in The Wonder of Women, or Sophonisba — Marston, John
Metadata
Play
The Wonder of Women, or Sophonisba
Author
Marston, John
Year (catalogued)
1606
First performance
1605
Decade
1600s
Genre
Tragedy
Play type
Boys Professional
Company
Children of the Queen's Revels
Theater
Blackfriars;Indoor Professional
Speech prefix(es)
Le.
Words
263
Characters
1424
Typicality
0.26 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A07083
BritDrama no.
1485
Cluster
Cluster 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
Cease your strife She is a woman. And yet she is no God. Massinissa. Thine ear. From Scipio thus: by thy late vow of faith, And mutual league of endless amity, As thou respects his virtue or Rome's force, Deliver Sophonisba to our hand, Sophonisba. Even she, Carthage did. Know it her father Asdrubal struck off His father's head, give place to faith and fate, But 'tis joust to state, So speaks Scipio, do not thou detain, A Roman prisoner, endue to this great triumph, As thou shalt answer Room and him. But dost thou forget, Thy vow yet fresh thus breathed: When I desist: To be commanded by thy virtue: Scipio, Or fallen from friend of Room, Revenging Gods, Afflict me with your torture. Wilt thou yield her then? Best fate of men, To thee. Full of dismayed unsteadiness he stood, His right hand looked in hers, which hand he gave As pledge from Room, she ever should live free But when I entered, and well urged this vow And thy command his great heart sunk with shame: His eyes lost spirit, and his heat of life, Sank from his face, as one that stood benumbde, All mazde, t'effect, impossibilities, For either unto her or Scipio, He must break vow, long time he tossd his thoughts And as you see a snow ball being rolde At first a handful, yet long bold about, Infensibly acquires a mighty globe, So his cold grief through agitation grows, And more he thinks, the more of grief he knows At last he seemed to yield her.
Plot summary
Plot — The Wonder of Women, or Sophonisba
King Masinissa marries the Carthaginian princess Sophonisba. His unsuccessful rival, Syphax, allies himself with the Roman general Scipio, who is mustering troops to expel Hannibal from Italy and take the Punic War to Africa. Masinissa and his father- in-law, Hasdrubal, are appointed generals, and Masinissa defers his wedding night to go to war, with Sophonisba’s full approval. : The Carthaginian Senate votes to appease Syphax by giving him Sophonisba, because his army is larger than Masinissa’s; Hasdrubal is promised Masinissa’s kingdom in return for his connivance in poisoning his son-in-law, and Sophonisba is sent to Syphax’s palace. Gelosso, a senator who dissented from the decision, warns Masinissa. Syphax defects to Carthage, and the Romans are beaten; but Masinissa joins Scipio, and their combined troops march again on Carthage. The senators panic and quarrel. Syphax threatens to rape Sophonisba if she will not submit to him, and tells her that Masinissa is dead. He agrees to an hour’s respite while she fulfils her vow to sacrifice before touching a second husband. She gets the servant Vangue drunk, and he tells her that Syphax’s bedroom has a secret passage to enable escape from the palace in the event of a siege. Vangue collapses into an alcoholic stupor, and Sophonisba puts him into Syphax’s bed, then escapes through the passage. Coming to bed for sex with Sophonisba, Syphax finds Vangue and kills him. He then follows Sophonisba and recaptures her; she is taken back to his palace while he ===== PAGE 249 ===== 1605 consults Erichtho, a witch. Erichtho substitutes herself for Sophonisba and Syphax has sex with her before realizing her identity. The Romans defeat the Carthaginians in battle. Blamed by his people, Hasdrubal poisons himself, but his body is denied an honourable burial; his ghost appears to Syphax. Masinissa and Scipio march on Syphax’s palace, and Scipio agrees to allow Masinissa to take on his rival unaided: it is his fight. Syphax is beaten, but his life is spared. He tells Scipio that Sophonisba was the cause of his defection from Rome to Carthage, so the Roman general gives orders that she is to be handed over to Roman justice. Sophonisba prefers to die rather than be taken prisoner, and drinks poisoned wine; Masinissa fulfils his orders by handing over her body to Scipio. Scipio does him honour; he in turn does honour to dead Sophonisba.