Early Modern Drama · Character Archetypes

PURSUIVANT

in Look About You — Anonymous

Metadata

PlayLook About You
AuthorAnonymous
Year (catalogued)1600
First performance1599
Decade1600s
GenreComedy
Play typeAdult Professional
CompanyAdmiral's (Nottingham's) Men
Speech prefix(es)Pur. | Purſ.
Words268
Characters1237
Typicality0.25 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP idA06333
BritDrama no.1184
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 sir, some day or two, till the young King and Prince John change it, especially if the good Earl be not found which God forbid. A Tavern sir, the Salutation, Drawer? My name is Winterborn sir. Berkshire and please you. But yesterday and please your worship, This is the First employment I have had. Oh Oh Oh not too fast; Oh I am sick, Oh very sick. Oh, Oh my heart. Oh sir 'tis too true, too true, too true Oh Lord. Oh you did, you did, you did, Oh Oh. But I, but I, but I, Oh my head, Oh my heart. And more Sir Richard, Oh Lord Oh Sir Richard, Oh my box, my box, with the Kings arms, Oh my box, Oh my box, it cost me, Oh Lord every penny Oh, my box, Oh sir Richard I will not, Oh Lord I will not charge you for all the world, but, but, but for the warrant the old King signed to repreeve the Porter of the fleet, Oh God, Oh God! I my good Lord, o, o, No my Lord, Oh sir Richard took it from me with his own hand, Oh. Oh but my warrant, how shall I do? Oh, Oh it is I sir, that's my warrant. Oh o o o my Lord. Exit and Drawer. A poor man sir, a poor man sir: down I pray ye, I pray let me fit down. A sir Richard, sir Richard, a good sir Richard: what have I deserved to be thus dealt with all at your worships hands? a would, ah, ah.

Plot summary

Plot — Look About You
Before the start of the action, Queen Eleanor had her rival, Rosamund, poisoned by Skink, and was imprisoned for it; Skink escaped and has taken the identity of a fortune-telling hermit. Her son Henry and his brothers attempted a coup, and there are now two kings in England, father and son. At a parliament, the younger King Henry offers to split the kingdom with the elder, but alienates his supporters by his readiness to seize their lands. Skink, summoned to the parliament by Prince Richard, is rewarded with Gloucester’s lands, and Gloucester imprisoned when he protests and strikes Skink. Richard, who has an interest in Gloucester’s sister, Lady Falconbridge, promises to free him. Eavesdropping on a meeting between them, Sir Richard Falconbridge sees his wife reject the Prince’s advances. Pursued by the watch, Skink evades arrest by swapping clothes with Redcap, but is taken to the Fleet prison for identification by Redcap’s father, the porter. Gloucester swaps clothes with him in turn and escapes, and finally Skink too gets away by purloining Prince John’s clothes. Lady Falconbridge disguises Gloucester as her husband, fooling the watch sent to search for him. The substitutions cause misunderstandings when Skink (as John) is given a chain by Falconbridge and Gloucester (as Falconbridge) is given John’s sword; in each case the real man denies what his doppelganger has done. The porter of the Fleet is to be hanged for Gloucester’s escape, but the old King is persuaded to reprieve him. Gloucester intercepts the pursuivant, gets him drunk, steals the pardon, and ensures that it reaches its destination. Skink evades capture at the tavern by swapping clothes with the drawer and pretending to have been assaulted by the escaped Skink. John and Falconbridge consult the hermit: John wants to locate Gloucester, and Falconbridge to know for sure whether his wife is committing adultery. Lady Falconbridge also goes there in disguise, leaving Robin Hood standing in for her at home, cross-dressed. She too wants to locate Gloucester, to save him from the malice of John and his mother; John and Falconbridge both arrange assignations with her. Skink resumes the hermit’s identity, tells them how Gloucester escaped, and predicts that they will be able to catch Skink committing a robbery nearby; he then changes his disguise, induces them to fall in a hole, and steals their purses. While he is away, Gloucester finds his hermit costume and puts it on, convincing the robbed…