A Chaste Maid in Cheapside
1st Edition
Published on 1. July 2014
144 pages
978-1-4081-4456-5 (ISBN)
Description
Written for the adult players at the open-air Swan theatre in 1613,
this master-piece of Jacobean city comedy signals its ironic nature
even in the title: chaste maids, like most other goods and people in
London's busiest commercial area, are likely to be fake. Money is more
important than either happiness or honour; and the most coveted
commodities to be bought with it are sex and social prestige. Middleton
interweaves the fortunes of four families, who either seek to marry
their children off as profitably as possible, to stop having any more
for fear of poverty, or to acquire some in order to keep their property
in the family. Most prosperous is the husband who pimps his wife to a
rich knight and lets him support the household with his alimony. Like
many early modern critics of London's enormous growth, this play
warned: the city is a monster that lives off the money the country
produces.
this master-piece of Jacobean city comedy signals its ironic nature
even in the title: chaste maids, like most other goods and people in
London's busiest commercial area, are likely to be fake. Money is more
important than either happiness or honour; and the most coveted
commodities to be bought with it are sex and social prestige. Middleton
interweaves the fortunes of four families, who either seek to marry
their children off as profitably as possible, to stop having any more
for fear of poverty, or to acquire some in order to keep their property
in the family. Most prosperous is the husband who pimps his wife to a
rich knight and lets him support the household with his alimony. Like
many early modern critics of London's enormous growth, this play
warned: the city is a monster that lives off the money the country
produces.
More details
Series
Edition
1. Auflage
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
photographs, line drawings
ISBN-13
978-1-4081-4456-5 (9781408144565)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Thomas Middleton | Alan Brissenden
A Chaste Maid in Cheapside
Book
03/2002
2nd Edition
Methuen Drama
€17.50
Shipment within 10-20 days
Persons
Thomas Middleton was a prolific and successful English Jacobean playwright and poet. A contemporary of Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, Middleton wrote over 30 plays including A Mad World, My Masters which was first performed in 1606.
