"This World's Stage" : reality, illusion, and the play-within-a-play in the dramatic works of John Marston

Date Issued
June 1, 1981
Author(s)
Graham, Jean Bettis
Advisor(s)
Norman J. Sanders
Additional Advisor(s)
Mary P. Richards
Bain T. Stewart
Permanent URI
Abstract
John Marston's plays abound in theatrical imagery which compares the world with the stage, and in theatrical situations, or uses of the play-within-a-play, broadly defined as any situation in which the onstage characters become divided into two groups: actor (s) and audience. Play images, references to the "world's stage" or to "playing a part," as well as the use to which Marston puts such dramatic conventions as masque, dumb show, induction, prologue, and epilogue, suggest that every play is a kind of play-within-a-play, because it is set within the larger framing play of life. These images suggest further that life may be highly theatrical. According to Marston, at / times the relationship between the world and the stage is so close that the actions of ordinary people are likened to the posturings of actors on a stage. He habitually portrays the satiric types that appear in most of his plays in histrionic terms; those who wish to advance themselves either at court (Flatterers) or in love (Amorists) assume a pre tentious role and then become confused about the difference between the role and the person behind the role. Yet another kind of character frequently behaves as a playwright or Dramatist, directing other characters before an onstage audience in a play-within-a-play of his own de sign, in which he may or may not play a part. In four plays—The Dutch Courtesan, The Fawn, Antonio's Revenge, and The Malcontent— protagonist and antagonist, both Dramatists, try to alter the reality of the play world by involving other characters in elaborate plays-within plays, and it is the clashing of these inner plays that provides dramatic conflict.

We are all potentially actors, role-players, directors, and playwrights—for good or ill—as part of our human condition. In an ideal world no role-playing should be necessary, but in the world as it is, dramatic activity in some form may offer a way out for people with a variety of problems, as the various protagonists demonstrate. Hercules finds his son a wife (The Fawn), Malevole recovers his dukedom (The Malcontent), and Antonio avenges his father's death (Antonio's Revenge). Massinissa, in forgiving Cisco and Syphax at the end of Sophonisba, echoes Malevole in his treatment of Mendoza and the others who have wronged him. Hercules also excuses Gonzago's pompous behavior at the end of The Fawn, and after the revenge has taken place, Antonio and the other revengers are forgiven.

If Marston has shown theatrical behavior to be a viable alternative in a problematic world, he has not stopped there. He has shown ambivalence by portraying as much abuse as proper use of his craft. He sees acting as a skill which may be used for great good or great harm and always opposes its use for undeserved self-advancement. He is not as interested in how one views a play—though the audiences of the dramatic productions of Faunus and Malevole were perforce in structed, corrected, given insight—as in how and why we act and direct. He is not as concerned with the differences between the world and the stage as with showing that they are similar enough that one must employ the techniques of the stage in order to survive the stupidity (Gonzago's—The Fawn), the disorders (Malheureux's—The Dutch Courtesan), the brutality (Piero's—Antonio's Revenge), and the dis placement (Malevole's and Pietro's—The Malcontent) which the world has to offer. Paradoxically, it is the masking that leads us ultimately to discovery of the self beneath the mask; it is the theatrical artifice that leads to the reality behind the illusion.

Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Major
English
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