wife of bath Character Analysis

The Wife of Bath is larger than life. With broad hips, a big butt, and a hat as big as a boat, she
takes up a lot of space in the pilgrimage and in the poem as a whole. The Wife is dressed
expensively in scarlet stockings and shoes of soft, new leather, and she has a penchant for fine,
large headgear that Chaucer estimates weighs about ten pounds.

With a red face to match her red stockings, and a large gap between her two front teeth, the
Wife's physical appearance matches a medieval stereotype about what a lustful person looks
like. This stereotype held that such people couldn't control their passions, and the Wife's portrait
falls in line with this idea by telling us how the Wife becomes angry if other wives go before her
at the Church offering (where going first is a sign of respect given to the most highly-regarded
woman in the parish), and by hinting that the Wife had numerous lovers before her five (five!)
husbands.

It seems that the Wife has had great financial success in her business as a clothmaker in which,
says Chaucer, she surpasses the clothmakers of Ypres and Ghent, who were renowned for this
trade. From this piece of information, we can assume that the Wife is now a widow, for only a
widow would have had the freedom not only to run her own business, but also to travel as
widely on pilgrimage as the Wife has, to Rome, Bologna, Cologne, and Gaul.

The Wife's numerous lovers and husbands have made her skilled in the "old dance" of love, or
sex, an expertise she draws upon in the long Prologue to her tale. There, we learn more about
the Wife's history and hear her defense of a lifestyle revolving around sex and procreation.
(Learn more in our guide to the Wife of Bath's Prologue.) But even from her portrait, we get the
impression that the Wife is a fun-loving woman who likes to have a good time, making her an
ideal companion on pilgrimage, for "in felaweshipe wel koude she laughe and carpe" (General
Prologue 476).

With the Wife, Chaucer is representing the medieval estate, or social class, of wifehood. There
were many anti-feminist stereotypes about wives during this time period. We see them
expressed here, in the portrayal of the Wife as lustful, in the Host and Franklin's complaints
about their wives, and in the Wife of Bath's Prologue. But the presence on the pilgrimage of a
dynamic and articulate wife who gets the chance to answer her critics means that these
stereotypes are not allowed to remain unexamined.
 Characterization of the Wife of Bath
The Wife of Bath comes from the town of Bath, which is on the Avon River. She is a seamstress
by trade but a professional wife by occupation: she has been married five times and presents
herself as the world’s expert in matters of marriage and the relations between men and women.
Chaucer describes her as large, gap-toothed, and dressed in red clothing, which is traditionally
the color of lust. The Wife of Bath is a force of nature, a larger-than-life character who is not
afraid to push her way to the front and state her opinions.

In "The General Prologue," Chaucer describes the Wife of Bath as a deaf, gap-toothed woman.
She has a bold face and wears ten pounds of "coverchiefs" and a hat on her head (Chaucer 91).
She wears a skirt with red stockings and tight-laced supple shoes. She is also a great weaver and
has been on many pilgrimages.

A woman from a place called Bath is such an impressive female character in the prologue that
the name has become very popular and legendary. This Wife of Bath is an expert weaver, and a
dominating type of woman. Her sexuality and independence is revealed vividly. She has had five
husbands, leaving other companies in youth. She enjoys talking and merry making.

She has traveled to many foreign lands, including Jerusalem and Rome. The narrator's
mentioning of her three visits to Jerusalem makes us believe that she is fond of traveling. She
has been presented as the most interesting secular figure in the prologue. The place Bath, where
she comes from was a famous place for its woolen cloth in the fourteenth century. She looks
very elegant in her dress-up. Her stockings are made of finest scarlet cloth and her shoes are
glossy. She is gap-toothed and is also deaf in one ear. She rides upon a nice horse. She represents
the typical romantic woman of the fourteenth century, who had started crossing the boundary of
restrictions imposed upon women by the medieval society. There are certain humorous facts
about her. For instance, she is a good love-counselor. She knows the best remedies of love. The
Wife of Bath always seems to have had great power over men. Her great interest arises when it
comes to men and sex and she does not feel shy at all. She happily shows her deceitful nature.

Some critics have felt that Chaucer's description of the Wife of Bath is so detailed and lifelike
that he must have been influenced by real character. Many critics even tried to find the real
source, but all went vain. In its place, he was influenced by a lot of literary sources such as works
on astrology and also the anti-women literature written in the middle ages.

The creation of the character of the wife of Bath is influenced by Chaucer’s idea of female
stereotype. The concept of regarding women as the main source of trouble, misogynist notion, is
important in the case of wife of Bath. The Wife of Bath is certainly is a troublemaker and does
make her husbands suffer. She is domineering and lustful, has a short temper and has a habit of
 telling lies on occasion. However, these are not the actions of a stupid woman who cannot help
herself. These are the actions of a woman who is fully aware of what the stereotypes about
women are and who is willing to use them to her own advantage. She knows, for example, that
women are supposed to be irrational, stubborn and emotional while men are supposed to be
calm, rational and reasonable. She makes them give in to her by saying that their 'superior' male
nature should make them give up the fight more easily. She therefore wins by exploiting all the
stereotypes about women. Chaucer exploits all the traditional things that men wrote about
women and creates a woman who is bigger than all of them. She is a very complex character,
new and original, but created out of the traditions which are very ancient.

PARADISE LOST

summary Book 1 begins with a prologue in which Milton states the purpose of Paradise Lost: to
justify the ways of God to humans and to tell the story of their fall. Following the epic tradition,
Milton invokes a heavenly muse to help him tell the tale. The muse he calls upon is the same one
who inspired Moses to write part of the Bible, he claims. Milton uses the gift of the muse to
explain what led to the fall of man, and he introduces the character of Satan, a former great
angel in Heaven known as Lucifer. Satan tried to overthrow God's rule and banded together with
other rebel angels to begin a civil war. They were defeated by God and cast out of Heaven and
into Hell.

The story begins with Satan and the other rebel angels waking up to find themselves floating on
a lake of fire in Hell, transformed into devils. Upset, Satan gathers the fallen angels together.
They work to build a capital in Hell for themselves, Pandemonium, and form a council to debate
waging more warfare against God. Satan and the other angels don't seem to recognize that it is
only through God's permission that they were able to loosen the chains that bound them upon
their arrival in Hell. God allowed it because he is all-knowing and all-seeing and intends to
change their evil intentions into goodness.

Plot Overview

SUMMARY PLOT OVERVIEW

Milton’s speaker begins Paradise Lost by stating that his subject will be Adam and Eve’s
disobedience and fall from grace. He invokes a heavenly muse and asks for help in relating his
ambitious story and God’s plan for humankind. The action begins with Satan and his fellow rebel
angels who are found chained to a lake of fire in Hell. They quickly free themselves and fly to
land, where they discover minerals and construct Pandemonium, which will be their meeting
place. Inside Pandemonium, the rebel angels, who are now devils, debate whether they should
begin another war with God. Beezelbub suggests that they attempt to corrupt God’s beloved
new creation, humankind. Satan agrees, and volunteers to go himself. As he prepares to leave
Hell, he is met at the gates by his children, Sin and Death, who follow him and build a bridge
between Hell and Earth.

In Heaven, God orders the angels together for a council of their own. He tells them of Satan’s
intentions, and the Son volunteers himself to make the sacrifice for humankind. Meanwhile,
Satan travels through Night and Chaos and finds Earth. He disguises himself as a cherub to get
past the Archangel Uriel, who stands guard at the sun. He tells Uriel that he wishes to see and
praise God’s glorious creation, and Uriel assents. Satan then lands on Earth and takes a moment
to reflect. Seeing the splendor of Paradise brings him pain rather than pleasure. He reaffirms his
decision to make evil his good, and continue to commit crimes against God. Satan leaps over
Paradise’s wall, takes the form of a cormorant (a large bird), and perches himself atop the Tree of
Life. Looking down at Satan from his post, Uriel notices the volatile emotions reflected in the
face of this so-called cherub and warns the other angels that an impostor is in their midst. The
other angels agree to search the Garden for intruders.

Meanwhile, Adam and Eve tend the Garden, carefully obeying God’s supreme order not to eat
from the Tree of Knowledge. After a long day of work, they return to their bower and rest. There,
Satan takes the form of a toad and whispers into Eve’s ear. Gabriel, the angel set to guard
Paradise, finds Satan there and orders him to leave. Satan prepares to battle Gabriel, but God
makes a sign appear in the sky—the golden scales of justice—and Satan scurries away. Eve
awakes and tells Adam about a dream she had, in which an angel tempted her to eat from the
forbidden tree. Worried about his creation, God sends Raphael down to Earth to teach Adam
and Eve of the dangers they face with Satan.

Raphael arrives on Earth and eats a meal with Adam and Eve. Raphael relates the story of Satan’s
envy over the Son’s appointment as God’s second-in-command. Satan gathered other angels
together who were also angry to hear this news, and together they plotted a war against God.
Abdiel decides not to join Satan’s army and returns to God. The angels then begin to fight, with
Michael and Gabriel serving as co-leaders for Heaven’s army. The battle lasts two days, when
God sends the Son to end the war and deliver Satan and his rebel angels to Hell. Raphael tells
Adam about Satan’s evil motives to corrupt them, and warns Adam to watch out for Satan. Adam
asks Raphael to tell him the story of creation. Raphael tells Adam that God sent the Son into
Chaos to create the universe. He created the earth and stars and other planets. Curious, Adam
asks Raphael about the movement of the stars and planets. Eve retires, allowing Raphael and
Adam to speak alone. Raphael promptly warns Adam about his seemingly unquenchable search
for knowledge. Raphael tells Adam that he will learn all he needs to know, and that any other
knowledge is not meant for humans to comprehend. Adam tells Raphael about his first
memories, of waking up and wondering who he was, what he was, and where he was. Adam
says that God spoke to him and told him many things, including his order not to eat from the
Tree of Knowledge. After the story, Adam confesses to Raphael his intense physical attraction to
Eve. Raphael reminds Adam that he must love Eve more purely and spiritually. With this final bit
of advice, Raphael leaves Earth and returns to Heaven.

Eight days after his banishment, Satan returns to Paradise. After closely studying the animals of
Paradise, he chooses to take the form of the serpent. Meanwhile, Eve suggests to Adam that
they work separately for awhile, so they can get more work done. Adam is hesitant but then
assents. Satan searches for Eve and is delighted to find her alone. In the form of a serpent, he
talks to Eve and compliments her on her beauty and godliness. She is amazed to find an animal
that can speak. She asks how he learned to speak, and he tells her that it was by eating from the
Tree of Knowledge. He tells Eve that God actually wants her and Adam to eat from the tree, and
that his order is merely a test of their courage. She is hesitant at first but then reaches for a fruit
from the Tree of Knowledge and eats. She becomes distraught and searches for Adam. Adam has
been busy making a wreath of flowers for Eve. When Eve finds Adam, he drops the wreath and is
horrified to find that Eve has eaten from the forbidden tree. Knowing that she has fallen, he
decides that he would rather be fallen with her than remain pure and lose her. So he eats from
the fruit as well. Adam looks at Eve in a new way, and together they turn to lust.

God immediately knows of their disobedience. He tells the angels in Heaven that Adam and Eve
must be punished, but with a display of both justice and mercy. He sends the Son to give out the
punishments. The Son first punishes the serpent whose body Satan took, and condemns it never
to walk upright again. Then the Son tells Adam and Eve that they must now suffer pain and
death. Eve and all women must suffer the pain of childbirth and must submit to their husbands,
and Adam and all men must hunt and grow their own food on a depleted Earth. Meanwhile,
Satan returns to Hell where he is greeted with cheers. He speaks to the devils in Pandemonium,
and everyone believes that he has beaten God. Sin and Death travel the bridge they built on
their way to Earth. Shortly thereafter, the devils unwillingly transform into snakes and try to
reach fruit from imaginary trees that shrivel and turn to dust as they reach them.

God tells the angels to transform the Earth. After the fall, humankind must suffer hot and cold
seasons instead of the consistent temperatures before the fall. On Earth, Adam and Eve fear
their approaching doom. They blame each other for their disobedience and become increasingly
angry at one another. In a fit of rage, Adam wonders why God ever created Eve. Eve begs Adam
not to abandon her. She tells him that they can survive by loving each other. She accepts the
blame because she has disobeyed both God and Adam. She ponders suicide. Adam, moved by
her speech, forbids her from taking her own life. He remembers their punishment and believes
that they can enact revenge on Satan by remaining obedient to God. Together they pray to God
and repent.

God hears their prayers, and sends Michael down to Earth. Michael arrives on Earth, and tells
them that they must leave Paradise. But before they leave, Michael puts Eve to sleep and takes
Adam up onto the highest hill, where he shows him a vision of humankind’s future. Adam sees
the sins of his children, and his children’s children, and his first vision of death. Horrified, he asks
Michael if there is any alternative to death. Generations to follow continue to sin by lust, greed,
envy, and pride. They kill each other selfishly and live only for pleasure. Then Michael shows him
the vision of Enoch, who is saved by God as his warring peers attempt to kill him. Adam also sees
the story of Noah and his family, whose virtue allows them to be chosen to survive the flood that
kills all other humans. Adam feels remorse for death and happiness for humankind’s
redemption. Next is the vision of Nimrod and the Tower of Babel. This story explains the
perversion of pure language into the many languages that are spoken on Earth today. Adam sees
the triumph of Moses and the Israelites, and then glimpses the Son’s sacrifice to save
humankind. After this vision, it is time for Adam and Eve to leave Paradise. Eve awakes and tells
Adam that she had a very interesting and educating dream. Led by Michael, Adam and Eve
slowly and woefully leave Paradise hand in hand into a new world.

Analysis

The beginning of Paradise Lost is similar in gravity and seriousness to the book from which
Milton takes much of his story: the Book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. The Bible begins
with the story of the world’s creation, and Milton’s epic begins in a similar vein, alluding to the
creation of the world by the Holy Spirit. The first two sentences, or twenty-six lines, of Paradise
Lost are extremely compressed, containing a great deal of information about Milton’s reasons for
writing his epic, his subject matter, and his attitudes toward his subject. In these two sentences,
Milton invokes his muse, which is actually the Holy Spirit rather than one of the nine muses. By
invoking a muse, but differentiating it from traditional muses, Milton manages to tell us quite a
lot about how he sees his project. In the first place, an invocation of the muse at the beginning
of an epic is conventional, so Milton is acknowledging his awareness of Homer, Virgil, and later
poets, and signaling that he has mastered their format and wants to be part of their tradition.
But by identifying his muse as the divine spirit that inspired the Bible and created the world, he
shows that his ambitions go far beyond joining the club of Homer and Virgil. Milton’s epic will
surpass theirs, drawing on a more fundamental source of truth and dealing with matters of more
fundamental importance to human beings. At the same time, however, Milton’s invocation is
extremely humble, expressing his utter dependence on God’s grace in speaking through him.
Milton thus begins his poem with a mixture of towering ambition and humble self-effacement,
simultaneously tipping his hat to his poetic forebears and promising to soar above them for
God’s glorification.

Milton’s approach to the invocation of the muse, in which he takes a classical literary convention
and reinvents it from a Christian perspective, sets the pattern for all of Paradise Lost. For
example, when he catalogs the prominent devils in Hell and explains the various names they are
known by and which cults worshipped them, he makes devils of many gods whom the Greeks,
Ammonites, and other ancient peoples worshipped. In other words, the great gods of the
classical world have become—according to Milton—fallen angels. His poem purports to tell of
these gods’ original natures, before they infected humankind in the form of false gods. Through
such comparisons with the classical epic poems, Milton is quick to demonstrate that the scope of
his epic poem is much greater than those of the classical poets, and that his worldview and
inspiration is more fundamentally true and all-encompassing than theirs. The setting, or world,
of Milton’s epic is large enough to include those smaller, classical worlds. Milton also displays his
world’s superiority while reducing those classical epics to the level of old, nearly forgotten
stories. For example, the nine muses of classical epics still exist on Mount Helicon in the world of
Paradise Lost, but Milton’s muse haunts other areas and has the ability to fly above those other,
less-powerful classical Muses. Thus Milton both makes himself the authority on antiquity and
subordinates it to his Christian worldview.

The Iliad and the Aeneid are the great epic poems of Greek and Latin, respectively, and Milton
emulates them because he intends Paradise Lost to be the first English epic. Milton wants to
make glorious art out of the English language the way the other epics had done for their
languages. Not only must a great epic be long and poetically well-constructed, its subject must
be significant and original, its form strict and serious, and its aims noble and heroic. In Milton’s
view, the story he will tell is the most original story known to man, as it is the first story of the
world and of the first human beings. Also, while Homer and Virgil only chronicled the journey of
heroic men, like Achilles or Aeneas, Milton chronicles the tragic journey of all men—the result of
humankind’s disobedience. Milton goes so far as to say that he hopes to “justify,” or explain,
God’s mysterious plan for humankind. Homer and Virgil describe great wars between men, but
Milton tells the story of the most epic battle possible: the battle between God and Satan, good
and evil.
CHARACTERS

Main Characters

Satan - Head of the rebellious angels who have just fallen from Heaven. As the poem’s
antagonist, Satan is the originator of sin—the first to be ungrateful for God the Father’s
blessings. He embarks on a mission to Earth that eventually leads to the fall of Adam and Eve,
but also worsens his eternal punishment. His character changes throughout the poem. Satan
often appears to speak rationally and persuasively, but later in the poem we see the
inconsistency and irrationality of his thoughts. He can assume any form, adopting both glorious
and humble shapes.

Adam - The first human, the father of our race, and, along with his wife Eve, the caretaker of the
Garden of Eden. Adam is grateful and obedient to God, but falls from grace when Eve convinces
him to join her in the sin of eating from the Tree of Knowledge.

Eve - The first woman and the mother of mankind. Eve was made from a rib taken from Adam’s
side. Because she was made from Adam and for Adam, she is subservient to him. She is also
weaker than Adam, so Satan focuses his powers of temptation on her. He succeeds in getting her
to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree despite God’s command.

God The Father - One part of the Christian Trinity. God the Father creates the world by means of
God the Son, creating Adam and Eve last. He foresees the fall of mankind through them. He does
not prevent their fall, in order to preserve their free will, but he does allow his Son to atone for
their sins.

God The Son - Jesus Christ, the second part of the Trinity. He delivers the fatal blow to Satan’s
forces, sending them down into Hell, before the creation of Earth. When the fall of man is
predicted, He offers himself as a sacrifice to pay for the sins of mankind, so that God the Father
can be both just and merciful.

Devils, Inhabiting Hell

Beelzebub - Satan’s second-in-command. Beelzebub discusses with Satan their options after
being cast into Hell, and at the debate suggests that they investigate the newly created Earth. He
and Satan embody perverted reason, since they are both eloquent and rational but use their
talents for wholly corrupt ends.

Belial - One of the principal devils in Hell. Belial argues against further war with Heaven, but he
does so because he is an embodiment of sloth and inactivity, not for any good reason. His
eloquence and learning is great, and he is able to persuade many of the devils with his faulty
reasoning.
Mammon - A devil known in the Bible as the epitome of wealth. Mammon always walks hunched
over, as if he is searching the ground for valuables. In the debate among the devils, he argues
against war, seeing no profit to be gained from it. He believes Hell can be improved by mining
the gems and minerals they find there.

Mulciber - The devil who builds Pandemonium, Satan’s palace in Hell. Mulciber’s character is
based on a Greek mythological figure known for being a poor architect, but in Milton’s poem he
is one of the most productive and skilled devils in Hell.

Moloch - A rash, irrational, and murderous devil. Moloch argues in Pandemonium that the devils
should engage in another full war against God and his servant angels.

Sin - Satan’s daughter, who sprang full-formed from Satan’s head when he was still in Heaven. Sin
has the shape of a woman above the waist, that of a serpent below, and her middle is ringed
about with Hell Hounds, who periodically burrow into her womb and gnaw her entrails. She
guards the gates of Hell.

Death - Satan’s son by his daughter, Sin. Death in turn rapes his mother, begetting the mass of
beasts that torment her lower half. The relations between Death, Sin, and Satan mimic horribly
those of the Holy Trinity.

Angels, Inhabiting Heaven and Earth

Gabriel - One of the archangels of Heaven, who acts as a guard at the Garden of Eden. Gabriel
confronts Satan after his angels find Satan whispering to Eve in the Garden.

Raphael - One of the archangels in Heaven, who acts as one of God’s messengers. Raphael
informs Adam of Satan’s plot to seduce them into sin, and also narrates the story of the fallen
angels, as well as the fall of Satan.

Uriel - An angel who guards the planet earth. Uriel is the angel whom Satan tricks when he is
disguised as a cherub. Uriel, as a good angel and guardian, tries to correct his error by making
the other angels aware of Satan’s presence.

Abdiel - An angel who at first considers joining Satan in rebellion but argues against Satan and
the rebel angels and returns to God. His character demonstrates the power of repentance.

Michael - The chief of the archangels, Michael leads the angelic forces against Satan and his
followers in the battle in Heaven, before the Son provides the decisive advantage. Michael also
stands guard at the Gate of Heaven, and narrates the future of the world to Adam in Books XI
and XII.

Paradise Lost | Themes

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Obedience and Disobedience

Paradise Lost is a cautionary tale: the characters in it can be categorized according to who is
obedient to God and who is disobedient. Everyone's relationship to God depends on this factor,
as do their punishments and rewards. Satan's rebellion is seen as the largest act of disobedience
in the epic, followed closely by the fall of Adam and Eve. Milton infers that the order of the
world depends on obedience to God, and so the punishment for disobedience is of equal and
just proportion to the sin. To sin is to disobey God and to upset the balance of goodness in the
world.

Sin and Innocence

Milton depicts innocence in great detail, from the innocence of angels to the innocence of Adam
and Eve in Paradise before the fall. Innocence is at the opposite end of the spectrum from sin,
and for Adam and Eve it is closely connected to their ignorance. When Adam and Eve lose their
innocence, it is because they disobey God's instructions and bring sin into the world. Once they
have sinned, they can never be innocent again.

Fate and Free Will

Paradise Lost presents a puzzling conundrum: if God has knowledge of everything that has
happened and will ever happen, and also possesses the power to change anything, do his
creatures really have free will? Milton tries to make the case that God is careful not to influence
his creatures but to leave their individual choices to them even when he can see the outcome.
He does this because he wants all his creatures to obey him out of love form him, not because
they are forced to.

Themes

MAIN IDEAS THEMES

Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.

The Importance of Obedience to God

The first words of Paradise Lost state that the poem’s main theme will be “Man’s first
Disobedience.” Milton narrates the story of Adam and Eve’s disobedience, explains how and why
it happens, and places the story within the larger context of Satan’s rebellion and Jesus’
resurrection. Raphael tells Adam about Satan’s disobedience in an effort to give him a firm grasp
of the threat that Satan and humankind’s disobedience poses. In essence, Paradise Lost presents
two moral paths that one can take after disobedience: the downward spiral of increasing sin and
degradation, represented by Satan, and the road to redemption, represented by Adam and Eve.

While Adam and Eve are the first humans to disobey God, Satan is the first of all God’s creation
to disobey. His decision to rebel comes only from himself—he was not persuaded or provoked by
others. Also, his decision to continue to disobey God after his fall into Hell ensures that God will
not forgive him. Adam and Eve, on the other hand, decide to repent for their sins and seek
forgiveness. Unlike Satan, Adam and Eve understand that their disobedience to God will be
corrected through generations of toil on Earth. This path is obviously the correct one to take: the
visions in Books XI and XII demonstrate that obedience to God, even after repeated falls, can
lead to humankind’s salvation.

The Hierarchical Nature of the Universe

Paradise Lost is about hierarchy as much as it is about obedience. The layout of the universe—
with Heaven above, Hell below, and Earth in the middle—presents the universe as a hierarchy
based on proximity to God and his grace. This spatial hierarchy leads to a social hierarchy of
angels, humans, animals, and devils: the Son is closest to God, with the archangels and cherubs
behind him. Adam and Eve and Earth’s animals come next, with Satan and the other fallen angels
following last. To obey God is to respect this hierarchy.

Satan refuses to honor the Son as his superior, thereby questioning God’s hierarchy. As the
angels in Satan’s camp rebel, they hope to beat God and thereby dissolve what they believe to
be an unfair hierarchy in Heaven. When the Son and the good angels defeat the rebel angels, the
rebels are punished by being banished far away from Heaven. At least, Satan argues later, they
can make their own hierarchy in Hell, but they are nevertheless subject to God’s overall
hierarchy, in which they are ranked the lowest. Satan continues to disobey God and his hierarchy
as he seeks to corrupt mankind.

Likewise, humankind’s disobedience is a corruption of God’s hierarchy. Before the fall, Adam and
Eve treat the visiting angels with proper respect and acknowledgement of their closeness to
God, and Eve embraces the subservient role allotted to her in her marriage. God and Raphael
both instruct Adam that Eve is slightly farther removed from God’s grace than Adam because she
was created to serve both God and him. When Eve persuades Adam to let her work alone, she
challenges him, her superior, and he yields to her, his inferior. Again, as Adam eats from the fruit,
he knowingly defies God by obeying Eve and his inner instinct instead of God and his reason.
Adam’s visions in Books XI and XII show more examples of this disobedience to God and the
universe’s hierarchy, but also demonstrate that with the Son’s sacrifice, this hierarchy will be
restored once again.

The Fall as Partly Fortunate

After he sees the vision of Christ’s redemption of humankind in Book XII, Adam refers to his own
sin as a felix culpa or “happy fault,” suggesting that the fall of humankind, while originally
seeming an unmitigated catastrophe, does in fact bring good with it. Adam and Eve’s
disobedience allows God to show his mercy and temperance in their punishments and his
eternal providence toward humankind. This display of love and compassion, given through the
Son, is a gift to humankind. Humankind must now experience pain and death, but humans can
also experience mercy, salvation, and grace in ways they would not have been able to had they
not disobeyed. While humankind has fallen from grace, individuals can redeem and save
themselves through continued devotion and obedience to God. The salvation of humankind, in
the form of The Son’s sacrifice and resurrection, can begin to restore humankind to its former
state. In other words, good will come of sin and death, and humankind will eventually be
rewarded. This fortunate result justifies God’s reasoning and explains his ultimate plan for
humankind

Paradise Lost | Symbols

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Scales of God

While God rarely intercedes personally with his creatures—choosing instead to send
intermediaries such as angels or the Son—he sends a powerful sign to Satan when he prepares
to battle Gabriel in Paradise. God sends up a vision of scales in the sky, and on each side he
depicts the outcome of Satan's actions. If Satan battles Gabriel, it will be pointless, but if he
leaves, the consequences are less. In this way God demonstrates the ultimate power and
knowledge he has over Satan and how pointless it is to try to outwit or go against him.

Fruit from Tree of Knowledge

The fruit symbolizes the temptation to gain knowledge that only God should know. God forbids
Adam and Eve from eating it, which makes them desire it even more. Satan ultimately tempts
Eve into eating it first, and he uses flattery and deception to manipulate her desire. Adam eats it
because of his love for Eve, and it causes both of them to fall from their innocent and ignorant
state. To disobey God is to sin, and this is the first sin for which all future generations will be
punished.
Garden of Eden

The Garden of Eden symbolizes the innocence and ignorance of Adam and Eve. It is a peaceful
and bountiful place, full of gentle animals and food. Nothing bad ever happens, and Adam and
Eve are happy there. Yet the Garden also contains the forbidden Tree of Knowledge, from which
God has instructed Adam and Eve not to eat. This symbolizes that even in innocence temptation
lurks, as does the potential for disobedience and sin. Once Adam and Eve disobey God, they are
banished from the Garden, and the world around them changes to become more hostile.
Though they have gained knowledge, they have lost innocence and access to the peaceful realm
it inhabited.

Symbols

MAIN IDEAS SYMBOLS

Symbols are objects, characters, figures, and colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

The Scales in the Sky

As Satan prepares to fight Gabriel when he is discovered in Paradise, God causes the image of a
pair of golden scales to appear in the sky. On one side of the scales, he puts the consequences of
Satan’s running away, and on the other he puts the consequences of Satan’s staying and fighting
with Gabriel. The side that shows him staying and fighting flies up, signifying its lightness and
worthlessness. These scales symbolize the fact that God and Satan are not truly on opposite
sides of a struggle—God is all-powerful, and Satan and Gabriel both derive all of their power
from Him. God’s scales force Satan to realize the futility of taking arms against one of God’s
angels again.

Adam’s Wreath

The wreath that Adam makes as he and Eve work separately in Book IX is symbolic in several
ways. First, it represents his love for her and his attraction to her. But as he is about to give the
wreath to her, his shock in noticing that she has eaten from the Tree of Knowledge makes him
drop it to the ground. His dropping of the wreath symbolizes that his love and attraction to Eve is
falling away. His image of her as a spiritual companion has been shattered completely, as he
realizes her fallen state. The fallen wreath represents the loss of pure love.

Motifs

MAIN IDEAS MOTIFS

Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help to develop and
inform the text’s major themes.

Light and Dark

Opposites abound in Paradise Lost, including Heaven and Hell, God and Satan, and good and evil.
Milton’s uses imagery of light and darkness to express all of these opposites. Angels are
physically described in terms of light, whereas devils are generally described by their shadowy
darkness. Milton also uses light to symbolize God and God’s grace. In his invocation in Book III,
Milton asks that he be filled with this light so he can tell his divine story accurately and
persuasively. While the absence of light in Hell and in Satan himself represents the absence of
God and his grace.

The Geography of the Universe

Milton divides the universe into four major regions: glorious Heaven, dreadful Hell, confusing
Chaos, and a young and vulnerable Earth in between. The opening scenes that take place in Hell
give the reader immediate context as to Satan’s plot against God and humankind. The
intermediate scenes in Heaven, in which God tells the angels of his plans, provide a philosophical
and theological context for the story. Then, with these established settings of good and evil, light
and dark, much of the action occurs in between on Earth. The powers of good and evil work
against each other on this new battlefield of Earth. Satan fights God by tempting Adam and Eve,
while God shows his love and mercy through the Son’s punishment of Adam and Eve.

Milton believes that any other information concerning the geography of the universe is
unimportant. Milton acknowledges both the possibility that the sun revolves around the Earth
and that the Earth revolves around the sun, without coming down on one side or the other.
Raphael asserts that it does not matter which revolves around which, demonstrating that
Milton’s cosmology is based on the religious message he wants to convey, rather than on the
findings of contemporaneous science or astronomy.

Conversation and Contemplation

One common objection raised by readers of Paradise Lost is that the poem contains relatively
little action. Milton sought to divert the reader’s attention from heroic battles and place it on the
conversations and contemplations of his characters. Conversations comprise almost five
complete books of Paradise Lost, close to half of the text. Milton’s narrative emphasis on
conversation conveys the importance he attached to conversation and contemplation, two
pursuits that he believed were of fundamental importance for a moral person. As with Adam and
Raphael, and again with Adam and Michael, the sharing of ideas allows two people to share and
spread God’s message. Likewise, pondering God and his grace allows a person to become closer
to God and more obedient. Adam constantly contemplates God before the fall, whereas Satan
contemplates only himself. After the fall, Adam and Eve must learn to maintain their
conversation and contemplation if they hope to make their own happiness outside of Paradise.

MAIN IDEAS KEY FACTS

Full Title · Paradise Lost

Author · John Milton

Video SparkNotes: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World summary

Type Of Work · Poem

Genre · Epic

Language · English

Time And Place Written · 1656–1674; England

Date Of First Publication · First Edition (ten books), 1667; Second Edition (twelve books), 1674

Publisher · S. Simmons, England

Narrator · Milton
Point Of View · Third person

Tone · Lofty; formal; tragic

Tense · Present

Setting (Time) · Before the beginning of time

Setting (Place) · Hell, Chaos and Night, Heaven, Earth (Paradise, the Garden of Eden)

Protagonist · Adam and Eve

Major Conflict · Satan, already damned to Hell, undertakes to corrupt God’s new, beloved
creation, humankind.

Rising Action · The angels battle in Heaven; Satan and the rebel angels fall to Hell; God creates
the universe; Satan plots to corrupt God’s human creation; God creates Eve to be Adam’s
companion; Raphael answers Adam’s questions and warns him of Satan

Climax · Adam and Eve eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge.

Falling Action · The Son inflicts punishment; Adam and Eve repent; Adam learns about the
future of man

Themes · The Importance of Obedience to God; The Hierarchical Nature of the Universe; The
Fall as Partly Fortunate

Motifs · Light and Dark; The Geography of the Universe; Conversation and Contemplation

Symbols · The Scales in the Sky; Adam’s wreath

Foreshadowing · Eve’s vanity at seeing her reflection in the lake; Satan’s transformation into a
snake and his final punishment
EVERY MAN IN HIS HUMUOR

Every Man in His Humour is one of Jonson's best-known and most influential plays. Initially
staged in 1598 by the Lord Chamberlain's Men (which included William Shakespeare in the cast),
the play was first printed in 1601. Jonson made significant revisions to the play for publication in
his Works (1616). Much of the contemporary critical discussion of the play analyzes the changes
made to the 1598 Quarto version, which were incorporated into the 1616 Folio revision.
Considered a comedy of intrigue, the play chronicles the efforts of a young, well-born man to
wed his true love, despite his well-intentioned father's attempts to prevent the wedding. Every
Man in His Humour also popularized the theory of humours and is regarded as a major work of
comic realism.
Plot and Major Characters

The central plot of Every Man in His Humour concerns the adventures of a young, upper-class
man, Edward Knowell, who visits the city both to visit his friend, Wellbred, and to seek the hand
of Bridget, who is from a lower economic and social class. Edward's father regards the match as
ill-advised and resolves to follow to the city to prevent the marriage. Realizing that his father is
following him and intent on sabotaging his attempts to wed Bridget, Edward solicits the help of
his father's clever servant, Brainworm, who assumes several disguises to trick the elder Knowell
and foil his pursuit. The characters encounter various eccentrics, such as the braggart soldier
Bobadill, the jealous husband Kitely, the country fool Stephen, and the city fool Matthew, all of
whom are exemplars for particular personality traits based on the theory of humours. The play
closes in the courtroom of the eccentric Justice Clement, where the young couple is wed.
Edward's father accepts his son's marriage and the play ends with the classic ritual of the
wedding feast.

Major Themes

Every Man in His Humour popularized the “comedy of humours.” Originally a medical term,
“humours” were the fluids believed to regulate the body and by extension the human
temperament. The theory, which can be traced to ancient times, is that there are four distinct
bodily fluids: blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile. An imbalance of these fluids, or
humours, causes a personality disturbance. In Every Man in His Humour Jonson worked these
theories into his drama to great effect—the characters in the work show clear evidence of their
individual imbalances of humours. Although Jonson was not the first to employ the idea of
humours in a drama, his use of the conceit in Every Man in His Humour is considered exemplary,
and such characterization continued to be a feature of his work. Commentators contend that key
features of the play are derived from classical drama, particularly from Plautus's comedies in
form and structure. Like those plays, the plot centers on an unlikely couple overcoming obstacles
—particularly familial and social opposition—to marry. In addition, the concept of a pair of
stately, elderly people outwitted by a pair of clever young men can be traced back to Plautine
comedy, as can the characters of the cunning servant and the braggart soldier. The work is also
considered a predecessor of comic realism on the English stage—Jonson's London audiences
recognized the play's characters as fellow citizens, even before Jonson's 1616 revision changed
the setting from Florence to London.

Paradise Lost | Quotes

The mind is its own place, and in itself/Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n. ... /Here we
may reign secure, and in my choice/To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:/Better to reign in
Hell, then serve in Heav'n.
Satan, Book 1

Satan is the leader of Hell. He would rather be in command of a place full of suffering and misery
than to be God's servant in Heaven without his own independence.

2.

So will fall,/He and his faithless progeny. Whose fault?/Whose but his own? Ingrate! He had of
me/All he could have; I made him just and right,/Sufficient to have stood though free to fall.

God, Book 3

God wants to make it known that even though he has knowledge of all future events, he has
given his creatures free will over their own choices. Man is "free to fall," and God has made it
this way so that man's choice to obey God comes from love, not powerlessness.

3.

Though both/Not equal, as their sex not equal seem'd;/For contemplation he, and valor
form'd,/For softness she, and sweet attractive Grace,/He for God only, she for God in him.

Narrator, Book 4

Here the narrator compares Adam and Eve in order to show that they are not created as equals
in the eyes of God. Eve is depicted as belonging to the inferior sex, weaker and less smart. Adam
is seen as closer to God in his creation, while Eve was created out of Adam's rib, and so her
connection to God is through Adam.

4.

Be then his Love accursed; since love or hate,/To me alike, it deals eternal woe./Nay cursed be
thou; since against his thy will/Chose freely what it now so justly rues./Me miserable!—which
way shall I fly/ Infinite wrath and infinite despair?/Which way I fly is Hell; myself am Hell.

Satan, Book 4

There is no happiness for Satan. The only mode he can operate in is wrath or despair, and
whichever way he goes, he brings Hell with him, because Hell is a state of mind he now
personifies.
5.

This one, this easy charge, of all the trees/In Paradise that bear delicious fruit/So various, not to
taste that only Tree/Of Knowledge, planted by the Tree of Life,/So near grows death to life,
whate'er death is,/Some dreadful thing no doubt; for well thou know'st/God hath pronounced it
death to taste that Tree.

Adam, Book 4

Adam reveals his innocence before the fall of man. He doesn't even know what death is but
intuits that it is bad. The reader also sees his preoccupation with the Tree of Knowledge. Though
he knows it is forbidden, he can't help thinking about it, and because death is hard for him to
conceptualize, the punishment seems abstract.

6.

Fair angelic Eve,/Partake thou also: happy though thou art,/Happier thou may'st be, worthier
canst not be:/Taste this, and be henceforth among the Gods/Thyself a Goddess, not to Earth
confined.

Satan, Book 5

Here is Satan at his most corrupt: tempting Eve in a dream to eat fruit from the Tree of
Knowledge by flattering her and promising her knowledge and godliness. He knows her vanity is
her weakness and, therefore, the easiest way to manipulate her.

7.

What surmounts the reach/Of human sense, I shall delineate so,/By likening spiritual to corporal
forms,/As may express them best, though what if Earth/Be but the shadow of Heav'n, and things
therein/Each to other like, more then on earth is thought?

Raphael, Book 5

It is difficult to explain the goings-on of Heaven to someone like Adam, who has never
experienced it. Here Raphael is saying that he will do his best to approximate in language that
Adam can understand when he describes the battle between God's and Satan's armies in
Heaven.

8.
Joy thou/In what He gives to thee, this Paradise/And thy fair Eve; Heav'n is for thee too high/To
know what passes there; be lowly wise:/Think only what concerns thee and thy being.

Raphael, Book 8

Raphael is advising Adam that too much knowledge is not necessarily a good thing; God has left
some things a mystery to mankind on purpose. This sets up some of the curiosity that leads
Adam and Eve to be tempted to eat fruit from the Tree of Knowledge—a curiosity that Milton
implies is inherent in man.

9.

Queen of this Universe, do not believe/Those rigid threats of death; ye shall not die:/How
should ye? by the fruit? it gives you life/To knowledge; by the Threat'ner? look on me,/Me who
have touch'd and tasted, yet both live.

Satan, Book 9

Finally Satan is able to confront Eve, and, having practiced his speech in her dream, he finally
convinces her to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. His logic and flattery appeals to her—he calls
her "queen of the universe" and tells her that God is testing her independence. Also, Satan
claims that he ate the fruit and did not die; therefore, Eve can eat it without dying.

10.

What better can we do, than to the place/Repairing where he judg'd us, prostrate fall/Before
him reverent, and there confess/Humbly our faults, and pardon beg, with tears/Watering the
ground, and with our sighs the air/Frequenting, sent from hearts contrite, in sign/Of sorrow
unfeign'd, and humiliation meek.

Adam, Book 10

These lines depict the biggest difference between man and Satan. While Satan is firm in his
disobedience and does not wish to repent to God for his mistakes, Adam and Eve realize they
must repent so that God will be merciful to them and their offspring. Their assumption is correct
—God is just and kind, and, while he still punishes them, he allows them into Heaven eternally
after they die.

Epic Poetry
Milton was introduced to classical Greek epics at a young age, and he made it his goal to write a
great English epic. Though initially he wanted to write his epic on an English subject, the legend
of King Arthur, he landed on something as large in scope as he could possibly get: the story of
the fall of man.

There are many parallels in Paradise Lost to the ancient Greek epics, such as Homer's Odyssey
and Iliad and Virgil's Aeneid. Elements of Greek epics, such as tales of warfare, heroes, villains,
and love, are echoed in Milton's story but on a much grander scale. Other epic elements in
Paradise Lost include invoking a muse to aid the writer in telling the story, beginning the story in
medias res (in the middle) rather than in chronological order, and using similes and metaphors to
show epic comparisons, such as comparing Satan's spear to the long mast of a ship. Milton spent
over 10 years dictating the poem to his daughters after he became blind, and he eventually
wrote its sequel, Paradise Regained (1671), in which Satan tries and fails to tempt Jesus Christ.

Milton writes Paradise Lost in unrhymed blank verse of iambic pentameter. Iambic means the
use of lines with an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. When this combination is
used five times in a line, then the scheme is called iambic pentameter. Milton uses run-on lines
without punctuation to avoid limits set by rhymed verse. He piles on epic similes one after the
other in imitation of classical epic poems. In Milton's time readers expected poems to rhyme and
were shocked by his use of iambic pentameter, which was previously used only in dramas.
Although many critics argue that Satan may be the most interesting character in Paradise Lost,
Milton probably intends the Son to be the hero of the poem because the Son voluntarily
humbles himself to become human and sacrifices himself for the sins of humankind to "justify
the ways of God to man."

John Milton | Biography

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John Milton was born on December 9, 1608, to a middle-class, religiously Protestant family in
London. He attended St. Paul's School and Christ's College, Cambridge. As a young student he
began writing poetry and started training to become an Anglican priest. Even though his interest
in religion prevailed throughout his life, he gave up his pursuit of the priesthood and instead
devoted his time to writing poetry and to studying ancient and modern languages, literature,
science, politics, and philosophy.

Milton's interest in politics also led him to write a series of political pamphlets during the English
Civil Wars (1642–51), in which he advocated for the right to divorce and to have freedom of the
press and argued that the monarchy should be abolished. After King Charles I was executed,
Milton served as a secretary of foreign language in the new republican government until the
monarchy was restored; at this point Milton was considered a dangerous revolutionary.
Meanwhile, he began losing his eyesight, and by 1651 he had gone completely blind. Paradise
Lost was published in 1667 in 10 books and later republished in a 12-book version (1674).
Comprising nearly 11,000 lines written in blank verse, the poem was immediately popular. In the
early 21st century, it is regarded as the greatest epic poem in English.

Milton's other works include History of Britain (1670), which covers the settlement of the island
up to the Norman Conquest in 1066. A volume containing two long poems, Samson Agonistes
and Paradise Regained, was published in 1671. Samson Agonistes focuses on the last day of the
biblical Samson's life and how he regains favor with God after giving into temptation, is blinded,
and is captured by his enemies. Paradise Regained tells about how Jesus resists Satan's
temptation in the wilderness. Both poems are examples of Christian heroism in which characters
are tempted to turn away from God, reject temptation, and then reaffirm their faith. Milton died
in November 1674.

Milton's works have influenced storytelling ever since they were published. Paradise Lost offers
something unusual in literature: an imaginative vision of what everyday life in Paradise might
have been like. Furthermore, Milton used a variety of literary devices, including epic similes—
long, elaborate figurative comparisons—that have influenced authors to the present day.

GRAND STYLE OF MIILTON

The grand style of Milton

Milton's style has been called the 'grand style' because it has always an unmistakable stamp of
majesty in it. It has not 'the voice of the sea' as Wordsworth says, but it has an elevating effect
on the reader. The subject of Milton's poetry is always lofty; even when he speaks of common
things, he elevates them to lofty heights. Coleridge defines poetic style as 'the best words in the
best order.' Milton's style, more than that of any other poet, fully justifies this definition.
Matthew Arnold says: "In the sure and flawless perfection of his rhythm and diction, he is as
admirable as Virgil or Dante, and in this respect he is unique amongst us. None else in English
literature possesses the like distinction."

Repeated Images
Besides extended similes, Milton also traces a number of images throughout the poem. One of
the most apparent is the image of the maze or labyrinth. Each image opens up new possibilities
for understanding Milton's ideas.

Allusions and Vocabulary

The first aspect of the grand style is the number of allusions and references, many of which seem
obscure, along with the arcane and archaic vocabulary. In just the first few lines of the poem
references to "Oreb" (7), "That Shepherd" (8), "chosen seed" (8), "Siloa's Brook" (10), and
"Aonian Mount" (15) occur. The purpose of the references is to extend the reader's
understanding through comparison. Most readers will know some of the references, but few will
know all. The question thus arises whether Milton achieves his effect or its opposite. Further,
words such as "Adamantine" (48), "durst" (49), "Compeer" (127), "Sovran" (246) and many
others, both more and less familiar, add an imposing tone to the work. Paradise Lost was not
written for an uneducated audience, but in many editions the explanatory notes are almost as
long as the text.

Sentence Construction

Besides the references and vocabulary, Milton also tends to use Latinate constructions. English is
a syntactical language using word order in sentences to produce sense. Latin, in contrast, is an
inflected language in which endings on words indicate the words' functions within a sentence,
thereby making word order less important. In Paradise Lost, Milton seems purposely to strive for
atypical English syntactical patterns. He almost never writes in simple sentences. Partly, this type
of inverted, at times convoluted, syntax is necessary for the poetics, to maintain the correct
meter, but at other times the odd syntax itself seems to be Milton's stylistic goal.

Lewis, and others who admire the grand style, argue that in passages such as this, the precise
meaning matters less than the impressionistic effect, that the images of drowsing, insensibility,
and dissolution occurring in order show the breakdown of a conscious mind, in this case Adam's,
as God produces a dream vision for him. Certainly this passage, as difficult to understand literally
as it is, is not bad writing. The reader understands what Adam is experiencing. However, in the
hands of lesser talents than Milton, such writing becomes nonsense.

Extended Similes

Another aspect of Milton's style is the extended simile. The use of epic similes goes back to
Homer in the Iliad and Odyssey, but Milton uses more similes and with more detail. A Miltonic
simile can easily become the subject of an essay, perhaps a book. , in all cases, a critical
exploration of the simile reveals depths of unexpected meaning about the objects or persons
being compared. Once again, Milton achieves a purpose with his highly involved language and
similes. The ability to do this seems almost unique to Milton, a man of immense learning and
great poetic ability.

No doubt, particular aspects of Milton's style could be presented at great length, but these are
sufficient. Milton intended to write in "a grand style." That style took the form of numerous
references and allusions, complex vocabulary, complicated grammatical constructions, and
extended similes and images. In consciously doing these things, Milton devised a means of giving
the written epic the bardic grandeur of the original recited epic. In so doing, he created an
artificial style that very few writers could hope to emulate though many tried. As with the
unique styles of William Faulkner and James Joyce, Milton's style is inimitable, and those who try
to copy it sometimes give the original a bad name.

Milton's style is certainly his own. Elements of it can be criticized, but in terms of his
accomplishment in Paradise Lost, it is difficult to see how such a work could be better written in
some other style. Milton defined the style of the English epic and, in a real sense, with that style,
ended the genre. After Milton and Paradise Lost, the English epic ends

blank verse n style of milton

Blank Verse and Style: On John Milton

Milton's style was not modified by his subject; what is shown with greater extent in Paradise Lost
may be found in Comus. One source of his peculiarity was his familiarity with the Tuscan poets;
the disposition of his words is, I think, frequently Italian; perhaps sometimes combined with
other tongues. Of him, at last, may be said what Jonson says of Spenser, that "he wrote no
language," but has formed what Butler calls a "Babylonish dialect," in itself harsh and barbarous,
but made by exalted genius and extensive learning the vehicle of so much instruction and so
much pleasure, that, like other lovers, we find grace in its deformity.

Whatever be the faults of his diction, he cannot want the praise of copiousness and variety. He
was master of his language in its full extent; and has selected the melodious words with such
diligence, that from his book alone the Art of English Poetry might be learned.

After his diction something must be said of his versification. "The measure," he says, "is the
English heroic verse without rhyme. " Of this mode he had many examples among the Italians,
and some in his own country. The Earl of Surrey is said to have translated one of Virgil's books
without rhyme; and, beside our tragedies, a few short poems had appeared in blank verse,
particularly one tending to reconcile the nation to Raleigh's wild attempt upon Guiana, and
probably written by Raleigh himself. These petty performances cannot be supposed to have
much influenced Milton, who more probably took his hint from Trissino's Italia Liberata; and,
finding blank verse easier than rhyme, was desirous of persuading himself that it is better.

"Rhyme," he says, and says truly, "is no necessary adjunct of true poetry." But, perhaps, of
poetry, as a mental operation, metre or music is no necessary adjunct: it is, however, by the
music of metre that poetry has been discriminated in all languages; and, in languages
melodiously constructed with a due proportion of long and short syllables, metre is sufficient.
But one language cannot communicate its rules to another; where metre is scanty and
imperfect, some help is necessary. The music of the English heroic lines strikes the ear so faintly,
that it is easily lost, unless all the syllables of every line co-operate together; this co-operation
can only be obtained by the preservation of every verse unmingled with another as a distinct
system of sounds; and this distinctness is obtained and preserved by the artifice of rhyme. The
variety of pauses, so much boasted by the lovers of blank verse, changes the measures of an
English poet to the periods of a declaimer; and there are only a few skilful and happy readers of
Milton, who enable their audience to perceive where the lines end or begin. "Blank verse," said
an ingenious critic, "seems to be verse only to the eye."

Poetry may subsist without rhyme, but English poetry will not often please; nor can rhyme ever
be safely spared but where the subject is able to support itself. Blank verse makes some
approach to that which is called the "lapidary style;" has neither the easiness of prose, nor the
melody of numbers, and therefore tires by long continuance. Of the Italian writers without
rhyme, whom Milton alleges as precedents, not one is popular; what reason could urge in its
defence has been confuted by the ear.

But, whatever be the advantages of rhyme, I cannot prevail on myself to wish that Milton had
been a rhymer; for I cannot wish his work to be other than it is; yet like other heroes, he is to be
admired rather than imitated. He that thinks himself capable of astonishing may write blank
verse; but those that hope only to please must condescend to rhyme.

The highest praise of genius is original invention. Milton cannot be said to have contrived the
structure of an epic poem, and therefore owes reverence to that vigour and amplitude of mind
to which all generations must be indebted for the art of poetical narration, for the texture of the
fable, the variation of incidents, the interposition of dialogue, and all the stratagems that
surprise and enchain attention. But, of all the borrowers from Homer, Milton is perhaps the least
indebted. He was naturally a thinker for himself, confident of his own abilities, and disdainful of
help or hindrance: he did not refuse admission to the thoughts or images of his predecessors,
but he did not seek them. From his contemporaries he neither courted nor received support;
there is in his writings nothing by which the pride of other authors might be gratified, or favour
gained; no exchange of praise, nor solicitation of support. His great works were performed under
discountenance and in blindness; but difficulties vanished at his touch; he was born for whatever
is arduous; and his work is not the greatest of heroic poems, only because it is not the first.

Ben Jonson's Comedy of Humours

The Word "Humour":

The term "humour" comes from the ancient Greek physicians and, later, from the medieval
system of medicine. This system envisaged four major humours corresponding with the four
elements (fire, air, earth, and water) and possessing the quality respectively of heat, cold,
dryness, and moisture.

The "complexion," "temperament," or constitution of a man depended on the proportionate

alliance of the four humours or subtle juices in his body. The predominance of the moist humour
caused a man to grow sanguine, of the hot to grow choleric, and so on. The prevailing idea with
the physiologist was that in a healthy body there was a natural balance of all the four humours
and that a disturbance of the balance was dangerous and needed to be checked. "In Elizabethan
times", says Ifor Evans in A Short History of English Drama, "this medieval physiology was not
treated with complete seriousness, but its vocabulary became a popular fashion in sophisticated
conversation and this again Jonson exploited."
Elizabethan Interpretation:

"Humour", apart from its currency in the medieval profession, was also a catchword when Ben
Jonson began to write. But his contemporaries used the word for any passing mood, whim,
fancy, or caprice and not, as Ben Jonson did, for a more a less permanent and predominant
peculiarity of disposition. Shakespeare, like the rest, used the word in the sense of mood or
fancy. For instance, in the Richard III we have:

Was ever -woman in this-humour wooed?

Was ever -woman in this humour won?

Again, in The Merchant of Venice, when Shylock is asked why he prefers a pound of the flesh of
Bassanio's heart to the sum of three thousand ducats, he replies:

It is my humour

Jonson's Interpretation:

Ben Jonson dissociated himself from this degenerate meaning of the word "humour", took it
back to its original physiological sense and fitted it into the context of his concept of the nature
and function of comedy. Just as a man has in his physique a dominant humour, similarly he has in
his psyche a dominant passion. Under the influence of this dominant passion a man may
become, as the case may be, greedy, jealous, cowardly, deceptible, foolhardy, and so forth. As
Jonson clarified in the Prologue to Every Man out of His Humour, he was taking the word
"humour" from medicine and was using it as a metaphor for the general disposition of a man—
that is, his psychological set-up. He explains that

When some one peculiar quality

Doth so possess a man that it doth draw

All his effects, his spirits, and his powers,

In their confluctions, all to run one way;

This may truly be said to be a humour.

The Purpose of Comedy:

Ben Jonson's comedy is called the comedy of humours as it aimed primarily at the
representation of such characters as were motivated mainly or entirely by their peculiar,
dominant passions or humours. Jonson felt that, in the words of a critic, "the purpose of comedy
is to note those elements in human character which are either naturally and permanently
dominant in each man, or which on occasion, in the hazard of life, overflow and exceed their
limits at the expense of the other contributing elements to represent a number of characters
differently humoured; and in the clash of contrasts to paint with pleasant laughter, the moral of
these disorders. A man whom we call avaricious because avarice to us is his most striking
characteristic and to him his most absorbing humour may either preserve the established
proportion of his dominating quality in all his dealings, or under stress of living in a peculiar set
of circumstances, let it grow at he expense of other qualities. In the first case, he may be said to
be' in his humour' and in the second, to be 'out of his humour.' Both are excellent material for
comic dramatisation and the question is one of degree. The latter is the more tempting to the
playwright not merely because excess gives him more striking stage effects, but because it serves
his ethical purpose better because of the enormity of its magnitude." The comedy of humours
had a highly didactic aim which was sought to be realised through satire levelled at various
humours. Volpone is a satire on cupidity and depravity of human character. The Alchemist on
greed, Bartholomew Fair on hypocritical Puritans, The Silent Woman on jittery melancholiacs
afraid of noise, The Staple of News on irresponsible newsmongering and the uncultured craving
for thrills, and so on. It was not without reason that Ben Jonson characterised more than one of
his comedies as "comical satires."

Is Jonson an Imitator?:

We have not so far referred to Jonson's indebtedness to classical dramatists in arriving at his
concept of the comedy of humours. It was partly his classical instruction andxtaste which led him
to this concept. But it is a popular misrepresentation to assert than Jonson was a mechanical
imitator of the Roman comic dramatists-Plautus and Terence. "There is no doubt that in Latin
comedy," to quote Ifor Evans, "each character belonged to a recognizable type, and maintained
throughout certain well-defined attributes." However, as a critic observes, "it is really a strange
critical error to hold that the Jonsonian conception of the dramatic humour is only an English
copy of Plautine and Terentian types and that his braggarts and gulls and misers were but
Romans in doublet and ruff..." Jonson was no transcriber. He acknowledged "no man" his
"master." His dramatic art came not from the study of literature but the study of life. His
insistence that comedy should be real and English comedy should be English and real was meant
partly to dispel the charge that his comic art was merely literary, far removed from life and only a
scholar's affair. His native vigour and originality save him from being treated as a mechanical
transcriber. He was a redoubtable scholar, but, what is more important, "he was", in the words
of David Daiches in A Critical History of English Literature, "also a rugged Englishman with a
sardonic relish for the varied and colourful London life of his day...he showed enormous and
impressive originality even when most closely following classical models or applying rules from
classical theory or practice." Take an-example. Most of the humours in his first important
comedy Every Man in His Humour have their prototypes in the classical comedy of Plautus and
Terence. But all of them are Londoners, not Romans,.and are drawn not from books but
observation. The jealous husband, the timid father, the corrupt son, the cunning slave or
parasite, the simple gull, and the boasting but cowardly soldier of Plautus and Terence have
suggested Ben Jonson's Kitely the merchant, the elder Knowell, the younger Knowell (he is not
corrupt indeed but it is.supposed by his father to be so), Brainworm, Matthew and Stephen (the
town and the country gull respectively), and Bobadill. All of them are no mere copies but
represent a lively cross-section of London society of the age of Ben Jonson. A critic observes
regarding these characters : "No more genuine sketches of London character are to be found in
the annals of the drama." They are children of Jonson's own observation; and as an observer, he
had, save Shakespeare, few rivals among his contemporaries.

Advantages of the Humour Technique:

There were some obvious advantages Jonson derived from the adoption of the humour
technique. The chief among them are given below:

(i) First, it allowed him to dispense with the traditional clown or jester. The farcical laughter
arising from the grotesque and slapstick farce of clownery could be substituted by the clash of
humours.

(ii) Secondly, it provided a meeting-ground between classical theory and modern life.

(iii) Thirdly, as the introduction of humours put the dramatic emphasis on character at the cost of
incident, it threw out of favour, once and for all, the comedy of mere intrigue.

(iv) Lastly, it rendered it possible for the master of satiric comedy, the doughty champion of
classicism, and the most powerful of Elizabethan realists to be united in the same man. Jonson
threw the massive weight of his dramatic genius against the current of popular taste and
succeeded in pruning the romantic excesses of Elizabethan comedy.

The Disadvantages:

A very grave danger inherent in the envisagement and representation of humours was the
possibility of a falsification of human nature. The characters were apt to grow wooden and
monotonous. Gregory Smith observes in this connexion : "In the first place, the presentation of
certain selected humours throughout a long play involves the playwright, as it does novelists like
Dickens, in one .offfte two risks: either of making the characters too rigid or uniform in habit,
puppet-like after the fashion of the personages in the old Morality, and dramatically unreal or in
the consciousness of this danger, of striving to escape from it by exaggeration...In the second
place...characters thus fixed tend to become too simple. Even when the humour is not plain
study of a single folly, but a complex impression of several with one only slightly overtopping the
rest, it is hard to sustain the combination throughout the action." Jonson does manage, thanks
to his vigour and originality, to negotiate these dangers pretty safely. It cannot be said that his
characters are only wooden figures, representatives of types and embodiments of specific traits
as are the characters of the morality plays of the Middle Ages. He does manage to breathe into
them a life of their own. As T. S. Eliot maintains, rather partially, in The Sacred Wood,
Shakespeare's characters are "no more alive than are the characters of Jonson."

In spite of their realism and vividness Ben Jonson's humours are open to the charge of being
psychologically too simple. It-is'often said that he was not acquainted with man in his fulness
and that he built on the surface and built but a single storey. The complexities of human psyche
find no expression. "There is,"-says a critic, "no light and shade, the cross-play of motives is apt
to be neglected; and above all, he misses the- inconsistency which is so powerful an element in
the nature of us all." "He," says another critic, "chooses a general idea-cunning, folly, severity,
Itlst-and makes a person out of it. He takes an abstract quality, and putting together all the acts
to which it may give rise, trots it out on the stage in a man's dress. Now it is a vice selected from
the catalogue of moral philosophy sensuality thirsting for gold: the perverse double inclination
becomes a personage, Sir Epicure Mammon; before the alchemist, before his friend, before his
mistress, In public or alone, all his words denote a greed of pleasure and of gold, and they
express nothing more. Now it is a piece of madness gathered from the old sophists, a
tremendous horror of noise; this form of mental pathology becomes a personage, Morose." To
have a humour is almost a whole-time profession. It is to some extent, an over-simplification of
human nature amounting to its falsification. Ben Jonson's characters are, to adopt R. M. Forster's
phraseology in his Aspects of the Novel, flat and not round characters. They are all predictable
and are "'not capable of surprising us in a convincing way." They do not have the unpredictability
of life, though they are lively and arresting.

Every Man in His Humour: general question

- Ben Jonson

X About Author

Ben Jonson was an English playwright, poet, actor and a literary critic born in Westminster,

London in 1572. His artistry exerted a lasting impact upon English poetry. He popularized
“Comedy of

Humours.” He is generally regarded as the second most important English playwright after
Shakespeare.

Shakespeare was the Homer or the father of the dramatic poets; Jonson was the Virgil,

the pattern of elaborate writing.

? John Dryden.

- Founder of the comedy of Humours

Comedy of Humours was introduced by Ben Jonson in English drama. The comedy of humours

was natural expression of his genius. Ben Jonson’s comedies are called “comedy of humours,”
because

the principal characters in all the comedies are victims of one humours or the other. Like he uses
comedy

of humours in his play Every Man In His Humour.

- Jonson’s Interpretation

Ben Jonson took the word “humour” to its original physiological sense and fitted it into the

context of his concept of the nature and functions of comedy. Every man has a dominant
passion. Under

the influence of this passion, a man may become greedy, jealous and so. Jonson took the word
“humour”

from medicine and used it as a metaphor for the general disposition of a man in his play – Every
Man In

His Humour.

X Introduction

Everyman in His Humour is a 1598 play by the English playwright Ben Jonson. The play belongs
to

the subgenre of “Humours Comedy.” The most definite source of the technique of Everyman in
His

Humour is the art of classical Comedy, as formulated by Renaissance criticism, some three years
before

the performance of the play.

X History and Publication of the Play

Critics of the nineteenth century tended to credit Jonson with the introduction of

“comedy of humours” into English literature, as Jonson defined it in Every Man In His Humour in

1598. Jonson revised the play for the 1616 folio, where it was the first play presented.

X Theme of the Play

Every Man In His Humour popularized the comedy of humours. According to a medical theory,
there

are four distinct body fluids: blood, phlegm, black bile, yellow bile. An imbalance of these fluids
causes a

personality disturbance. In Every Man In His Humour, Jonson worked these theories into his
humour. The

characters in his works show clear evidence of their individual imbalances of humours.

X Satire in the Play

As for satire, there is very little satire in Every Man In His Humour. But there’s a satire of

contemporary men and institutions; satire such as Pope practiced. Jonson’s art of satire almost
attacks on

the standards of capitalism, company floating etc. Eliot wrote –

Satire like Jonson is the greatest in the end not by hitting off its object but by

creating it; the satire is merely the means which leads to an aesthetic result.

This satiric quality is much more plainly visible in the revised form of the play in the Folio on
1616.

In this revision, Jonson had hardened and sharpened his theory of comedy.

X Picture of London

Jonson sets scene of London in his play to give symbolic significance to the most settings. The

actions that take places in such setting are conventional. For example, Knowell’s home is a refuge
from

the dangers of London society. Scenes that set in outdoors suggest that the London streets were
places

where people might pass without violating social norms.

X Summary

Edward Knowell, a practical citizen of the London is somewhat concerned over

his son’s interest in poetry. One day he is handed a letter meant for his son, signed by a

London gallant, Wellbred. The letter is an invitation to his son to renew his association

with a group of young Madcaps.

X Conclusion
A careful analysis shows that there is something in the play by which we called the

Play a great play of the “Comedy of Humours.” Jonson is often called heavy-handed and

costive. The play has the perfect structure. The characters in the play are in their humours

and then out. The purpose of the Play for which the parts were assembled is achieved by

Ben Jonson.

Q: "Every Man in His Humour" as a comedy humour.

Every Man in His Humour is one of Jonson's best-known and most influential plays. Considered a
comedy of intrigue, the play archives the efforts of a young, well-born man to wed his true love,
although his well-intentioned father's tries to stop the wedding. Every Man in His Humour also
famous in the theory of humours and is regarded as a major work of comic realism.

The main plot consists of three strands- the over enthusiastic father and his rakish son; the
unreasonable misgiving of the Kitely family regarding the loyalty; the love intrigue between
Edward and Bridget. These three elements have their separate unit.

The play opens with the miss-delivery of a letter addressed to Edward Knowell. It is written by
Wellbred, friend of Edward. The letter is about the invitation to visit the Windmill Tavern. The
letter finally reaches in the hands of Old Knowell. The letter rouses the suspicion of the father.
He sets out to investigate the matter. The father always suspects that the son becomes very
wasteful and derailed. Edward actually visits the city both to visit his friend, Wellbred, and to
seek the hand of Bridget, his love who is from a lower economic and social class. But realizing
that his father is following him and intent on damaging his attempts to wed Bridget, Edward begs
the help of his father's clever servant, Brainworm, who assumes several masks to trick the elder
Knowell and foil his pursuit.

Kitely, the victim of the second intrigue, is one of Jonson’s most striking ‘humours’. Jonson’s
intention is satiric comedy; he eliminates from Kitely all but the one idea of foolish jealousy,
which, after the manner of ‘humour’, becomes an obsession, and ridiculously colors all his
thoughts and behavior.

The third is the very thin love intrigue between Bridget and Edward Knowell. This is the one
typically romantic aspect of the play. But Jonson naturally makes little of it. It is introduced in Act
IV Scene iii with no preparation; but it is slightly elaborated.

All the twists are finally resolved at Justice Clements’s house. Kitely’s jealousy and his wife’s
suspicion are found baseless. Brainworm unmasks his disguise. The wedding of Edward and
Bridget is occurred. Old Knowell realizes his folly.

It is based upon the ancient theory of humours. The ancient and medieval universe was
conceived to be composed of four elements. The four elements were combinations of four
qualities- hot, cold, dry and moist. The earth was regarded as a combination of cold and dry
qualities. Water was regarded of cold and moist qualities. Air was characterized as hot and moist
qualities. Fire represented as hot and dry qualities.

Man’s body was composed of earth and water. His soul is of air and water. The elements present
in the human body were known as four humours. Each humour was responsible for peculiar
physical and mental traits in the human personality.

This drama introduces us to a group of eccentric attitudes. Each of his character has his
particular humour. Knowell’s humour is he is excessively anxious and suspicious of the attitude of
his son. Kitely’s humour is his jealousy, which is humourous. The other characters come up with
various eccentrics. Justice Cement is a crazy magistrate and he is fond of liquor. Stephen’s
humour is his melancholy mood. Edward and Wellbred’s humours are their sense of intellectual
superiority. Humour as the trait of absurdity, eccentricity or abnormality is perfectly portrayed.

CHAPTER II

JONSON'S THEORY OF COMEDY

"Fools are my theme, let satire be my song"

Byron - 'English Bards and Scotch Reviewers'.

THE PURPOSE OF COMEDY

While we talk of Jonson as a dramatist and a poet,

we must not forget that, above all, he was a classicist.

He showed unusual interest in and knowledge of the classics as

a youth, and even astounded his teachers with his erudition.

Jonson' s propensity for the classics did not wane as he matured;

in fact, classicism had a great deal to do with his conception

oc comedy and influenced his whole life as a dramatist. He

prided himself on his learning and was contemptuous of his

contemporaries who fell into error because of their lack of

scholarship, and ignorance of the classics.

With this In mind it is not surprising to find that

Jonson despised the romantic extravagances of his own day.

This reaction was the natural result of the inherent difference

between romanticism and classicism. Romanticism stressed

freedom of form, the unlimited use of the imagination, and

appealed mainly to the emotions; classicism emphasised form,

the use of reason, and appealed mainly to the intellect.

Shakespeare represented the romantic point of view, while

Jonson stood for classical traditions. Jonson also upheld

Realism as opposed to Romanticism, In all fairness to Jonson

we cannot say that one point of view is better or worse than

the other; they are simply different.

The conflict between Romanticism and Realism was

already in the air; there was a noticeable leaning toward

Realism that expressed itself in the works of Dekker and others.

While Jonson was not the first to express this change, he was

the first to define it. In the Prologue to 'Every Man in His

Humour' he derides the stage practice of the day-

"To make a child now swaddled, to proceed

Man, and then shoot up, in one beard and weed,

Past threescore years; or, with three rusty swords,

And help of some few foot and half-foot words,

Fight over York and Lancaster's long jars,

And in the tyring-house bring wounds to scars." (l)

Here Jonson deplores the disregard for the unities of time and

place, the ludicrous attempts to represent battles on the stage,

and the bombast of the authors. Jonson was frequently shocked

by the anachronisms that appeared in the plays of Shakespeare.

With his accustomed self-confidence he asserts that

"He rather prays you will be pleas 'd to see

One such to-day, as other plays should be;

Where neither chorus wafts you o'er the seas,

Nor creaking throne comes down the boys to please;

Nor nimble squib is seen to make afeard

The gentlewoman; nor roll'd bullet heard

To say, it thunders; nor tempestuous drum

Rumbles, to tell you when the storm doth come." (2)

In comedy Jonson deplores the lack of reality and its

deterioration into farce. Jonson claimed that the "audience

and reader must not be invited to excuse the impossible

or be asked to collaborate with the dramatist In making good

what his own art should have offered." (l) While this point

of view may limit the author in his materials, it is not an

irrational one.

Aristotle in his 'Poetics' outlines his dramatic

theory and maintains that the proper function of tragedy

is the production of a certain kind of "katharsis" -

"Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action

that is serious, complete, and of a certain

magnitude; ... through pity and fear effecting

the proper purgation of these emotions." (2)

Thus Aristotle states that the purpose of tragedy is the

purging of pity and fear. By analogy Jonson took the same

attitude toward comedy, and asserted that the purpose of comedy

was to purge mankind of foibles and weaknesses. Dramatic

critics in the past had emphasized the differences between

tragedy and comedy; Jonson stressed the similarity between

the two major divisions of drama. He based this parallelism

on the fact that the process in both tragedy and comedy is,

according to his theory, cathartic and corrective.

Moreover, if the purpose of comedy is purgative,

the general treatment must be realistic. Real weaknesses

in the character of man must be portrayed on the stage if

the dramatist expects to correct these faults. Jonson

deplored the use of gross exaggeration, and maintained

that the dramatist should not represent the improbable or the

impossible-

"But deeds, and language, such as men do use,

And persons, such as comedy would choose,

When she would shew an Image of the times,

And sport with humaji follies, not with crimes." (1)

This is his plea for real life in comedy. In this declaration

he serves notice to his audience that realism is to be his

general method.

Jonson recognized that if he intended to purge man

of his follies his particular method must be satire. "The

audience must laugh to some end, and the play must deal with

some folly and cure it by its ridiculous representation." (2)

In his own words-

"I mean such errors as you'll all confess,

By laughing at them, they deserve no less:

Which when you heartily do, there's hope left then,

You, that have so grac'd monsters, may like men." (3)

Jonson realized that laughter was a means and not an end in

comedy. If the audience could be made to laugh at their

own follies there was some hope that public ridicule would

make them avoid further acts of weakness and restore them to

common sense.

Jonson had no English theories to guide him. But as

he was a scholar and a critic as well as a playwright, he

worked out his own literary theory, based on the teaching

of Sidney, and reinforced by his own classical knowledge and

training. Although Jonson obtained many of his ideas from

classical sources, he was not an imitator, but a creator.

He developed a theory and practice in comedy that had more

influence on subsequent English drama than the works of any

of his contemporaries, not even excepting Shakespeare.

"He had yielded himself to the tyranny of an idea

and professed to be happy, chiefly because the bondage was

of his own making." (l)

THE COMEDY OF HUMOURS

To prove his theory Jonson applied his principles of

dramatic technique and theory to the stage of his day. His

double purpose of realism and satire led him to develop the

device of the Humours.

"Humour" was a stock expression of his age and had

come to be used very carelessly. The conception came

originally from medieval medicine. The physiology of the

Middle Ages taught that there were four humours that make up

a man's body: blood, phlegm, bile, and black bile. The Latin

word umor . incidentally, means moisture. Complexion, as used

by Chaucer, was a mixture of these fluids or humours in the

body. Everyone's temperament, according to medieval physiology

was the result of the proper or improper distribution of these

fluids. Thus, a man with a dominant humour of blood was said

to be of a sanguine disposition; a predominance of phlegm would

result in a phlegmatic nature; an over-supply of bile would

give one a choleric constitution; and the man whose humour

was predominantly black bile was said to have a melancholy

temperament. Any disturbance of this balance of humours was

considered dangerous and theoretically resulted in some

disorder or disease.

During the Renaissance playwrights had become

careless in their application of the term humour and frequently

treated it as a whim or an eccentricity. Shakespeare in

'The Merry Wives of Windsor' satirizes the word humour by

having Nym use it over and over again.

» In the Induction to 'Every Man Out of His Humour'

Jonson asserts his purpose is-

"To give these ignorant well-spoken days

Some taste of their abuse of this word humour." (l)

He feels that this is necessary because there are those who

are compelled-

" Daily to see how the poor innocent word

Is rack'd and tortured." (2)

Jonson gives us an explanation of the term humour in so

explicit a manner that we have no excuse for not comprehending

what he meant

•"Why, humour, as 'tis ens, we thus define it.

To be a quality of air, or water,

And in itself holds these two properties,

Moisture and fluxure...

That whatso'er hath fluxure and humidity,

As wanting power to contain itself,

Is humour. So in every human body,

The choler, melancholy, phlegm, and blood,

By reason that they flow continually

In some one part, and are not continent,

Receive the name of humours." (3)

This is a description of the four medieval humours of the

body. But Jonson goes one step further and applies this to

affected humours,

"Now thus far

-It may, by metaphor, apply itself

Unto the general disposition:

As when some one peculiar quality

Doth so possess a man, that it doth draw

All his affects, his spirits, and his powers,

In their confluctions , all to run one way,

This may be truly said to be a humour." (l)

After Jonson has defined his own position, he

ridicules the popular misconception of the term-

"But that a rook, by wearing a pyed feather,

The cable hat-band, or the three-piled ruff,

A yard of shoe-tye, or the Switzer's knot

On his French garters, should affect a humour!

0, it is more than most ridiculous," (2)

It was Jonson 1 s object to exhibit the foolish and

weak elements in human character which had been allowed to

exceed their limits and to portray these in a number of

characters differently "humoured". It will be noted, moreover,

that this excess of a humour that characterizes an individual

is the component that qualifies the person for comedy. Without

this excess it would be difficult to make the humour appear

ridiculous, and the satire would be without point. Jonson,

however, had pledged himself to real life , and it was his

problem to strike a balance between a reasonable use of excess

and his demand for reality.

In 'Every Man In His Humour' Jonson was experimenting

with his theory. The attempt was hailed enthusiastically by

the public, who had grown tired of the comedy that portrayed

the conventional affected fop. The success that this play

enjoyed seems phenomenal to the modern student of drama who

does not always recognize Elizabethan slang and who almost

invariably misses the "local hits" unless they are contained

in the footnotes. Jonson followed up this success by writing

a dramatic counterpart 'Every Man Out of His Humour1. This

was his first full-fledged "comical satire" and combined his

theory of comedy with his development of the humours.

In many of his plays Jonson made use of the

Theophrastian character sketch. In publishing 'Every Man

Out of His Humour' he prefixed "the sever?! Characters of the

Persons" to the play to prevent any misunderstanding. These

pithy paragraphs are humours in epitome. The character of

Fastidious Brisk is summarized as-

"A neat, spruce, affecting courtier, one that

wears clothes well, and in fashion; practiseth

by his glass how to salute; speaks good remnants,

notwithstanding the base viol and tobacco; swears

tersely, and with variety; cares not what lady's

favour he belies, or great man's familiarity: a

good property to perfume the boot of a coach. He

will borrow another man's horse to praise, and

backs him as his own. Or, for a need, on foot

can post himself into credit with his merchant,

only with the single of his spur, and the jerk

of his wand." (l)

The Second Act of 'Cynthia's Revels' contains no

less than six of these character sketches. Jonson often

employed this method at the beginning of a play by having a

couple of the minor characters discuss and describe the

humours of the rest of the dramatis personae before they

actually appear on the stage. The audience enjoyed being let

into the secret, as it were, and were alert to discover the

various humours as they appeared In the play.

Practically all the humours characters in Jonsonlan

comedy have tan; names. These names Identify the character

immediately and disclose the humour to "be exhibited. Such

names as Brainworm, w"ellbred, Fastidious Brisk, Morose, Sir

Amorous La-Poole, Lovewit, Winwife, and Zeal-of-the-land

Busy give us a taste of the kind of characters we will meet

in Jonson's comedies.

Jons on gave drama a new literary type when he applied

his formula of humour to comedy. The Comedy of Humours is his

outstanding contribution to dramatic theory and practice.

Early Humor Comedies

Jonson's first humor play, Every Man In .his Humour , was acted in the year 1593, and
was later revised by him for the folio edition. It was more successful than anything he had yet
done, for it became popular immediately. It is said that Shakespeare was instrumental in getting
it acted and took a part in it himself. It appealed to all sorts of people, but Jonson probably
wrote it with the young wits and scholars in mind as his audience, for two young men of their
own class deceive grave parents and professional and amateur humbuggers. Jonson followed the
three unities that he had set down in the Prologue of this play. All tne action falls within twelve
hours, all the scenes are laid in ondon, and all the minor plots are connected with the one major
plot The main purpose of the play is the realistic presentation of a series of sharply contrasted
characters.

The plot has no counterpart in Englisn literature, but some of the characters — the pair of
elderly citizens outwitted by a pair of lively young men, the shrewd servingman with his
disguises, and the braggart soldier --are plainly derived from those of the Plautine comedy. They
are not copies of the Plautine model but are drawn from Jonson's own obsrv&tion of the people
of London. Their humors are for the most part the foibles of men respected in a community, and
the gulls are ridiculed in a temper much lighter than those of Jonson's future plays.The father
Knowell has many characteristic weaknesses of the stage elderly man. Although in some
respects he is a wise man, Knowell is blinded to his own humors by his anxiety for his son's
welfare. He admits he was once like his son:

Myself was once k student, and indeed,

Fed with the self-same humour he is now,

Dreaming on nought but idle poetry,

That fruitless and unprofitable art,

Good unto none, but least to the professors; 2.

He has like the traditional stage father a contempt for

poetry. With genial stupidity he gives elaborate counsel

to his nephew, the gull Stephen, on the way to behave like

a man although he knows Stephen is "past hope of all reclaim"

His excessive asperity is marked by his bitter comments

somewhat justly provoked on Wellbred's letter, after which

he says

But I perceive affection makes a fool

Of any man too much tie father. 3«

Thus he realizes what he is and continues:

I am resolved I will not stop his journey,

Nor practise any violent means to stay

The unbridled course of youth in him; 1.

But the letter pribys on his mind and he reflects, as sib many

elderly people do, hoty' the youth has changed from his day.

He does not even recognize his servant Brainworm in his

disguise but rehires him to follow him. Brainworm succeeds

.... to prove his patience: Oh, I shall abuse him

intolerably. This small piece of service will bring

him clean out of love with the soldier for ever.

He will never come within the sign of it, the sight

of a cassock, or a musket-rest again. He will hate

the musters at Mile-end for it, to his dying day.

It's no matter, let the world think me a bad

counterfeit, if I cannot give him the slip at an

instant: why this is better than to have staid his

journey: well, I’ll follow him. Oh, how I long to

be employed. 2.

Knowell’s humor is established, and he never wavers from

it.

Edward Knowell, the son, has very little humor, save

that of the young university wit. He merely sefves in

the long run to show up the humors of the other characters.

Kitely, the jealous old husband, is the best example

of a humor character. He shows a concern for the change

in his brother Wellbred:

Methought he bare himself in such a fashion,

So full of man, and sweetness in his carriage,

And what was chief, it shew’d not borrow’d in him,

But all he did became him as his cwn,

And seem’d as perfect, proper, and possest,

As breath with life, or colour with the blood.

But now, his course is so irregular,

So loose, affected, and deprived of grace,

Ahd he himself withal so far fallen off

From that first place, as scarce no note remains,

Te tell men’s judgments where he lately stood. 1.

It soon comes to light that he only worries that his

wife will become more attracted to the young men of

Wellbred’s company:

Would I had lost this finger at a venture,

So Wellbred had ne’er lodged within my house.

Why’t cannot be, where there is such resort

Of wanton gallants, and young revellers,

That any woman should be honest long.

Well to be plain, if I but thought the time

Should not persuade me but I were a cuckold.

Marry, I hope they have not got that start;

For opportunity hath balk’d them yet,

And shall do still , while I have eyes and ears

To attend the impositions of my heart.

My presence shall be as an iron bar,

’Twixt the conspiring motions of desire:

Yea, every look or glance mine eye ejects

Shall check occasion, aa. one doth his slave,

When he forgets the limits of prescription. 2.

Immediately following these brave intents, his wife puts

her "muss” where he belongs. His humor so overcomes nim

that le cannot bear to leave his wife for an hour and

would rather let ’’business, go by for once”. He does not

know what to do for:

My brain, methinks, is like an hour-glass,

Wherein my imaginations run like sands,

Filling up time; but then are turn’d and turn’d:

So that I know not wnat to stay upon,

And less, to put in act. 1.

Kis own picture of his state describes the disintegration of

his will and purpose. He cannot keep his fears to himself,

for he tells Cash his petty secret. He cautions Cash again

and again not to tell his secret and then tells Cash it is

not the real secret, but nevertnless not to disclose it to

his mistress.

To illustrate further these humors, Jonson placed

them in a setting of plain fools, of gulls such as Master

Stephen and Master Matthew. The literary type of gull

was a creation of the 1590’ s and particularly of a group

of writers who first introduced into English the mingled

wit, coarseness, and cruelty of Roman satire. Originally

a gull was a credulous simpleton who was made fun of by

his companions. Sir John Davies’ epigrams on the gull

developed him further. The gull was still fundamentally

witless but no longer innocent. He posed as a gallant

and wit. He was pretentious and spiritless. He tried

to affect the latest fashion and wore a sword. He showed

off his bravado with stock oaths, but when in actual

position to follow through he cowered away. He believed

it was fashionable to be melancholy and to write or steal

poetry for his imaginary lady frienfe.

Stephen is a typical gull approaching close to farce.

He was probably modeled on Labesha of Chapman’s An Humorous

2 . Day* s Mirth . He has bought a hawk and its trappings

but needs a book to learn the skill of hawking. He is

fooled by Brainworm into buying a "Toledo” sword; and

when he finds out t:.at he has been dheated, he tries to

swear with all the oaths he has memorized but has forgotten,

to get even with Brainworm. But when the opportunity

arises Stephen quickly shies away.

Do you confess it? Gentlemen bear witness, he has

confest it: — ’ Od’s will, an you had not confest it 3*

Matthew, the city gull, is the son of a fishmonger

desiring to be a gallant. He has only two shillings in

his pocket, but he has achieved a polish that Stephen

is incapable of. Stephen, the country gull, ironically

attaches himself to Matthew, the city gull, to learn the

ways of the gallant. The scene in which they sincerely

compliment each other has something of the quality of

n Moliere. Stephen owns a sword, but Matthew takes lessons

from Bobadil in the art of swordsmanship. Stephen invents

his own verses, but Matthew steals his from Kyd’s Spanish

Tragedy. They try to affect melancholy and write sonnets

which Matthew describes as

Oh, it’s your only fine humour, sir: your true

melancholy breeds your perfect fine wit, sir.

I an melancholy myself, diver times, sir, and then

I do no more but take pen and paper, presently,

and overflow you half a score, or a dozen of

sonnets at a sitting. 1.

Brainworm is the English Plautine slave, who by

his disguises helps the son to deceive the father; and

much of the simple plot of the play is dependent upon

him. Brainworm is an original mixture of the devoted

servant, the exploiter of humorists and gulls, and the

2 . mischievous wit. His humor is to take any disguise he

chooses and dominate whatever situation he is in. He does

not carry out his tricks with malignity. In fact his

tricks so intrigue Justice Clement that he is given a cup

of sack:

Thou hast done, or assisted to nothing, in my

judgment, but deserves to be pardon’d for the wit

of the offence. 3.

Downwright is a country squire, who unlike Stephen,

is proud of it and does not try to change. He gives his

opinion frankly and considers "ballads” worthless. His only

humor, if it can be called one, is his ill-temper.

Justice Clement, "an excellent rare civilian and a

great scholar" and the "only mad merry old fellow in

Europe}' is not a humor character. Pie serves to reconcile

the humors and to distribute punishment at the end.

Cob is a humorist of the modern sense more than he

is the humoriit of Jonson's definition. He is just a poor

citizen earning his living as a water-carrier and lamenting

the fate of his descendants, the red herring.

Bobadil, the braggart soldier, is Jonson's master

portrayal of a gull. He is obviously a descendant of the

long line of bragging soldiers from Plautus to Raloh

Roister Hoist er. Bobadil is a more interesting character

than the other gulls, not because Joason has drawn him

1 . better but because he had drawn him differently.

Bobadil generally uses literary and technical terms

accurately but with a superficial knowledge of their

meaning. He affects all sorts of oaths, different from

these of the other gulls. He is quick to pick out new

2 . words and make them his own. His terms are sheer rhetoric.

The strict limitation of his knowledge is evident when,

trying to instruct Matthew in the art of duelling, he

carefully evades a trial in practice.

Why, you do not manage your weapon with any

facility or grace to invite me. I have no spirit

to play with you ; your dearth of judgment renders

you tedious. 3*

Rather than being the boisterous soldier he affects the

melancholy of the gallants. He displays his accomplishment

with an air of resigned condescension, as if well aware

that his audience is incapable of appreciating him.

Wellbred sees through his pretensions at once:

Would the sparks would kindle once, and become a

fire amongst them/ I might see self-love burnt

for her heresy. 1.

but Cob is completely overwhelmed by his guest although

Bobadil owes him money. Cob marvels "what pleasure or

" 2 . felicity they have in taking this roguish tobacco.

Matthew and Stephen find in Bobadil their ideal, and

Stephen makes an attempt to imitate his military oaths.

When Bobadil describes his heroic plan for defeating an

army of forty thousand with twenty men, he uses terms of

fencing in affected rhetorical exaggeration. 3.

say the enemy were forty thousand strong,

we twenty would come into the field the tenth of

March, or thereabouts; and we would challenge

twenty of the enemy; they could not in their honour

refuse us: Well, we would kill them; challenge

twenty more, kill them; twenty more, kill them too;

and thus would we kill every man his twenty a day,

that’s twenty score; twenty score that’s two

hundred; two hundred a day, five days a thousand;

forty thousand; forty times five, five times forty,

two hundred days kills them all up by computation. 4

Bobadil ia not able to use rhetorical language without

being moved by it. In a sense he is gulled by his own

1 . speech. Bobadil understands his own character well. He

scrutinizes his audience narrowly and behaves accordingly.

His final discomfiture is complete when he makes a plea

for submission to law and order. He complains to Clement

that Downright

hath assaulted me in the way of my peace, despoiled

me of mine honor, disarmed me of my weapons, and

rudely laid me along in the open streets, when I not

so much as once offered to resist him. 2.

Element sizes him up quickly and says:

0, God’s precious^ is this the soldier? Here take

my armour off quickly, ’twill make him swoon, I

fear; he is not fit to look on’t, that will put up

a blow. 3.

Every Man in his Humour has a geniality and lightness

that the rest of Jonson’s plays does not have. There is

only an incidental amount of satire that becomes more

developed in his later plays. Brainworm is the first

presentation of the provoker of follies, a part to become

much more important. The most pleasant of Jonson’s plays

was chosen to be performed in 1845 by Dickens, who

played the part of Bobadil.