Jonson in roundabout
fashion acknowledged his indebtedness to this play by the
closing line of his prologue.
fashion acknowledged his indebtedness to this play by the
closing line of his prologue.
Ben Jonson - The Devil's Association
Later, however, we read that he stood at the gate of the
religious house 'all alone and with a heavie countenance'. In the
beginning, therefore, he has little of Pug's thirst for adventure,
but his object is at bottom the same, 'to goe and dwell among these
religious men for to maintaine them the longer in their ungracious
living'. Like Pug, whose request for a Vice is denied him, he goes
unaccompanied, and presents himself at the priory in the guise of a
young man seeking service: 'Sir, I am a poore young man, and am out of
service, and faine would have a maister'. [32]
Most of the remaining incidents of the Rush story could not be used
in Jonson's play. Two incidents may be mentioned. Rush furthers the
amours of his master, as Pug attempts to do those of his mistress.
In the later history of Rush the motive of demoniacal possession is
worked into the plot. In a very important respect, however, the legend
differs from the play. Up to the time of discovery Rush is popular
and successful. He is nowhere made ridiculous, and his mission of
corruption is in large measure fulfilled. The two stories come together
in their conclusion. The discovery that a real devil has been among
them is the means of the friars' conversion and future right living. A
precisely similar effect takes place in the case of Fitzdottrel.
The legend of Friar Rush had already twice been used
in the drama before it was adopted by Jonson. The play
by Day and Haughton to which Henslowe refers[33] is not
extant; Dekker's drama, _If this be not a good Play, the
Diuell is in it_, appeared in 1612.
Jonson in roundabout
fashion acknowledged his indebtedness to this play by the
closing line of his prologue.
If this Play doe not like, the Diuell is in't.
Dekker's play adds few new elements to the story. The first scene is
in the infernal regions; not, however, the Christian hell, as in the
prose history, but the classical Hades. This change seems to have
been adopted from Machiavelli. Three devils are sent to earth with
the object of corrupting men and replenishing hell. They return, on
the whole, successful, though the corrupted king of Naples is finally
redeemed.
In certain respects, however, the play stands closer to Jonson's drama
than the history. In the first place, the doctrine that hell's vices
are both old-fashioned and outdone by men, upon which Satan lays so
much stress in his instructions to Pug in the first scene, receives a
like emphasis in Dekker:
. . . 'tis thought
That men to find hell, now, new waies have sought,
As Spaniards did to the Indies.
and again:
. . . aboue vs dwell,
Diuells brauer, and more subtill then in Hell.
religious house 'all alone and with a heavie countenance'. In the
beginning, therefore, he has little of Pug's thirst for adventure,
but his object is at bottom the same, 'to goe and dwell among these
religious men for to maintaine them the longer in their ungracious
living'. Like Pug, whose request for a Vice is denied him, he goes
unaccompanied, and presents himself at the priory in the guise of a
young man seeking service: 'Sir, I am a poore young man, and am out of
service, and faine would have a maister'. [32]
Most of the remaining incidents of the Rush story could not be used
in Jonson's play. Two incidents may be mentioned. Rush furthers the
amours of his master, as Pug attempts to do those of his mistress.
In the later history of Rush the motive of demoniacal possession is
worked into the plot. In a very important respect, however, the legend
differs from the play. Up to the time of discovery Rush is popular
and successful. He is nowhere made ridiculous, and his mission of
corruption is in large measure fulfilled. The two stories come together
in their conclusion. The discovery that a real devil has been among
them is the means of the friars' conversion and future right living. A
precisely similar effect takes place in the case of Fitzdottrel.
The legend of Friar Rush had already twice been used
in the drama before it was adopted by Jonson. The play
by Day and Haughton to which Henslowe refers[33] is not
extant; Dekker's drama, _If this be not a good Play, the
Diuell is in it_, appeared in 1612.
Jonson in roundabout
fashion acknowledged his indebtedness to this play by the
closing line of his prologue.
If this Play doe not like, the Diuell is in't.
Dekker's play adds few new elements to the story. The first scene is
in the infernal regions; not, however, the Christian hell, as in the
prose history, but the classical Hades. This change seems to have
been adopted from Machiavelli. Three devils are sent to earth with
the object of corrupting men and replenishing hell. They return, on
the whole, successful, though the corrupted king of Naples is finally
redeemed.
In certain respects, however, the play stands closer to Jonson's drama
than the history. In the first place, the doctrine that hell's vices
are both old-fashioned and outdone by men, upon which Satan lays so
much stress in his instructions to Pug in the first scene, receives a
like emphasis in Dekker:
. . . 'tis thought
That men to find hell, now, new waies have sought,
As Spaniards did to the Indies.
and again:
. . . aboue vs dwell,
Diuells brauer, and more subtill then in Hell.
