Early Modern Drama · Character Archetypes

NUNTIUS

in The Conflict of Conscience — Woodes, Nathaniel

Metadata

PlayThe Conflict of Conscience
AuthorWoodes, Nathaniel
Year (catalogued)1581
First performance1572
Decade1580s
GenreMoral
Play typeInterlude
Speech prefix(es)NVNTIVS.
Words156
Characters838
Typicality0.28 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP idA68918
BritDrama no.519
ClusterCluster 10 — Mourners, mothers & doleful voices

Important excerpts

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

Full speech

O joyful news, which I report, and bring into your ears, Philologus, that would have hanged himself with coard, —Is now converted unto God, with many bitter tears, By godly council he was won, all praise be to the Lord, His errors all, he did renounce, his blasphemies he abhorred: And being converted, left his life, exhorting foe and friend, That do profess the faith of Christ, to be constant to the end, Full thirty weeks, in woeful wise, afflicted he had be, All which long time, he took no food, but forced against his will, Even with a spoon to pour some broth, his tooth between, And though they sought by force, this wise to feed him still, He always strove with all his might, the same on ground to spill, So that no sustenance he receiu'de, ne sleep could he attain, And now the Lord, in mercy great hath eased him of his pain.

Plot summary

Plot — The Conflict of Conscience
Satan, concerned about the spread of godliness on Earth, procures Hypocrisy, Tyranny, and Avarice to counteract it by propagating vice through the Roman Catholic church. Philologus and Mathetes discuss the danger to Protestantism, and conclude that worldly torments are sent by God to test men’s faith. After arguing about their mutual precedence, the vices resolve to help the papal legation, and adopt innocuous aliases. Tyranny is commissioned as an inquisitor to hunt heretics, while Avarice accepts their bribes to save them from arrest. Caconos alerts the vices to the heresies of Philologus, who is arrested and tried by the Cardinal in consistory court. He is examined on the topics of papal authority and transubstantiation, and found guilty. His property is confiscated and his family’s distress used to put psychological pressure on him; he is also threatened with imprisonment, torture, and execution, but promised money and power if he recants. He does, persuaded by the glass of vanity given by Sensual Suggestion. Spirit and Conscience call on Philologus to renounce his apostasy and embrace martyrdom, but he rejects them. In prosperity, he is visited by Horror, who torments him with the knowledge of his own damnation. Theologus and Eusebius urge the continuing availability of God’s grace, but Philologus blasphemes and curses God. Despairing of salvation, he hangs himself. (In the B-text, he is given grace to repent at the last moment.)