Midas (play)
Encyclopedia
Midas is an Elizabethan era stage play, a comedy written by John Lyly
. It is arguably the most overtly and extensively allegorical
of Lyly's allegorical plays.
on 4 October 1591
; it was first published in 1592
in a quarto
printed by Thomas Scarlet for Joan Broome. She was the widow of William Broome, the bookseller who issued reprints of Lyly's Campaspe
and Sapho and Phao
in 1591; the widow Broome herself published the first editions of Lyly's Endymion
(1591) and Gallathea
(1592).
Midas was probably acted by the Children of Paul's
, Lyly's regular company through most of his playwriting career. The title page of the first edition states that the play was performed at Court on Twelfth Night
, probably on 6 January 1590
. John Dover Wilson proposed that Lyly himself may have played the role of Midas; but this is a speculation unsupported by evidence.
"Obviously" the play was written after the defeat of the Spanish Armada
in 1588. The play also features an allusion to the English Armada
of 1589; the authorship of Midas must date from the 1588–89 period.
The student theatre ensemble of Stuart Hall School
, located in Staunton, Virginia, staged a production of Midas on 30 April – 1 May http://www.stuart-hall.org/content/view/586/262/ directed by Theatre Program Director, Brett Sullivan Santry. The performers, who ranged in age from eleven to seventeen, rehearsed and performed under the tenets of Original staging practices from the Elizabethan period. Given the play’s extremely limited modern production history, the probability exists that the Stuart Hall production marked the first time the play was staged in North America.
story given in Book xi of the Metamorphoses of Ovid
; he departs from Ovid's version mainly to strengthen the allegorical aspects of the play (see below). He exploits both aspects of the Midas legend in classical mythology — the golden touch and the ass's ears.
Bacchus
, the god of wine, rewards the hospitality of Midas, king of Phrygia
, by offering him anything he desires. The king's three courtiers, Eristus, Martius, and Mellicrates, variously advise him to choose rewards that center on love, war, and wealth; Midas accepts the advice of Mellicrates and asks that everything he touches turn to gold
. (In the classic legend, Midas is motivated simply by greed; in Lyly's play, Midas wants gold partly to finance his planned invasion of the island of Lesbos, an idea that winds throughout the play.)
In the play as in the myth, Midas's misfortunes with his golden touch follow; his clothes, food, wine, and even his beard all turn to gold. Midas eventually cures himself by taking the advice of Bacchus and bathing in the river Pactolus, which becomes gold-producing as a result. In the second phase of the king's adventures, Midas, hunting in a wood on Mount Tmolus, encounters Apollo
and Pan
, who are preparing to engage in a musical competition. Midas thursts himself into the role of judge, and decides in favor of Pan; Apollo responds by giving the king the ears of an ass. Midas conceals his affliction at first, but the news passes from nymphs
to shepherds, and is eventually whispered by reeds to all the world.
Midas's sensible daughter Sophronia (a Lylian addition) appeals to Apollo's oracle at Delphi
for guidance. Midas goes to Delphi, admits his foolishness and expresses repentance; his auricular affliction is cured, and a newly humbled Midas renounces his plans for conquest, especially against the stalwart islanders of Lesbos.
The play has a more overtly comic subplot focused on Motto, Midas's barber. Motto comes into possession of Midas's golden beard after removing it from the king's face; but the beard is stolen from him by the mischievous pages that are a standard feature of Lyly's drama. Motto recovers the beard by curing a case of toothache (barbers doubled as dentists in Lyly's era, and for long before and after). But the pages exploit Motto's role in spreading the news about the king's ass-ears: they accuse him of treason, and demand and obtain the beard as the price of their silence.
, while the island of Lesbos that he longs to conquer is Elizabeth's England. Nicholas John Halpin, in his Oberon's Vision (1834), offered a complex and detailed interpretation of the fine points of Lyly's allegory, in which the Pactolus is the Tagus
River in Portugal
; the barber Motto is Philip II's secretary Antonio Pérez
, who was banished for betraying royal secrets; Martius is the Duke of Medina Sedonia
, while Mellicrates is the Duke of Alva
; Eristus is Ruy Gomez de Libra; and Sophronia is Philip's daughter Isabella Clara Eugenia
, among various other identifications. Critics rarely go so far as to embrace all of Halpin's points, though most concede some of the more obvious, like Sophronia/Isabella.
John Lyly
John Lyly was an English writer, best known for his books Euphues,The Anatomy of Wit and Euphues and His England. Lyly's linguistic style, originating in his first books, is known as Euphuism.-Biography:John Lyly was born in Kent, England, in 1553/1554...
. It is arguably the most overtly and extensively allegorical
Allegory
Allegory is a demonstrative form of representation explaining meaning other than the words that are spoken. Allegory communicates its message by means of symbolic figures, actions or symbolic representation...
of Lyly's allegorical plays.
Performance and Production
Midas 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 4 October 1591
1591 in literature
-Events:*In the spring of the year, a dispute with James Burbage impels the Admiral's Men to leave The Theatre and move to Philip Henslowe's Rose Theatre.*Summer - Sir Walter Raleigh secretly marries Elizabeth Throckmorton....
; it was first published in 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...
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 Thomas Scarlet for Joan Broome. She was the widow of William Broome, the bookseller who issued reprints of Lyly's Campaspe
Campaspe (play)
Campaspe is an Elizabethan era stage play, a comedy by John Lyly. Widely considered Lyly's earliest drama, Campaspe was an influence and a precedent for much that followed in English Renaissance drama.-Performance and publication:...
and Sapho and Phao
Sapho and Phao
Sapho and Phao is an Elizabethan era stage play, a comedy written by John Lyly. One of Lyly's earliest dramas, it was likely the first that the playwright devoted to the allegorical idealization of Queen Elizabeth I that became the predominating feature of Lyly's dramatic canon.-Performance and...
in 1591; the widow Broome herself published the first editions of Lyly's Endymion
Endymion (play)
Endymion, the Man in the Moon is an Elizabethan era stage play, a comedy by John Lyly. The play provides a vivid example of the cult of flattery in the royal court of Queen Elizabeth I, and has been called "without doubt, the boldest in conception and the most beautiful in execution of all Lyly's...
(1591) and Gallathea
Gallathea
Gallathea is an Elizabethan era stage play, a comedy by John Lyly. It is unusual among Lyly's plays in that it has a record of modern productions.-Early history:...
(1592).
Midas was probably acted by the Children of Paul's
Children of Paul's
The Children of Paul's was the name of a troupe of boy actors in Elizabethan and Jacobean London. Along with the Children of the Chapel, the Children of Paul's were the most important of the companies of boy players that constituted a distinctive feature of English Renaissance theatre.St...
, Lyly's regular company through most of his playwriting career. The title page of the first edition states that the play was performed at Court on Twelfth Night
Twelfth Night (holiday)
Twelfth Night is a festival in some branches of Christianity marking the coming of the Epiphany and concluding the Twelve Days of Christmas.It is defined by the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary as "the evening of the fifth of January, preceding Twelfth Day, the eve of the Epiphany, formerly the...
, probably on 6 January 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...
. John Dover Wilson proposed that Lyly himself may have played the role of Midas; but this is a speculation unsupported by evidence.
"Obviously" the play was written after the defeat of the Spanish Armada
Spanish Armada
This article refers to the Battle of Gravelines, for the modern navy of Spain, see Spanish NavyThe Spanish Armada was the Spanish fleet that sailed against England under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia in 1588, with the intention of overthrowing Elizabeth I of England to stop English...
in 1588. The play also features an allusion to the English Armada
English Armada
The English Armada, also known as the Counter Armada or the Drake-Norris Expedition, was a fleet of warships sent to the Iberian Coast by Queen Elizabeth I of England in 1589, during the Anglo-Spanish War...
of 1589; the authorship of Midas must date from the 1588–89 period.
The student theatre ensemble of Stuart Hall School
Stuart Hall School
Stuart Hall School in Staunton, Virginia was founded by the Episcopal church as Virginia Female Institute in 1844. It was renamed in 1907 in honor of its most famous headmistress, Flora Cooke Stuart, the widow of Confederate cavalry leader Maj. Gen. J.E.B...
, located in Staunton, Virginia, staged a production of Midas on 30 April – 1 May http://www.stuart-hall.org/content/view/586/262/ directed by Theatre Program Director, Brett Sullivan Santry. The performers, who ranged in age from eleven to seventeen, rehearsed and performed under the tenets of Original staging practices from the Elizabethan period. Given the play’s extremely limited modern production history, the probability exists that the Stuart Hall production marked the first time the play was staged in North America.
Synopsis
Lyly based his play on the treatment of the MidasMidas
For the legend of Gordias, a person who was taken by the people and made King, in obedience to the command of the oracle, see Gordias.Midas or King Midas is popularly remembered in Greek mythology for his ability to turn everything he touched into gold. This was called the Golden touch, or the...
story given in Book xi of the Metamorphoses of Ovid
Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...
; he departs from Ovid's version mainly to strengthen the allegorical aspects of the play (see below). He exploits both aspects of the Midas legend in classical mythology — the golden touch and the ass's ears.
Bacchus
Dionysus
Dionysus was the god of the grape harvest, winemaking and wine, of ritual madness and ecstasy in Greek mythology. His name in Linear B tablets shows he was worshipped from c. 1500—1100 BC by Mycenean Greeks: other traces of Dionysian-type cult have been found in ancient Minoan Crete...
, the god of wine, rewards the hospitality of Midas, king of Phrygia
Phrygia
In antiquity, Phrygia was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now modern-day Turkey. The Phrygians initially lived in the southern Balkans; according to Herodotus, under the name of Bryges , changing it to Phruges after their final migration to Anatolia, via the...
, by offering him anything he desires. The king's three courtiers, Eristus, Martius, and Mellicrates, variously advise him to choose rewards that center on love, war, and wealth; Midas accepts the advice of Mellicrates and asks that everything he touches turn to gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
. (In the classic legend, Midas is motivated simply by greed; in Lyly's play, Midas wants gold partly to finance his planned invasion of the island of Lesbos, an idea that winds throughout the play.)
In the play as in the myth, Midas's misfortunes with his golden touch follow; his clothes, food, wine, and even his beard all turn to gold. Midas eventually cures himself by taking the advice of Bacchus and bathing in the river Pactolus, which becomes gold-producing as a result. In the second phase of the king's adventures, Midas, hunting in a wood on Mount Tmolus, encounters Apollo
Apollo
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...
and Pan
Pan (mythology)
Pan , in Greek religion and mythology, is the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, nature, of mountain wilds, hunting and rustic music, as well as the companion of the nymphs. His name originates within the Greek language, from the word paein , meaning "to pasture." He has the hindquarters, legs,...
, who are preparing to engage in a musical competition. Midas thursts himself into the role of judge, and decides in favor of Pan; Apollo responds by giving the king the ears of an ass. Midas conceals his affliction at first, but the news passes from nymphs
Nymph
A nymph in Greek mythology is a female minor nature deity typically associated with a particular location or landform. Different from gods, nymphs are generally regarded as divine spirits who animate nature, and are usually depicted as beautiful, young nubile maidens who love to dance and sing;...
to shepherds, and is eventually whispered by reeds to all the world.
Midas's sensible daughter Sophronia (a Lylian addition) appeals to Apollo's oracle at Delphi
Delphi
Delphi is both an archaeological site and a modern town in Greece on the south-western spur of Mount Parnassus in the valley of Phocis.In Greek mythology, Delphi was the site of the Delphic oracle, the most important oracle in the classical Greek world, and a major site for the worship of the god...
for guidance. Midas goes to Delphi, admits his foolishness and expresses repentance; his auricular affliction is cured, and a newly humbled Midas renounces his plans for conquest, especially against the stalwart islanders of Lesbos.
The play has a more overtly comic subplot focused on Motto, Midas's barber. Motto comes into possession of Midas's golden beard after removing it from the king's face; but the beard is stolen from him by the mischievous pages that are a standard feature of Lyly's drama. Motto recovers the beard by curing a case of toothache (barbers doubled as dentists in Lyly's era, and for long before and after). But the pages exploit Motto's role in spreading the news about the king's ass-ears: they accuse him of treason, and demand and obtain the beard as the price of their silence.
Allegory
It is universally recognized that Lyly's Midas represents the fabulously wealthy Philip II of SpainPhilip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
, while the island of Lesbos that he longs to conquer is Elizabeth's England. Nicholas John Halpin, in his Oberon's Vision (1834), offered a complex and detailed interpretation of the fine points of Lyly's allegory, in which the Pactolus is the Tagus
Tagus
The Tagus is the longest river on the Iberian Peninsula. It is long, in Spain, along the border between Portugal and Spain and in Portugal, where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean at Lisbon. It drains an area of . The Tagus is highly utilized for most of its course...
River in Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
; the barber Motto is Philip II's secretary Antonio Pérez
Antonio Pérez
]Antonio Pérez was a Spanish statesman, secretary of king Philip II of Spain.- Early years :Antonio Perez was born in Madrid in 1540. In 1542 he was legalized as son of Gonzalo Pérez, Secretary of the Council of State of king Charles I of Spain . Most probably Antonio was indeed the son of...
, who was banished for betraying royal secrets; Martius is the Duke of Medina Sedonia
Alonso de Guzmán El Bueno, 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia
Alonso Pérez de Guzmán y de Zúñiga-Sotomayor, 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia, , Grandee of Spain, a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece since 1581, was the commander-in-chief of the Spanish Armada....
, while Mellicrates is the Duke of Alva
Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba
Don Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel, 3rd Duke of Alba was a Spanish general and governor of the Spanish Netherlands , nicknamed "the Iron Duke" in the Low Countries because of his harsh and cruel rule there and his role in the execution of his political opponents and the massacre of several...
; Eristus is Ruy Gomez de Libra; and Sophronia is Philip's daughter Isabella Clara Eugenia
Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain
Isabella Clara Eugenia of Austria was sovereign of the Spanish Netherlands in the Low Countries and the north of modern France, together with her husband Albert. In some sources, she is referred to as Clara Isabella Eugenia...
, among various other identifications. Critics rarely go so far as to embrace all of Halpin's points, though most concede some of the more obvious, like Sophronia/Isabella.