in The Virgin Martyr — Dekker, Thomas; Massinger, Philip
Metadata
Play
The Virgin Martyr
Author
Dekker, Thomas; Massinger, Philip
Year (catalogued)
1622
First performance
1620
Decade
1620s
Genre
Tragedy
Play type
Adult Professional
Company
Red Bull (Revels) Company (first)
Speech prefix(es)
Cal. | Caliste. | Calaste.
Words
373
Characters
1996
Typicality
0.27 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A07249
BritDrama no.
1957
Cluster
Cluster 4 — Constant hearts & virtuous ladies
Important excerpts
Passages from this character's speech that contain the most distinguishing words for Cluster 4 (loyalty, handmaid, spotless, blessings, hamilcar, moves…). Matches are highlighted.
good Angels Dorothea, To make you happy, and the means so easy, That be not you and enemy to your self, Already you enjoy it. But what followed Lady, Leaving those blessings which our gods gives freely, And showered upon us with a prodigal hand, As to be noble born, youth, beauty, wealth, And the free use of these without control, Check,
indulgence) All happiness forsook us, bonds and fetters For amorous Twins, the Rack and Hangmans whips In place of choice delights, our Parents curses Instead of blessings, scorn neglect, contempt Fell thick upon us. Do not tempt Our powerful gods. That pity And duty answer for me. We worship Their good deeds in their Images. O that
undertaking. I will not offer A grain of Incense to it, much less kneel, Not look on it but with contempt and scorn, To have a thousand years conferred upon me Of worldly blessings, we profess our selves To be Like Dorothea, Christians, And owe he for that happiness. We dare dispute against this new sprung sect In private or public. And we
Full speech
We come then as good Angels Dorothea, To make you happy, and the means so easy, That be not you and enemy to your self, Already you enjoy it. But what followed Lady, Leaving those blessings which our gods gives freely, And showered upon us with a prodigal hand, As to be noble born, youth, beauty, wealth, And the free use of these without control, Check, curb, or stop, (such is our Laws indulgence) All happiness forsook us, bonds and fetters For amorous Twins, the Rack and Hangmans whips In place of choice delights, our Parents curses Instead of blessings, scorn neglect, contempt Fell thick upon us. Do not tempt Our powerful gods. That pity And duty answer for me. We worship Their good deeds in their Images. O that I had been born Without a father. We are caught our selves That came to take you, and assured of conquest We are your Captives. Never, o never, steeled by your example, We dare the worst of tyranny. We never gained so much By any undertaking. I will not offer A grain of Incense to it, much less kneel, Not look on it but with contempt and scorn, To have a thousand years conferred upon me Of worldly blessings, we profess our selves To be Like Dorothea, Christians, And owe he for that happiness. We dare dispute against this new sprung sect In private or public. And we doubt not To do what you desire. We thank you, Our visit is for love, love to your safety. As a friend And lover of your safety, and I pray you So to receive it; and if you remember How near in love our parents were, that we En'n from the cradle were brought up together. Our amity increasing with our years, We cannot stand suspected. By our example Bequeathing misery to such as love it, Learn to be happy, the Christian yokes too heavy For such a dainty neck, it was framed rather To be the shrine of Venus, or a Pillar More precious then Crystal to support Our Cupid's Image, our Religion Lady Is but a varied pleasure, yours a toil Slaves would shrink under. We are sony To meet you under guard.
Plot summary
Plot — The Virgin Martyr
An imperial edict orders the extirpation of Christianity from the Roman Empire, and the re-establishment of the worship of the pagan gods. In Caesarea, Theophilus works to that end, abetted by Harpax; his many successes so far include the forced apostasy of his own daughters, once Christians but now votaresses of Jupiter. Diocletian gives his daughter Artemia the right to choose her own husband, and she selects the unwilling Antoninus, who loves the Christian Dorothea and asks for time to consider. Artemia remains in Caesarea as her father’s deputy. Harpax tells Theophilus that Antoninus is having an illicit relationship with Dorothea, and Theophilus suborns her servants Spungius and Hircius to smuggle him into her home so that he can witness a meeting between them. Dorothea and Antoninus are arrested. Theophilus sets his daughters, Dorothea’s childhood friends, to convert her to paganism; but instead Dorothea persuades them to revert to Christianity. When they demonstrate their new faith by spitting at an idol of Jupiter, their outraged father kills them. Antoninus is taken ill. His father brings Dorothea to his sick-bed in the hope that he will rape her and so be cured. He refuses, and Dorothea is taken for torture and execution. Destitute after losing the gold Theophilus gave them, Spungius and Hircius are engaged by Harpax to be the torturers. They flog her, but miraculously she feels nothing; they are wrongly suspected of botching the job out of regard for their former mistress, and hanged. After praying that Antoninus’ love for her be transformed into love for God, Dorothea is beheaded. Antoninus drops dead at the sight. Artemia gets her second choice of husband: the co-Emperor Maximinus. Dorothea’s faithful page Angelo, whom she took in as a beggar, turns out to be an angel, and brings Theophilus a gift from her: a basket of fruit and flowers to persuade him of the joys of the Christian heaven. Harpax comes in his true form, a devil, to claim Theophilus, but is frightened off by a floral cross in the basket. Theophilus is converted, orders the release of all Christian prisoners, and gives them ships in which to flee persecution. He is arrested by the authorities and asks to die on the worst of his extensive collection of torture instruments. He is racked but will not recant; Harpax is balked of his aim, and Dorothea and the other martyrs receive him into heaven. Diocletian is unmoved: the state will continue the persecution of Christians. =====…