Epicoene: Or, the Silent Woman (Regents Renaissance Drama)

Within the last decade editions of Ben Jonson single plays and groups of plays have multiplied with significant rapidity. Epicane as the most popular comedy of the great Elizabethan, should not be the last to be accorded the dignity of a separate volume. Contemporary popularity may not indicate the presence of lasting qualities of art. Epicome however, of all Ben Jonson sdramas, was not only listened to with most pleasure in its authors day but it held the stage longest, and is now best known to the general reader. Such popularity must spring from positive artistic merits. Eptcane does not stand first in intellectual grasp or moral greatness; its satire has the tone of ridicule rather than moral indignation. But its intrigue is the finest Jonson ever contrived; it contains some of the most inimitable of his comic characters, and at least one of the best situations any comedy aflfords; it reflects with due subordination to plot the manners of its age, and merits thereby the distinction of being the first comedy of manners in English; it is of perennially comic force, infinite in wit, and pervaded by a spirit more nearly gay than any other work of its author. In addition to these excellences, and in part because of them, Epicane is to-day the most actable stage-piece from Jonson spen. This comedy is in no sense difficult to read and enjoy, but thorough study discloses in it depth and meaning which serious students seldom recognize, and casual readers entirely overlook.
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)

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