The Masque of Queens

by Ben Jonson

Genres: Classics, Plays, Drama, Theatre, School

Unknown Binding

About the author

Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems. A man of vast reading and a seemingly insatiable appetite for controversy, Jonson had an unparalleled breadth of influence on Jacobean and Caroline playwrights and poets. A house in Dulwich College is named after him.

See more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Jonson

Reviews

[David Sarkies · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Tribute to Queens of the Past
10 June 2020

The interesting thing about this masque is that you might actually be thinking that it was written in favour of Queen Elizabeth, especially with the list of heroic women that the writer proceeds to cite. However, this is not actually the case since it was written in favour of the wife of King James, and the fact that she barely seems to get a mention in the history books sort of suggests that she was probably just your typical early modern queen.

Then again, this is pretty much a puff piece, so no doubt the author, Ben Jonson, is basically trying to remind her that there were some great and powerful women that existed before her, and proceeds to list all of them. Ironically, Elizabeth does not even get a mention, and it isn’t as if she was seen as a bad queen or anything. Then again, it could have been that it was quite well known at the time, and that Jonson didn’t actually want to overshadow the current monarchs, particularly since that many were alive during her reign. In fact, it sort of makes me wonder if in part she had left such a legacy that she would have been a hard act to follow, and as such Jonson provided a list of women to point out that it is possible.

Another interesting thing about this play are the hags that appear at the beginning. In fact, Jonson begins the masque by introducing a number of hags, and also goes on to list the witches that all appear in literature (of course ignoring Shakespeare, though no doubt he is going through what he believed as being the literal sources of the day). Yet, one commentator suggested that this was to satisfy the king, and of course, the play then goes on from the hags to list a substantial number of other women who rose above their status, in particular Bodecia, who happens to have a statue out the front of the Houses of Parliament in Westminster.

[Marit]

I'm a little confused but I did enjoy reading this? Let's see if I can make more sense of it after the seminar lmao

[Merel Borgonje · Rating 2 out of 5]

enjoyed it, yet had no idea what the fuck was going on

[imogen thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

the three is me being kind after I actually spoke through it - so hard to read especially the annotated version. it tracks that he thought actors shouldn't have to announce themselves/character names 😂

[Rebekah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this for a module about the court :) loved the imagery in this one

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

keeping the same rating as before but I am appreciating (and understanding!) it more than last time

[Gill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jacobean court masques are odd things - all about the music, dance and spectacle, none of which exactly leaps off the page. This is uncharacteristically short for Ben, but with all the singing and special effects probably took hours to perform!

[Onur · Rating 2 out of 5]

jacobean fever dream. i wonder what jonson used to get high when writing this one.