Early Modern Drama · Character Archetypes

PAGE

in Parasitaster, or The Fawn — Marston, John

Metadata

PlayParasitaster, or The Fawn
AuthorMarston, John
Year (catalogued)1606
First performance1604
Decade1600s
GenreComedy
Play typeBoys Professional
CompanyChildren of the Queen's Revels
TheaterBlackfriars;Paul's;Indoor Professional
Speech prefix(es)Pag: | Pag. | Page.
Words237
Characters1278
Typicality0.53 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP idA07077
BritDrama no.1455
ClusterCluster 16 — Errand servants & brief parts

Important excerpts

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

Full speech

All the Citi's afire. With joy of the Prince Dulcimels birth day, there's show upon show, sport upon sport. Marry sir to solemnize the Princes birthday, there's first Crackers which run into the air, and when they are at the top, Like some ambitious strange heretic, keep a cracking, & a crac king, and then break, and down they come. Other fireworks. There be squibs sir, which squibs running upon lines Like some of our gawdy Gallants sir, keep a smother sir, with flishing and flashing, and in the end sir, they do sir Stink sir. Nay costly, deer Puttotta, Mistress Puttotta, madam Puttotta Oh be merciful to my languishing master, he may in time grow great and well graced Courtier, for he wears yellow already, mix therefore your loves, as for madam Garbetza his brother's wife, you see what he writes there. Alas my miserable master, what suds art thou washed into? thou art born to be scornde of every carted communi ty, and yet heel out crack a Germane when he is drunk, or a Spaniard after he hath eaten a Fumatho, that he haz lyen with that and that, and tother Lady, that he lay last night in such a madonnas chamber, tother night he lay in such a Con tesses couch, to night he lies in such a Ladies closet, when poor I know all this while he only lied in his throat.

Plot summary

Plot — Parasitaster, or The Fawn
After failing to persuade his son Tiberio to marry, Hercules, the widowed Duke of Ferrara, plans to marry Princess Dulcimel of Urbino, and sends Tiberio to negotiate the treaty. Hercules goes to Urbino himself, assumes the alias Faunus, meets Nymphadoro and Herod, and hears some unflattering remarks about himself in his other persona, Hercules. He gets them to introduce him at court, and becomes a favourite with the Duke of Urbino. Dulcimel would rather marry Tiberio than Hercules, and contrives to woo him using her father, Duke Gonzago, as an intermediary. She brings him a scarf which she has embroidered with a message, and tells him that it was sent by Tiberio; the outraged Gonzago gives it to the young man, thinking he is returning an unwanted would-be lover's gift. She then reports to ===== PAGE 176 ===== Gonzago that Tiberio intends to climb up the tree by her bedroom window and surreptitiously marry her. Gonzago repeats the plan back to Tiberio, revokes his diplomatic status, and orders him to leave Urbino. Instead, Tiberio. puts the plan into effect and marries Dulcimel in her bedroom. Faunus: observes the foolish behaviour of the courtiers at Urbino. Herod cuckolds his brother, the impotent Sir Amoroso, and gets his sister-in-law with child — in effect, dispossessing himself of the estate by producing an heir apparent. Donna Zoya, who bas not slept with her husband Zuccone for four years, feigns pregnancy, and the gossip spreads rapidly through the court, each person telling the next on condition that they keep it strictly to themselves. Zuccone repudiates her, then regrets it on learning she is not really an adulteress, but she will only take him back on new terms which give her the upper hand in the marriage. Faunus lays on a court entertainment: a parliament of Cupid to consider the many grievances lovers have sent to heaven. Cupid’s statutes are read, and several of the foolish courtiers are tried. Nymphadoro is convicted as a multiple philanderer and sent to the ship of fools, Herod for falsely boasting of love, and Granuffo for affecting silence to seem wiser than he is. Sir Amoroso (charged with wooing on false pretences) and Zuccone are spared. The last fool to be exposed is Gonzago, for procuring the seduction of his own daughter. Resuming his own identity, Hercules thanks Gonzago for securing Tiberio’s marriage.