Thomas Dekker’s The Shoemaker’s Holiday brings a change of pace to the usual blood, vengeance, and death I’ve grown accustomed to reading in the past few plays. Dekker’s play, being a comedy, encompasses the up spirited topic of love. Rightly so, this topic is usually what makes up most of our current day comedies. Yet, at the same time, love makes up much more than a comedy altogether; it provides conflicting emotions and the intriguing chase for a lovers’ embrace. Dekker elects Hammon to be Cupid’s target practice.
If Hammon were around today he would surly be the quirky main character of a romance/comedy who bides his time until the girl he loves finally notices his affection toward her. Given that we are studying English Renaissance Drama, the struggle for one girl’s affection is not enough. Hammon claims love for both Rose and Jane. Love is always a dangerous thing because it tricks you. Why does Hammon have this conflict between Rose and Jane? He seems like a completely suitable man yet the love he claims to have for them goes unwanted and unnoticed. Does he have this conflict because he doesn’t truly know what love is? Is he proclaiming love just for the slim chance that he might get noticed? I believe so.
Hammon’s going from one girl to the next announcing his love proves just how little he knows of it. His conversation with Jane in scene 12 shows that maybe Hammon is throwing love around in hopes that he may enjoy the more physical nature of love. Hammon being ‘muffled’ at the start of the scene can also suggest that his true motives are concealed and that his urge for physical attention drives him to fall in love quickly. There is something off with Hammon and I’m hoping that there is some perverse nature underlying his gentle, loving outward form in order to make things a bit more interesting.
Raymond, comparing Hammon to the feckless male protagonists of so many modern comedies is insightful. Here is another figure whom we could feel many ways about, depending on the actor’s impersonation of him.