New Oxford Student Texts: Thomas Middleton & William Rowley: The Changeling

by Jackie Moore

One of a series designed to provide an accessible approach to the works of great poets and playwrights. Each title includes general notes on the text, discussion of themes, issues and contexts.

256 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2013

Reviews

[Eleanor]

Jacobean tragedy is not an area I’ve read much of since undergrad, and not a whole lot even then; I’d read a bit of Webster and all of Marlowe (if he even counts as part of the subgenre), but that was about it. The Changeling is a superb re-entry text, full of complex characters and hidden motives. The beautiful, amoral Beatrice-Joanna, who barters sex for murder, contrasts well against both her servant Deflores—physically ugly but deeply obsessed with her and willing to kill for her love—and the other women in the play, practical, earthy serving woman Diaphanta and witty young city wife Isabella. Even more so than other plays of its era, every other line is chased by a footnote that says some variation of “a sexual pun”, but the characters aren’t just dirty-joke machines; they’re interesting and complicated and mysterious. Deflores, when caught, says simply “I loved this woman in spite of her heart”. Although he’s been a creep and a killer for the last four and a half acts, it’s hard not to both believe his sincerity, and to catch that double meaning on “in spite of”: he loves her truly even though her heart is corrupt, but she also didn’t love him to begin with and their relationship is the result of him coercing her. I’d love to see this staged. Source: borrowed from a friend