Early Modern Drama · Character Archetypes

MAVIS

in Epicene, or The Silent Woman — Jonson, Ben

Metadata

PlayEpicene, or The Silent Woman
AuthorJonson, Ben
Year (catalogued)1620
First performance1609
Decade1620s
GenreComedy
Play typeBoys Professional
CompanyChildren of the Queen's Revels
Speech prefix(es)Mau.
Words268
Characters1473
Typicality0.23 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP idA04645
BritDrama no.1603
ClusterCluster 24 — Gods, cupids & celestial agents

Important excerpts

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

Full speech

I'll tell you that, when I have talked with her, and tried her. So I will, Madame. Very prettily, absolutely well. You shall pardon me, Mistress Otter. But not in ordinary. Wee'll dispute that within. Why, what made you there, Mistress Otter? Look how you manago him at first, you shall have him ever after. I, she has done the Miracle of the Kingdom. We are Rivers, that cannot be called back, Ma dame: she that now excludes her Lovers, may live to lie a forsaken Beldame, in a frozen Bed. Say you so, Sir John? I think you are decelu'd: you took it upon trust. I commended but their wits, Madame, and their braveries. I never looked towards their valours. And a bravery too. Yes faith, do, and bring Sir Dauphine with you. He is a very worthy Gentleman, in his exteriors, Madame. That wear purer Linen then our selves, and pro fesse more neatness, then the French Hermaphrodite! Or such a Leg! And a very good Lock! Let us go too, and take partly. He cannot mix with a sweeter society, I'll pro phesie, and I hope he himself will think so. Gentlemen, have any of you a Pen-and-Inke. I would feign write out a Riddle in Italian, for Sir Dauphine, to translate. Within, Centaur. And Italian Riddle for Sir Dauphine, (you shall not see it i'faith, Centaur. ) Good Sir Dauphine, solve it for me. I'll call for it anon. Wee'll have our men blanket them i'the Hall. I'lld have the Bridegroom blanketed, too. Now, out upon him, prodigious creature! Now out upon them, Informers!

Plot summary

Plot — Epicene, or The Silent Woman
Dauphine's obsessively noise-hating uncle, Morose. has threatened to disinherit him by taking a wife and begetting a son and heir. He has engaged a gen ts to seek a silent woman for his bride, and the barber, Cutbeard, seems to have found him one, Mistress Epicoenc. Truewit goes to him in disguise and tries to dissuade him from marriage; but this makes him the more determined to go ahead with it straight away. He inspects Epicoene, is pleased by her silence, and marries her. Almost at once he learns that she is able to speak loudly. Sir Amorous La Poole is holding a dinner for the members of a college of ladies, but the gallants divert the collegians to Morose's house, to celebrate his wedding. They persuade La Poole that Sir John Daw has arranged this to dishonour him. La Foole dresses up as a sewer to serve the meat. Mistress Otter comes along with him, and the gallants arrange for her to witness her henpecked husband criticizing her behind her back - which earns him a beating. The collegians hold her up as an example to Epicoene: she must establish her dominance in the household. The gallants persuade Dauphine that the two knights have slandered him, and tell each of the knights in turn that the other intends to fight him. Both are so anxious to avoid a duel that each agrees to be beaten by the other; Dauphine does the beating and takes their swords from them. The ladies witness the event, and see the knights' unworthiness; they transfer their affections to Dauphine and begin to compete for his favours. Morose intends to procure a divorce, but cannot find a lawyer in the noise of the courts. Truewit supplies a lawyer and a divine to deal with the case; they are really Cutbeard and Otter in disguise. They delineate the legal grounds for divorce, but none seems to fit the case. The two knights are persuaded to admit that they deflowered Epicoene - but this doesn't count because it happened before the marriage. Morose is forced to claim that he is impotent- but that will only be grounds for .ii:picoene to divorce him, not vice versa. Dauphine offers to free his uncle from the marriage in return for an annual income and a guarantee that he ·will inherit the E_m tire estate. Once Morose has signed the papers, Dauphine reveals that Epicoene is really a boy.