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Ingenuity courts Lady Riches while Gettings and Clod quarrel over her and approach a duel; the Courtier and Soldier compete for Lady Honor. Personified figures such as Honesty, No-Pay, Long Vacation, and Foul-Weather-in-Harvest interrupt the conflicts. Lady Riches accepts Gettings while promising Clod the husband’s office in reversion, and Ingenuity and Honor reveal they are married, prompting a general reconciliation.
Cupid and Death accidentally exchange arrows. Cupid’s shots kill prospective lovers, while Death’s arrows make the elderly ardent and stop duelists from fighting. Mercury eventually restores order, Cupid is banished from princes’ courts to ordinary cottages, and the slain lovers rejoice in Elysium. A comic anti-masque adds a tavern host, a chamberlain, and dancing satyrs and apes.
Honoria chooses the scholar Alworth over competing suitors, while the wealthy widow Mammon is passed among suitors and manipulated by the demon Phantasm. Intrigues separate Honoria and Alworth before the suitors’ schemes are exposed and the couples resolve their fates.
Set in the real Hyde Park, Shirley’s comedy weaves three romantic plots through a triple-plot structure. Fairfield and Carol contest each other’s wits until they call the contest a tie; Julietta’s honorable conduct turns Bonville from rake to serious suitor; and Mistress Bonavent marries Lacy just as her husband returns from seven years at sea.
Infortunio loves Selina, who is arranged to marry the elderly Rufaldo. Selina flees disguised as a shepherd, while her brother Antonio impersonates her at the wedding to pursue Hilaria; mistaken identities and forest reunions ultimately resolve three couples’ courtships. Comic episodes satirize elaborate courtly speech and manners.
Gerard loves sisters Chrysolina and Aurelia and hopes his friend Thornay will choose one so that he can marry the other. When Thornay’s former lover Eugenia turns to another suitor, Chrysolina falls for that man, resolving Gerard’s dilemma. A disguised page also tricks Sir Gervase Simple into marrying him, while other romantic and comic subplots end in three couples’ weddings.
In Ferrara, Clariana’s adultery with her fiancé Bellamente’s friend Hippolito leads to escalating deception and violence. Their intertwined conflicts with the Duke and his intended bride Eubella end in the deaths of Clariana, Hippolito, and Bellamente.
Druids and soldiers prepare to resist St. Patrick after a prophecy foretells his success in converting Ireland. Patrick arrives peacefully with priests and his guardian angel Victor. King Leogarius’s attempts to poison and destroy him fail through miracles: Patrick revives a poisoned servant, exposes speaking pagan statues, and drives poisonous snakes from the island. The king converts, though Patrick doubts his resolve.
A romantic tangle unfolds when King Basilius's family retreats to a forest lodge to evade an oracle: disguised suitors seek his daughters, while Basilius and his queen fall for the disguised Pyrocles. Poison, mistaken judgment and a delayed prophecy's fulfillment follow.
Fashionable society prepares for a court ball. Widowed Lady Lucina mocks her suitors until Colonel Winfield’s honesty wins her agreement to marry him, while Honoria and Rosamund test Lord Rainbow and their own rejected suitors through competing courtship schemes.
The Duke of Mantua confines his daughter Eugenia in a tower to force an arranged marriage. Her suitor Philenzo returns disguised and accepts a deadly challenge to reach her; he hides inside a cage of rare birds sent to the princess. After the Duke rejects their marriage and condemns Philenzo, a letter cancels the rival match, and the apparently poisoned suitor revives when he learns he may wed Eugenia.
Fernando and Francisco love Felisarda and Jacinta, but Jacinta’s father Don Carlos prefers wealthy suitors. The brothers exchange the appearances of their affections to outmaneuver him. As disguises, feigned death, and a substitution at the wedding complicate the courtships, both brothers eventually marry the women they love, with their father’s blessing.
The Duchess seeks to marry Alvarez despite a political match arranged by the Cardinal. After Columbo kills Alvarez, Hernando pursues revenge and ultimately exposes the Cardinal's attempted assault on the Duchess, ending in a fatal confrontation.
Gentleman Hartwell, financially ruined, loves Frances. Her mother Bellamy pretends to love Hartwell to test him, while Frances’s nurse and a rival suitor set a trap that Hartwell avoids by disguising himself. A series of mistaken identities leads to his reconciliation with Frances. In a subplot, Playfair rescues the niece of a usurer through a trick involving a false king and marries her.
In the Greek camp outside Troy after Achilles’s death, Ajax and Ulysses contend for his armor. Their servants’ argument and fight are stopped by Calchas, who oversees the debate before the Greek generals. Ulysses’s eloquence defeats Ajax’s boastful self-praise, and the generals award him the armor. In the aftermath, Ajax loses his mind, kills a politician, and commits suicide; Calchas delivers a funeral dirge.
In Epire, the child queen Sophia unexpectedly chooses courtier Arcadius over the Lord Protector’s son, only to learn that Arcadius is her long-lost brother Demetrius. Protector Cassander then tries to regain power by claiming his ally Seleucus is the other missing prince, but Seleucus proves to be Leonatus, the rightful king; the scheme collapses and the royal couples reunite.
In a Spanish court, lovers and rival princes become entangled in jealous misunderstandings, duels, disguises, and a secret baby switch that reveals the true identities of the supposed heirs.
In Murcia, Olivia is engaged to Leonario when Ferdinand claims the throne as her rightful cousin. Ferdinand’s page is actually his fiancée Rosania in disguise; Olivia falls for the claimant and marries him, but the relationship unravels when he tries to escape with Rosania. A last-minute revelation establishes Ferdinand’s royal birth, and he and Rosania triumph after Leonario’s army is exposed as an ally.
In Parma, Duke Farnese seeks to dismiss his faithful wife Euphemia and make Ardelia his mistress, while his heir Leontio plots against him and hopes to claim the Duchess. Misunderstandings, attempted murder and mistaken identity lead to the Duke's reconciliation with Euphemia and the marriage of Ardelia and Bentivolio.
Indebted Sir Walter Peregrine becomes a captain, leaving his wife vulnerable to Lord Fitzavarice's attempted seduction. Her steadfastness reforms Fitzavarice, but a mistaken assumption leads the two men to a duel before they become friends. A comic subplot follows Jacinta's rival suitors and her paranoid uncle.
Gambling-obsessed Wilding neglects his wife and pursues her ward Penelope, then sends his friend Hazard to an assignation meant for himself. His wife secretly takes Penelope’s place, and the pair devise a lesson that ends with Wilding’s repentance. A subplot follows a wealthy uncle’s attempt to make his nephew a fashionable gambler, while a third plot concerns two pairs of lovers and a false murder charge.
Giovanni, a gardener's son, distinguishes himself in Venice's war with Genoa and seeks the hand of Bellaura, the Duke's niece. A revelation that he and the Duke's son were switched at birth changes their identities. In a subplot, a Venetian gentleman's attempt to force his wife to conceive by abducting Florelli collapses into repentance.
Foscari believes he must surrender Cleona to the Duke of Savoy and enter a monastery, but a page he rescued is revealed as Leonora, the Duke’s former betrothed in disguise. Meanwhile, the Duke’s libertine brother is drawn into a demonic ruse that brings him to reform; the play resolves with three marriages.
When the Duke of Parma disappears from the Duchess of Mantua’s court, she says she will choose a husband from among her courtiers. The men compete for her favor through flattery and absurd schemes, while the newcomer Giotto and her attendant Laura guide the confusion. The Duchess eventually mocks her would-be suitors and reveals that Giotto is the Duke in disguise.
Flaviano plots to prevent Fioretta’s marriage to Prince Leonato by disguising his former mistress Juliana as Fioretta, but the real princess escapes and appears at Leonato’s court. The deception is eventually exposed, while a subplot about a cowardly son and two suitors leads to another marriage.
Lady Bornwell pursues courtly pleasures and spends her husband’s money; Sir Thomas tries to reform her by feigning interest in a young widow, but his scheme fails. The prospect of bankruptcy and a humiliating mistaken encounter shock Aretina into restraint. A parallel plot follows Celestina’s effort to reform Lord A’s misogyny, with a comic subplot around the scholar-turned-drunken Master Frederick.
In Portugal, Catalina's deceptive courtship of Antonio to conceal his love for her sister Berinthia leads her to plot her sister's abduction and poisoning. When Antonio saves Berinthia, a chain of family commands and duels ends in murder and reciprocal revenge.
To escape a marriage imposed on her, Maria pretends to be dead after being caught with her lover. A thief and his disguised apprentice accidentally steal her coffin, while the apprentice’s frightening tricks expose the greedy Justice Algrip’s past, undo the marriage and restore the other characters’ fortunes.
Aurelio, visiting Urbino, is mistaken for the banished Borgia and lets the confusion continue. He falls for Cornelia, Borgia’s sister, while Ursini also seeks her and the Duchess becomes enamored of Aurelio. A balcony scene of mistaken identities and overheard conversation deepens the confusion until Cornelia admits the deception; further mix-ups resolve in the Duchess marrying the Duke of Ferrara and Cornelia marrying Ursini, while Aurelio leaves.
In Norway, Gotharus manipulates the king and his heirs through forged letters, political marriages, and murder plots to control the throne. His schemes collapse amid a popular rebellion and poisonings.
In Naples, royal favorite Montalto seeks to marry Theodosia, the king’s sister, by breaking up her proposed match with the Duke of Florence and arranging for the duke to fall for Domitilla. His deceptions create a scandal around Theodosia, but the king’s apparent defense of Montalto becomes a trap that exposes the favorite’s crimes. A presumed murder victim, the secretary Riviero, is revealed alive, and Montalto’s death sentence is commuted to banishment.
In Parma, proud Paulina aims to marry Prince Farnese, while her gentler sister Angellina longs to become a nun. Bandit Frapolo and his company disguise themselves as the prince and his court, tricking Paulina into preparing to leave with them. The real prince falls for Angellina, who loves the disguised page Vergerio; revelations of identity and family ties resolve the courtships, while the false prince and Paulina are paired.
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.
In Florence, Lorenzo seeks to supplant Duke Alessandro by plotting against his rival Cosmo and manipulating the violent nobleman Sciarrha. Sciarrha’s sister Amidea tries to avert a murder, but Lorenzo’s schemes drive the characters toward betrayal and reciprocal killings. The tragedy is based in part on the historical Lorenzino de’ Medici.
At Mount Ida, Paris judges the beauty of Juno, Venus and Pallas, while a comic anti-masque of seven shepherds recalls the rustic comic figures of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The masque ends with Venus winning the contest.
A lavish court masque sponsored by the Inns of Court begins with a torchlit cavalcade to Whitehall. Personifications of Peace, Law and Justice honor the English monarchs amid seven scene changes, multiple anti-masques, allegorical characters, dances and a mock combat evoking Don Quixote.
After a false accusation makes Beauford doubt his bride Gratiana, disguises and a mistaken identity reveal the truth. A parallel courtship plot among Justice Landby's daughter and her suitors ends in a second wedding; the play concludes with three couples marrying.
Violetta tries to escape an arranged marriage to Sir Nicholas Treedle and marry Aimwell, maneuvering around her father’s servant and a foolish tutor through disguises and mistaken identities. In the subplot, Penelope stages a false funeral to make libertine Fowler confront his life and repent. The identity of the “witty fair one” is disputed between Violetta and Penelope.
Vittori, admiral to the prince of Naples, competes with him for Cassandra’s hand. After Naples and Sicily go to war, the prince sends Vittori to command the fleet while hoping he will die. Vittori wins, but returns to find the city gates closed and the prince conspiring against him. Captured amid shifting allegiances, he faces a tragicomic choice between saving his father and saving Cassandra; peace ultimately allows both couples to marry.
Ingenuity courts Lady Riches while Gettings and Clod quarrel over her and approach a duel; the Courtier and Soldier compete for Lady Honor. Personified figures such as Honesty, No-Pay, Long Vacation, and Foul-Weather-in-Harvest interrupt the conflicts. Lady Riches accepts Gettings while promising Clod the husband’s office in reversion, and Ingenuity and Honor reveal they are married, prompting a general reconciliation.
Cupid and Death accidentally exchange arrows. Cupid’s shots kill prospective lovers, while Death’s arrows make the elderly ardent and stop duelists from fighting. Mercury eventually restores order, Cupid is banished from princes’ courts to ordinary cottages, and the slain lovers rejoice in Elysium. A comic anti-masque adds a tavern host, a chamberlain, and dancing satyrs and apes.
Honoria chooses the scholar Alworth over competing suitors, while the wealthy widow Mammon is passed among suitors and manipulated by the demon Phantasm. Intrigues separate Honoria and Alworth before the suitors’ schemes are exposed and the couples resolve their fates.
Set in the real Hyde Park, Shirley’s comedy weaves three romantic plots through a triple-plot structure. Fairfield and Carol contest each other’s wits until they call the contest a tie; Julietta’s honorable conduct turns Bonville from rake to serious suitor; and Mistress Bonavent marries Lacy just as her husband returns from seven years at sea.
Infortunio loves Selina, who is arranged to marry the elderly Rufaldo. Selina flees disguised as a shepherd, while her brother Antonio impersonates her at the wedding to pursue Hilaria; mistaken identities and forest reunions ultimately resolve three couples’ courtships. Comic episodes satirize elaborate courtly speech and manners.
Gerard loves sisters Chrysolina and Aurelia and hopes his friend Thornay will choose one so that he can marry the other. When Thornay’s former lover Eugenia turns to another suitor, Chrysolina falls for that man, resolving Gerard’s dilemma. A disguised page also tricks Sir Gervase Simple into marrying him, while other romantic and comic subplots end in three couples’ weddings.
In Ferrara, Clariana’s adultery with her fiancé Bellamente’s friend Hippolito leads to escalating deception and violence. Their intertwined conflicts with the Duke and his intended bride Eubella end in the deaths of Clariana, Hippolito, and Bellamente.
Druids and soldiers prepare to resist St. Patrick after a prophecy foretells his success in converting Ireland. Patrick arrives peacefully with priests and his guardian angel Victor. King Leogarius’s attempts to poison and destroy him fail through miracles: Patrick revives a poisoned servant, exposes speaking pagan statues, and drives poisonous snakes from the island. The king converts, though Patrick doubts his resolve.
A romantic tangle unfolds when King Basilius's family retreats to a forest lodge to evade an oracle: disguised suitors seek his daughters, while Basilius and his queen fall for the disguised Pyrocles. Poison, mistaken judgment and a delayed prophecy's fulfillment follow.
Fashionable society prepares for a court ball. Widowed Lady Lucina mocks her suitors until Colonel Winfield’s honesty wins her agreement to marry him, while Honoria and Rosamund test Lord Rainbow and their own rejected suitors through competing courtship schemes.
The Duke of Mantua confines his daughter Eugenia in a tower to force an arranged marriage. Her suitor Philenzo returns disguised and accepts a deadly challenge to reach her; he hides inside a cage of rare birds sent to the princess. After the Duke rejects their marriage and condemns Philenzo, a letter cancels the rival match, and the apparently poisoned suitor revives when he learns he may wed Eugenia.
Fernando and Francisco love Felisarda and Jacinta, but Jacinta’s father Don Carlos prefers wealthy suitors. The brothers exchange the appearances of their affections to outmaneuver him. As disguises, feigned death, and a substitution at the wedding complicate the courtships, both brothers eventually marry the women they love, with their father’s blessing.
The Duchess seeks to marry Alvarez despite a political match arranged by the Cardinal. After Columbo kills Alvarez, Hernando pursues revenge and ultimately exposes the Cardinal's attempted assault on the Duchess, ending in a fatal confrontation.
Gentleman Hartwell, financially ruined, loves Frances. Her mother Bellamy pretends to love Hartwell to test him, while Frances’s nurse and a rival suitor set a trap that Hartwell avoids by disguising himself. A series of mistaken identities leads to his reconciliation with Frances. In a subplot, Playfair rescues the niece of a usurer through a trick involving a false king and marries her.
In the Greek camp outside Troy after Achilles’s death, Ajax and Ulysses contend for his armor. Their servants’ argument and fight are stopped by Calchas, who oversees the debate before the Greek generals. Ulysses’s eloquence defeats Ajax’s boastful self-praise, and the generals award him the armor. In the aftermath, Ajax loses his mind, kills a politician, and commits suicide; Calchas delivers a funeral dirge.
In Epire, the child queen Sophia unexpectedly chooses courtier Arcadius over the Lord Protector’s son, only to learn that Arcadius is her long-lost brother Demetrius. Protector Cassander then tries to regain power by claiming his ally Seleucus is the other missing prince, but Seleucus proves to be Leonatus, the rightful king; the scheme collapses and the royal couples reunite.
In a Spanish court, lovers and rival princes become entangled in jealous misunderstandings, duels, disguises, and a secret baby switch that reveals the true identities of the supposed heirs.
In Murcia, Olivia is engaged to Leonario when Ferdinand claims the throne as her rightful cousin. Ferdinand’s page is actually his fiancée Rosania in disguise; Olivia falls for the claimant and marries him, but the relationship unravels when he tries to escape with Rosania. A last-minute revelation establishes Ferdinand’s royal birth, and he and Rosania triumph after Leonario’s army is exposed as an ally.
In Parma, Duke Farnese seeks to dismiss his faithful wife Euphemia and make Ardelia his mistress, while his heir Leontio plots against him and hopes to claim the Duchess. Misunderstandings, attempted murder and mistaken identity lead to the Duke's reconciliation with Euphemia and the marriage of Ardelia and Bentivolio.
Indebted Sir Walter Peregrine becomes a captain, leaving his wife vulnerable to Lord Fitzavarice's attempted seduction. Her steadfastness reforms Fitzavarice, but a mistaken assumption leads the two men to a duel before they become friends. A comic subplot follows Jacinta's rival suitors and her paranoid uncle.
Gambling-obsessed Wilding neglects his wife and pursues her ward Penelope, then sends his friend Hazard to an assignation meant for himself. His wife secretly takes Penelope’s place, and the pair devise a lesson that ends with Wilding’s repentance. A subplot follows a wealthy uncle’s attempt to make his nephew a fashionable gambler, while a third plot concerns two pairs of lovers and a false murder charge.
Giovanni, a gardener's son, distinguishes himself in Venice's war with Genoa and seeks the hand of Bellaura, the Duke's niece. A revelation that he and the Duke's son were switched at birth changes their identities. In a subplot, a Venetian gentleman's attempt to force his wife to conceive by abducting Florelli collapses into repentance.
Foscari believes he must surrender Cleona to the Duke of Savoy and enter a monastery, but a page he rescued is revealed as Leonora, the Duke’s former betrothed in disguise. Meanwhile, the Duke’s libertine brother is drawn into a demonic ruse that brings him to reform; the play resolves with three marriages.
When the Duke of Parma disappears from the Duchess of Mantua’s court, she says she will choose a husband from among her courtiers. The men compete for her favor through flattery and absurd schemes, while the newcomer Giotto and her attendant Laura guide the confusion. The Duchess eventually mocks her would-be suitors and reveals that Giotto is the Duke in disguise.
Flaviano plots to prevent Fioretta’s marriage to Prince Leonato by disguising his former mistress Juliana as Fioretta, but the real princess escapes and appears at Leonato’s court. The deception is eventually exposed, while a subplot about a cowardly son and two suitors leads to another marriage.
Lady Bornwell pursues courtly pleasures and spends her husband’s money; Sir Thomas tries to reform her by feigning interest in a young widow, but his scheme fails. The prospect of bankruptcy and a humiliating mistaken encounter shock Aretina into restraint. A parallel plot follows Celestina’s effort to reform Lord A’s misogyny, with a comic subplot around the scholar-turned-drunken Master Frederick.
In Portugal, Catalina's deceptive courtship of Antonio to conceal his love for her sister Berinthia leads her to plot her sister's abduction and poisoning. When Antonio saves Berinthia, a chain of family commands and duels ends in murder and reciprocal revenge.
To escape a marriage imposed on her, Maria pretends to be dead after being caught with her lover. A thief and his disguised apprentice accidentally steal her coffin, while the apprentice’s frightening tricks expose the greedy Justice Algrip’s past, undo the marriage and restore the other characters’ fortunes.
Aurelio, visiting Urbino, is mistaken for the banished Borgia and lets the confusion continue. He falls for Cornelia, Borgia’s sister, while Ursini also seeks her and the Duchess becomes enamored of Aurelio. A balcony scene of mistaken identities and overheard conversation deepens the confusion until Cornelia admits the deception; further mix-ups resolve in the Duchess marrying the Duke of Ferrara and Cornelia marrying Ursini, while Aurelio leaves.
In Norway, Gotharus manipulates the king and his heirs through forged letters, political marriages, and murder plots to control the throne. His schemes collapse amid a popular rebellion and poisonings.
In Naples, royal favorite Montalto seeks to marry Theodosia, the king’s sister, by breaking up her proposed match with the Duke of Florence and arranging for the duke to fall for Domitilla. His deceptions create a scandal around Theodosia, but the king’s apparent defense of Montalto becomes a trap that exposes the favorite’s crimes. A presumed murder victim, the secretary Riviero, is revealed alive, and Montalto’s death sentence is commuted to banishment.
In Parma, proud Paulina aims to marry Prince Farnese, while her gentler sister Angellina longs to become a nun. Bandit Frapolo and his company disguise themselves as the prince and his court, tricking Paulina into preparing to leave with them. The real prince falls for Angellina, who loves the disguised page Vergerio; revelations of identity and family ties resolve the courtships, while the false prince and Paulina are paired.
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.
In Florence, Lorenzo seeks to supplant Duke Alessandro by plotting against his rival Cosmo and manipulating the violent nobleman Sciarrha. Sciarrha’s sister Amidea tries to avert a murder, but Lorenzo’s schemes drive the characters toward betrayal and reciprocal killings. The tragedy is based in part on the historical Lorenzino de’ Medici.
At Mount Ida, Paris judges the beauty of Juno, Venus and Pallas, while a comic anti-masque of seven shepherds recalls the rustic comic figures of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The masque ends with Venus winning the contest.
A lavish court masque sponsored by the Inns of Court begins with a torchlit cavalcade to Whitehall. Personifications of Peace, Law and Justice honor the English monarchs amid seven scene changes, multiple anti-masques, allegorical characters, dances and a mock combat evoking Don Quixote.
After a false accusation makes Beauford doubt his bride Gratiana, disguises and a mistaken identity reveal the truth. A parallel courtship plot among Justice Landby's daughter and her suitors ends in a second wedding; the play concludes with three couples marrying.
Violetta tries to escape an arranged marriage to Sir Nicholas Treedle and marry Aimwell, maneuvering around her father’s servant and a foolish tutor through disguises and mistaken identities. In the subplot, Penelope stages a false funeral to make libertine Fowler confront his life and repent. The identity of the “witty fair one” is disputed between Violetta and Penelope.
Vittori, admiral to the prince of Naples, competes with him for Cassandra’s hand. After Naples and Sicily go to war, the prince sends Vittori to command the fleet while hoping he will die. Vittori wins, but returns to find the city gates closed and the prince conspiring against him. Captured amid shifting allegiances, he faces a tragicomic choice between saving his father and saving Cassandra; peace ultimately allows both couples to marry.