Early Modern Drama · Character Archetypes

LEMOT

in A Christian Turned Turk (The Two Famous Pirates) — Daborne, Robert

Metadata

PlayA Christian Turned Turk (The Two Famous Pirates)
AuthorDaborne, Robert
Year (catalogued)1612
First performance1610
Decade1610s
GenreTragedy
Play typeBoys Professional
CompanyUnknown
Speech prefix(es)Lem.
Words351
Characters1933
Typicality0.37 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP idA19757
BritDrama no.1642
ClusterCluster 19 — Grieving nobles & tragicomic sufferers

Important excerpts

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

Full speech

Unfortunate sister, my heart dissolves to blood, And pays and tribute to thy sadder griefs. Nay, make no perjod, our woes are not at full, Hymen did never behold so black a nuptial. Alas! with our delay we hasten misery, See how they bear up to us. Dear sister hide At least thy sex, though not thy sorrow. Nay then thou cleavest my soul, do not distrust Chaste thoughts are guided by a power, that's joust. My worthy friends, yet what persuasion needs To stir up valour where necessity And justice of our cause, in basest spirits Would strike a fire to kindle cowardice? Three days we have been pursued by a Dutch Pirate, And now we are fallen upon no less a monster. Me thinks I see your eyes darting forth flames Like Lyons in their chase, the greedy hunter Seeming to warm that blood, whose heat and rage Proves his destruction. Not ready yet? alas thou wilt betray Thy self unto their lust. As you are men I do conjure your valours. In their own language answer them. Brave countrymen, Think through how many dangers, with what sweat, what care, How long expense of time, we have be getting Those goods these Robbers fight for, that should make good to us The sweet of joust endeavours, look on this maid, Think with what honourable welcomings, You shall deliver her to her betrothed husband, How much you shall engage him, lastly, think that you see, Even all the miss rises despised poverty Can throw on men, that by this one hours valour We only can redeem our selves from death O think how happy it's to innocence, Whereunto guilty souls it looks black and fearful: At least let this all thoughts of fear dispel, Truth fights gainst theft, and heaven opposes hell. A constant breast may fallen, but cannot die, So much the better, I see no fear in fight, Courage brave countrymen: what's nature's partly May fallen; what's heavens can never, it is the ods That joust men have of bade, still to the gods They stand or fallen.

Plot summary

Plot — A Christian Turned Turk (The Two Famous Pirates)
By a ruse, the pirate Ward takes prisoner two French merchants, Ferdinand and Albert. He attacks the ship taking Alizia to her bridegroom, Young Raymond, and kills her brother; she escapes by disguising herself as a ship-boy, Fidelio. Another pirate, Francisco, challenges him for the spoils; they engage in single combat, and ultimately agree to share the booty. During the fight, Ward’s men Gismund and Gallop mutiny and steal a ship, and make for Tunis, taking the disguised Alizia with them. Ward swears vengeance, seizes further prisoners, among them Alizia’s fiancé, and sells them into slavery in Tunis. Gallop makes his peace with Ward by pretending he was abducted, like ‘Fidelio’. The Turkish authorities in Tunis attempt to convert Ward to Islam. He is initially reluctant, but agrees when Voada offers herself as his wife; even so, he evades circumcision by putting an ape’s tail under the knife instead of his penis. He marries Voada as planned and gives her ‘Fidelio’ as her page; but in fact ‘Fidelio’ has been the object of her affections all along, and she has no sexual interest in Ward. ‘Fidelio’ agrees to sleep with her if she arranges for a particular slave to escape, claiming him to be a brother (though of course it is really Young Raymond). To evade the sexual part of the bargain, ‘Fidelio’ then makes an alternative arrangement with Ward, who agrees to help her, but then double-crosses her by telling his wife. Voada kills Raymond, thinking he is trying to rob her of ‘Fidelio’, then Alizia kills herself. Seeking revenge, Voada tries to attack Ward; she is slightly wounded when he defends himself, but exaggerates the injury in order to get him arrested. (The Tunisian authorities are uninterested in the murder of the two Christians.) Ward stabs himself, and dies cursing Turkish treachery. In the other plot, Gallop makes a date for sex with Agar. Her jealous husband Benwash allows the tryst to go ahead, since he needs definite proof of adultery if he is to end the marriage. Meanwhile, the reformed pirate Dansiker has been offered a pardon by the French King, but wishes to do something positive to redeem his past crimes, rather than passively accept forgiveness; so he plans to rid Tunis of its pirates by blowing up the town. Gallop keeps his date with Agar, but thieves steal his clothes and rope ladder while he is busy enjoying himself. The couple are disturbed by Dansiker’s explosion, which sets the house on fire, and Gallop has to escape in a state of…