in Hoffman, or A Revenge for a Father — Chettle, Henry
Metadata
Play
Hoffman, or A Revenge for a Father
Author
Chettle, Henry
Year (catalogued)
1631
First performance
1602
Decade
1630s
Genre
Tragedy
Play type
Adult Professional
Company
Admiral's (Nottingham's) Men
Theater
Phoenix/Cockpit;Indoor Professional
Speech prefix(es)
Old Stilt. | O. Stilt. | O Stilt. | O. Stilt • | O. S.
Words
479
Characters
2507
Typicality
0.32 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A18596
BritDrama no.
1384
Cluster
Cluster 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
Hah! what sayest my son? treason and ini quity? Well, go thy ways: thou art able to put fire into a Flint stone; thou hast as rheumatic a tongue to persuade as any is between Pole and Pomer; but thou art even kit after kind, I am thy father, and was infamous for my exprobations, to discourage a dissembly of tall soldiers afore thou w rt born, and I have made them stand to it tooth and nail; how say you, most valiant and reprobate Country men: have you not herd I have been a stinger, a tickler, a wormer. I then was, and Sarloys was; a gentleman would not have given his head for the washing; but he is cut of, as all valiant caualeroes shall; and they be no more neg ligent of themselves; But to the purpose: we are dissem bled together, and fallen into ba tail beray in the behalf Prince Jerom a virtuous Prince, a wise Prince, and a most respectless Prince; my son Timothies master, and the un lawful heir of this land. Now sir the old Duke has put out a declamation, and says our rising is no other then a re surrection, for the Prince inspires not against his father; but the Duke inspires against his son, using him most natum rally, charitably, and abominably, to put him from inter session of the crown; wherefore as ye be true men, and obstinate subjects to the State uncover your heads, and cast up your caps and cry a Jerom, a Jerom, Om, A Jerom, a Jerom, a Jerom. I, I, Prince lorom or no body; be not obstacle old Duke, let not your own flesh and blood be inherited of your Dukedom, and a stranger displaced in his retority: for and you do, we will take no comparison of you and your army, but fallen upon you Like temperance and light ning. True son uncere peregrination, and one that was not born within our Dukes damnation, and therefore not to be remitted to any vpstantiall degree of office amongst us: that's the fine, that's the confusion of all. I that I am my Lord, I have lived in name and shame hese threescore, and seven winter's, all my neighbours can are me testament, and accord. And Prince Jerom too; well son, isle leave thee a Courtier still, and get me home to my own desolation, where isle labour to compel away excessity: and so fareyee well. I warrant you Prince, when the battle comes to joining, my son and I will be invisible, and they over come us, isle give you leave to say I have no pith in me; up on um true Prince upon um. Mass he says true son; but what's the remedy? I truly my Lord, we raised the resurrection, IS. God save Duke Ferdinand, and Prince Otho.
Plot summary
Plot — Hoffman, or A Revenge for a Father
HanisiHofinan, Vice-Admiral of Luneburg, was betrayed by the state after doing it good service, forced to turn pirate and then executed for it. His son Clois stole his body from the gallows but was bound by oath not to bury ===== PAGE 5 ===== 1603 it. Now Clois Hoffman seeks revenge against the Dukes of Luneburg and Prussia. He witnesses a shipwreck; @iiarles, heir to the Duchy of Luneburg, is among the survivors, but Hoffman murders him with a burning crown, then adopts his identity and visits the court of Prussia. Férditiaid) Duke of Prussia, disinherits his son Jeremie and adopts the supposed Charles as his heir. The brothers BOdGWick and Mathias are to joust for the hand of L@€ibélla. Their fathers, SAXGHY and \(AuStfid, meet by chance at the hermit R@@EfiIEK’s cell and discover that he is Austria’s long-lost brother. Hoffman, posing as Roderick, tells Lodowick and Lucibella that Ferdinand has plotted Lodowick’s murder, and supplies Lodowick with Greek garments to enable them to leave the court in disguise. He then tells Mathias that Lucibella has absconded with a Greek. Mathias pursues the couple and assaults them; Lodowick has time to reveal the truth before he dies. Roderick denies the story, and Saxony confirms his alibi. Hoffman murders Austria. Lucibella recovers from her wounds, but goes mad with grief. J@fGME raises an army in rebellion against his father, but Hoffman makes peace by persuading him to accept the office of food taster. He inveigles his servant Lorrique into Jerome’s service disguised as a French doctor. Jerome acquires poison from him to murder ‘Charles’, but only succeeds in administering it to Ferdinand and himself (as food taster); unfortunately the antidote supplied by the ‘doctor’ doesn’t work. Hoffman succeeds to the Dukedom. Charles’s recently widowed mother, Martha, comes to court to congratulate her son, and Hoffman considers killing her to protect his identity, but instead enlists her as an ally after explaining what happened (but omitting to mention that he murdered Charles). Mathias, Saxony, and Roderick find the skeletons of Hans Hoffman and Charles, and overhear Lorrique discussing Hoffman’s imposture with Martha. Lucibella gives Martha Charles’s clothes, and she notices that they are not water-damaged, even though her son was supposedly drowned. Lorrique confesses everything and agrees to help lure Hoffman into a trap, but Hoffman murders him. Mathias and Saxony hang up his dead body near a cave where Hoffman…