in 1 The Honest Whore (1 The Converted Courtesan) (The Patient Man and the Honest Whore) — Dekker, Thomas; Middleton, Thomas
Metadata
Play
1 The Honest Whore (1 The Converted Courtesan) (The Patient Man and the Honest Whore)
Author
Dekker, Thomas; Middleton, Thomas
Year (catalogued)
1604
First performance
1604
Decade
1600s
Genre
Comedy
Play type
Adult Professional
Company
Prince Henry's Men
Speech prefix(es)
Bawd. | Baw. | Ba.
Words
228
Characters
1165
Typicality
0.26 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A20062
BritDrama no.
1431
Cluster
Cluster 9 — Boon companions & bluff banter
Important excerpts
Passages from this character's speech that contain the most distinguishing words for Cluster 9 (ralph, blastfield, bully, abram, rees, signiour…). Matches are highlighted.
your feather, there's the sweetest, properest, gallantest Gentleman at my house, he smells all of Musk & Amber Greece, his pocket full of Crowns, flame-coloured doublet, read satin hose, Carnation silk stockings, and a leg and a bo die, o! Marry come up with a pox, have you no body to rail against, but your Bawd now? And you do
Full speech
Oh Roger, Roger, where's your mistress, where's your mistress? there's the finest, neatest Gentleman at my house, but newly come over: Oh where is she, where is she, where is she? How? is she not a whore? do you go about to take away her good name, Roger ? you are a fine Pandar indeed. Gods my life, and is she changed now? Oh sweet Madonna, on with your lose gown, your felt & your feather, there's the sweetest, properest, gallantest Gentleman at my house, he smells all of Musk & Amber Greece, his pocket full of Crowns, flame-coloured doublet, read satin hose, Carnation silk stockings, and a leg and a bo die, o! Marry come up with a pox, have you no body to rail against, but your Bawd now? And you do casheere him, he shall be entertained. Ma y gup, are you grown so holy, so pure, so ho nest with a pox? True Rog. except my vails. Why as thus, if a couple come in a Coach, & light to lie down a little, then Roger, thats my fee, & you may walk abroad; for the Coach man himself is their Pandar. Why then, Roger, you are to have sixpence a lane, so many lanes, so many sixpences. I Roger, so long as there be any Taverns and baw die houses in Milan. Exeunt.
Plot summary
Plot — 1 The Honest Whore (1 The Converted Courtesan) (The Patient Man and the Honest Whore)
Count Hippolito attempts to make a scene at the funeral of the Duke’s daughter, Infelice, but is restrained. In fact, Infelice is not dead: the Duke administered a sleeping draught to prevent her from marrying Hippolito. When she wakes, he tells her Hippolito is dead and sends her away to Bergamo, then accepts Dr Benedict’s offer to poison Hippolito. Bellafront the courtesan falls in love with Hippolito when his friend and her client Matheo brings him to meet her. He mistrusts her protestation that, for him, she will become honest, and speaks harshly against whores. But she fulfils her promise: dismisses her pander Roger (who quickly finds alternative employment) and sends away her former clients, including Matheo. On a Monday, she goes to visit Hippolito, disguised as a page; she finds him in solemn meditation (since Infelice supposedly died on a Monday), and he rejects her again. Dr Benedict tells the Duke that he has been poisoned, and is banished for it; but in fact he has done no such thing, and tells Hippolito that Infelice is not only alive, but waiting at the madhouse to marry him. Meanwhile, Fustigo returns to Milan to find that his sister has married Candido, a man apparently incapable of anger. This is demonstrated in a wager between three gentlemen who try to make him lose his temper: first Castruccio poses as a customer and makes unreasonable demands, which Candido meets even though it means spoiling a piece of cloth; then Fluello steals a beaker from the household, for which Candido has them arrested, but then genially invites them to dinner. Viola also wants to make her husband angry, and has Fustigo pose as a swaggerer and attempt to seduce her. When he tries, however, Candido’s apprentices take it upon themselves to beat him while their master is away, and Candido’s equanimity remains intact. Viola continues to behave provocatively: she refuses Candido the key to fetch his gown for a senate meeting, so he goes wearing a carpet instead; she has George dress in his clothes and 1604 pose as him on his return, but Candido’s good-natured response is to dress himself as an apprentice; and he even looks on the bright side of a beating administered by ruffians hired by Fustigo to avenge his injury. Finally Viola has him committed to the madhouse, but soon changes her mind and petitions the Duke for his release. The Duke hears of Infelice’s plans, goes to the madhouse, and, while they wait to interrupt the marriage that afternoon, pass the time…