A Looking Glass for London
Encyclopedia
A Looking Glass for London and England is an Elizabethan era stage play, a collaboration between Thomas Lodge
and Robert Greene
. Recounting the Biblical
story of Jonah
and the fall of Nineveh
, the play is a noteworthy example of the survival of the Medieval morality play
style of drama in the period of English Renaissance theatre
.
or early 1590
. Beyond its Biblical material, the play contains allusions to Marlowe's
Doctor Faustus
, showing that it post-dates Marlowe's play.
, the company that acted many of Greene's plays; the play's Clown may have been portrayed by Queen's Man John Adams. The play is known to have been acted by Lord Strange's Men
on March 8, 1592
, and remained in the dramatic repertory for many years. It may have been acted at Nordlingen
in Germany in 1605.
on 5 March 1594
by the printer Thomas Creede
, and was published later that year in a quarto
printed by Creede and sold by the stationer William Barley
. This was one of the notable instances in which Creede the printer acted as a publisher who then farmed out his work to a bookseller — a reversal of the usual relationship in Elizabethan publishing. Creede issued a second quarto in 1598
, which was also sold by Barley; a third quarto followed in 1602
, printed by Creede and sold by Thomas Pavier
. A fourth quarto appeared in 1617
from Bernard Alsop, who took over Creede's business in that year.
One extant quarto of A Looking Glass possesses markings and notes that equipped the text for service as a prompt book for an early production. The quarto shows the text was updated for the 1603 accession of King James I
, altered to reflect changes in English law, and adapted to the London audience; but except for the addition of a missing line, the text was not corrected for the errors and corruptions that are so common in the dramatic texts of the period. Use of a printed text as a prompt book is rare but not unprecedented in the era; such a text may have provided the copy for the First Folio
text of A Midsummer Night's Dream
.
; some critics have judged this dependency to be suggestive of Lodge more than Greene.
just after his victory over Jeroboam
, the "king of Jerusalem." Monstrously vain and arrogant, Rasni relishes the sycophantic praise of his courtiers and tributary kings; he proclaims that "Rasni is god on earth, and none but he." The only dissenting voice comes from the King of Crete
, who protests against Rasni's planned incestuous marriage with his sister Remilia. The protest is fruitless: Rasni deprives the Cretan king of his crown, bestowing it upon the upstart flatterer Radagon. The prophet Oseas
is lowered over the stage by an angel; seated on a throne, Oseas functions as observer and chorus
, commenting upon the play's action and applying its lessons to contemporary English life.
Subsequent scenes in the main plot alternate between the court of Rasni and Remilia, and scenes showing an usurer and his victims — primarily the spendthrift young gentleman Thrasybulus and the virtuous but poor Alcon, both of whom have loans forfeited to an unscrupulous moneylender. The two men try to obtain justice from the law courts, but find that the law is corrupt — the judge is a pawn of the usurer.
(The serious scenes of the main plot are interspersed with comic subplot scenes, devoted to showing common people in the common sins of drunkenness, gluttony, and disorder.)
Rasni and Remilia prepare a sumptuous wedding before their court — which is prevented when a thunderstorm rises and Remilia is killed by a bolt of lightning. Rasni rejects the implication of divine wrath; in place of his sister, he takes Alvida, the wife of the king of Paphlagonia
, as his lover. Alvida poisons her husband, a deed that Rasni praises. Jonah enters in the third act, as the play portrays his flight to Tarsus and Joppa to avoid the divinely-ordered mission to warn Nineveh of its sinful ways. Jonah's actual swallowing by the whale is not depicted directly...but the fourth act opens with him being "cast out of the whale's belly upon the stage" (which must have made a striking special effect). Jonah then accepts his divine mission and heads toward Nineveh.
Having failed to obtain justice in the courts, Alcon appeals to his son, who is none other than Radagon, the fast-rising courtier. But Radagon is contemptuously dismissive of his poor family, now that he has ascended to wealth and power. Alcon's wife curses Radagon — and immediately he is consumed by "a flame of fire." Rasni's magi
define this as a purely natural phenomenon, once again ignoring the portents of divine retribution; they pass off a sign in the heavens (a hand brandishing a flaming sword) the same way. Alvida attempts to seduce the King of Cilicia
, another of Rasni's clients; she faints when Rasni catches her.
By Act V, Alcon and his family are reduced to thievery to survive. Jonah arrives at Nineveh, preaching repentance; his preaching is so powerful that even the most corrupt are effected. Sinners who fast and repent — even Rasni and Alvida — are forgiven. Jonah ends the play alone on the stage, applying the moral lessons of the play to the lives of Londoners and Englishmen.
Thomas Lodge
Thomas Lodge was an English dramatist and writer of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods.-Early life and education:...
and Robert Greene
Robert Greene (16th century)
Robert Greene was an English author best known for a posthumous pamphlet attributed to him, Greene's Groats-Worth of Wit, widely believed to contain a polemic attack on William Shakespeare. He was born in Norwich and attended Cambridge University, receiving a B.A. in 1580, and an M.A...
. Recounting the Biblical
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
story of Jonah
Jonah
Jonah is the name given in the Hebrew Bible to a prophet of the northern kingdom of Israel in about the 8th century BC, the eponymous central character in the Book of Jonah, famous for being swallowed by a fish or a whale, depending on translation...
and the fall of Nineveh
Nineveh
Nineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq....
, the play is a noteworthy example of the survival of the Medieval morality play
Morality play
The morality play is a genre of Medieval and early Tudor theatrical entertainment. In their own time, these plays were known as "interludes", a broader term given to dramas with or without a moral theme. Morality plays are a type of allegory in which the protagonist is met by personifications of...
style of drama in the period of English Renaissance theatre
English Renaissance theatre
English Renaissance theatre, also known as early modern English theatre, refers to the theatre of England, largely based in London, which occurred between the Reformation and the closure of the theatres in 1642...
.
Date
The play dates from late 15891589 in literature
-Events:*The Children of Paul's perform twice at the English royal court during the first two weeks of January.-New books:*"Jane Anger" - Protection for Women*Giovanni Botero - Della ragione di Stato ...
or early 1590
1590 in literature
-Events:*The Children of Paul's perform at Court twice in the first week of January; one of the plays they acted may have been John Lyly's Midas. Later in the year, however, they are banned from performing because of the involvement of their chief script-writer, Lyly, in the Marprelate...
. Beyond its Biblical material, the play contains allusions to Marlowe's
Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. As the foremost Elizabethan tragedian, next to William Shakespeare, he is known for his blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his mysterious death.A warrant was issued for Marlowe's arrest on 18 May...
Doctor Faustus
The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, commonly referred to simply as Doctor Faustus, is a play by Christopher Marlowe, based on the Faust story, in which a man sells his soul to the devil for power and knowledge...
, showing that it post-dates Marlowe's play.
Performance
The premier production of A Looking Glass may have been staged by Queen Elizabeth's MenQueen Elizabeth's Men
Queen Elizabeth's Men was a playing company or troupe of actors in English Renaissance theatre. Formed in 1583 at the express command of Queen Elizabeth, it was the dominant acting company for the rest of the 1580s, as the Admiral's Men and the Lord Chamberlain's Men would be in the decade that...
, the company that acted many of Greene's plays; the play's Clown may have been portrayed by Queen's Man John Adams. The play is known to have been acted by Lord Strange's Men
Lord Strange's Men
Lord Strange's Men was an Elizabethan playing company, comprising retainers of the household of Ferdinando Stanley, Lord Strange . They are best known in their final phase of activity in the late 1580s and early 1590s...
on March 8, 1592
1592 in literature
-Events:*Ulysses Redux, a Latin play by William Gager, is staged by the students of Christ Church, Oxford on February 5. Two days later, on February 7, the students revive Gager's 1583 Latin play Rivales...
, and remained in the dramatic repertory for many years. It may have been acted at Nordlingen
Nördlingen
Nördlingen is a town in the Donau-Ries district, in Bavaria, Germany, with a population of 20,000. It is located in the middle of a complex meteorite crater, called the Nördlinger Ries. The town was also the place of two battles during the Thirty Years' War...
in Germany in 1605.
Publication
A Looking Glass was entered into the Stationers' RegisterStationers' Register
The Stationers' Register was a record book maintained by the Stationers' Company of London. The company is a trade guild given a royal charter in 1557 to regulate the various professions associated with the publishing industry, including printers, bookbinders, booksellers, and publishers in England...
on 5 March 1594
1594 in literature
-Events:*The London theatres re-open in the spring, after two years of general inactivity due to the bubonic plague epidemic of 1592–94. Many of the actors who used to be Lord Strange's Men form a new organization, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, under the patronage of Henry Carey, 1st Baron...
by the printer Thomas Creede
Thomas Creede
Thomas Creede was a printer of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, rated as "one of the best of his time." Based in London, he conducted his business under the sign of the Catherine Wheel in Thames Street from 1593 to 1600, and under the sign of the Eagle and Child in the Old Exchange from 1600 to...
, and was published later that year in a quarto
Book size
The size of a book is generally measured by the height against the width of a leaf, or sometimes the height and width of its cover. A series of terms is commonly used by libraries and publishers for the general sizes of modern books, ranging from "folio" , to "quarto" and "octavo"...
printed by Creede and sold by the stationer William Barley
William Barley
William Barley was an English bookseller and publisher. He completed an apprenticeship as a draper in 1587, but was soon working in the London book trade. As a freeman of the Drapers' Company, he was embroiled in a dispute between it and the Stationers' Company over the rights of drapers to...
. This was one of the notable instances in which Creede the printer acted as a publisher who then farmed out his work to a bookseller — a reversal of the usual relationship in Elizabethan publishing. Creede issued a second quarto in 1598
1598 in literature
-Events:*September 22 - Ben Jonson is charged with manslaughter, after killing actor Gabriel Spenser in a duel.*October - Edmund Spenser's castle at Kilcolman, near Doneraile in North Cork, is burned down by the native Irish forces of Aodh Ó Néill...
, which was also sold by Barley; a third quarto followed in 1602
1602 in literature
The year 1602 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*February 2 - The King's Men perform Twelfth Night at the Middle Temple.*May 4 - Richard Hakluyt is installed as prebendary of Westminster....
, printed by Creede and sold by Thomas Pavier
Thomas Pavier
Thomas Pavier was a London publisher and bookseller of the early seventeenth century. His complex involvement in the publication of early editions of some of Shakespeare's plays, as well as plays of the Shakespeare Apocrypha, has left him with a "dubious reputation."-Life and work:Pavier came to...
. A fourth quarto appeared in 1617
1617 in literature
The year 1617 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*March 4 - Shrovetide riot of the London apprentices damages the Cockpit Theatre...
from Bernard Alsop, who took over Creede's business in that year.
One extant quarto of A Looking Glass possesses markings and notes that equipped the text for service as a prompt book for an early production. The quarto shows the text was updated for the 1603 accession of King James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
, altered to reflect changes in English law, and adapted to the London audience; but except for the addition of a missing line, the text was not corrected for the errors and corruptions that are so common in the dramatic texts of the period. Use of a printed text as a prompt book is rare but not unprecedented in the era; such a text may have provided the copy for the First Folio
First Folio
Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. is the 1623 published collection of William Shakespeare's plays. Modern scholars commonly refer to it as the First Folio....
text of A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
.
Authorship
Both the 1594 Stationers' Register entry and the title page of the first edition attribute the play to Lodge and Greene. Some individual scholars have tried to assign shares of the play to the two different collaborators, though no consensus judgement has been reached. The Biblical portions of the play depend directly and heavily on the text of the Bishops' BibleBishops' Bible
The Bishops' Bible is an English translation of the Bible which was produced under the authority of the established Church of England in 1568. It was substantially revised in 1572, and this revised edition was to be prescribed as the base text for the Authorized King James Version of...
; some critics have judged this dependency to be suggestive of Lodge more than Greene.
Synopsis
The opening scene shows King Rasni of NinevehNineveh
Nineveh was an ancient Assyrian city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and capital of the Neo Assyrian Empire. Its ruins are across the river from the modern-day major city of Mosul, in the Ninawa Governorate of Iraq....
just after his victory over Jeroboam
Jeroboam
Jeroboam was the first king of the northern Israelite Kingdom of Israel after the revolt of the ten northern Israelite tribes against Rehoboam that put an end to the United Monarchy....
, the "king of Jerusalem." Monstrously vain and arrogant, Rasni relishes the sycophantic praise of his courtiers and tributary kings; he proclaims that "Rasni is god on earth, and none but he." The only dissenting voice comes from the King of Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
, who protests against Rasni's planned incestuous marriage with his sister Remilia. The protest is fruitless: Rasni deprives the Cretan king of his crown, bestowing it upon the upstart flatterer Radagon. The prophet Oseas
Hosea
Hosea was the son of Beeri and a prophet in Israel in the 8th century BC. He is one of the Twelve Prophets of the Jewish Hebrew Bible, also known as the Minor Prophets of the Christian Old Testament. Hosea is often seen as a "prophet of doom", but underneath his message of destruction is a promise...
is lowered over the stage by an angel; seated on a throne, Oseas functions as observer and chorus
Greek chorus
A Greek chorus is a homogenous, non-individualised group of performers in the plays of classical Greece, who comment with a collective voice on the dramatic action....
, commenting upon the play's action and applying its lessons to contemporary English life.
Subsequent scenes in the main plot alternate between the court of Rasni and Remilia, and scenes showing an usurer and his victims — primarily the spendthrift young gentleman Thrasybulus and the virtuous but poor Alcon, both of whom have loans forfeited to an unscrupulous moneylender. The two men try to obtain justice from the law courts, but find that the law is corrupt — the judge is a pawn of the usurer.
(The serious scenes of the main plot are interspersed with comic subplot scenes, devoted to showing common people in the common sins of drunkenness, gluttony, and disorder.)
Rasni and Remilia prepare a sumptuous wedding before their court — which is prevented when a thunderstorm rises and Remilia is killed by a bolt of lightning. Rasni rejects the implication of divine wrath; in place of his sister, he takes Alvida, the wife of the king of Paphlagonia
Paphlagonia
Paphlagonia was an ancient area on the Black Sea coast of north central Anatolia, situated between Bithynia to the west and Pontus to the east, and separated from Phrygia by a prolongation to the east of the Bithynian Olympus...
, as his lover. Alvida poisons her husband, a deed that Rasni praises. Jonah enters in the third act, as the play portrays his flight to Tarsus and Joppa to avoid the divinely-ordered mission to warn Nineveh of its sinful ways. Jonah's actual swallowing by the whale is not depicted directly...but the fourth act opens with him being "cast out of the whale's belly upon the stage" (which must have made a striking special effect). Jonah then accepts his divine mission and heads toward Nineveh.
Having failed to obtain justice in the courts, Alcon appeals to his son, who is none other than Radagon, the fast-rising courtier. But Radagon is contemptuously dismissive of his poor family, now that he has ascended to wealth and power. Alcon's wife curses Radagon — and immediately he is consumed by "a flame of fire." Rasni's magi
Magi
Magi is a term, used since at least the 4th century BC, to denote a follower of Zoroaster, or rather, a follower of what the Hellenistic world associated Zoroaster with, which...
define this as a purely natural phenomenon, once again ignoring the portents of divine retribution; they pass off a sign in the heavens (a hand brandishing a flaming sword) the same way. Alvida attempts to seduce the King of Cilicia
Cilicia
In antiquity, Cilicia was the south coastal region of Asia Minor, south of the central Anatolian plateau. It existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Byzantine empire...
, another of Rasni's clients; she faints when Rasni catches her.
By Act V, Alcon and his family are reduced to thievery to survive. Jonah arrives at Nineveh, preaching repentance; his preaching is so powerful that even the most corrupt are effected. Sinners who fast and repent — even Rasni and Alvida — are forgiven. Jonah ends the play alone on the stage, applying the moral lessons of the play to the lives of Londoners and Englishmen.