Ben Jonson, John Marston and Early Modern Drama: Satire and the Audience

233 Pages·2016·1.016 MB·English

by  Rebecca Yearling (auth.)

Ben Jonson, John Marston
and Early Modern Drama
Satire and the Audience
Rebecca Yearling
Ben Jonson, John Marston and Early Modern Drama
This page intentionally left blank
Ben Jonson, John Marston
and Early Modern Drama
Satire and the Audience
Rebecca Yearling
Lecturer in English, Keele University, UK
© Rebecca Yearling 2016
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2016 978-1-137-56398-9
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
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Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in
accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2016 by
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ISBN 978–1–349–55425–6 ISBN 978-1-137-56399-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-56399-6
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Yearling, Rebecca Kate, 1979–
Ben Jonson, John Marston and early modern drama : satire and the audience /
Rebecca Yearling, Lecturer in English, Keele University, UK.
pages cm
Summary: “This book examines the influence of John Marston, typically seen as a
minor figure among early modern dramatists, on his colleague Ben Jonson. While
Marston is usually famed more for his very public rivalry with Jonson than for
the quality of his plays, this book argues that such a view of Marston seriously
underestimates his importance to the theatre of his time. In it, the author contends
that Marston’s plays represent an experiment in a new kind of satiric drama,
with origins in the humanist tradition of serio ludere. His works—deliberately
unpredictable, inconsistent and metatheatrical—subvert theatrical conventions and
provide confusingly multiple perspectives on the action, forcing their spectators
to engage actively with the drama and the moral dilemmas that it presents. The
book argues that Marston’s work thus anticipates and perhaps influenced the mid-
period work of Ben Jonson, in plays such as Sejanus, Volpone and The Alchemist”—
Provided by publisher.
1. Marston, John, 1575?–1634—Criticism and interpretation. 2. Jonson, Ben,
1573?–1637—Criticism and interpretation. 3. Theater—Great Britain—History—
16th century. 4. Theater—Great Britain—History—17th century. 5. English
drama—Early modern and Elizabethan, 1500–1600—History and criticism.
6. English drama—17th century—History and criticism. 7. Satire, English—History
and criticism. 8. Theater audiences—Great Britain—History—16th century.
9. Theater audiences—Great Britain—History—17th century. I. Title.
PR2697.Y43 2015
822'.3—dc23 2015025940
Typeset by MPS Limited, Chennai, India.
This book is for my parents, Alec and Elizabeth
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Contents
Acknowledgements viii
A Note on Editions ix
Introduction: Why Does Marston Matter? 1
Prologue: The Problem of the Audience 12
1 The Playwrights and the Audience 18
2 Dramatic Satire and the Crisis of Authority 42
3 John Marston: Provoking the Audience 67
4 Jonson and Marston: ‘I write just in thy vein, I’ 129
Conclusion 161
Appendix: The Boy Actors: The Question of Intent 166
Notes 173
Bibliography 200
Index 219
vii
Acknowledgements
In writing this book I was fortunate enough to have the support
of a wide group of colleagues, teachers and friends. Thanks are due
to Ann Pasternak-Slater for introducing me to the plays of John
Marston; to Emma Smith for helping me to develop my thoughts
on Marston’s Antonio plays; to Lesel Dawson, whose enthusiasm and
encouragement first led me to specialise in Renaissance drama; to
Sos Eltis, who taught me about twentieth-century theatres and audi-
ences; and to my father, Alec Yearling, with whom I talked through
many of this book’s ideas, and whose knowledge of the early modern
period was hugely helpful and influential upon my thinking.
I am grateful to those who read all or part of this book in its
many draft stages: Lesel Dawson at the University of Bristol, Andrew
Hadfield at the University of Sussex, and Nicholas Seager at Keele
University. Thanks are also due to the anonymous publishers’ read-
ers whose comments helped me to revise and refine my arguments.
I am indebted to Worcester College, Oxford, for their kindness
and generosity. Keele University provided a supportive environment
while I finished this book.
I should like to thank the staff of the Bodleian Library, the Oxford
English Faculty Library, the British Library, the British Library
Newspaper Archive, Glasgow University Library, Keele University
Library, and Zoë Lukas at the National Theatre Archive.
Parts of this book have already appeared in print. The section on
The Dutch Courtesan and The Fawn in Chapter 3 is based on an essay
entitled ‘Marston’s Courtesan and Fawn: The Problem of Lust’, which
was published in Cahiers Élisabéthains 74 (Autumn 2008) 11–16,
while the section on Sophonisba in the same chapter is based on
‘John Marston, Stoic?: Marston’s Drama and the Early Modern Stoic
Ideal’, published in The Ben Jonson Journal 18.1 (May 2011) 85–100.
I am grateful to the Institut de Recherche sur la Renaissance, l’âge
Classique et les Lumières and Edinburgh University Press for allow-
ing me to reuse this material.
Finally, on a personal note, my thanks and love to Michael.
viii
A Note on Editions
For all quotations from Jonson’s works I have used The Cambridge
Edition of The Works of Ben Jonson, 7 vols., gen. eds. David Bevington,
Martin Butler and Ian Donaldson (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2012). When there is both a quarto and a folio version of a
play, I have used the quarto, except where otherwise stated.
There exists no good, comprehensive edition of Marston’s complete
works, so for quotations from Marston I have used the following edi-
tions: for Antonio and Mellida, Antonio’s Revenge, The Malcontent,
The Dutch Courtesan and Sophonisba, The Selected Plays of John
Marston, ed. Macdonald P. Jackson and Michael Neill (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1986). For Parasitaster; or The Fawn, ed.
David A. Blostein, Revels Plays (Manchester: Manchester University
Press, 1978). For What You Will, ed. M.R. Woodhead, Nottingham
Drama Texts (Nottingham: Nottingham University Press, 1980). For
Histriomastix and Jack Drum’s Entertainment, The Plays of John Marston
vol. 3, ed. H. Harvey Wood (Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1939). This
last is the only currently available printed text of these plays, and
it preserves original spelling and punctuation. Because the Wood
edition has no line numbers, quotations from these two plays will
be followed by act and page number. Quotations from Marston’s
Certain Satires and The Scourge of Villainy are taken from The Poems of
John Marston, ed. Arnold Davenport (Liverpool: Liverpool University
Press, 1961).
With all other quotations from other writers, the editions used are
those listed in my bibliography. I have preserved the spelling and
punctuation from all editions used, but have amended u/v and i/j to
modern equivalents.
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