The Relation of the Heroic Play to the Romances of Beaumont and Fletcher

James W. Tupper

doi:10.2307/456600

The Relation of the Heroic Play to the Romances of Beaumont and Fletcher

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020

James W. Tupper

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In the study of the heroic play it has been rather generally assumed that Dryden and his fellow-playwrights went direct to France for their models and established in England a form of drama distinct from anything that had preceded them. The French romance and the French drama, because they had an influence on the Restoration drama, have been regarded as its sole progenitors. The position of D'Avenant as the connecting link between the earlier and the later drama has been recognized; Dryden himself acknowledges his indebtedness to the author of The Siege of Rhodes. But very little has been done to show that a stream of influence percolates from the Jacobean drama through D'Avenant to the heroic play. Of course, it is easy to exaggerate resemblances, to imagine similarities of capital importance, and to proclaim a paramount influence; but, nevertheless, a prion reasons are in favor of an influence, and a comparison of the two types of drama will, it seems to me, undoubtedly show a connection between them which is more than casual.

Type: Research Article
Information: PMLA , Volume 20 , Issue 3 , 1905 , pp. 584 - 621

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/456600 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1905

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^{page 584 note 1} The relation of D'Avenant to the romantic and the heroic drama will be the subject of a later treatment. For a brief discussion, see Child, M. L. Notes, xix, pp. 166 f.

^{page 584 note 1} Essays of John Dryden, edited by W. P. Ker, i, 157.

^{page 584 note 1} These plays are especially Philaster, The Maid's Tragedy, Thierry and Theodoret, A King and no King, Four Plays in One, and Cupid's Revenge.

^{page 584 note 1} The Influence of Beaumont and Fletcher on Shakspere, by Ashley H. Thorndike, Worcester, 1900. I must acknowledge my great indebtedness to this admirable piece of work, which I have used freely throughout the following pages.

^{page 584 note 1} Thorndike, pp. 110 f.

^{page 584 note 1} Tkorndike, p. 113.

^{page 584 note 1} Op. cit., pp. 114 f.

^{page 584 note 1} Scott-Saintsbury, i, pp. 120–2.

^{page 584 note 1} Preface to the Faithful Shepherdess.

^{page 584 note 1} ‘Parallel of Poetry and Painting,’ in Essays, ii, 147.

^{page 584 note 1} This Dryden approves of in his criticism of Jonson. See ‘Essay of Dramatic Poesy,’ in Essays, i, 87.

^{page 584 note 1} i C. of G., iii:i.

^{page 584 note 2} Tyr. Love, v: i.

^{page 584 note 1} Cambyses, i: i.

^{page 584 note 2} Siege of Memphis, i.

^{page 584 note 1} In Philaster, Maid's Tragedy, and Cupid's Revenge respectively.

^{page 584 note 2} In Thierry and Theodoret and A King and No King respectively.

^{page 584 note 3} Op. cit., p. 123.

^{page 584 note 1} Phil, i: ii.

^{page 584 note 2} Phil., iii: i.

^{page 584 note 3} Phil., iv: iii.

^{page 584 note 1} K and N. K., i: i.

^{page 584 note 2} Ibid., iii: i.

^{page 584 note 3} Thier. and Theod., iv: ii.

^{page 584 note 1} Maid's Tragedy.

^{page 584 note 2} Cupid's Revenge.

^{page 584 note 3} Philaster.

^{page 584 note 4} King and No King.

^{page 584 note 1} Thorndike, p. 122 f.

^{page 584 note 1} Thorndike, p. 123.

^{page 584 note 1} Sc. i.

^{page 584 note 2} Aurengzebe, ii: i. See also Chase: The English Heroic Play, pp. 124 f.

^{page 584 note 1} Compare too the simple form of the Masque in Marriage à la Mode, iv: iii.

^{page 584 note 1} Op. cit., p. 131.

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