I think I have the worst luck in choosing assignments for this class. Anyway, Epicoene (I can barely pronounce that), is written by Ben Johnson. The language is dated and the main reason why I am not at all confident in my assertions made about this play. The seemingly playful banter between the characters reminded me of The Homecoming, by Harold Pinter. If I am understanding correctly, the opening scene is supposed to be funny–and I find it to be. The idea that this old guy is sitting around his house listening to his servant sing. His buddy comes along and judges him for the sake of judging him. The most intriguing aspect to this reading, so far, has been the prologue–not because it is the first thing to read, but because of what is being said. Jonson is asserting that art is made for the people. Jonson makes an analogy to chefs preparing food not for himself, but for his clientele. The the chef puts all this time and effort to assemble ingredients in such a way that is pleasing for costumers.  And that not everybody is going to like what you cook, but there definitely will be some that will. Well, thats what I got from it.

The play The Shoemaker’s Holiday by Thomas Dekker was a very popular play during its times.  It is a play that gave the audience a taste of city life, a city comedy, a look inside the lives of its inhabitants.  It appealed to the public and its citizens, it is a play that is lighthearted and fun yet it addressed the various conflicts that Londoners faced during the 1500’s.  It gave the audience a look into the lives of everyday citizens as well as aristocratic lives.  The influx of immigrants that caused the population of the city of  London to quadruple within a span of fifty years came with its pros and cons.  On one hand, London was getting the benefit of trading with other countries as well as within England itself, it open the doors to commerce and gave London a better financial standing and an exposure to different languages and traditions.  Yet the city became very busy and it had to adjust to the sudden change in the population, those that lived in the city had to adjust to the population change.

The play appealed to an array of audiences because of its flexibility of its language and plot.  It’s full of stories of everyday people that were entertaining without ignoring any of the social classes and professions within the city, portraying them with their everyday  troubles, adventures and thoughts.  The fairytale of a nobleman falling in love with an average citizen is also very charming and a crowd pleaser.  The story of the impossible between the two families, although they may be comparable in the financial side, the major difference is that one family is an aristocratic family ( Rowland Lacy), he is the nephew of a Earl of Lincoln which is an appointed title given by the King, owning a piece of land.  While Rose’s father (Oatley)  although a very rich man is the Mayor of London which is only a temporary position is still considered a citizen because he is without title.  He needs to be elected to stay in that position.

The play pokes at the difficult issues about aristocrats and citizens and their never ending struggles against each other. As well as the sudden rise to riches by Simon Eyre with the help of Hans/Lacy when a mysterious cargo shows up.  Then the disguise of Lacy as a Dutch shoemaker, all for the love he has for Rose in hopes of one day meeting her.  It’s very magical yet real , about the everyday lives these people. The rise in immigration to London helped London develop and mature into a very busy and interesting city.  The happenings of the plays are a just a peek into the lives of its inhabitant.  Every person fighting for their own space and others trying to adjust to life with people with a different language and lifestyle there is bound to be conflicts with this way of life.

As time past, being an Earl, Lord, Noble does not seems to fly, for they are the rich players who just spends money without working for any of it.  Not reading the entire play “The Shoemaker’s Holiday”, I can only concluded that Lacy very much wants to change Rose’s father outlook of him, perhaps by obtaining a simple yet hard working trade such as a shoemaker.  He manage to live and work with the lowry people (beneath him) thus crossing the barrier from “high birth” to “gentle craft”  by living as one of them.  Also bringing him close to his love, Rose, whose father disagrees with the relationship, thus sending his daugther away.  Yet, surprising to find that Rose refuses to marry a rich Londoner against her father wishes, ironically she is her own woman and is in control of her life in that time era, but still unable to love freely for both sent away unwillingly.

In the play “Doctor Faustus” by Thomas Marlow, Faustus is a man who begins in the work of black magic. Two of his friends Cornelius and Valdes teach him about magic and show him how to do spells. Faustus has summons sprits and ghosts and one that we follow through the play is Mephistopheles. Faustus basically agrees the give his soul away to the Mephistopheles and Lucifer and in exchange for magic and Mephistopheles to be his servant. Faustus has his fun and travels all over. He went from messing with the Pope or going to see the Emperor and granting him to see “Alexander the Great”. Towards the end his magic becomes not as great like granting the man a horse but it turns into hay if the horse touches water.

In class we discussed if it was too late for Faustus to repent. Towards the end of the play it seems like Faustus wanted to repent but he was too weak because of Mephistopheles. I find it ironic because its Mephistopheles whose suppose to be the servant for Faustus and you questions who is really in control. But I feel like Faustus could have repented many times. The old man that came in and told Faustus to repent and that God would save him. Then there was the scholars who said that they would stay and pray for him. Faustus had the help of people that wanted to help and save him from his mistake. After the old man leave, Faustus is to intimidated by Mephistopheles and falls back into agreeing to go to hell. I think if that old man stayed and pushed Faustus to repent he could have been saved and would suffer in hell. In the end we see that Faustus admits to making a huge mistake in agreeing to sell his soul because he screams to be set free and not to do anymore magic ever again.

When I was finishing the play I really thought in the end that Faustus was gonna be saved. He dabbled in magic but didn’t really do any harm. He didn’t deserve to be taken to hell for the rest of his life. Many of the magical acts he did was actually nice like giving the grapes to the wife or at least trying to bring back “Alexander the Great”. I felt like he did more good than bad when experimenting with the magic. I felt bad for him when finishing the play and wished that the ending ended differently.