in The Fatal Dowry — Field, Nathan; Massinger, Philip
Metadata
Play
The Fatal Dowry
Author
Field, Nathan; Massinger, Philip
Year (catalogued)
1632
First performance
1619
Decade
1630s
Genre
Tragedy
Play type
Adult Professional
Company
King's Men
Theater
Blackfriars;Indoor Professional
Speech prefix(es)
1 Cred. | 2 Cred. | 3 Cred. | 1 Cred • | 3 Cred,
Words
427
Characters
2239
Typicality
0.28 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A07251
BritDrama no.
1883
Cluster
Cluster 15 — Devils, vices & grotesques
Important excerpts
No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).
Full speech
And that your Lordship Will please to do your knowledge, we offer, first Our thankful hearts here, as a bounteous earnest To what we will add I have a son, That talks of nothing but of Guns and Armours, And swears hee'll be a soldier, 'tis and humour I would divert him from, and I am told That if I minister to him in his drink Powder, made of this banquerou Marshals bones, Provided that the carcase rot above ground, IT will cure his foolish frenzy. If your ears are fast, 'Tis nothing. Whats a blow or two? as much— Bear witness, Sirs. Thrift forbid. We will bear this, rather then hazard that. Ex: Creditor. It's the City Doctrine, We stand bound to maintain it. What mean you sir? It's the fi st money advocate ere gave back, Though he said nothing. Accept it by all m es: let's shut him up, He is well-shaped and has a villainous to gue, And should he study that way of renenge, As I dare almost swear he loves a wench, We have no wives, nor never shall get daughter That will hold out against him. Sir. Would they not so? Wee'll keep them to stop bottles then: You're never content, Crying not laughing. Slid, Sir, what would ye, ye're so choleric? We have nothing but his body here in durance For all our money. No farther, look to they at your own peril. Yes faith, we are paid. That he was never bound for. O, they are charitable, The Ma shall stood engaged unto us three, Two hundred thousand crowns, which by his death We are defeated of. For which great lose We aim at nothing but his rotten flesh, Nor is that cruelty. These chastisements, as useful are as frequent To such as would grow rich. And so they are. Very well. Speak you for all. Damned, would! would, would. Our wives, Sir, taught us. Most soldiers are so y faith, let him alone: They have little else to live on, we have not had A penny of him, have we? No, as they please: their Master's a good man. I would they were the Burmudas. Heaven bless his Lordship, I did think him wiser What think you of the offer? Yes faith. Sir, weel'd be very glad To please you yther way. He a statesman, he and ass Pay other men's debts? Why, let our executions That lie upon the father, be returned Upon the son, and we release the body. God's-light, wo'd you have our hearts?
Plot summary
Plot — The Fatal Dowry
. Before the start of the action, the Marshal Charolais bankrupted himself to pay the army, and died in a debtors’ prison. Now his creditors seek to detain his body, preventing it from being buried. His son appeals in the courts, but the measure is pronounced legal; however, the creditors accept Young Charolais’s offer to be imprisoned himself, and the funeral takes place. Being poor, Charolais has no hope of ever being released, but Rochfort pays the debt and, in return, asks that Charolais marry his daughter Beaumelle. Before the marriage, Young Novall paid Beaumelle’s waiting-woman Bellapert to help him seduce her. Despite now being Charolais’s wife, Beaumelle proves receptive to his continued courting, but their meeting is witnessed by Charolais’s friend Romont. He intervenes and sends Novall packing, much to Beaumelle’s displeasure, then accuses her, first to Rochfort and then to her husband, but neither will believe him. Finally he confronts Novali and forces him at gunpoint to sign a confession and undertake never to see or contact Beaumelle again. Novall does not keep his word: Charolais catches him with Beaumelle and kills him. He then presents his wife to her father as the accused in an adultery trial. As a judge, Rochfort is obliged to condemn her to death, a sentence Charolais readily carries out; but as a father, he takes her part and accuses Charolais of ingratitude. The young man is arrested and tried for Novall’s murder. He admits the killing, but pleads that the adultery extenuates it. The court accepts the argument after Romont produces the confession signed by Novall. Private revenge takes over: Charolais is killed in open court by Pontalier, Novall’s kinsman, who is himself killed in turn by Romont, whom the court banishes for the crime.