The Princess (Killigrew)

The Princess (Killigrew)

"The Princess, or Love at First Sight" is a Caroline era stage play, a tragicomedy written by Thomas Killigrew. The play was most likely written c. 1636, while Killigrew was travelling in Italy, and was acted on the stage c. 1638, by Queen Henrietta's Men at the Cockpit Theatre. [Alfred Harbage, "Thomas Killigrew, Cavalier Dramatist 1612–83", Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1930.]

Genre

As with his two previous plays, "The Prisoners" and "Claricilla", Killigrew chose to work in the tragicomic genre for "The Princess". He was working in the dramatic style favored at the court of Queen Henrietta Maria. Tragicomedy, colored by Neoplatonism and Platonic love influences, was the fashion in which courtier dramatists like William Cartwright, Sir John Suckling, and Lodowick Carlell were casting their dramas in the 1630s.

Publication

Though written and acted late in the Caroline era, "The Princess" was not published until its inclusion in "Comedies and Tragedies", the collected edition of Killigrew's plays issued by Henry Herringman in 1664. (Like some other plays in that volume, "The Princess" has a separate title page dated 1663, an inconsistency that causes confusion in Killigrew's bibliography.) The collected edition dedicates the play to Killigrew's niece Lady Anne Wentworth, the wife of Lord Lovelace; and it specifies that the play was written in Naples.

Revival

Early in the Restoration era, Killigrew, then the manager of the King's Company, staged a new production of "The Princess". Samuel Pepys attended the first performance on November 29, 1661. (As he recorded in his Diary, Pepys thought it "a poor thing.") [Helen McAfee, "Pepys on the Restoration Stage", London, Oxford University Press, 1916; p. 168.]

ynopsis

Killigrew sets his play in a profoundly un-historical version of the ancient Roman world. His story concerns two sets of royal offspring. One consists of Facertes, Cicilia, and Lucius, the children of the late king of Sicily; and the other, Virgilius and Sophia, the (wildly fictitious) son and daughter of Julius Caesar. (Cicilia, a name that Killigrew would re-use in his later work "Cicilia and Clorinda", was the name of his first wife: Cecilia Crofts.)

The play's opening scenes show Sicilian soldiers taking Roman prisoners. Among them is Sophia, daughter of Casear; she conceals her identity. The soldiers are drawn by her beauty, and contend as to who will have her; a pominent warrior called Cilius protects Sophia from mistreatment.

These scenes also begin to sketch in the play's backstory. Caesar has attacked an independent Sicilian kingdom; its king was killed in battle, and his son and heir Facertes taken prisoner. Facertes has been placed in the custody of Caesar's son Virgilius, who, commanding troops in Gaul, was not involved in the conquest of the island. Sicily is in a state of confusion; renegade soldiers turn pirate and engage in slave-trading.

Facertes and Virgilius, two young men of noble nature, have become trusted friends; Virgilius lets his prisoner wear a sword and accompany him unguarded. Virgilius has guessed that Facertes has fallen in love with Sophia; and Virgilius has developed a plan for peace between Rome and Sicily, through a dynastic marriage between himself and Cicilia. With that goal in mind, the two young men go south.

Stopping in Naples, Virgilius sees a beautiful young woman in the slave market there, and instantly falls in love with her. Unknown to him, this is none other than Cicilia, Facertes' sister and his intended bride. He tries to buy her, but a local man purchases her first; this is Bragadine, son to the Roman viceroy of Sicily. Virgilus protests this; a brawl breaks out. Virgilius kills a soldier, and he and Facertes are pursued through the streets. A local woman named Paulina has watched the unfolding events; she has fallen in love with Virgilius, and hides him in her house. She knows Bragadine, and borrows his new slave. Facertes catches up with Virgilius at Paulina's house, and is re-united with his sister Cicilia. He tells her of Virgilius and his love for her; but Cicilia is appalled at the idea of marrying a conqueror and oppressor of her country. Through some emotional conversations, Virgilius begins to win Cicilia's heart despite her reservations.

The two young men try to leave the city at night, but are waylaid by Bragadine and his "Bravos." Though both are wounded, they kill their attackers in self-defense. (In tragicomedies — Killigrew's and others too — heroes suffer wounds but recover from them quickly and painlessly.) The two escape the city with Cicilia and Paulina and sail south on a galley.

Meanwhile, Cilius has failed in an attempt to purchase Sophia's freedom; to save her from the Neapolitan slave market, he sets the Roman prisoners free and escapes, with them and his followers, on a galley of his own. After a storm, the two parties blunder into each other on a deserted Calabrian coast. They fight; Cilius captures Facertes, Cicilia, and Paulina, but Virgilius, though wounded (again), escapes. Cilius soon tracks him down; they fight; more wounds. In the final revelation scene, Cilius turns out to be Lucius, the long-lost brother of Facertes and Cicilia. In the rather rushed and perfunctory conclusion, Virgilius wins Cicilia, and Facertes will marry Sophia; Cilius/Lucius loves her too, but this is forgotten about, as is Paulina's affection for Virgilius. Multiple plot holes (how did Caesar's daughter get captured by slavers; how did Sicilian princess Cicilia get captured by slavers; etc.) are left unfilled.

The main plot is accompanied by scenes of comic relief, featuring soldiers and clown characters.

References

External links

* [http://www.letrs.indiana.edu/cgi-bin/eprosed/eprosed-idx?coll=eprosed;idno=P1.0148 "The Princess" online.]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • The Princess — For an article about a musical farce of the same name by W.S. Gilbert based on the Tennyson poem, see The Princess (play) .: For the 17th century play, see The Princess (Killigrew) The Princess is a short story by the English author D. H.… …   Wikipedia

  • The Parson's Wedding — is a Caroline era stage play, a comedy written by Thomas Killigrew. Often regarded as the author s best play, the drama has sometimes been considered an anticipation of Restoration comedy, written a generation before the Restoration; its general… …   Wikipedia

  • The Prisoners (play) — The Prisoners is a Caroline era stage play, a tragicomedy written by Thomas Killigrew. [Alfred Harbage, Thomas Killigrew, Cavalier Dramatist 1612 ndash;83 , Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1930; p. 44 and ff.] It was premiered… …   Wikipedia

  • The Deserving Favourite — is a Caroline era stage play, a tragicomedy written by Lodowick Carlell that was first published in 1629. The earliest of Carlell s plays and also the best, [Charles Henry Gray, Lodowick Carliell, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1905; p. 48 …   Wikipedia

  • History of the Royal Marines — The Corps of Royal Marines, the infantry land fighting element of the United Kingdom s Royal Navy, was formed as part of the Naval Service in 1755. However, it can trace its origins back as far as 1664, when English soldiers first went to sea to… …   Wikipedia

  • List of schools in the East of England — The following is a partial list of currently operating schools in the East region of England. You may also find of use to find a particular school. See also the List of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom.Listed by local education authority… …   Wikipedia

  • Thomas Killigrew — Infobox Writer name = Thomas Killigrew imagesize = caption = pseudonym = birthdate = birth date|df=yes|1612|02|07 birthplace = England deathdate = death date and age|df=yes|1683|03|19|1612|02|07 deathplace = Whitehall, London, England occupation …   Wikipedia

  • Link (The Legend of Zelda) — Link (character) and Link (fictional character) redirect here. For other uses, see Link (disambiguation). Link Link, as he appears in official artwork for The Legend of Zelda Series The Leg …   Wikipedia

  • Catherine Killigrew — Infobox Person name = Catherine Killigrew image size = caption = birth name = birth date = 1618 birth place = England death date = 1689, aged 71 death place = Cumberlow, Buntingford, Hertfordshire, England death cause = resting place = resting… …   Wikipedia

  • Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger — Engraving by Wenceslas Hollar, 1644, of a self portrait of Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, 1627 (now lost). Marcus Gheeraerts (also written as Gerards or Geerards) (Bruges, c. 1561/62 – 19 January 1636) was an artist of the Tudor court, described… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”