Early Modern Drama · Character Archetypes

BAND

in The Staple of News — Jonson, Ben

Metadata

PlayThe Staple of News
AuthorJonson, Ben
Year (catalogued)1631
First performance1616
Decade1630s
GenreComedy
Play typeAdult Professional
CompanyKing's Men
Speech prefix(es)BAN. | BAND.
Words174
Characters916
Typicality0.26 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP idA04633.3
BritDrama no.1810
ClusterCluster 10 — Mourners, mothers & doleful voices

Important excerpts

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

Full speech

I fear your Grace Hath taken too much of the sharp air. And true temper. And honour. Here'll be visitants, Or Suitors by and by; and it's not fit They find you here. Pity, the Gentleman is not immortal. His cousin Alderman Security, That he did talk of so, even now— He and his Deputy, but assure his life For one seven years. And old Chain, That draws the city-eares. Dumb Rhetoric, and silent eloquence! As the fine Poet says! And we, Sir! We will stay, and wait here Upon her Grace, and this your Noble Kinsman. All malicious engines A wicked Smith could forge out of his iron: As locks, and keys, shacles, and manacles, To torture a great Lady. H'has left my fellow Wax out, i'the cold, Troth, We have not any mind, Sir, of return— And have our legs Turned in, or writhed about— And dyeted with dogs dung. But whom her Grace is so content to grace, We shall observe. I, if we knew her Grace had the least liking.

Plot summary

Plot — The Staple of News
. _ Pug the junior devil is keen to visit earth. Satan svarns him that his ideas of effective devilment are half a century out of date, but grants him leave to spend the day in London, made flesh and subject to all the frailties and limitations of the human body. A ready-made body is available, in the shape of a recently hanged cutpurse, but Pug will have to make his own arrangements for clothes. Another proviso is that he must serve the first man he meets. Unfortunately for Pug, he turns out to be a twit: Fabian Fitzdottrel. Fitzdottrel longs to see the devil, and agrees to accept Pug as an unpaid servant because he gives his mame as Devil. The same obsession makes Fitzdottrel eager to see a new play, The Devil is an Ass, but he needs some finery to show off as he sits on the stage. Wittipol is eager to sleep with Fitzdottrel’s wife, and offers him a suitable cloak in exchange for fifteen minutes’ uninterrupted conversation with the lady. He uses the time to proposition her, and engages her interest even though she has been forbidden to reply. Fitzdottrel is introduced to Merecraft, a purveyor of imaginative financial schemes, who offers to make him rich and a duke through land reclamation in the eastern fens. Fitzdottrel agrees to meet with him, leaving Pug to ensure that nobody attempts to visit his wife. Pug instead brings her a follow-up message from Wittipol, then makes advances to her on his own account, but is caught by Fitzdottrel and gets a beating. Wittipol’s friend Manly has a room which abuts Mistress Fitzdottrel’s gallery, which he uses to have a second meeting with her. This is much more intimate than the first, despite being conducted through the windows of adjacent buildings. Pug gets back into favour by tipping off Fitzdottrel, who puts a stop to the assignation and threatens to take up another woman to share his expectations and be his Duchess. Merecraft suggests that what Fitzdottrel’s wife needs is to be taught proper manners, and recommends a widow who knows the ways of the Spanish court, who might be persuaded to undertake the task if sent an expensive ring as a gift, and who is entirely fictitious. His accomplice Engine proposes hiring an actor to impersonate her, but Merecraft worries that his business methods might be leaked to a playwright and end up on stage; in the event, Engine finds a gentleman to take on the role instead, who happens to be Wittipol. Fitzdottrel cannot get his wife to part with a ring of her own, so…