Antonio and Mellida; Antonio's Revenge; The Malcontent; The Dutch Courtesan; Sophonisba

By John Marston

This edition brings together Marston's five major plays in one volume. Included here are Antonio and Mellida, Antonio's Revenge, The Malcontent, Measure for Measure, The Dutch Courtesan, andSophonisba. Under the general Editorship of Michael Cordner, the texts of the plays have been newly edited and are presented with modernized spelling and punctuation. This edition provides a critical introduction based on an informed understanding of the texts as scripts for the stage.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0192822500
• ISBN13: 9780192822505
• Release Date: October 1997
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 432 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.2" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

A quirky genius

Marston is among the first rank of English Renaissance dramatists, right up there with Marlowe, Middleton, and Webster. His achievement, however, is not fully commensurate with his genius: his reputation rests largely on one play, the satire THE MALCONTENT, which helped establish the fad for "disguised ruler" plays in the early 17th century (including Shakespeare's MEASURE FOR MEASURE). The other four plays in this collection, however, are also consistently fascinating. Marston is a rather anomalous figure in many ways; in the middle of a successful career as a dramatist, he became a clergyman and completely dissociated himself with the theater, even refusing to allow his name to be used on a printed collection of his plays. Unlike Middleton and Shakespeare, Marston wrote for the "boys'" acting company of St. Paul's Cathedral which used the indoor Blackfriars theater. Marston's works themselves are quite unique, blending tragedy and comedy in a highly satirical combination. His satirical perspective typifies the Jacobean period more than the Elizabethean. He has a real gift for language, with many very memorable lines. Another unusual feature of Marston's works is the many songs and musical interludes; the lyrics are included, but the music has been lost. This collection is essential reading for fans of Shakespeare and the English Renaissance. The introduction is highly intelligent and insightful, well worth reading. The general editors of this series should be flogged, however, for using inconvenient endnotes instead of footnotes. Notes are essential, as Marston liked to sprinkle Latin quotations throughout the dialogue, but turning to the back five to ten times each page will drive a reasonable person crazy. The editors seem to take an adolescent pleasure in pointing out every single possible sexual reference. There are many of them, but the editors sometimes invent sexual references even where they don't exist. As Freud once said, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. In any case, I don't need the editors to tell me of a sexual reference. If you have to explain it, the joke isn't funny.