Early Modern Drama · Character Archetypes

NEPTUNE

in Gallathea — Lyly, John

Metadata

PlayGallathea
AuthorLyly, John
Year (catalogued)1592
First performance1585
Decade1590s
GenreComedy
Play typeBoys Professional
CompanyChildren of Paul's (first) (?)
Theaterbefore the Court;
Speech prefix(es)Neptune | Neptune.
Words524
Characters2772
Typicality0.33 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP idA06619
BritDrama no.754
ClusterCluster 19 — Grieving nobles & tragicomic sufferers

Important excerpts

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

Full speech

This day is the solemn Sacrifice at this Tree, wherein the fairest virgin (were not the inhabi tants faithless) should be offered unto me, but so over careful are Father's to their children, that they forget the safety of their Country, & fearing to become un natural, become unreasonable; their slights may blear men, deceive me they cannot, I will be here at the hour, and show as great cruelty as they have done craft, & well shall they know that Neptune should have been entreated, not cozened. Exit. And do men begin to be equal with Gods, seeking by craft to overreach the ̄ that by power oversee them? Do they dote so much on their daugh ters, that they stick not to dally with our deities, well shall the inhabitants see, that destiny cannot be pre vented by craft, nor my anger be appeased by submis sion. I will make havoc of Diana's Nymph's, my Temple shall be died with Maidens blood, and there shall be nothing more vile then to be a Virgin. To be young and fair, shall be accounted shame & punish meant, in so much as it shall be thought as dishonourable to be honest, as fortunate to be deformed. I muse not a little to see you two in this place, at this time, and about this matter, but what say you Diana, have you Cupid captive? It were unfit that Goddesses should strive, and it were unreasonable that I should not yield, and therefore to please both, both attend; Diana I must honour, her virtue deserves no less, but Venus I must love, I must confess so much. Diana, restore Cupid to Venus, and I will for ever release the sacrifice of Virgins, if therefore you love your Nymph's as she does her Son, or prefer not a private grudge before a common grief, answer what you will do. Well I am glad you are agreed: and say that Neptune hath dealt well with Beauty and Chastity. But soft, what be these? Why, had you a fair daughter? Where be they? Well, your deserts have not got par done, but these Goddesses jars. Do you both being Maidens love one another? And idle choice, strange, and foolish, for one Virgin to dote on another, and to imagine a con stant faith, where there can be no cause of affection. How Like you this Venus? Not I. Do silly Shepherds go about to de ceiue great Neptune, in putting on men attire upon women: and Cupid to make sport deceive them all, by using a woman's apparel upon a God, then Neptune that hast taken sundry shapes to obtain love, stick not to practice some deceit to show thy deity, and having oft ̄ thrust thy self into the shape of beasts to deceive men be not coy to use the shape of a Sheepehearde, to show thy self a God. Neptune cannot be overreached by Swains, himself is subtle, and if Diana be over taken by craft, Cupid is wise. I will into these woods and mark all, and in the end will mar all. Exit.

Plot summary

Plot — Gallathea
Every five years, Lincolnshire’s fairest and chastest virgin is sacrificed to N&@ptumé; this ancient custom keeps the land safe from the monster Agat. The fathers of Galatea and PHyllidd independently attempt to preserve their respective daughters from selection for sacrifice by disguising her as a boy and sending her to hide in the woods. They meet: each takes the other for the boy she seems, and falls in love with ‘him’. Meanwhile, to make mischief among Diana’s nymphs, @upid cross-dresses too and gives them all amorous thoughts about the two disguised girls; but Galatea and Phyllida reject them all, each preferring the other. Cupid is captured, and set fiddly tasks by way of punishment. The day of the sacrifice arrives. M@be, the most suitable remaining virgin, is offered in sacrifice, but Neptune has seen through Galatea and Phyjllida’s disguises and will not take her; Hebe is relieved to-have survived and disappointed not to be the fairest virgin. WenGsS arrives to release her son, and appeals for Neptune’s help. He offers to discontinue the custom of sacrifice if Dia@iia will release Cupid, and, knowing it will save the lives of future virgins, Diana agrees. Galatea and Phyllida each discover the other's true gender, but Venus agrees to change one of them into a boy, but they are not to know which of them it is until they are married. In the sub-plot, three brothers are shipwrecked on the Lincolnshire coast, and seek their fortune by some other means than the sea. Raifé successively serves an alchemist and an astronomer, but ends up no richer than before; RGB too has little success, but Diek claims prosperity. The goddesses engage them to sing at the wedding of Galatea and Phyllida.