The Arcadia is James Shirley

James Shirley

James Shirley was an English dramatist.He belonged to the great period of English dramatic literature, but, in Lamb's words, he "claims a place among the worthies of this period, not so much for any transcendent genius in himself, as that he was the last of a great race, all of whom spoke nearly...

's dramatization of the prose romance, The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia by Sir Philip Sidney

Philip Sidney

Sir Philip Sidney was an English poet, courtier and soldier, and is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan Age...

 — one expression of the enormous influence that Sidney's work exercised during the 17th century. Shirley's stage version was first published in 1640

1640 in literature

The year 1640 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*January 21 - Salmacida Spolia, a masque written by Sir William Davenant and designed by Inigo Jones, is performed at Whitehall Palace — the final royal masque of the Caroline era.*March 17 - Henry Burnell's play Landgartha...

.

The 1640 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"...

 was published by the booksellers John Williams and Francis Eglesfield. The title page attributes the play to Shirley, and states that the play was acted by "her Majesty's servants," that is 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:...

, at the Phoenix playhouse, i.e. the Cockpit Theatre

Cockpit Theatre

The Cockpit was a theatre in London, operating from 1616 to around 1665. It was the first theatre to be located near Drury Lane. After damage in 1617, it was christened The Phoenix....

. Alone among modern scholars, Alfred Harbage

Alfred Harbage

Alfred Bennett Harbage was an influential Shakespeare scholar of the mid-20th century. He was born in Philadelphia and received his undergraduate degree and doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania. He lectured on Shakespeare both there and at Columbia before becoming a professor at Harvard...

 has disputed the attribution to Shirley.

The play has been characterized as "typical Fletcherian dramatic romance, slight of characterization, improbable of plot, but full of unexpected turns, and pretty sentiment, and poetic charm...." Shirley scholars have disagreed on the significance of the play in the dramatist's canon: Schelling considered it an anomaly with no larger impact, while Nason thought it represented Shirley's "complete acceptance of romanticism."

Synopsis

King Basilius of Arcadia, accompanied by his queen Gynecia and their daughters Philoclea and Pamela, retire to a forest lodge in an attempt to evade the prediction of an oracle. They are pursued by the princesses' two royal suitors. Pyrocles, son and heir of the King of Macedon, is in love with Philoclea, and comes disguised as Zelmane the Amazon; his cousin Musidorus, the prince of Thessaly, is in love with Pamela, and is disguised as the shepherd Dorus. Complications ensue: Basilius falls in love with "Zelmane the Amazon," while his wife, seeing through the disguise, falls in love with the real Pyrocles. To escape this tangle, Pyrocles arranges to meet both the king and queen in a cave — but he leaves them to run into each other, while he pursues his own suit to Philoclea. Musidorus, meanwhile, wants to elope with Pamela.

King Basilius and Queen Gynecia, meeting in the cave, reconcile. The queen gives her husband the wine she brought for Pyrocles, believing it carries a love potion; instead it is poison, and Basilius "dies" after drinking it. The King's officers arrest the Queen, and the princes and princesses as well. Euarchus, the King of Macedon, sits in judgment on the case, and condemns the queen and princes to various death sentences. He discovers too late that one of the condemned is his own son; yet the sentence must be carried out. As they are being taken to execution, King Basilius returns to consciousness and sits up on his funeral bier — so fulfilling the prophecy they had all tried to escape.

The play also features a masque

Masque

The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment which flourished in 16th and early 17th century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio...

of shepherds, and a comic subplot featuring the characters Mopsa, Miso, and Dametas.