Genre
Jacobean Drama
Language
English
Setting and Context
London, early 1600s
Narrator and Point of View
The point of view is third person, but leans towards being on the side of Richard Easy.
Tone and Mood
Entertaining for the audience; Duplicitous and scheming
Protagonist and Antagonist
Richard Easy is the protagonist, Quomodo the protagonist
Major Conflict
There is conflict between Susan and Thomasine, and Quomodo, as they want Susan to marry Rearage, and he demands that she marry Andrew Lethe.
Climax
Quomodo has unwittingly signed a memorandum that declares Easy owes him nothing and Easy presents this in front of the judge when Quomodo confronts him about the land that he claims belongs to him.
Foreshadowing
The faked death of Quomodo foreshadows Thomasine's new found freedom and her intention to marry the man of her dreams rather than the tyrant she was previously married to.
Understatement
Sim says his father is a dishonest knave, which is an understatement as he is a man who has made his fortune out of swindling people.
Allusions
No specific allusions in this play
Imagery
The key imagery arises in the opening scene of the play, when Michaelmas Term changes from his white cloak of the country (the good side) to his black cloak of the city (the bad side). This imagery tells the play's audience that the folk from the country are to be trusted but city folk are more duplicitous.
Paradox
Lethe believes Thomasine is attracted to him. She actually despises him. His arrogant character will not allow him to believe that this could be possible.
Parallelism
There is a parallel between Thomasine wanting to marry Easy for his honesty and gentlemanly demeanor, and her wanting her daughter to marry Rearage for the same reasons.
Personification
No specific examples
Use of Dramatic Devices
There is a brief soliloquy by Lethe, when he is alone on stage and is wondering aloud how why Thomasine dislikes him so much and what he can do to change this.
