Early Modern Drama · Character Archetypes

BERNARDO

in The Deserving Favorite — Carlell, Lodowick

Metadata

PlayThe Deserving Favorite
AuthorCarlell, Lodowick
Year (catalogued)1629
First performance1629
Decade1620s
GenreTragicomedy
Play typeAdult Professional
CompanyKing's Men
Theaterbefore the Court;Blackfriars;Indoor Professional
Speech prefix(es)Ber.
Words379
Characters1934
Typicality0.27 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP idA17968
BritDrama no.2262
ClusterCluster 23 — Gulls, fops & laughing-stocks

Important excerpts

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

Full speech

My Lord the King is newly lighted at the garden gate, And in all hast calls for you. Madame, will it please you walk into the gallery, There are some pictures will be worth your seeing. Exeunt. Madame, I know my Lord would think him happy Would you accept the picture; but much happier If you would take the substance. He is this morning ridden forth, Whither I do not know. Good morrow to your Lordship. Early this morning. I was commanded otherways by him. Royal Sir, add to the number of your many favors, the perfor mance of this my last request: What does he mean by this? I pray you see Clarinda (who is my wife) possessed of what was mine, and withal, pardon him that kills me; for I will compel him to fight. How's this? Begin not after my death to deny me that which is joust, since in my life time you never did see the will of the dead effected, as you desire to have your Testament performed after your death, which I pray the Gods that it may be yet a long life. Oh what a Character is here delivered, of a pure mind, Which only seems to show the greatness of my lose The plainer, his death is not yet certain, Let me not Like a woman spend that time In fruitless lamentations which may perchance Afford a remedy, but now it is night: What shall I do? call all the Court, and let them all Disperse themselves, each man a several way; He that brings word the Duke is alive, Shall have a thousand pounds: he is gone to fight A Combat with whom I know not; but he that Apprehends the man that killed him, shall have his land Is there none here that knows of any falling out Between him and some other Lord? speak, Is there none can tell me? Sad news believe me. The King hath sworn to have his head off ere Sunset. I, but is't not strange the King should grace That villain Giacomo that did betray him? At one o'th clock he is to suffer, let us be there betimes and get a place near the Scaffold to hear his last words. Exe.

Plot summary

Plot — The Deserving Favorite
Before the start of the action, Utrante and Orsinio were suspected of poisoning a member of the royal family: Orsinio was banished and, for a time, Utrante imprisoned, his lands confiscated. Nevertheless Orsinio's son, Lysander, has prospered: the Duke saved his life after a hunting accident, took him into favour, and intervened to secure his estate when his uncle mounted a legal claim against him. He has become secretly betrothed to Utrante's daughter, Clarinda; but now the Duke has fallen in love with her too. Lysander feels he must stand aside in his patron's favour, not only because of his personal obligations to the Duke but also because he knows that, if balked, the Duke could make life difficult, or short, for Clarinda's father. Clarinda, however, will not accept Lysander's withdrawal or the Duke's suit. Not knowing of her prior engagement, Utrante pressurizes her, and she asks to postpone the decision for a month, intending to force a fait accompli by marrying Lysander in the interim. Jacomo discovers the secret romance and arranges for the Duke to witness an assignation between the lovers. He offers to murder Lysander, against whom he has a grudge, but the Duke refuses, preferring the honourable option: a duel. The rivals fight in the forest; both are wounded, but the Duke gets the worst of it. They are found by the Princess, Cleonarda, who takes Lysander back to her hunting lodge, leaving the Duke's body for later collection. It has gone when her servants come back for it. Meanwhile the King receives a letter from the Duke, which was to be delivered in the event of his death, in which he names Clarinda as his heir and asks forgiveness for his killer. The King ignores the request and swears that Lysander will be swiftly executed when caught. A forest hermit arrives with news of the Duke's death: his body was stolen by pirates and disposed of at sea. Cleonarda falls in love with Lysander, but accepts that Clarinda has a prior claim on him, and tells her that he is hiding out at the hunting lodge. Clarinda plans to go there disguised as a boy, and asks Jacomo to escort her, but on the way he attempts to rape her. She is saved by the intervention of the Duke, who is still alive and staying at the hermit's cottage; not knowing her gender, he spends the night there with her. Meanwhile Jacomo fetches the King, who besieges the hunting lodge and arrests Lysander. Jacomo is rewarded with a grant of lands. The day of Lysander's execution arrives. Clarinda…