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)
Wife. | All. Wife.
Words
438
Characters
2413
Typicality
0.41 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A01836
BritDrama no.
1889
Cluster
Cluster 10 — Mourners, mothers & doleful voices
Important excerpts
Passages from this character's speech that contain the most distinguishing words for Cluster 10 (earine, jarbus, alack, vapours, mishap, hapless…). Matches are highlighted.
let thy fury rush on me! Within these entrails sheath thine unsatiate sword, And let this ominous, and too fruitful womb, Be torn in sunder? For from thence those Babes, Took all their crimes; error made them guilty, 'Twas Nature's fault, not theirs; Oh if affection Can work then; now show a true Father's Love, If not, appease
now show a true Father's Love, If not, appease those murdering thoughts with me For as pleaded with her sons For their deer Father, so to a Father I For my deer Babes and husband; husband, father Which shall I first embrace? Victorious father, Be bl to those now sharp thoughtsllay down those threats, Un laspe that impious Helmet!
that it's best with him that's overcome. Oh let me kiss (kind father) first the Earth On which you tread, then kiss mine husbands cheek. Great King embrace these Babes! you are the stock On which these Grafts were planted —
Full speech
Dear Father, leave such harsh similitudes By my deceased Mother, (to whose womb I was a ten months burden:) By your self, (To whom I was a pleasing In ant on e) Pity my husband, and these tender Infants! Oh see you feet we're proved with this hands kiss! The higher those great powers have raised you, Press that which lies below with gentler weigh To pardon Misery's is Fortune's height: Alas, these Infants, these weak sinewed hands Can be no terror to these Hector's arms! Beg (Infants) beg, and teach these tender joints To ask for mercy; learn your lisping tongues To give endue accent to each syllable: Nothing that Fortune urges too, is base; Put from your thoughts all memory of dissent: Forget the Princely titles of your father's: If your own misery you can feel, Learn thus of me to weep, of me to kneel (Good father) hear, hear how thy daughter pr yes: Thou that knowest how to use stern Warriors arms, Learn how to use mild Warriors pity too! Alas? can er these ungrown strengths repair Their Father's batter worser Cities? Or can these These orethrowne Turrets? ( Jconium ) what small Hope's Hast thou to lean upon? If these be all? Not half so mild hath our misfortune been That any can ere fear us: Be pleased — (Dear father) let thy fury rush on me! Within these entrails sheath thine unsatiate sword, And let this ominous, and too fruitful womb, Be torn in sunder? For from thence those Babes, Took all their crimes; error made them guilty, 'Twas Nature's fault, not theirs; Oh if affection Can work then; now show a true Father's Love, If not, appease those murdering thoughts with me For as pleaded with her sons For their deer Father, so to a Father I For my deer Babes and husband; husband, father Which shall I first embrace? Victorious father, Be bl to those now sharp thoughtsllay down those threats, Un laspe that impious Helmet! fix to earth That monumental Sphere look on thy child With pardoning looks, not with a Warriors eye: Else shall my breast cover my husbands breast, And serve as Buckler to receive thy wounds, Why dost thou doubt? Fearest thou thy Daughters faith? No Father it's I, fear you him, he you, I both, but for you both, for both you war; So that it's best with him that's overcome. Oh let me kiss (kind father) first the Earth On which you tread, then kiss mine husbands cheek. Great King embrace these Babes! you are the stock On which these Grafts were planted —
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.