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In Florence, the manipulative Gostanzo’s schemes to control his children backfire and inadvertently let Valerio remain with his secret wife Gratiana while Fortunio woos Bellomora. A subplot follows the jealous Cornelio’s unfounded suspicions of his faithful wife.
Chapman's early humors comedy depicts characters ruled by extremes of temperament—melancholy misanthropy, fashion, unstable Puritanism and jealousy—while Lemot presides over their follies like a ringmaster.
Impoverished soldier Bussy enters the service of Monsieur, brother of France’s king, but his violent independence makes him a poor instrument for the prince’s ambitions. After a bloody duel and an affair with the Countess of Montsurry, her husband tortures her and lures Bussy into an ambush where he is killed.
Chapman’s tragedy depicts the conflict between Julius Caesar and Pompey that ended Rome’s First Triumvirate, emphasizing their antagonism and Pompey’s pupil-master relationship with the Stoic Cato.
In a five-act court tragedy, Charlemagne's marriage to Theodora draws her scheming siblings into court politics. After her death, a mysterious ring transforms the emperor, while Ganelon's intrigues lead to murder, exposure, and punishment.
London goldsmith Touchstone dismisses his idle apprentice Quicksilver and favors his dutiful apprentice Golding, who marries Touchstone's younger daughter Mildred. Meanwhile, vain Gertrude marries the fraudulent Sir Petronel, whose scheme to use her dowry for a voyage to Virginia ends in shipwreck and arrest. Quicksilver repents, and Touchstone restores him and reconciles the family.
In a crowded Venetian comedy of intrigue and disguise, shy lovers Aurelio and Aemilia are brought together by their friend Lodovico, while soldier Quintiliano swindles others and the lustful Lorenzo is tricked into a humiliating disguise. A masked finale reveals hidden identities and unites the couples.
After returning from a three-year journey, Vandome tries to repair the troubled lives of his friends: he helps the grieving Earl of St. Anne recognize Eurione’s love and breaks Countess Marcellina’s self-imposed isolation. In the comic subplot, the vain Monsieur D’Olive is tricked by courtiers into embarrassing himself at court and pursuing a forged love letter.
The melancholic poet-lover Clarence is helped by Lord Momford to recognize his bond with Countess Eugenia. Around them, humours-comedy figures include the Francophile Captain Foulweather and waggish servants.
After being banished by Queen Aegiale, swindler Cleanthes returns to Alexandria disguised as a blind beggar and fortune-teller, then assumes other identities to seduce the queen, manipulate events, and ultimately become king of Egypt.
In two linked tragedies, proud French commander Charles de Gontaut, Duke of Byron, is drawn into treason against the king. He briefly curbs his ambition and submits, but resumes plotting, is arrested and executed.
In an Italian duchy, Duke Alphonso and his son Vincentio both love Margaret. With his friend Strozza’s help, Vincentio courts her through the pompous usher Bassiolo, while the duke’s favorite Medice schemes against the young couple. After Vincentio is wounded and Margaret disfigures herself to avoid a forced marriage, Medice’s deceptions are exposed and both lovers are healed and united.
A court masque presented for Princess Elizabeth and Frederick V's wedding festivities, featuring Virginia-themed sun-worshipping princes who honor the couple and accept Christianity, alongside an anti-masque of baboons and allegorical figures.
After Bussy’s death, his brother Clermont follows the Duke of Guise and embraces Christian Stoicism. Tamyra urges him to avenge Bussy by killing her husband Montsurry; when Guise is assassinated and Clermont hesitates, Bussy’s ghost tells him divine justice requires Montsurry’s punishment, which Clermont finally carries out before taking his own life.
Admiral Chabot refuses to enforce an unjust law despite the King's order. A jealous minister engineers an investigation that finds no wrongdoing, yet the court pressures judges to convict him; when offered a pardon, Chabot refuses because he is innocent and dies of wounded honor.
Chapman’s comedy presents two linked plots in sequence. Tharsalio schemes to marry the wealthy widow Eudora, while he provokes his brother Lysander into testing whether Lysander’s wife Cynthia would remain faithful if widowed. Lysander fakes his death and watches her mourning, setting off a graveyard deception and a bungled legal inquiry before his identity is revealed.
In Florence, the manipulative Gostanzo’s schemes to control his children backfire and inadvertently let Valerio remain with his secret wife Gratiana while Fortunio woos Bellomora. A subplot follows the jealous Cornelio’s unfounded suspicions of his faithful wife.
Chapman's early humors comedy depicts characters ruled by extremes of temperament—melancholy misanthropy, fashion, unstable Puritanism and jealousy—while Lemot presides over their follies like a ringmaster.
Impoverished soldier Bussy enters the service of Monsieur, brother of France’s king, but his violent independence makes him a poor instrument for the prince’s ambitions. After a bloody duel and an affair with the Countess of Montsurry, her husband tortures her and lures Bussy into an ambush where he is killed.
Chapman’s tragedy depicts the conflict between Julius Caesar and Pompey that ended Rome’s First Triumvirate, emphasizing their antagonism and Pompey’s pupil-master relationship with the Stoic Cato.
In a five-act court tragedy, Charlemagne's marriage to Theodora draws her scheming siblings into court politics. After her death, a mysterious ring transforms the emperor, while Ganelon's intrigues lead to murder, exposure, and punishment.
London goldsmith Touchstone dismisses his idle apprentice Quicksilver and favors his dutiful apprentice Golding, who marries Touchstone's younger daughter Mildred. Meanwhile, vain Gertrude marries the fraudulent Sir Petronel, whose scheme to use her dowry for a voyage to Virginia ends in shipwreck and arrest. Quicksilver repents, and Touchstone restores him and reconciles the family.
In a crowded Venetian comedy of intrigue and disguise, shy lovers Aurelio and Aemilia are brought together by their friend Lodovico, while soldier Quintiliano swindles others and the lustful Lorenzo is tricked into a humiliating disguise. A masked finale reveals hidden identities and unites the couples.
After returning from a three-year journey, Vandome tries to repair the troubled lives of his friends: he helps the grieving Earl of St. Anne recognize Eurione’s love and breaks Countess Marcellina’s self-imposed isolation. In the comic subplot, the vain Monsieur D’Olive is tricked by courtiers into embarrassing himself at court and pursuing a forged love letter.
The melancholic poet-lover Clarence is helped by Lord Momford to recognize his bond with Countess Eugenia. Around them, humours-comedy figures include the Francophile Captain Foulweather and waggish servants.
After being banished by Queen Aegiale, swindler Cleanthes returns to Alexandria disguised as a blind beggar and fortune-teller, then assumes other identities to seduce the queen, manipulate events, and ultimately become king of Egypt.
In two linked tragedies, proud French commander Charles de Gontaut, Duke of Byron, is drawn into treason against the king. He briefly curbs his ambition and submits, but resumes plotting, is arrested and executed.
In an Italian duchy, Duke Alphonso and his son Vincentio both love Margaret. With his friend Strozza’s help, Vincentio courts her through the pompous usher Bassiolo, while the duke’s favorite Medice schemes against the young couple. After Vincentio is wounded and Margaret disfigures herself to avoid a forced marriage, Medice’s deceptions are exposed and both lovers are healed and united.
A court masque presented for Princess Elizabeth and Frederick V's wedding festivities, featuring Virginia-themed sun-worshipping princes who honor the couple and accept Christianity, alongside an anti-masque of baboons and allegorical figures.
After Bussy’s death, his brother Clermont follows the Duke of Guise and embraces Christian Stoicism. Tamyra urges him to avenge Bussy by killing her husband Montsurry; when Guise is assassinated and Clermont hesitates, Bussy’s ghost tells him divine justice requires Montsurry’s punishment, which Clermont finally carries out before taking his own life.
Admiral Chabot refuses to enforce an unjust law despite the King's order. A jealous minister engineers an investigation that finds no wrongdoing, yet the court pressures judges to convict him; when offered a pardon, Chabot refuses because he is innocent and dies of wounded honor.
Chapman’s comedy presents two linked plots in sequence. Tharsalio schemes to marry the wealthy widow Eudora, while he provokes his brother Lysander into testing whether Lysander’s wife Cynthia would remain faithful if widowed. Lysander fakes his death and watches her mourning, setting off a graveyard deception and a bungled legal inquiry before his identity is revealed.