Early Modern Drama · Character Archetypes

ADRIAN

in What You Will

Metadata

PlayWhat You Will
Year (catalogued)1607
First performance1607
Decade1600s
GenreComedy
Play typeProfessional;Boys Professional
CompanyChildren of Paul's (second) (?)
Speech prefix(es)An. | And. | Adri. | And | Adrian.
Words220
Characters1228
Typicality0.25 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP idA07081
BritDrama no.1283
ClusterCluster 17 — Intriguers & schemers

Important excerpts

Passages from this character's speech that contain the most distinguishing words for Cluster 17 (nat, leaguer, assyrian, mowche, bashas, andalle…). Matches are highlighted.

Beletzo honourable rich? 'Tis scarce three months since fortune gave him dead. You hold a truth. To match so sudden so unworthily? Who might not Celia have? The passionate mamord Giacomo. Of honoured lineage, and not meanly rich. And to leave these all, And wed a wandering Knight Sir Lauerdure, A God knows what? Saint Mark she shall
Precise in each but Tassel, fear it not. Why man? Accost him first as if you were ignorant Of the deceit. Success could not come on more gracious. Go go proceed thou dost it rare farewell. Then we must wish her no good Fortune's. Laugh you, shameless? laugh you? And — Believe it brother. What should one say what should one do now;

Full speech

He was a Merchant, but so bounteous Valiant, wise, learned, all so absolute That naughts, was valued praiseful excellent But in it was he most praiseful excellent. I ther's the devil, she must be Ladied now. Was not Albano Beletzo honourable rich? 'Tis scarce three months since fortune gave him dead. You hold a truth. To match so sudden so unworthily? Who might not Celia have? The passionate mamord Giacomo. Of honoured lineage, and not meanly rich. And to leave these all, And wed a wandering Knight Sir Lauerdure, A God knows what? Saint Mark she shall not, Lets work a cross, weel fame it all about The French men gelded. Exceedingly the strangest nearly Like In voice, in gesture face in— I'll to Francisco. Precise in each but Tassel, fear it not. Why man? Accost him first as if you were ignorant Of the deceit. Success could not come on more gracious. Go go proceed thou dost it rare farewell. Then we must wish her no good Fortune's. Laugh you, shameless? laugh you? And — Believe it brother. What should one say what should one do now; umph If she do match with you same wandering knight She's but undone, her estimation, wealth — Come weel petition him, Passing Like him, passing Like him, Oh it'll strike all dead.

Plot summary

Plot — What You Will
Only three months after her husband Albano was reported dead in a sea battle, Celia has many suitors. Tomorrow she intends to marry Laverdure, a French knight; but Alban.o 's brothers, Randolfo and Adrian, disapprove. After fruitlessly petitioning the noctumal. party-loving Duke to stop the wedding, thcr decide to make it illegitimate by introducing an impostor, a perfumer named Francisco, to pose as Albano, claiming that he did not die after all; but Laverdure's page Bidet witnesses their scheming and warns his master. In fact, Albano survived. On his return to Venice he is unimpressed to hear that his supposedly faithful and loving wife is getting married again so soon; but when he accosts Laverdure, he is taken for Francisco. Even his own brothers take him for the disguised perfumer, so he begins to believe that he has indeed become Francisco by metempsychosis. He interrupts the performance of a play at court to protest at the way he has been treated, and the Duke assures everyone that he really is Albano. He decides to forgive everyone, including Laverdure and Celia. In the sub-plot, Simplicius saves the schoolboy Holofernes Pippo from a thrashing and takes him on as his page. A group of pages trick Simplicius into arranging an assignation with a merchant's wife, who turns out to be Holofemes in disguise.