Women Pleased
Encyclopedia
Women Pleased is a late Jacobean era stage play, a tragicomedy
by John Fletcher
that was originally published in the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio
of 1647
.
; the cast list added to the play in the second Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1679
cites Joseph Taylor
, Nicholas Tooley
, John Lowin
, William Ecclestone
, John Underwood
, Richard Sharpe
, Robert Benfield
, and Thomas Holcombe
— the same cast list as for The Little French Lawyer
and The Custom of the Country
, two other Fletcherian plays of the same era. The inclusion of Taylor dates the play after the March 1619 death of Richard Burbage
.
, another dependable resource. Scholars attribute the play to Fletcher alone, since his characteristic pattern of stylistic and textual preferences is continuous throughout the text; but some critics favor the view that the extant text is a revision by Fletcher of an earlier play of his own authorship. See his Monsieur Thomas
for a comparable case of Fletcher revising himself. He also borrowed from himself: Women Pleased shares a plot point (the heroine dressing up as an old woman to influence the plot) that also occurs in The Pilgrim
, in a way that suggests Women Pleased is the earlier work.
In subject matter and source material, Fletcher's play parallels the anonymous drama Swetnam the Woman-Hater
, which was first printed in 1620
. It is unclear which play had priority over the other.
era; Samuel Pepys
saw it on 26 December 1668
. David Garrick
would borrow from Fletcher's play for his pantomime A Christmas Tale, staged at Drury Lane
in 1773
.
, the play focuses its main plot on the love match between its protagonists, Silvio and Belvidere. Belvidere is the daughter and only child of the reigning Duchess, and so a highly desirable marital partner; when the Duke of Milan
, one of her suitors, goes so far as to try to kidnap her, the Duchess's guards drive his party off by force. Belvidere is then lodged in the duchy's fortress, where she can be protected; but she is now isolated from Silvio and other would-be suitors. Silvio exploits a family connection — the wife of the citadel's keeper is his aunt — to meet his beloved; but he is caught and brought before the angry Duchess. (As a mere private gentleman, Silvio is not considered a fit partner for the duchy's heir.) Silvio faces a penalty of death; but the two lovers compete to claim responsibility before the council that tries Silvio, leaving the judges confused. The Duchess decides to be merciful, and banishes Silvio for a year; she furthermore gives Silvio a chance at marrying Belvidere — if he can solve the riddle she poses him.
WIth Silvio gone, Belvidere pretends to be cured of her infatuation with him; she seems to acquiesce to her mother's plan to marry her to the Duke of Siena
. (In the process, Belvidere discovers the riddle and its answer from her mother.) Before the arranged marriage can take place, however, Belvidere vanishes from the court. The Duke of Siena, feeling he's been played for a fool, withdraws in anger and prepares a military response.
Silvio wanders about the country in disguise; he consults "Diviners, dreamers, schoolmen, deep magicians" in search of an answer to the Duchess's riddle, but without much success. In the countryside, he falls in with a set of farm people and morris dancers
; he also meets an old woman who claims special insight, and who he considers a Sibyl
. The old woman, in fact, is Belvidere in disguise. She advises Silvio to join the fight against the invading Duke of Siena; he does so, and becomes the great hero of the Florentine victory when he captures the Duke.
The old Sibyl (Belvidere in disguise) advises Silvio to turn himself in to the Duchess's authorities; she assures him that she will preserve him and unite him with Belvidere, and in gratitude he promises to grant whatever "boon" she shall ask of him. Silvio arrives at court, and proves he is the man who secured the victory with the bejeweled cameo portrait of Belvidere that he took from the Duke of Siena. When he reveals his identity, however, the Duchess is ready to have him executed. Silvio reminds the Duchess of their riddle bargain; and she, confident of her position, allows him to venture a solution — which Belvidere has provided him.
The play's riddle is a version of one that recurs through traditional literature and folklore; in its simplest form, the riddle's question is "What does a woman want?" The play states its version of the riddle in verse, and adds an ironic and contradictory twist to it:
The answer to the traditional riddle is that "A woman wants to have her will" — in modern terms, to have her own way. The play is faithful to its folklore source:
In producing the correct answer, Silvio has won...but no one knows the whereabouts of Belvidere. The old Sibyl throws another twist into the plot: she demands, as her "boon," that Silvio marry her. The Duchess and the Duke of Siena are delighted at this twist, feeling that Silvio is being taught his lesson; SIlvio, though tortured by his apparent fate, proves to be a man of honor and agrees to the marriage...which turns out perfectly well once Belvidere reveals her true identity. The Duchess consoles the disappointed Duke of Siena by marrying him herself; in the end, both mother and daughter are "women pleased."
(The scenes in the country provide an element of satire against the Puritans
who were hostile to stage plays and to traditional celebrations of many types, including Morris dancing. The dancer who was set to dance the hobby horse is a convert to Puritanism who refuses the role on religious grounds; there is a good deal of ridiculous back-and-forth, attacking and defending "This beast of Babylon...The hopeful hobby horse.")
The play's subplot involves that staple of comedy, a rich old miser married to a beautiful young wife. Lopez, a "sordid userer," is jealous of his wife Isabella, who is pursued by two would-be seducer/adulterers; one is the elderly Bartello, the commander of the city's fortress (who supplies a connection between main plot and subplot); the second and more serious seducer is a handsome young gallant who calls himself "Rugio." Rugio has a servant named Soto who provides much of the play's comic material. (Soto is a stock thin-man or "lean fool" figure, common in the dramas of the King's Men; see the entry on John Shank
for details.) The subplot features the elements typical of its kind of humor, with characters hiding behind tapestries and even up chimneys to avoid discovery. In the end, Isabella seems tempted by Rugio but stands firm as a chaste wife; and Rugio reveals himself to be Isabella's brother Claudio in disguise. The subplot constitutes one of the "chastity tests" that are such a regular and striking feature in Fletcher's plays.
----
"Women Pleased is an excellent example of Fletcher's composite art, whereby tragicomedy and a variety of the comedy of manners
, trespassing on absolute farce
, are not unhappily wedded together into an entertainment which could not but have been very effective in the hands of a skillful troupe." So thought Schelling; other critics have been less complementary.
Tragicomedy
Tragicomedy is fictional work that blends aspects of the genres of tragedy and comedy. In English literature, from Shakespeare's time to the nineteenth century, tragicomedy referred to a serious play with either a happy ending or enough jokes throughout the play to lighten the mood.-Classical...
by John Fletcher
John Fletcher (playwright)
John Fletcher was a Jacobean playwright. Following William Shakespeare as house playwright for the King's Men, he was among the most prolific and influential dramatists of his day; both during his lifetime and in the early Restoration, his fame rivalled Shakespeare's...
that was originally published in the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio
Beaumont and Fletcher folios
The Beaumont and Fletcher folios were two large folio collections of the stage plays of John Fletcher and his collaborators. The first was issued in 1647, and the second in 1679. The two collections were important in preserving many works of English Renaissance drama.-The first folio, 1647:The 1647...
of 1647
1647 in literature
The year 1647 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:* Thomas Hobbes becomes tutor to the future Charles II of England.* Plagiarist Robert Baron publishes his Deorum Dona, a masque, and Gripus and Hegio, a pastoral, which draw heavily on the poems of Edmund Waller and John Webster's...
.
Date and performance
The play's date is uncertain; it is usually assigned to the 1619–23 period by scholars. It was acted by the King's MenKing's Men (playing company)
The King's Men was the company of actors to which William Shakespeare belonged through most of his career. Formerly known as The Lord Chamberlain's Men during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, it became The King's Men in 1603 when King James ascended the throne and became the company's patron.The...
; the cast list added to the play in the second Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1679
1679 in literature
This article lists some of the most significant events of the year 1679 in literature.-Events:*John Locke returns to England from France.*Étienne Baluze becomes almoner to King Louis XIV of France....
cites Joseph Taylor
Joseph Taylor (17th-century actor)
Joseph Taylor was a 17th-century actor. As the successor of Richard Burbage with the King's Men, he was arguably the most important actor in the later Jacobean and the Caroline eras....
, Nicholas Tooley
Nicholas Tooley
Nicholas Tooley was a Renaissance actor in the King's Men, the acting company of William Shakespeare.Recent research has shown that Tooley was born in late 1582 or early 1583; his birth name was not Tooley but Wilkinson...
, John Lowin
John Lowin
John Lowin was an English actor born in the St Giles-without-Cripplegate, London, the son of a tanner. Like Robert Armin, he was apprenticed to a goldsmith. While he is not recorded as a free citizen of this company, he did perform as a goldsmith, Leofstane, in a 1611 city pageant written by...
, William Ecclestone
William Ecclestone
William Ecclestone or Egglestone was an actor in English Renaissance theatre, a member of Shakespeare's company the King's Men.Nothing is known with certainty about Ecclestone's early life...
, John Underwood
John Underwood (actor)
John Underwood was an early 17th century actor, a member of the King's Men, the company of William Shakespeare.-Career:Underwood began as a boy player with the Children of the Chapel, and was cast in that company's productions of Ben Jonson's Cynthia's Revels and The Poetaster...
, Richard Sharpe
Richard Sharpe (actor)
Richard Sharpe was an actor with the King's Men, the leading theatre troupe of its time and the company of William Shakespeare and Richard Burbage...
, Robert Benfield
Robert Benfield
Robert Benfield was a seventeenth-century actor, noted for his longtime membership in the King's Men in the years and decades after William Shakespeare's retirement and death.Nothing is known of Benfield's early life...
, and Thomas Holcombe
King's Men personnel
King's Men personnel were the people who worked with and for the Lord Chamberlain's Men and the King's Men from 1594 to 1642...
— the same cast list as for The Little French Lawyer
The Little French Lawyer
The Little French Lawyer is a Jacobean era stage play, a comedy written by John Fletcher and Philip Massinger. It was initially published in the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1647.-Date:...
and The Custom of the Country
The Custom of the Country (1647 play)
The Custom of the Country is a Jacobean stage play, a tragicomedy written by John Fletcher and Philip Massinger, originally published in 1647 in the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio.-Date and sources:The play is usually dated to c. 1619–23...
, two other Fletcherian plays of the same era. The inclusion of Taylor dates the play after the March 1619 death of Richard Burbage
Richard Burbage
Richard Burbage was an English actor and theatre owner. He was the younger brother of Cuthbert Burbage. They were both actors in drama....
.
Authorship
As he often did, Fletcher depended on a Spanish source for the plot of his play; in this case, Grisel y Mirabella (c. 1495) by Juan de Flores supplied part of the main plot. Fletcher drew material for the subplot from three tales in the Decameron of BoccaccioGiovanni Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio was an Italian author and poet, a friend, student, and correspondent of Petrarch, an important Renaissance humanist and the author of a number of notable works including the Decameron, On Famous Women, and his poetry in the Italian vernacular...
, another dependable resource. Scholars attribute the play to Fletcher alone, since his characteristic pattern of stylistic and textual preferences is continuous throughout the text; but some critics favor the view that the extant text is a revision by Fletcher of an earlier play of his own authorship. See his Monsieur Thomas
Monsieur Thomas
Monsieur Thomas is a Jacobean era stage play, a comedy written by John Fletcher that was first published in 1639.-Date and Source:Scholars date the play to the 1610–16 period. Fletcher's source for the play's plot was the second part of the novel Astrée by Honoré d'Urfé, which was first...
for a comparable case of Fletcher revising himself. He also borrowed from himself: Women Pleased shares a plot point (the heroine dressing up as an old woman to influence the plot) that also occurs in The Pilgrim
The Pilgrim (play)
The Pilgrim is a late Jacobean era stage play, a comedy by John Fletcher that was originally published in the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1647.The play was acted by the King's Men; they performed it at Court in 1621 Christmas season...
, in a way that suggests Women Pleased is the earlier work.
In subject matter and source material, Fletcher's play parallels the anonymous drama Swetnam the Woman-Hater
Swetnam the Woman-Hater
Swetnam the Woman-Hater Arraigned by Women is a Jacobean era stage play, an anonymous comedy that was part of an anti-feminist controversy of the 1615–20 period.-Performance and publication:...
, which was first printed in 1620
1620 in literature
The year 1620 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*The Book of Psalmes: Englished both in Prose and Metre with Annotations by Henry Ainsworth is the only book brought to New England by the pilgrim settlers....
. It is unclear which play had priority over the other.
After 1660
Like many of Fletcher's plays,Women Pleased was revived during the RestorationEnglish Restoration
The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
era; Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...
saw it on 26 December 1668
1668 in literature
The year 1668 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*Izaak Walton's Compleat Angler goes into its fourth edition.*John Dryden signs a contract to produce three plays a year for the King’s Company.-New books:...
. David Garrick
David Garrick
David Garrick was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of theatrical practice throughout the 18th century and was a pupil and friend of Dr Samuel Johnson...
would borrow from Fletcher's play for his pantomime A Christmas Tale, staged at Drury Lane
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
in 1773
1773 in literature
See also: 1772 in literature, other events of 1773, 1774 in literature, list of years in literature.-Events:*Richard Brinsley Sheridan marries Elizabeth Linley.*Samuel Johnson and James Boswell tour the Western Isles of Scotland-New books:...
.
Synopsis
Set in FlorenceFlorence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, the play focuses its main plot on the love match between its protagonists, Silvio and Belvidere. Belvidere is the daughter and only child of the reigning Duchess, and so a highly desirable marital partner; when the Duke of Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, one of her suitors, goes so far as to try to kidnap her, the Duchess's guards drive his party off by force. Belvidere is then lodged in the duchy's fortress, where she can be protected; but she is now isolated from Silvio and other would-be suitors. Silvio exploits a family connection — the wife of the citadel's keeper is his aunt — to meet his beloved; but he is caught and brought before the angry Duchess. (As a mere private gentleman, Silvio is not considered a fit partner for the duchy's heir.) Silvio faces a penalty of death; but the two lovers compete to claim responsibility before the council that tries Silvio, leaving the judges confused. The Duchess decides to be merciful, and banishes Silvio for a year; she furthermore gives Silvio a chance at marrying Belvidere — if he can solve the riddle she poses him.
WIth Silvio gone, Belvidere pretends to be cured of her infatuation with him; she seems to acquiesce to her mother's plan to marry her to the Duke of Siena
Siena
Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nation's most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008...
. (In the process, Belvidere discovers the riddle and its answer from her mother.) Before the arranged marriage can take place, however, Belvidere vanishes from the court. The Duke of Siena, feeling he's been played for a fool, withdraws in anger and prepares a military response.
Silvio wanders about the country in disguise; he consults "Diviners, dreamers, schoolmen, deep magicians" in search of an answer to the Duchess's riddle, but without much success. In the countryside, he falls in with a set of farm people and morris dancers
Morris dance
Morris dance is a form of English folk dance usually accompanied by music. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers. Implements such as sticks, swords, handkerchiefs and bells may also be wielded by the dancers...
; he also meets an old woman who claims special insight, and who he considers a Sibyl
Sibyl
The word Sibyl comes from the Greek word σίβυλλα sibylla, meaning prophetess. The earliest oracular seeresses known as the sibyls of antiquity, "who admittedly are known only through legend" prophesied at certain holy sites, under the divine influence of a deity, originally— at Delphi and...
. The old woman, in fact, is Belvidere in disguise. She advises Silvio to join the fight against the invading Duke of Siena; he does so, and becomes the great hero of the Florentine victory when he captures the Duke.
The old Sibyl (Belvidere in disguise) advises Silvio to turn himself in to the Duchess's authorities; she assures him that she will preserve him and unite him with Belvidere, and in gratitude he promises to grant whatever "boon" she shall ask of him. Silvio arrives at court, and proves he is the man who secured the victory with the bejeweled cameo portrait of Belvidere that he took from the Duke of Siena. When he reveals his identity, however, the Duchess is ready to have him executed. Silvio reminds the Duchess of their riddle bargain; and she, confident of her position, allows him to venture a solution — which Belvidere has provided him.
The play's riddle is a version of one that recurs through traditional literature and folklore; in its simplest form, the riddle's question is "What does a woman want?" The play states its version of the riddle in verse, and adds an ironic and contradictory twist to it:
-
- Tell me what is that only thing
- For which all women long;
- Yet having what they most desire,
- To have it does them wrong.
- Tell me what is that only thing
The answer to the traditional riddle is that "A woman wants to have her will" — in modern terms, to have her own way. The play is faithful to its folklore source:
-
-
-
-
-
- ...in good or ill,
-
-
- They desire to have their will;
-
- Yet when they have it, they abuse it,
- For they know not how to use it.
-
In producing the correct answer, Silvio has won...but no one knows the whereabouts of Belvidere. The old Sibyl throws another twist into the plot: she demands, as her "boon," that Silvio marry her. The Duchess and the Duke of Siena are delighted at this twist, feeling that Silvio is being taught his lesson; SIlvio, though tortured by his apparent fate, proves to be a man of honor and agrees to the marriage...which turns out perfectly well once Belvidere reveals her true identity. The Duchess consoles the disappointed Duke of Siena by marrying him herself; in the end, both mother and daughter are "women pleased."
(The scenes in the country provide an element of satire against the Puritans
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
who were hostile to stage plays and to traditional celebrations of many types, including Morris dancing. The dancer who was set to dance the hobby horse is a convert to Puritanism who refuses the role on religious grounds; there is a good deal of ridiculous back-and-forth, attacking and defending "This beast of Babylon...The hopeful hobby horse.")
The play's subplot involves that staple of comedy, a rich old miser married to a beautiful young wife. Lopez, a "sordid userer," is jealous of his wife Isabella, who is pursued by two would-be seducer/adulterers; one is the elderly Bartello, the commander of the city's fortress (who supplies a connection between main plot and subplot); the second and more serious seducer is a handsome young gallant who calls himself "Rugio." Rugio has a servant named Soto who provides much of the play's comic material. (Soto is a stock thin-man or "lean fool" figure, common in the dramas of the King's Men; see the entry on John Shank
John Shank
John Shank was an actor in English Renaissance theatre, a leading comedian in the King's Men during the 1620s and 1630s.-Early career:...
for details.) The subplot features the elements typical of its kind of humor, with characters hiding behind tapestries and even up chimneys to avoid discovery. In the end, Isabella seems tempted by Rugio but stands firm as a chaste wife; and Rugio reveals himself to be Isabella's brother Claudio in disguise. The subplot constitutes one of the "chastity tests" that are such a regular and striking feature in Fletcher's plays.
----
"Women Pleased is an excellent example of Fletcher's composite art, whereby tragicomedy and a variety of the comedy of manners
Comedy of manners
The comedy of manners is a genre of play/television/film which satirizes the manners and affectations of a social class, often represented by stock characters, such as the miles gloriosus in ancient times, the fop and the rake during the Restoration, or an old person pretending to be young...
, trespassing on absolute farce
Farce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...
, are not unhappily wedded together into an entertainment which could not but have been very effective in the hands of a skillful troupe." So thought Schelling; other critics have been less complementary.