Philip Massinger (1) (1583–1640)

I read this after seeing it linked to the story of Beatrice Cenci, but while there are common elements (filicide and father-daughter incest), a lot of other stuff goes on, too, and Massinger's Malefort is quite a different character to Cenci (at least as Shelley paints him): he doesn't have his son killed, but slays him with his own hand; and far from raping his daughter, he struggles with the affection he feels for her and battles heroically to resist it - he is more of a man and less of a pantomime villain. Conversely, Theocrine, compared to Beatrice, is less heroic avenger, more dopily faithful daughter. But this aspect of the play is pretty sketchy until the fourth act - before then, there's a piratical dispute that I couldn't follow, various confused and obfuscated motives, and some weird comic business with a character who eats too much at banquets and is persuaded to turn up for one in a suit of armour or something? I wasn't paying attention, it seemed pretty tedious. It's the first Massinger play I've read so don't know if it isn't that good, or if I'm misjudging it because I expected (or wanted) something more monothematic, or if I was simply tired. Anyway I liked it more by the end, when the theme I came for falls more sharply into focus - the big scenes are V.ii (rape, madness, death by weather) and IV.i, where Malefort almost looks like a precursor to Peter Lorre in M.… (more)