Early Modern Drama · Character Archetypes

PETRUCCIO

in The Rebellion — Rawlins, Thomas

Metadata

PlayThe Rebellion
AuthorRawlins, Thomas
Year (catalogued)1640
First performance1638
Decade1640s
GenreTragedy
Play typeAdult Professional
CompanyKing's Revels Company
Speech prefix(es)Pet. | Pet
Words507
Characters2632
Typicality0.26 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP idA10495
BritDrama no.2413
ClusterCluster 17 — Intriguers & schemers

Important excerpts

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

Full speech

Come sir to my Castle. Away with him Exeunt. Oft have I herd my brother with a tongue Proud of the Office, praised this lovely Lord; And my trapped soul old with a eager hast Draw in the breath, and now: Oh Aurelia, Buried with him must all thy joy thou hast For ever sleep; and with a pale consumption, Pitying him wit thou thy self be ruined? He must not die, if there be any way Revealed to the distressed, I will find it: Assist a poor lost Virgin some good power, And led her to a path, whose secret tract May guide both him and me unto our safety. Be kind good wits, I never until now Put you to any trouble; it's your Office, To help at needs this little world you live by: Not yet! Oh dulness! do not make me mad— I hav't blessed brain; now shall a woman's wit Wrestle with Fate, and if my plot but hit: Come off with wreaths, my duty nay may all, I must forsake lest my Antonio fallen. Exit. Thou hast thy wish, do't boldly, it's a deed That in the ignorance of elder ages, Would be thought full of merit: Be not daunted. By holy ( Jaques ) I'm a governor. And should my life; (though, by the hand of him My duty does call King) be stroke i'th air; My injured corpse should not forsake the earth Till I did see't revenged: be resolute; thy foot Is guided by a power, that though unseen, Is still a furtherer of good attempt. I am proud to see thee so well given. Take they girl, and with they take my prayers. She's gone unto her prayers, may every bead Draw down a blessing on her; that Like seed May grow into a Harvest: it's a girl My age is proud of, she's indeed the Model Of her dead Mother's virtues, as of shape. Bear hence this Banquet. Exit with the Banquet. You are our Prince, and may you live Long to enjoy your right. I do beseech your Grace not to think me Contriver of Antonio's escape from death, 'Twas my disloyal daughters breach of duty. You're still merciful. Look up Aurelia, would, why do you kneel? Why she is not Aurelia, do not mock me. My joy had been too great if he had lived, The thrifty heaven's mingle our sweets with gall; Least being glutted with excess of good, We should forget the giver. Rise Sebastiano With thy happy choice, mayest thou live crowned With the enjoyment of those benefits, My prayers shall beg for: rise Aurelio, And in some place blessed with religious prayers, Spend thy left Remnant. Farewell girl, when I remember thee, The Beads I drop shall be my tears. Enter Vermin in a Cloak for the Prologue. The drink has done its partly effectually, 'Twas a strong powder that could hold his senses So fast that this removing so full of noise, Had not the power to wake him.

Plot summary

Plot — The Rebellion
Machvile envies Antonio his popularity and also covets the crown. When the French, under Raymond the Moor, lay siege to Seville, Machvile engineers Antonio’s downfall at a council of war: he speaks for a military strategy, Antonio responds with a proposal to make peace, and the city’s Governor accuses Antonio of treason and cowardice; this provokes Antonio into killing the Governor. Antonio flees to his home, where he is appalled to find his sister Evadne kissing the tailor Giovanno. Before he can do more than protest, he is arrested by Machvile, who has succeeded to the governorship; but Giovanno and other tailors rescue him and he goes into hiding among them. Despite Giovanno’s help, Antonio is unable to sanction his love for Evadne, being bound by a deathbed promise to his father only to allow her to marry a nobleman. Machvile’s aggressive strategy is put into effect: the Spanish break out of their besieged city and defeat the French; Giovanno captures Raymond, but Machvile takes charge of the prisoner and banishes the heroic tailor. Planning to seize the Spanish throne, he proposes an alliance with Raymond to divide the country between them, planning all the while to kill the Moor once his object is achieved. Meanwhile the captive Raymond looks for a way to communicate with France and ask for additional troops. Antonio is told in a dream to flee, but is found, arrested, and sentenced to be ground to death in a mill. Aurelia, daughter of the captain of the mill, falls in love with him at first sight, asks for the privilege of execution herself, and helps him to escape in disguise. Evadne is banished, but Giovanno meets her and rescues her from rape at the hands of bandits. Antonio finds them together, but Aurelia, fleeing with him, identifies Giovanno as her brother Sebastiano: he has adopted the guise of a tailor in order to woo Evadne. The King comes to Seville incognito and stays with an old tailor, Giovanno’s employer, who has overheard Machvile’s plotting. Antonio and Sebastiano get confirmation in disguise, Antonio as a physician attending Machvile’s wife and Sebastiano as a French cobbler whom Raymond engages as a messenger to the court of France, giving him his ring for authentication (which Sebastiano uses to dismiss the remaining French troops). The grateful King pardons Antonio and agrees to his marrying Aurelia. The plan is to give Machvile enough rope to hang himself. The King witnesses, in hiding, a meeting at which the army colonels,…