in The Courageous Turk, or Amurath the First — Goffe, Thomas
Metadata
Play
The Courageous Turk, or Amurath the First
Author
Goffe, Thomas
Year (catalogued)
1632
First performance
1619
Decade
1630s
Genre
Tragedy
Play type
University
Theater
at University;
Speech prefix(es)
Emb. | Embass.
Words
174
Characters
1000
Typicality
0.20 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A01836
BritDrama no.
1889
Cluster
Cluster 6 — Battlefield messengers & soldiers
Important excerpts
No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).
Full speech
Please then your Maj. and these reverend heads To be informed my Master's will by me, In Wedlock; if your Prince may be combined To the fair Princess his sole Daughter: He freely gives the Phr gian territories, And B thinia to you for your Dowry; Cata , Simon, Egreg os, Sansale, Abbettin on, the Ottomans estate, Which Ottomans, because he not endures, The Noble Zelzucciom family protests, To join with you in quelling their ambition. Moreover, my Lord will or win, or raz , I ovium and Larenda. My Lord, he bade me tell you that 'twas you him leave off this great Prophets Wars, When he was hewing down the Christians; Therefore submission hold not now appease him, More though your Wife, his Daughter, hold her self, Upon her penitent knees be suppliant! No sooner shall the Tycian splendent Solemnizing, Open Heavens Casements, and enlarge the day, But his horse hoofes shall Beatrice your treacherous Earth; And that you may be warned of his approach, Murder and flames shall be his Prodromo's!
Plot summary
Plot — The Courageous Turk, or Amurath the First
Amurath the Turk is diverted from his programme of European conquest when, having subdued Greece, he falls in love with a Greek concubine, Eumorphe, and marries her. He asks his tutor Lala-Schahin to furnish a wedding masque about the classical gods’ amours; Lala-Schahin does so, but appends a second masque in which Fame extols the military glory of dead heroes. His objective is to turn Amurath back to martial pursuits, since there is no need for him to marry: he has already produced enough heirs. Amurath is troubled, but also melancholy at the limitations his royal status imposes on his love-life. Schahin dresses up as the ghost of Amurath’s father and, as he goes to his marriage bed, rebukes him for squandering his imperial legacy. Amurath beheads Eumorphe in her sleep and plans to attack Europe again. There is discord in the Christian ranks, and the Turks are victorious: many Christians are slain. The prisoners of war are recruited to Amurath’s service as an elite bodyguard of janissaries. Amurath negotiates a marriage treaty between his son Bajazeth and the daughter of the King of Phrygia; this secures him further territorial control in Asia Minor. Amurath breaks off his European campaign to suppress a rebellion by his son-in-law Aladin. He invades Caramania and burns its cities; Aladin is routed, but uses his wife and children to secure Amurath’s pardon. Amurath turns his attention back to Serbia, and appoints Aladin to lead one wing of the army. A series of portents foretell Amurath’s death at Kosovo, but Schahin encourages Amurath to fight anyway. The Turks are victorious, and dead bodies pile up. Amurath goes to the field intending to show mercy to Kobelitz, the Christian general and last survivor, but Kobelitz stabs him to death. Bajazeth becomes King and strangles his brother to forestall sedition.