Early Modern Drama · Character Archetypes

BLANDA

in The English Traveller — Heywood, Thomas

Metadata

PlayThe English Traveller
AuthorHeywood, Thomas
Year (catalogued)1633
First performance1627
Decade1630s
GenreTragicomedy
Play typeAdult Professional
CompanyLady Elizabeth's Men
TheaterPhoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional
Speech prefix(es)Bla. | Blan.
Words214
Characters1109
Typicality0.42 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP idA03195
BritDrama no.2098
ClusterCluster 12 — Wooers, gallants & courtly love-talk

Important excerpts

No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).

Full speech

And how this Gown? I prithee view me well, And speak with thy best Judgement. All's one to me, become they me, or not, Or be I fair, or fowl, in others eyes, So I appear so to my Lionel, He is the glass, in whom I judge my face, By whom in order, I will dress these curls, And place these Jewels, only to please him, Why dost smile. Teach me wherein I err. I would not have you Mother, teach me ought, That tends to injure him. Nay, be not angry. Only some few words, slipped her unawares, For my Sake, make her peace. But Sweet heart, She now Recants those Errors, once more Number her Amongst your Household servants. Come this Kiss, Shall end all former quarrels. Not too severe, I prithee see poor wretch, She at the bar, stands quaking. Nay sweet. Indeed you are too cruel. Would, what was that you said? The Wine still works, And with the little rest they have took to night, They are scarce come to themselves. I? Lift for Heavens sake. That were to betray us to his fury. Present fear, Bids us to yield unto the faint belief Of the least hoped safety. Sweet Reignald. And how does this Tire become me?

Plot summary

Plot — The English Traveller
Geraldine has recently returned from foreign travels, to find that, during his absence, a childhood friend, whom he was expected to marry, married old Wincott instead; she did not seek the marriage, but has no complaints. Having no children of his own, Wincott treats Geraldine as a close friend, and is trusting enough to leave the young man alone with his wife. Geraldine agrees with her that, should they both survive Wincott, he will be her second husband, and he agrees to remain single until then. Dalavill spreads rumours that Geraldine and Mistress Wincott are lovers. Concerned at the possible scandal, Old Geraldine tests his son by proposing that he should marry; Geraldine’s refusal is taken as confirmation of the affair. Geraldine protests his innocence, but to prove it, and silence the gossip, his father insists that he should never again visit the Wincotts. His absence grieves Wincott, and Geraldine agrees to explain himself at a secret midnight meeting. He is pressed by Wincott to stay the night but, unable to sleep, decides to pass the time looking innocently at Mistress Wincott in her bed. Outside her room he overhears her talking to Dalavill: they are lovers. Disillusioned, Geraldine plans to leave England. Wincott lays on a feast to mark his departure, and everyone is invited. At the party, Geraldine confronts Mistress Wincott with what he knows. She is mortified, rejects Dalavill, faints, and dies, having written to her husband a confession. Dalavill flees the house. Wincott confirms Geraldine as his heir. In the other plot, Young Lionel lives with riotous prodigality while his father is away, abetted by some of the servants, and fills the house with whores and drunken gallants. When Old Lionel returns unexpectedly, intending to stay at home in future, Young Lionel and his associates panic and hide inside the house - leaving themselves with the problem of how to get out before Old Lionel finds them. The steward Reignald takes matters in hand, and tells them to make no sound, and pretend the house is deserted. Old Lionel finds his house apparently shut up, and Reignald explains that it has been abandoned: a previous owner committed a murder there, and now the house is haunted. When the former owner denies this, Old Lionel attempts to have him arrested. Meanwhile, Reignald is harried by a usurer to whom Young Lionel owes money. Old Lionel overhears this, and Reignald explains that the money was borrowed to 1624 buy alternative accommodation.…