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XVI. A Probable Source of Beaumont and Fletcher's Philaster

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2020

T. P. Harrison Jr.
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Extract

Though it is recognized that Beaumont and Fletcher generally followed Jonson's example in inventing their own plots, studies of their plays have led to direct sources elsewhere—largely in Spanish romances. Their plays, instead of attempting to picture real life, are provided with distant settings and filled with improbable situations, unnatural characters, and a sentimental atmosphere, so that it was an easy matter to draw material for them from the romantic tales of such writers as Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Gonzalo de Cespedes, and Mateo Aleman.

Type
Research Article
Information
PMLA , Volume 41 , Issue 2 , June 1926 , pp. 294 - 303
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1926

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References

1 See A. W. Ward, Hist. of Engl. Dram. Lit., 1875; E. Koeppel, Quellenstudien zu den Dramen Ben Jonson's, J. Marston's und Beaumont und Fletcher's, (Münchener Beiträge VI), 1895; A. H. Thorndike, Influence of Beaumont and Fletcher on Shakespeare, 1901.

2 Ward, II, p. 753.

3 By mistake called “Fellisarda” by Weber and Dyce, as noted by Daniel in Variorum edition of Philaster, and by Boas in the Temple Dramatists edition.

4 Though they probably knew Montemayor's story of Felismena, it is unlikely that the authors of Philaster had in mind Felismena as the model of Bellario. The two are entirely different creatures: Felismena, who almost incessantly probes her master for some token of affection; Bellario, who does not desire her devotion ever to be revealed to her lord. In exception to this statement, cf. following passage in Philaster, when after the eloquent speech of Bellario (II, iii, 52-64), Arethusa remarks, 65-66:

“Oh, you're a cunning boy, and taught to lie

For your master's credit.“

and, in Diana, the reply of Celia to the flattery of Felismena: “Thou hast learned quickly of thy Master to sooth.”

5 Daniel, pp. 119-120.

6 However, “with the exception of three scenes, two half scenes and a few insertions or revisions by Fletcher, Philaster is Beaumont's” (C. M. Gayley, Beaumont, the Dramatist, 1914, p. 346). For analysis of Fletcher's share in play see further pp. 346-348.

7 The very obvious similarity of the situation, as it is conceived by the deposed heir Philaster, to that at the opening of Sh's. Hamlet, is unrelated to the equally obvious similarity in circumstance to the Diana.

8 An indication of the independence of Beaumont and Fletcher is to be seen in the dramatic uniqueness of Bellario's disguise, which is unknown to the audience until the end of the play. This point is noted by V. O. Freeburg, Disguise Plots in Elizabethan Drama, 1915, p. 84.

9 Var. ed. of Philaster, p. 120.

10 Silla has stolen away secretly from her father's house. In order to leave her home, Bellario has professed a pilgrimage (cf. Portia in Sh's M. of V.). The pretext was possibly suggested by the Diana, where Marthea, the mistress of Sagastes, has given the same excuse to her parents in order to delay her marriage to him.

11 Likewise, for the scene in Philaster which pictures Arethusa awaiting the return of Bellario (III ii) there is a similar one in Gl'Ingannati, as the enamoured mistress awaits the coming of the page.

12 Martandrus and Placindus, secret friends of Disteus, correspond to Dion, Cleremont, and Thrasiline, secret friends of Philaster.

13 As the boor possibly Pharamond, like Don Armado in Sh's L.L.L. and others, is only the conventional Spaniard of the English stage.

14 Cf. also the heavy ransom placed upon the head of Disteus—his apprehension implies that of Dardanea also—and in Philaster (IV, ii, 105 ff.) the King's passionate demands for his daughter.

15 Freeburg (p. 43) has found reminders in Philaster of Straparola's Tredeci Piacevolissime Notti, IV, 1 (Printed 1550).

16 Op. cit., pp. 152-160.

17 “In all probability it belongs as a whole to the year 1609-10” (Craig). See also Gayley, op. cit., p. 344.

18 “The date, 1608, adopted by Dyce, Leonhardt, Macaulay, and students in general, is no more than a conjecture; but on the whole it seems a probable one.” (Thorndike, p. 65.) Play written shortly before acted, between December 1609 and July 1610. (Gayley, op. cit., p. 345.) Rather unsatisfactorily Gayley (ibid., pp. 390-393) argues that there is no indication that Philaster influenced Cymbeline.