The Woman's Prize: aka The Tamer Tam'd "I find the medicine worse than the malady"
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John Fletcher was born in December, 1579 in Rye, Sussex. He was baptised on December 20th. As can be imagined details of much of his life and career have not survived and, accordingly, only a very brief indication of his life and works can be given. Young Fletcher appears at the very young age of eleven to have entered Corpus Christi College at Cambridge University in 1591. There are no records that he ever took a degree but there is some small evidence that he was being prepared for a career in the church. However what is clear is that this was soon abandoned as he joined the stream of people who would leave University and decamp to the more bohemian life of commercial theatre in London. The upbringing of the now teenage Fletcher and his seven siblings now passed to his paternal uncle, the poet and minor official Giles Fletcher. Giles, who had the patronage of the Earl of Essex may have been a liability rather than an advantage to the young Fletcher. With Essex involved in the failed rebellion against Elizabeth Giles was also tainted. By 1606 John Fletcher appears to have equipped himself with the talents to become a playwright. Initially this appears to have been for the Children of the Queen's Revels, then performing at the Blackfriars Theatre. Fletcher's early career was marked by one significant failure; The Faithful Shepherdess, his adaptation of Giovanni Battista Guarini's Il Pastor Fido, which was performed by the Blackfriars Children in 1608. By 1609, however, he had found his stride. With his collaborator John Beaumont, he wrote Philaster, which became a hit for the King's Men and began a profitable association between Fletcher and that company. Philaster appears also to have begun a trend for tragicomedy. By the middle of the 1610s, Fletcher's plays had achieved a popularity that rivalled Shakespeare's and cemented the pre-eminence of the King's Men in Jacobean London. After his frequent early collaborator John Beaumont's early death in 1616, Fletcher continued working, both singly and in collaboration, until his own death in 1625. By that time, he had produced, or had been credited with, close to fifty plays.
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The Woman's Prize - John Fletcher
The Woman’s Prize by John Fletcher
or, The Tamer Tam’d
John Fletcher was born in December, 1579 in Rye, Sussex. He was baptised on December 20th.
As can be imagined details of much of his life and career have not survived and, accordingly, only a very brief indication of his life and works can be given.
Young Fletcher appears at the very young age of eleven to have entered Corpus Christi College at Cambridge University in 1591. There are no records that he ever took a degree but there is some small evidence that he was being prepared for a career in the church.
However what is clear is that this was soon abandoned as he joined the stream of people who would leave University and decamp to the more bohemian life of commercial theatre in London.
The upbringing of the now teenage Fletcher and his seven siblings now passed to his paternal uncle, the poet and minor official Giles Fletcher. Giles, who had the patronage of the Earl of Essex may have been a liability rather than an advantage to the young Fletcher. With Essex involved in the failed rebellion against Elizabeth Giles was also tainted.
By 1606 John Fletcher appears to have equipped himself with the talents to become a playwright. Initially this appears to have been for the Children of the Queen's Revels, then performing at the Blackfriars Theatre.
Fletcher's early career was marked by one significant failure; The Faithful Shepherdess, his adaptation of Giovanni Battista Guarini's Il Pastor Fido, which was performed by the Blackfriars Children in 1608.
By 1609, however, he had found his stride. With his collaborator John Beaumont, he wrote Philaster, which became a hit for the King's Men and began a profitable association between Fletcher and that company. Philaster appears also to have begun a trend for tragicomedy.
By the middle of the 1610s, Fletcher's plays had achieved a popularity that rivalled Shakespeare's and cemented the pre-eminence of the King's Men in Jacobean London. After his frequent early collaborator John Beaumont's early death in 1616, Fletcher continued working, both singly and in collaboration, until his own death in 1625. By that time, he had produced, or had been credited with, close to fifty plays.
Index of Contents
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
THE SCENE: London
PROLOGUE
ACTUS PRIMUS
SCÆNA PRIMA
SCÆNA SECUNDA
SCÆNA TERTIA
SCÆNA QUARTA
ACTUS SECUNDUS
SCÆNA PRIMA
SCÆNA SECUNDA
SCÆNA TERTIA
SCÆNA QUARTA
SCÆNA QUINTA
SCÆNA SEXTA
ACTUS TERTIUS
SCÆNA PRIMA
SCÆNA SECUNDA
SCÆNA QUARTA
SCÆNA QUINTA
ACTUS QUARTUS
SCÆNA PRIMA
SCÆNA SECUNDA
SCÆNA TERTIA
SCÆNA QUARTA
ACTUS QUINTUS
SCÆNA PRIMA
SCÆNA SECUNDA
SCÆNA TERTIA
SCÆNA QUARTA
EPILOGUE
JOHN FLETCHER – A SHORT BIOGRAPHY
JOHN FLETCHER – A CONCISE BIBLIOGRAPHY
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
MEN
Moroso, an old rich doting Citizen, suitor to Livia.
Sophocles } Two Gentlemen, friends
Tranio } to Petruchio.
Petruchio, An Italian Gent. Husband to Maria.
Rowland, A young Gent. in love with Livia.
Petronius, Father to Maria and Livia.
Jaques } Two witty servants to
Pedro } Petruchio.
Doctor.
Apothecarie.
Watchmen.
Porters.
WOMEN
Maria, A chaste witty Lady } The two masculine daughters
Livia, Mistriss to Rowland } of Petronius.
Byancha, Their Cosin, and Commander in chief.
City Wives } To the relief of the Ladies, of which,
Countrey Wives } two were drunk.
Maids.
THE SCENE: London.
PROLOGUE
Ladies to you, in whose defence and right,
Fletchers brave Muse prepar'd her self to fight
A battel without blood, 'twas well fought too,
(The victory's yours, though got with much ado.)
We do present this Comedy, in which
A rivulet of pure wit flows, strong and rich
In Fancy, Language, and all parts that may
Add Grace and Ornament to a merry Play.
Which this may prove. Yet not to go too far
In promises from this our Female War.
We do intreat the angry men would not
Expect the mazes of a subtle plot,
Set Speeches, high Expressions, and what's worse,
In a true Comedy, politick discourse.
The end we aim at, is to make you sport;
Yet neither gall the City, nor the Court.
Hear, and observe his Comique strain, and when
Y' are sick-of melancholy, see't agen.
'Tis no dear Physick since 'twill quit the cost:
Or his intentions with our pains, are lost.
ACTUS PRIMUS
SCÆNA PRIMA
Enter MOROSO, SOPHOCLES and TRANIO, with ROSEMARY, as from a wedding.
MOROSO
God give 'em joy.
TRANIO
Amen.
SOPHOCLES
Amen, say I too:
The pudding's now i'th' proof, alas poor wench.
Through what a mine of patience must thou work,
E'r thou know'st good hour more!
TRANIO
'Tis too true: Certain,
Methinks her father has dealt harshly with her,
Exceeding harshly, and not like a Father,
To match her to this Dragon; I protest
I pity the poor Gentlewoman.
MOROSO
Methinks now,
He's not so terrible as people think him.
SOPHOCLES
This old thief flatters, out of meer devotion,
To please the Father for his second daughter.
TRANIO
But shall he have her?
SOPHOCLES
Yes, when I have Rome.
And yet the father's for him.
MOROSO
I'll assure ye,
I hold him a good man.
SOPHOCLES
Yes sure a wealthy,
But whether a good womans man, is doubtful.
TRANIO
Would 'twere no worse.
MOROSO
What though his other wife,
Out of her most abundant soberness,
Out of her daily hue and cries upon him,
(For sure she was a rebel) turn'd his temper,
And forc'd him blow as high as she? dos't follow
He must retain that long since buried Tempest,
To this soft Maid?
SOPHOCLES
I fear it.
TRANIO
So do I too:
And so far, that if God had made me woman,
And his wife that must be―
MOROSO
What would you do, Sir?
TRANIO
I would learn to eat coals with an angry Cat,
And spit fire at him: I would (to prevent him)
Do all the ramping, roaring tricks, a whore
Being drunk, and tumbling ripe, would tremble at:
There is no safety else, nor moral wisdom.
To be a wife, and his.
SOPHOCLES
So I should think too.
TRANIO
For yet the bare remembrance of his first wife
(I tell ye on my knowledge, and a truth too)
Will make him start in's sleep, and very often
Cry out for Cudgels, Colestaves, any thing;
Hiding his breeches, out of fear her Ghost
Should walk, and wear 'em yet. Since his first marriage,
He is no more the still Petruchio,
Than I am Babylon.
SOPHOCLES
He's a good fellow,
And on my word I love him: but to think
A fit match for this tender soul―
TRANIO
His very frown, if she but say her prayers
Louder than men talk treason, makes him tinder;
The motion of a Dial, when he's testy,
Is the same trouble to him as a Water-work;
She must do nothing of her self; not eat,
Drink, say Sir, how do ye? make her ready, unready,
Unless he bid her.
SOPHOCLES
He will bury her,
Ten pound to twenty shillings, within these three weeks.
TRANIO
I'll be your half.
[Enter JAQUES with a pot of Wine.
MOROSO
He loves her most extreamly,
And so long 'twill be Honey-moon. Now Jaques.
You are a busie man I am sure.
JAQUES
Yes certain,
This old sport must have eggs.
SOPHOCLES
Not yet this ten daies.
JAQUES
Sweet Gentlemen with Muskadel.
TRANIO
That's right, Sir.
MOROSO
This fellow broods his Master: speed ye Jaques.
SOPHOCLES
We shall be for you presently.
JAQUES
Your worships
Shall have it rich and neat: and o' my conscience
As welcome as our Lady-day: Oh my old Sir,
When shall we see your worship run at Ring?
That hour, a standing were worth money.
MOROSO
So Sir.
JAQUES
Upon my little honesty, your Mistriss,
If I have any speculation, must think
This single thrumming of a Fiddle,
Without a Bow, but even poor sport.
MOROSO
Y'are merry.
JAQUES
Would I were wise too: so God bless your worship.
TRANIO
The fellow tells you true.
[Exit JAQUES.
SOPHOCLES
When is the day man?
Come, come, you'll steal a marriage.
MOROSO
Nay, believe me:
But when her Father pleases, I am ready,
And all my friends shall know it.
TRANIO
Why not now?
One charge had serv'd for both.
MOROSO
There's reason in't.
SOPHOCLES
Call'd Rowland―
MOROSO
Will ye walk?
They'll