Horatio and Lorenzo, the son of the Duke of Castile and brother of Bel-
Imperia, as to who actually captured the prince. The King of Spain decides to
compromise between the two, letting Horatio have the ransom money to be paid for
Balthazar and Lorenzo keep the captured prince at his home. Back in Portugal,
the Viceroy (ruler) is mad with grief, for he believes his son to be dead, and is tricked
by Villuppo into arresting an innocent noble, Alexandro, for Balthazar's murder.
Diplomatic negotiations then begin between the Portuguese ambassador and the
Spanish King, to ensure Balthazar's return and a lasting peace between Spain and
Portugal.
Upon being taken back to Spain, Balthazar soon falls in love with BelImperia
himself. But, as her servant Pedringano reveals to him, BelImperia is in love with
94
Horatio, who returns her affections. The slight against him, which is somewhat
intentional on Bel-Imperia's part, enrages Balthazar. Horatio also incurs the hatred of
Lorenzo, because of the fight over Balthazar's capture and the fact that the lowerborn
Horatio (the son of a civil servant) now consorts with Lorenzo's sister. So the two nobles
decide to kill Horatio, which they successfully do with the aid of Pedringano and
Balthazar's servant Serberine, during an evening rendevous between the two lovers.
Bel-Imperia is then taken away before
Hieronimo stumbles on to the scene to discover his dead son. He is soon joined
in uncontrollable grief by his wife, Isabella.
In Portugal, Alexandro escapes death when the Portuguese ambassador returns

from Spain with news that Balthazar still lives; Villuppo is then sentenced to death. In
Spain, Hieronimo is almost driven insane by his inability to find justice for his son.
Hieronimo receives a bloody letter in Bel-Imperia's hand, identifying the murderers as
Lorenzo and Balthazar, but he is uncertain whether or not to believe it. While Hieronimo
is racked with grief, Lorenzo grows worried by Hieronimo's erratic behavior and acts
in a Machiavellian manner to eliminate all evidence surrounding his crime. He tells
Pedringano to kill Serberine for gold but arranges it so that Pedringano is immediately
arrested after the crime. He then leads Pedringano to believe that a pardon for his crime
is hidden in a box brought to the execution by a messenger boy, a belief that prevents
Pedringano from exposing Lorenzo before he is hanged. Negotiations continue between
Spain and Portugal, now centering on a diplomatic marriage between
Balthazar and Bel-Imperia to unite the royal lines of the two countries. Ironically,
a letter is found on Pedringano's body that confirms Hieronimo's suspicion over
Lorenzo and Balthazar, but Lorenzo is able to deny Hieronimo access to the king, thus
making royal justice unavailable to the distressed father. Hieronimo then vows to
revenge himself privately on the two killers, using deception and a false show of
friendship to keep Lorenzo off his guard.
The marriage between Bel-Imperia and Balthazar is set, and the Viceroy travels
to Spain to attend the ceremony. Hieronimo is given responsibility over the
entertainment for the marriage ceremony, and he uses it to exact his revenge. He devises
95
a play, a tragedy, to be performed at the ceremonies, and convinces Lorenzo and
Balthazar to act in it. BelImperia, by now a confederate in Hieronimo's plot for revenge,
also acts in the play. Just before the play is acted, Isabella, insane with grief, kills
herself.
The plot of the tragedy mirrors the plot of the play as a whole (a sultan is driven
to murder a noble friend through jealousy over a woman). Hieronimo casts himself in
the role of the hired murderer. During the action of the play, Hieronimo's character stabs
Lorenzo's character and Bel-Imperia's character stabs Balthazar's character, before
killing herself. But after the play is over, Hieronimo reveals to the horrified wedding
guests (while standing over the corpse of his own son) that all the stabbings in the play
were done with real knives, and that Lorenzo, Balthazar, and Bel-Imperia are now all
dead. He then tries to kill himself, but the King and Viceroy and Duke of Castile stop
him. In order to keep himself from talking, he bites out his own tongue. Tricking the
Duke into giving him a knife, he then stabs the Duke and himself and then dies.
Revenge and Andrea then have the final words of the play. Andrea assigns each
of the play's "good" characters (Hieronimo, Bel-Imperia, Horatio, and Isabella) to
happy eternities. The rest of the characters are assigned to the various tortures and
punishments of Hell.
THOMAS KYD: A SHORT BIOGRAPHY AND TIMELINE

Thomas Kyd was born in the autumn of 1558; he was baptized on November 6
in the church of St. Mary Woolnoth in London. His parents were Francis Kyd and Anna
Kyd; his father was a member of the Company of Scriveners of London. Scriveners
were responsible for a range of secretarial and administrative duties, including the
maintenance of business, judicial, and historical records for members of the nobility
and governmental bodies. At about age six, Thomas was enrolled in the Merchant
Taylors’ School of London, where he received an education that included Latin, Greek,
music, drama, physical education, and etiquette. A grammar school education such as
this was much more rigorous than the equivalent today, and students would proceed to
96
further education at Cambridge or Oxford or to an apprenticeship in a professional
guild. Kyd, like his colleague Shakespeare, did not attend University. He may have
pursued a career as a scrivener for some years. Sometime in the 1580s, Kyd served a
member of the nobility (possibly as a secretary) and also began writing plays; his patron
may also have sponsored a group of players.
Those who have been mentioned as probable candidates for this patron are the
Earl of Sussex, Lord Strange, and the Earl of Pembroke. Critic and biographer Park
Honan considers Lord Strange the most likely candidate. In late 1590 or early 1591,
Kyd and Christopher Marlowe shared a writing room, and apparently wrote for the same
company. Though Marlowe and Kyd both wrote plays, from what we know about them,
it’s probable that their personal opinions were radically different, the most glaring being
Marlowe’s atheism as opposed to Kyd more conventional religious beliefs. This writing
fellowship led to disaster when both men became involved in a political controversy
about the libel of foreigners in 1593; Kyd was arrested in May of that year and probably
tortured; the ostensibly atheistical writings that were found in his lodgings he
proclaimed as something left by Marlowe, whose company he had since left. Kyd’s
self-defense is contained in two letters of appeal written to Sir John Puckering after
Marlowe’s death (May 30, 1593).
Though he had been cleared of any charges, he also hoped to be reinstated with
his patron; in this latter endeavor he was not successful. In 1594 he completed his final
work, Cornelia, a translation of Cornélie, a tragedy by French dramatist Robert Garnier.
He dedicated this to the Countess of
Sussex, and in his dedication refers to his recent “afflictions of the mind,” “bitter
times,” and “broken passions.” He died in that year and was buried on August 15, age
35. The Spanish Tragedy is the only original play by Kyd of which we have definite
evidence and it continued to be popular after his death. In 1602, some additions were
made to the text that extend the portrait of its hero Hieronimo. A long-standing literary
tradition also credits Kyd with a lost predecessor to Shakespeare’s version of Hamlet.
The impact of The Spanish Tragedy is also clear from the additional revenge tragedies
written and performed in the late 15th and early 16th centuries.
97
THE SPANISH TRAGEDY: A SYNOPSIS
Andrea, a Spanish courtier, is killed in battle by Balthazar, Prince of Portugal.
During his lifetime Andrea was lover of Bel-Imperia, daughter of the Duke of Castile
and niece of the King of Spain. When Andrea’s ghost appears before the judges of the
underworld to be assigned its proper place in the world of shadows, the judges cannot
agree, and send him on to their rulers, Pluto and Prosperine, who permit the ghost,
accompanied by the spirit of Revenge, to return to earth to see vengeance executed on
his slayer. Balthazar, Andrea’s slayer, becomes the shared prisoner of Lorenzo, Bel-
Imperia’s brother, and Horatio, son of Hieronimo, the marshall of Spain (a Knight
Marshall serves as a judge, who hears and determines all pleas of the crown; Kyd
transferred this traditional English position to Spain). The King awards the ransom to
Horatio and the custody of the royal prisoner to Lorenzo. In the Duke’s
household, Balthazar falls in love with Bel-Imperia, and the King conceives the idea
that a marriage between these two would unite the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal
more firmly than a dozen wars.
Bel-Imperia, however, has secretly taken Horatio for her lover because he was Andrea’s
friend, defeated Balthazar in battle, and gave Andrea's body burial rites. Lorenzo, who
considers Horatio an inappropriate suitor for his sister because of his lower rank, is keen
to forward Balthazar’s suit, and bribes Bel-Imperia’s servant Pedringano to reveal the
details of her meeting with Horatio. Lorenzo and Balthazar with Pedringano and
Serberine, another servant, arrive at the lovers’ rendezvous, hang Horatio, and imprison
Bel-Imperia so that she cannot spread the truth. Hieronimo apparently goes mad when
he finds his son's body; yet he knows he must seek justice for his dead son. As a judicial
official, his initial plan is to seek that justice from the King. Lorenzo pays Pedringano
to kill Serberine, and then permits Pedringano to be hanged for the crime; by eliminating
these witnesses, he persuades himself that the crime will remain unsolved. But a letter
recounting the details of the slaying is found on Pedringano’s body and brought to
Hieronimo.
98
When, after many persuasive speeches, Bel-Imperia is released for the royal
betrothal ceremonies, Hieronimo manages to meet with her long enough to plan their
double revenge. He arranges a play for the entertainment of the royal guests with
Lorenzo, Balthazar, Bel-Imperia, and himself as actors. During the course of the
performance Hieronimo fatally stabs Lorenzo and Bel-Imperia kills Balthazar and
herself. Before he attempts to hang himself, Hieronimo explains to his audience that the
deeds of blood are real, not sham, and the reason for them. The party rushes down from
the royal box to prevent his self-destruction before they can learn the names of his
fellow conspirators. During the confusion Hieronimo finds an opportunity to stab both
the Duke of Castile and himself. Revenge and Andrea have achieved their goals.
THE ALCHEMIST (JONSON) SUMMARY
Lovewit has left for his hop-yards in London, and he has left Jeremy, his butler,
in charge of his house in Blackfriars. Jeremy, whose name in the play is Face, lives in
the house with Subtle, a supposed alchemist, and Dol Common, a prostitute. The three
run a major con operation.
The play opens with an argument that continues throughout the play between
Subtle and Face. It concerns which of them is the most essential to the business of the
con, each claiming his own supremacy. Dol quells this argument and forces the conmen
to shake hands. The bell rings, and Dapper, a legal clerk, enters, the first gull of the day.
Face takes on the role of “Captain Face”, and Subtle plays the “Doctor.”
Dapper wants a spirit that will allow him to win at gambling. Subtle promises
one and then tells him he is related to the Queen of the Fairies. Dispatched to get a clean
shirt and wash himself, Dapper leaves, immediately replaced by Drugger, a young
tobacconist who wants to know how he should arrange his shop. Subtle tells him, and
Face gets him to return later with tobacco and a damask. Their argument looks set to
resume when Dol returns to warn them that Sir Epicure Mammon is approaching.
Sir Epicure Mammon and his cynical sidekick, Sir Pertinax Surly, are next
through the door. Mammon is terrifically excited because Subtle has promised to make
99
him the Philosopher’s Stone, about which Mammon is already fantasizing. Face
changes character into “Lungs” or “Ulen Spiegel,” the Doctor’s laboratory assistant,
and the two conmen impress Mammon and irritate Surly with a whirl of scientific
language. Face arranges for “Captain Face” to meet Surly in half an hour at the Temple
Church, and a sudden entrance from Dol provokes Mammon, instantly besotted, into
begging Face for a meeting with her.
Ananias, an Anabaptist, enters and is greeted with fury by Subtle. Ananias then
returns with his pastor, Tribulation. The Anabaptists want the Philosopher’s Stone in
order to make money in order to win more people to their religion. Subtle, adopting a
slightly different persona, plays along. Kastrill is the next new gull, brought by Drugger,
who has come to learn how to quarrel—and to case the joint to see if it is fit for his rich,
widowed sister, Dame Pliant. Face immediately impresses young Kastrill, and he exits
with Drugger to fetch his sister.
Dapper, in the meantime, is treated to a fairy rite in which Subtle and Face
(accompanied by Dol on cithern) steal most of his possessions. When Mammon arrives
at the door, they gag him and bundle him into the privy. Mammon and Dol (pretending
to be a “great lady”) have a conversation which ends with them being bundled together
into the garden or upstairs—Face is pretending that Subtle cannot know about
Mammon’s attraction to Dol.
The widow is brought into the play, as is a Spanish Don who Face met when
Surly did not turn up. This Spaniard is in fact Surly in disguise, and the two conmen
flicker between arguing about who will marry the widow and mocking the Spaniard by
speaking loudly in English of how they will “cozen” or deceive him. Because Dol is
occupied with Mammon, the conmen agree to have the Spaniard marry the widow, and
the widow is carried out by Surly.
In the meantime, Dol has gone into a fit of talking, being caught with a panicked
Mammon by a furious “Father” Subtle. Because there has been lust in the house, a huge
explosion happens offstage, which Face comes in to report has destroyed the furnace
and all the alchemical apparatus. Mammon is quickly packed out the door, completely
destroyed by the loss his entire investment.
100
Things start to spiral out of control, and the gulls turn up without warning. At one point,
nearly all the gulls, including an unmasked Surly, are in the room, and Face only just
manages to improvise his way out of it. Dol then reports that Lovewit has arrived, and
suddenly Face has to make a final change into “Jeremy the Butler.”
Lovewit is mobbed by the neighbors and the gulls at the door, and Face admits
to Lovewit, when forced to do so by Dapper’s voice emerging from the privy, that all
is not as it seems—and has him marry the widow.
After Dapper’s quick dispatch, Face undercuts Dol and Subtle and, as the gulls
return with officers and a search warrant, Dol and Subtle are forced to escape, penniless,
over the back wall. The gulls storm the house, find nothing themselves, and are forced
to leave empty-handed. Lovewit leaves with Kastrill and his new wife, Dame Pliant.
Face is left alone on stage with a financial reward, delivering the epilogue.
ABOUT THE ALCHEMIST (JONSON)
The Alchemist is one of Ben Jonson's four great comedies. The earliest recorded
performance of the play occurred in Oxford in 1610. It was also entered into the
Stationers' Register in this year, though it might have been written and performed earlier
than this date. Critics talk of the play as being written and performed in 1610. It was
first printed in quarto in 1612, and it was included in the folio of Jonson's works in
1616.
A second folio edition of Jonson's works came out in 1640. This version included
some emendations, many of which had to do with the tightening of regulations about
uttering religious material on the stage. "God's will" (1612), for example, became
"Death on me" (1640). Jonson's meticulous preparation of his own folio version was
unusual, but it gives us greater confidence in the actual text of the play (no similar
source history for Shakespeare, for instance, survives). Thus we have a stronger
opportunity for insight into the playwright’s sense of humor on the page and on the
stage. For example, we infer that it was Jonson who had all the German and Dutch in
the play ("Ulen Spiegel," for example) set in black-letter type.
101
To Jonson's audiences, The Alchemist would have been a modern play, set in
Blackfriars in his own day—a town where there also was a famous theatre in which
Shakespeare's late plays were performed.
The Folio edition lists as its principal comedians the actors of the King's men,
many of whom were also the stars of Shakespeare's comedies. We know that Burbage,
Heminges, Condell, and Armin, all lead actors in Shakespeare's company, were also in
The Alchemist, and contextual evidence suggests that the Globe company had begun to
use Blackfriars (an indoor theatre) as a winter alternative to the Globe (an outdoor
theatre) in 1609.
The play is extensively informed by Jonson's wide-ranging learning and reading.

It abounds with quotes from other plays and the Old Testament. Dol's "fit of talking" is
itself an extensive quotation from A Concent of Scripture by Hugh Broughton. There
are also quotations and references to a myriad of other works, such as Kyd's The Spanish
Tragedy, whose lead character Hieronymo is also winkingly referenced. (Hieronymo is
a part, some evidence suggests, that Jonson himself might have played.) There is so
much unusual or archaic language, especially in the alchemism scenes, that it could ruin
one's enjoyment of the play by repeatedly returning to a glossary--part of the point is to
be bowled over by the strange diction of the alchemist.
The play can seem fantastical to a modern audience, and it is often read as a
cynical play that argues that even the most obvious illusions are believed by stupid
people. Yet there is evidence to suggest that people in Jonson's time really were taken
by cons such as that in the play. One man, Goodwin Wharton, was tricked at length into
believing he was to be visited by the Fairy Queen some seventy years after the play was
published and performed. See the excellent biography of Wharton, a real-life case of
Alchemy-conmanship, in the citations for this ClassicNote.
As Jonson has risen to greater prominence, The Alchemist has shaken its
reputation as being densely Elizabethan and unfunny, and critics have bolstered its rise
into being known as one of the key texts of the Renaissance. Coleridge thought it, along
with Oedipus Rex / Oedipus the King and Tom Jones, one of the three "most perfect
102
plots ever planned." Note, though, that the play's plot is linear, with the stories of the
seven gulls cleverly intersected to keep tension at the maximum.
Kenneth Tynan thought it a "good episodic play ... bead after bead, the episodes
click together upon the connecting string, which is chicanery and chiselry." F. H. Mares
led many modern commentators by beginning his essay with the observation that "All
through the play there is a disparity between what people are and what they say they
are." Such readings have culminated with Anne Barton's excellent chapter in Ben
Jonson: Dramatist, which pronounces it "a play about transformation, as it affects not
metals, but human beings."
Without doubt, The Alchemist has been restored to prominence since Victorian
times. Often in the company of Jonson's other "great comedy," Volpone, it is analyzed
with regard to Jonson's cynical and darkly comic views of London in 1610, legality
(since justice in Jonson's plays is always an important question), belief, faith, and the
sort of people who believe that they will one day secure infinite wealth.
CHARACTER LIST
Subtle
The "Alchemist" of the play's title. We never learn whether "Subtle" is a
forename or a surname (or the only name). Meaning "crafty" or "clever" in Elizabethan
English, it is an appropriate choice. Subtle is grumpy, constantly at odds with Face (he
is often played as considerably older), and is very learned, being the one with alchemical
expertise. He disguises himself as "the Doctor" to carry out his con.
Face
Face seems, to some extent, faceless; we get very little idea of a personality or
an impetus behind his character. He is constantly switching roles. Some commentators
think that his real name is "Jeremy," but this idea--particularly because it is not
supported by Jonson's dramatis personae--could just be one more in a series of
disguises Face undertakes. He plays "Ulen Spiegel" or "Lungs" for the Mammon-con,
103
and more usually he is the wiseboy "Captain Face" for everyone else. He is essential in
finding the gulls in the pubs of London and bringing them to the Blackfriars house.
Dol
Also "Dol Common," Dol is short for Dorothy, and her second name,
"Common," is in itself a pun, meaning "everyone's"--because Dol is a prostitute. The
play implies she is in casual sexual relationships with both Face and Subtle. Her role is
not as important as Face's or Subtle's, yet her one transformation, into a "royal lady," is
essential in maneuvering Mammon into the right place at the right time. She escapes
with Subtle "over the back wall" at the end--without a share of the goods.
Dapper
A legal clerk and a social climber who comes to the conmen in order to get a
"gambling fly" (a spirit who will allow him to cheat and win at gambling). Dapper has
met Face in a pub and has been tempted to the house. Extremely greedy and extremely
gullible, Subtle tells him he is a relative of the Faery-Queen. Upon his return, he is
locked in the privy for most of the play.
Abel ("Nab") Drugger

An honest, good soul, he is a young tobacconist who has just bought a new shop
on the corner of a street. He wants the Doctor (having met Face in a pub) to advise him
on (effectively) the feng shui of the building. He is tricked into handing over a lot of
expensive tobacco and into bringing Kastrill and Dame Pliant (Drugger's shyly admitted
crush) into the Blackfriars house. At the end of the play, he loses everything and is
dispatched with a punch from Lovewit.
Lovewit
The master of the house and the employer of "Jeremy the Butler," his
housekeeper (alias Face). Away for the majority of the play, Lovewit doesn't return
until Act 5--unexpectedly, though Face lies and claims to have sent for him. At this
point he punishes Face, but without uncovering the plot itself, or caring to. He marries
Dame Pliant and leaves the stage halfway through the epilogue in order to smoke
tobacco.
104
Sir Epicure Mammon
Epicure Mammon's name means a person who is devoted to sensory enjoyment
and material wealth, and he is perhaps the play's biggest con. He is also the greediest
gull of the lot. Constantly comparing himself and the alchemist's work with classical or
antique riches, he is obsessed with food, sex, and the idea of getting his riches turned
into gold by the Philosopher's Stone. His lust is the reason given by the conmen for the
explosion that destroys the (non-existent) furnace and vanquishes his hopes of getting
rich.
Sir Pertinax Surly

The sidekick of Epicure Mammon, he spends the first part of his time in the play
bitterly mocking and criticizing Mammon but also calling into question the actions of
the conmen. Surly then decides to try to catch them out, and--in his successful disguise
as a Spaniard-he falls in love with Dame Pliant. In the end he is attacked by Kastrill and
loses the girl.
Tribulation Wholesome, a Pastor of Amsterdam

The leader of the local group of Anabaptists (see "About Anabaptists" in this
ClassicNote), Tribulation is rather more measured and logical than Ananias, but, as the
representative of his group, he is hungry for money, membership, and power.
Ananias, a Deacon of Amsterdam

Ananias is an Anabaptist (see "About Anabaptists") and is greedy for power,
land, and membership for his order. He is also incredibly angry and quick to condemn
anything that may not be, as he sees it, Christian, and on numerous occasions he blurts
out furiously that, for example, "Christ-tide" is the right, Christian name for Christmas.
Ananias is also the name of a New Testament character who is stricken dead because
of his greed.
Kastrill
An "Angry Boy," he wants to learn the skill of quarrelling: formal, rhetorical
argument. He has come to Subtle to learn it. Clearly young and impressionable, he is
very protective over his sister, Dame Pliant, and he goes to huge lengths to seem "one
of the guys" in several of the group scenes. His "quarrelling" is rather unimpressive.
105
Comically, he seems to know only a handful of (immature) insults, including "you lie"
and "you are a pimp."
Dame Pliant
Often called "Widow" in the play, she is the recently-widowed sister of Kastrill.
Dame Pliant's name means bendy, supple, or flexible; true to her name, she seems one
of the stupidest characters in literature. When she does speak, very rarely, she has the
same speech mannerisms (e.g., "suster") as her brother. Subtle steals several kisses from
her (4.2) while she seems not to notice, and the two conmen fight over which of them
will wed her (and inherit the considerable fortune she has inherited from her husband).
In the end, it is Lovewit who gets the girl with no wits.
Neighbors
Several neighbors appear in the street upon Lovewit's return in 5.1, and they
describe to Lovewit what they have seen happen while he has been away at his hop-
yards. They have a tiny role to play within the play itself, though on a couple of
occasions, Dol is seen shooing women away from the door. Their descriptions of
"oyster-women" and "Sailor's wives" (5.1.3-4) give us the sense that the conmen have
performed several more cons than the play showcases.
MAJOR THEMES
Belief and faith
The gulls are "gullible," easily led to lend their belief to the tricks and plots of
the conmen. The play itself is obsessed from the Prologue onward with the idea of what
Coleridge would call the "willing suspension of disbelief," except that the gulls do not
really start with much or any disbelief, and this is reality for them, not a story in which
they believe the premises of a story in order to see what the author does with it. As
Jonson’s audience, we know that the stories (and the whole play) are not real, so we are
not gulled.
106
Or is Jonson playing any jokes on us as well? Belief of course is essential to
theater, and the play's many metatheatrical forays play on this theme. Note how Jonson
exploits theatrical convention to alienate the audience, such as when Surly, as a
Spaniard, initially seems to be another character altogether.
Jonson, in portraying two Christian believers, explicitly considers whether there

is a difference between having faith in the particulars of a Christian denomination—or
having faith in God, or in anything transcendent—and believing in the false tricks of
the conmen. All denominations cannot be completely right, so do some people believe
because they have been conned rather than simply mistaken?
Alchemy
Alchemical theory suggests that things are in a constant state of flux and
transformation, and several parts of the play deal explicitly with this notion. Not only
do the characters themselves transform into other characters, but their wares, their fears,
and their faith are easily transformed into gold for the conmen.
Naturally, Subtle's status as "The Alchemist" is questioned throughout the play.

What can he really transform, after all?
The process of alchemy itself is related explicitly to theater, because in addition to
theatrical transformations, theater offers a world in which magical things can happen,
and we often wish they would.
Gold
Gold is the result of successful alchemy, though the goal remains aspirational. It
plays a large part in the play as the motivation for just about everything that happens.
The gulls are all greedy for gold in order to achieve their dreams, and they are therefore
greedy for the Philosopher's Stone. The conmen, inversely, are greedy for the gold they
make by tricking the gulls into believing that they will eventually be rich. Face's
epilogue considers the fact that a theater audience similarly has handed over gold in
order to be knowingly tricked with a false story on stage.
Theatricality
107
The play is set in 1610, a likely date for the play's first performance, and set in a
house (to this day, a synonym for an auditorium) in Blackfriars. It is possible that the
Blackfriars theater was the site of the play's London performances. The conmen are
actors who take on roles to suit their audience, and in the end they trick the real audience
as well as the gulls.
Constantly the processes of conning and believing are equated with the medium
of theater. The questions in the play can nearly always be couched in theatrical terms.
Note, too, moments which might be considered a play within the play, such as the Fairy
Queen moments.
London in 1610
Jonson's play was a modern-dress play in its day, and it is hugely steeped in the
culture of its time. The locations it names—the Temple Church, Deaf John's and the
Pigeons Tavern, to name but three—were all close to the Blackfriars theater where the
play was performed. The characters it satirizes, Anabaptists, Spaniards, and knights
arrogant, would all have been familiar to the contemporary audience. Jonson similarly
employs much modern slang for his characters. In some instances the language thus
feels dense and dated.
Texts
Jonson's prologue in his Folio is addressed to the "Reader," and his play abounds
with references to other texts, plays, and writers, which creates the impression that the
play itself is in some way a patchwork of other texts.
The characters, particularly Subtle, also speak dense, technical jargon, as if to

give the sense that their language is somehow plagiarized or borrowed from a better
source.
Note that Dol's "noble lady" is a mad scholar of Broughton who quotes, "in her
fit of talking," extensively from one of Broughton's works. The play quotes twice from
Kyd'sThe Spanish Tragedy. Several other critics have found references and in-jokes to
various other contemporary works.
108
"All things in common"
The play poses some interesting arguments about the nature of working and
living together. Dol Common puts forward an eloquent defense of the need for the con
to be a "venture tripartite" if it is to succeed. Interestingly, Dol's claims are expressed
in the language of classical political thought, and the London of the play seems vaguely
equated with a classical idea of democracy. Dol Common, in this reading, is not just a
prostitute but the founder of an admittedly shaky commonwealth.
109

TRB PG English Study Materials Unit 1

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

TRB PG English Study Materials Unit 1

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

UNIT-1

 THE CANTERBURY TALES SUMMARY

ABOUT THE CANTERBURY TALES

The Knight's Yeoman

The Second Nun

The Friar (Hubert)

The Man of Law

The Wife of Bath

The Canon's Yeoman

The Lothly Lady

The Summoner (2)

Proserpina She is the wife of Pluto.

The Orleans Student

The Three Rioters

The Old Man

The Merchant (2)

The Clerk follows the Merchant. A student of Oxford university, he would

A noble Manciple (a business agent, purchaser of religious provisions) is the

THE CANTERBURY TALES SUMMARY

The Monk belies his fun-loving appearance by giving a disappointing recital

Fabliau: stories based on trickery and deception; often involves adultery

Myth: a story originating in classical literature

Exemplum: a story which teaches a well-known lesson

Saint's Legend: inspiring story of the life and death of a saint

Title: Prioress (Madame Eglantine)

Title: Three Priests

Title: Friar (Hubert) Station: Clergy

Title: Clerk* Station: Middle Class

Title: Sergeant of the Law

Title: Franklin (Land Owner)

Title: Five Guildsmen (Haberdasshere, carpenter, weaver, dyer, Tapestry weaver)

Title: Wife of Bath (Alison)

Title: Reeve (Oswald)

Tale: None. He is the judge of the tales.

Title: Chaucer the Pilgrim

ABOUT THE FAERIE QUEENE

Cambell :Cambell is half of the duo (completed by Triamond) which represents

Prothalamion, a spousal verse by Edmund Spenser is one of the loveliest

Conversely, on comparison with Epithalamion, the verse is considered less

Epithalamion is an ode written to commemorate the nuptials of the speaker and

EPITHALAMION STANZAS 1 THROUGH 12

Epithalamion is an ode written by Edmund Spenser as a gift to his bride,

Here Spenser further develops the nymph-summoning of Stanza 3. That he focuses on

Spenser follows Elizabeth convention in returning to a self-conscious meditation upon

Sidney states that poetry – as Aristotle labelling it as mimesis, representing,

Apology to Percy Bysshe Shelley’s A Defence of Poetry.

Abraham - The patriarch of the Hebrew people. Abraham is traditionally called

DOCTOR FAUSTUS (MARLOWE) SUMMARY

As the hour approaches, Mephostophilis taunts Faustus. Faustus blames Mephostophilis

ABOUT DOCTOR FAUSTUS (MARLOWE)

Marlowe lived in a time of great transformation for Western Europe. New

The chronology of Marlowe's plays is uncertain. Doctor Faustus's composition may

He sells his soul to the devil

Good Angel and Evil Angel

One of Lucifer's officers. A powerful demon.

The Seven Deadly Sins

A man who buys Faustus' horse. Faustus swindles him.

An ale wench. She treats Robin and his friends kindly.

King of Hungary. He serves the Pope.

The German Emperor. Faustus performs at his court.

A man attending at the court of the German Emperor.

A nobleman. Faustus performs illusions at his court.