In Massinger’s A New Way to Pay Old Debts, the role of the servant is captured in two differing lights. Firstly there are the servants that work in the home of Lady Allworth with great pride and fulfillment. These servants are absolutely necessary for the upkeep and normal function of the household. There is Order the steward, Amble the usher, Furnace the cook, Watchall the porter, and Waiting-woman and Chambermaid. Lady Allworth treats her staff with respect and shows them gratitude for their work, as when she gave Furnace money for new aprons and a summer suit: “In the meantime, there is gold / To buy thee aprons and a summer suit” (1.2.58-59). The staff shows great loyalty in return for Lady Allworth’s conscientious conduct. Overreach tries and fails to get Order to criticize Lady Allworth about her mourning rituals: “Sir, it is her will, / Which we that are her servants ought to serve it / And not dispute” (1.3.4-6). The staff also knows their place in the household and in society in general. In the presence of Lovell, Lady Allworth asks Amble and Waiting-woman for some privacy. Their reply characterizes both their social status and their respect for Lady Allworth: “Amble: We are taught better / By you, good madam. / Waiting-woman: And well know our distance” (4.1.173-174). The house servants’ compliance was imperative to the fruition of Wellborn’s plot (of the false engagement to Lady Allworth). Without the servants this plot would have never worked and Wellborn would not have been able to attain the same resolution for his debts.
Greedy and Marall are technically Overreach’s servants and parallel the loyal servants in Lady Allworth’s home. These two show their loyalty to their master by complementing his notorious schemes and in most cases carrying them out. However they do not show the same respect for Overreach as the respect that Lady Allworth gets from her servants. Marall and Greedy are in it for themselves and each one only serves in order to attain their personal desires. They interact in a way that befits common thieves and sell-swords. Overreach calls them fools and knaves while they reply: “You are all wisdom” (2.1.23), or “The best I ever heard! I could adore you” (2.1.43). Overreach realizes that he needs his servants : “Alone I can do nothing, but I have servants / And friends to second me…” (5.1.312-313). Unfortunately, Marall does not have much loyalty left for Overreach and he betrays him by changing the deed for Wellborn. He then offers his services to Wellborn :”If it please Your Worship / To call to memory, this mad beast once caused me to urge you to or drown or hang yourself; / I’ll do the like to him, if you command me” (5.1.335-337). To which Wellborn replies:
You are a rascal! He that dares be false
To a master, though unjust, will ne’er be true
To any other. Look not for reward
Or favor from me; I will shun thy sight
As I would do a basilisk’s. Thank my pity
If thou keep thy ears. Howe’r, I will take order
Your practice shall be silenced (5.1.337-344).
In the end, everyone gets what they deserve and those who were loyal to their masters retain pride in their loyalty, while those that betrayed their masters retain great shame. As Wellborn said: “His conscience be his prison” (5.1.347).
This is very observant, Eugene, and reminds us that the idea of service preoccupies almost all of the playwrights whose work we’ve read. At the same time, as with Sir Giles, they are fascinated by persons with huge egos who reject the notion that they should be subject to anything but their own wills.