All's Lost by Lust is a Jacobean tragedy

Tragedy

Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...

 by William Rowley

William Rowley

William Rowley was an English Jacobean dramatist, best known for works written in collaboration with more successful writers. His date of birth is estimated to have been c. 1585; he was buried on 11 February 1626...

. A "tragedy of remarkable frankness and effectiveness," "crude and fierce," it was written between 1618

1618 in literature

The year 1618 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*Sir Francis Bacon is appointed Lord Chancellor by King James I of England.*Ben Jonson sets out to walk to Scotland....

 and 1620

1620 in literature

The year 1620 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*The Book of Psalmes: Englished both in Prose and Metre with Annotations by Henry Ainsworth is the only book brought to New England by the pilgrim settlers....

.

Publication

The play was first published in 1633

1633 in literature

The year 1633 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*On May 21, Ben Jonson's masque The King's Entertainment at Welbeck is performed....

 (seven years after Rowley's death), in a quarto

Book size

The size of a book is generally measured by the height against the width of a leaf, or sometimes the height and width of its cover. A series of terms is commonly used by libraries and publishers for the general sizes of modern books, ranging from "folio" , to "quarto" and "octavo"...

 published by the bookseller Thomas Harper. This 1633 quarto was the only edition of the play in Rowley's era; the drama would not be reprinted until the nineteenth century.

Performance

All's Lost by Lust was first performed by Rowley's playing company

Playing company

In Renaissance London, playing company was the usual term for a company of actors. These companies were organized around a group of ten or so shareholders , who performed in the plays but were also responsible for management. The sharers employed "hired men" — that is, the minor actors and...

, Prince Charles' Men, and later by the Lady Elizabeth's Men

Lady Elizabeth's Men

The Lady Elizabeth's Men, or Princess Elizabeth's Men, was a company of actors in Jacobean London, formed under the patronage of King James I's daughter Princess Elizabeth. From 1618 on, the company was called The Queen of Bohemia's Men, after Elizabeth and her husband the Elector Palatine had...

 and Queen Henrietta's Men

Queen Henrietta's Men

Queen Henrietta's Men was an important playing company or troupe of actors in Caroline era London. At their peak of popularity, Queen Henrietta's Men were the second leading troupe of the day, after only the King's Men.-Beginnings:...

. The play was popular in its own period and was revived during the Restoration

English Restoration

The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...

; Samuel Pepys

Samuel Pepys

Samuel Pepys FRS, MP, JP, was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is now most famous for the diary he kept for a decade while still a relatively young man...

 saw George Jolly

George Jolly

George Jolly, or Joliffe was an actor, an early actor-manager and a theatre impressario of the middle seventeenth century...

's production at the Red Bull Theatre

Red Bull Theatre

The Red Bull was a playhouse in London during the 17th century. For more than four decades, it entertained audiences drawn primarily from the northern suburbs, developing a reputation for rowdy, often disruptive audiences...

 on 23 March 1661

1661 in literature

The year 1661 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:* The Book of Kells is presented to Trinity College, Dublin.* Controversial author James Harrington is arrested on a charge of conspiracy....

. In his famous Diary, Pepys described the production as "poorly done" with "much disorder" — when a boy singer performed a song poorly, the music master "fell about his ears and beat him so, that it put the whole house into an uproar."

Like many English Renaissance plays, Rowley's tragedy was adapted for later productions. One "W. C." was responsible for a version called The Rape Reveng'd, or the Spanish Revolution in 1690

1690 in literature

The year 1690 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*December 10 - Playwright Henry Nevil Payne is tortured for his role in the "Montgomery Plot" to restore James II to the throne — the last time a political prisoner is subjected to torture in Britain.* Colley Cibber becomes...

. A 1705

1705 in literature

The year 1705 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*William Somervile inherits his father's estate, where his participation in field sports will furnish the material for much of his poetry....

 adaptation titled The Conquest of Spain in credited to Mary Pix

Mary Pix

Mary Pix was an English novelist and playwright. Church records indicate that she lived in London, marrying George Pix, a merchant tailor from Hawkhurst, Kent in 1684. Baptismal records reveal that she had two sons, George and William...

.

Since then, the work has fallen out of favor and has not been revived.

Genre

Rowley's reputation as an author is grounded on his comedies; All's Lost by Lust is his only surviving tragedy. The tragicomic Fitzallen subplot in A Fair Quarrel

A Fair Quarrel

A Fair Quarrel is a Jacobean tragicomedy, a collaboration between Thomas Middleton and William Rowley that was first published in 1617.-Performance and Publication:...

and the opening and closing scenes in The Changeling

The Changeling (play)

The Changeling is a Jacobean tragedy written by Thomas Middleton and William Rowley. Widely regarded as "among the best" tragedies of the English Renaissance, the play has accumulated a significant body of critical commentary....

are other rare examples of the serious side of Rowley's authorship.

All's Lost by Lust has been classed with other Jacobean tragedies that treat the private crime of rape

Rape

Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...

 in a larger political and social context, Including John Fletcher

John Fletcher (playwright)

John Fletcher was a Jacobean playwright. Following William Shakespeare as house playwright for the King's Men, he was among the most prolific and influential dramatists of his day; both during his lifetime and in the early Restoration, his fame rivalled Shakespeare's...

's Valentinian

Valentinian (play)

Valentinian is a Jacobean era stage play, a revenge tragedy written by John Fletcher was that originally published in the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1647. The play dramatizes the story of Valentinian III, one of the last of the Roman Emperors, as recorded by the classical historian...

and Bonduca

Bonduca

Bonduca is a Jacobean tragi-comedy in the Beaumont and Fletcher canon, generally judged by scholars to be the work of John Fletcher alone. It was acted by the King's Men c. 1613, and published in 1647 in the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio....

, and Thomas Middleton

Thomas Middleton

Thomas Middleton was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. Middleton stands with John Fletcher and Ben Jonson as among the most successful and prolific of playwrights who wrote their best plays during the Jacobean period. He was one of the few Renaissance dramatists to achieve equal success in...

's Hengist, King of Kent

Hengist, King of Kent

Hengist, King of Kent, or The Mayor of Quinborough is a Jacobean stage play by Thomas Middleton, first published in 1661.-Date:The date of authorship of the play is uncertain, though it is usually dated to c. 1615–20...

and The Revenger's Tragedy

The Revenger's Tragedy

The Revenger's Tragedy is an English language Jacobean revenge tragedy, in the past attributed to Cyril Tourneur but is sometimes considered to be the work of Thomas Middleton by "Middletonians"...

, among other works of the era that feature a "tyrant-rapist" figure.

Rowley's tragedy "might be called a rape play with a difference." Its "ideological surprises" include a would-be warrior woman

Woman warrior

The portrayal of women warriors in literature and popular culture is a subject of study in history, literary studies, film studies, folklore and mythology, gender studies, and cultural studies.-Archaeology:...

, a "murderously jealous wife...their conscience-ridden, bigamous husband...and the post mortem ménage à trois that unites all three. And that is only the sub-plot...."

The clown

The play's comic relief

Comic relief

Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious work, often to relieve tension.-Definition:...

 is supplied largely by the clown character Jaques; the Dramatis Personae of the 1633 quarto states that Jaques was "personated by the Poet." Rowley had a habit of composing comic roles for himself to play; he wrote and played the clown part of Bustopha in The Maid in the Mill

The Maid in the Mill

The Maid in the Mill is a late Jacobean era stage play, a comedy written by John Fletcher and William Rowley. It was initially published in the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1647.-Performance:...

, his late collaboration with Fletcher. The comic parts of Chough in A Fair Quarrel and Simplicity in The World Tossed at Tennis, two of his collaborations with Thomas Middleton

Thomas Middleton

Thomas Middleton was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. Middleton stands with John Fletcher and Ben Jonson as among the most successful and prolific of playwrights who wrote their best plays during the Jacobean period. He was one of the few Renaissance dramatists to achieve equal success in...

, fall into the same category, as do some other clown roles in other Rowley plays. (Rowley's self-penned roles are recognizable as "fat clown" roles, since Rowley was by all evidence a man physically equipped to fill such parts.)

Synopsis

The play is based on the Spanish legends about the Moorish invasion of Spain

Al-Andalus

Al-Andalus was the Arabic name given to a nation and territorial region also commonly referred to as Moorish Iberia. The name describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula and Septimania governed by Muslims , at various times in the period between 711 and 1492, although the territorial boundaries...

 in the eighth century. It depicts the tale of Roderick

Roderic

Ruderic was the Visigothic King of Hispania for a brief period between 710 and 712. He is famous in legend as "the last king of the Goths"...

, the last Visigoth

Visigoth

The Visigoths were one of two main branches of the Goths, the Ostrogoths being the other. These tribes were among the Germans who spread through the late Roman Empire during the Migration Period...

 king of Spain, and his general Julianus, based on the legendary Julian, count of Ceuta

Julian, count of Ceuta

Julian, Count of Ceuta was a legendary Christian local ruler or subordinate ruler in North Africa who had a role in the Umayyad conquest of Hispania — a key event in the history of Islam, in which al-Andalus was to have a major role, and the subsequent history of what were to become Spain and...

. (Rowley's specific sources for the story are not known, though he had a large body of traditional lore, poems, and ballads on which to base his work.)

As the play opens, the Moorish invasion of Spain is in the offing; King Roderick musters his army and places it under the command of Julianus. Roderick himself is more interested in seducing the general's daughter Jacinta; his sycophant and pander Lothario brings in an old bawd named Malena to help convince the young woman to yield her virginity. Roderick is also troubled by an empty treasury; he plans to remedy the problem by breaking into an enchanted castle, isolated and secluded by many previous kings, that he believes holds a great treasure.

The play's second and third scenes introduce the characters of the subplot. Antonio is a young nobleman, infatuated with and courting a young woman named Margaretta. She is a commoner, and Antonio's friend Lazarello complains about the social inequality of the proposed match. Margaretta's father is also uneasy about the match, but her brother, Jaques the clown, is its eager advocate. Antonio marries Margaretta hurriedly before leaving for miitary duty; the marriage, for the time being, is kept secret.

Lothario brings Malena and Jacinta together at Roderick's court, and the old pandress tries her best to make Jacinta pliant, but with no success. Roderick enters, and drags Jacinta offstage to rape her. Julianus, meanwhile, leads his forces south to meet the Moors. He and his officers, including Antonio, stop at the castle of Alonzo; they meet Alonzo's beautiful and extroverted daughter Dionisa. Antonio and Dionisa are instantly attracted to each other, and Antonio comes to regret his hasty marriage to Margaretta. The Spanish forces engage the Moorish invaders and win the battle, capturing many leading Moorish officers; Antonio distinguishes himself by his courage. Lazarello favors a match between Antonio and Dionisa, and advises Antonio on various ways to put aside his secret wife.

Lothario keeps Jacinta imprisoned in a castle after her rape; but Jacinta obtains his keys while he sleeps, and escapes. She goes to her father and tells him of her violation. Julianus is overwhelmed by the offense to his family's honor and by his king's betrayal; his officers rally his spirits by staging a review of his troops and the prisoners he has taken, including the Moorish king, Muly Mumen. Julianus tells them of his daughter's rape, and the offended troops agree to support a rebellion against Roderick; Julianus releases Muly Mumen and his men from captivity and the two commanders form an alliance against Roderick.

Margaretta learns of Antonio's betrayal; though a commoner by birth, she is too proud and spirited to accept it. She writes a deceptive letter to her husband, delivered by her brother the clown, that indicates that she will acquiesce to becoming his concubine rather than his wife. Lazarello has a plan to break the connection permanently: he will go to Margaretta in the night in Antonio's place. (This is a reversal of the standard bed trick

Bed trick

The bed trick is a plot device in traditional literature and folklore; it involves a substitution of one partner in the sex act with a third person...

 that is so common in plays of Rowley's era, in which the man rather than the woman is substituted.) Lazarello says that he will not have sex with Margaretta, in deference to Antonio's honor; but after spending the night with her he will be able to claim that he has dishonored her, allowing Antonio an escape from the now-unwanted marriage. Margaretta, however, conspires with her servant Fydella to murder Antonio; on the crucial night, the two women strangle Lazarello with a rope, thinking they are killing Antonio.

The murder is quickly exposed, though not the confusion of identities. Jaques the clown meets Lothario, who is now in disgrace over his loss of Jacinta; both men plan on hanging themselves. The two have a sort of competition of suicidality; Lothario offers to pay Jaques to hang him, and Jaques, greedy and unsuited to honorable gestures like suicide, accepts the offer.

Roderick breaks into the vault of the supposedly enchanted castle; instead of finding a treasure, he witnesses a macabre spiritual procession that reveals his fate, which is to be defeated by the Moors and to lose his Christian kingdom to the forces of Islam.

Together, Julianus and Muly Mumen defeat Roderick; but the Moorish king quickly betrays his new ally, blinding Julianus and cutting out Jacinta's tongue. Margaretta meets Dionisa escorting Antonio, who has been wounded in the battle. He dies of his wounds. Dionisa calls Margaretta "a lusty stout virago

Virago

Virago is a term used to describe a woman who demonstrates exemplary and heroic qualities. The word comes from the Latin word vir, meaningvirile 'man,' to which the suffix -ago is added, a suffix that effectively re-genders the word to be female...

," and suggests they marry each other and "beget chimeras

Chimera (mythology)

The Chimera or Chimaera was, according to Greek mythology, a monstrous fire-breathing female creature of Lycia in Asia Minor, composed of the parts of multiple animals: upon the body of a lioness with a tail that ended in a snake's head, the head of a goat arose on her back at the center of her...

." Instead, the two women stab themselves over Antonio's body.

Muly Mumen offers the blinded Julianus a chance for revenge, arming the general and letting him attack his tormentor. But his ploy is a cruel joke, in which Julianus stabs his own daughter. She dies in his arms, and he dies of grief. Muly Mumen ends the play by setting off to pursue the fleeing Roderick and consolidate his conquest of the kingdom.

Race

Rowley consistently characterizes the Moors as "black," and portrays them as stereotypical villains, bloodthirsty and treacherous. In this he reflects the typical racist attitudes of his time, as expressed in plays like Lust's Dominion

Lust's Dominion

Lust's Dominion, or The Lascivious Queen is an English Renaissance stage play, a tragedy written perhaps around 1600 and first published in 1657, probably written by Thomas Dekker in collaboration with others....

, Peele's

George Peele

George Peele , was an English dramatist.-Life:Peele was christened on 25 July 1556. His father, who appears to have belonged to a Devonshire family, was clerk of Christ's Hospital, and wrote two treatises on bookkeeping...

 The Battle of Alcazar, and Shakespeare's

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

 Titus Andronicus

Titus Andronicus

Titus Andronicus is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, and possibly George Peele, believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy, and is often seen as his attempt to emulate the violent and bloody revenge plays of his contemporaries, which were...

among other works that include Moors and North African Muslims. Rowley modifies the stereotype somewhat in his portrayal of Margaretta's serving maid Fydella, a young Moorish woman who is courageous and fiercely devoted to her mistress.