The English Jacobean and Caroline playwright, Philip Massinger was celebrated for his comedic genius, finely plotted plays, social realism and incisive satire. Following the death of Shakespeare in 1616 and Fletcher in 1625, Massinger became the leading playwright of the King's Men's. His most popular and influential play, ‘A New Way to Pay Old Debts’ expresses a timeless indignation at economic oppression and social disorder, while ‘The City Madam’ deals with similar evils, combining naturalistic and symbolic modes. For the first time in publishing history, this eBook presents Massinger’s complete works, with numerous illustrations, rare plays and poetry, concise introductions and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1) * Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Massinger’s life and works * Concise introductions to the major works * All 38 plays, with individual contents tables * Features many rare plays appearing for the first time in digital publishing * Includes Nicholas Rowe’s ‘The Fair Penitent’, the 1632 adaptation of Massinger’s ‘The Fatal Dowry’ * Excellent formatting of the plays * Useful Glossary of Jacobean Language * Massinger’s rare poetry, available in no other collection * Easily locate the poems and scenes you want to read * Features two biographies, including Cruickshank’s seminal study – explore Massinger’s intriguing life * Ordering of texts into chronological order and genres Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse our range of Elizabethan and Jacobean playwrights CONTENTS: The Solo Plays The Maid of Honour (c. 1621) The Duke of Milan (c. 1621) The Unnatural Combat (c. 1621) The Bondman (1623) The Renegado (1624) The Parliament of Love (1624) A New Way to Pay Old Debts (1625) The Roman Actor (1626) The Great Duke of Florence (1627) The Picture (1629) The Emperor of the East (1631) Believe as You List (c. 1631) The City Madam (1632) The Guardian (1633) The Bashful Lover (1636) Collaborations with John Fletcher Sir John van Olden Barnavelt (1619) The Little French Lawyer (c. 1619) A Very Woman (c. 1620) The Custom of the Country (c. 1620) The Double Marriage (c. 1620) The False One (c. 1620) The Prophetess (1622) The Sea Voyage (1622) The Spanish Curate (1622) The Lovers’ Progress; or, The Wandering Lovers (1623) The Elder Brother (c. 1625) Collaborations with John Fletcher and Francis Beaumont Thierry and Theodoret (c. 1607) The Coxcomb (1608) Beggars’ Bush (c. 1612) Love’s Cure (c. 1612) Collaborations with John Fletcher and Nathan Field The Honest Man’s Fortune (1613) The Queen of Corinth (c. 1616) The Knight of Malta (c. 1619) Collaboration with Nathan Field The Fatal Dowry (c. 1619) The Fair Penitent (1632) by Nicholas Rowe Collaboration with John Fletcher, John Ford, and William Rowley/John Webster The Fair Maid of the Inn (1626) Collaboration with John Fletcher, Ben Jonson and George Chapman Rollo Duke of Normandy, or The Bloody Brother (c. 1616) Collaboration with Thomas Dekker The Virgin Martyr (1620) Collaboration with Thomas Middleton and William Rowley The Old Law (c. 1615) The Poetry Miscellaneous Poems The Biographies Life of Massinger (1830) Philip Massinger (1920) by Alfred Hamilton Cruickshank Glossary of Jacobean Language Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting titles or to purchase this eBook as a Parts Edition of individual eBooks

"The Moral Art of Philip Massinger views the successor of Shakespeare and Fletcher in a new sociopolitical position: one of accommodation based on a moderate reformation of the tradition of the old hierarchy of inherited degree, patriarchy, and patronage. In addition, author Ira Clark claims a superior aesthetic position for tragicomedy as a sophisticated, elaborate synthesis of dramatic conventions in complex multiple plots filled with reversals, recognitions, miraculous conversations, and reconciliations after clashes of absolutes. The genre's complex testing of characters, discovery of their failures, and reintegration of them into a reformed society focuses central sociopolitical and moral issues for an allegedly decadent but actually deeply troubled society. Finally, the study takes into its account Massinger's many collaborations with John Fletcher, which are generally ignored. In sum, this work attempts to revise obsolete views of the dominant playwright just before the closing of the theaters and the opening of the English Civil War." ""A Case for Massinger" presents a critical history of why Massinger is unappreciated, traces his life with an eye to his ideal of patronage and his emphasis on gratitude, and outlines the rest of the work. "Models for Massinger the Apprentice" focuses on the techniques of tragicomedy as Massinger learned them from his three masters. The Queen of Corinth, written with Fletcher, serves as an exemplum of what this master collaborator taught him about tragicomedy. The City Madam. which obviously alludes to Volpone, serves as an example of the traditions of the estates morality play, satiric style, and metadrama, which Jonson transmitted to Massinger. The Duke of Milan and The Emperor of the East, with motifs borrowed from Othello, serve as exempla of how Massinger used traditional dramatic allusions to present social issues." ""Massinger's Political Plays in their Time" focuses on the sociopolitical inclinations that Massinger consistently presented through his collaborations and solo plays. Primarily the issues revolved around the relative value of court and country, monarchism and parliamentary balance, hereditary degree and social mobility, and conspicuous consumption and martial maintenance. "Massinger's Tragedies and Satiric Tragicomedies in their Social and Family Settings" focuses on the social, family, and personal preferences that Massinger presented in his work: a concerned patriarchy, a greater voice for women, and the rights of inheritance by younger sons. "Massinger's Tragicomedy" circles around to view all of Massinger's artistic and sociopolitical themes by way of readings of a collaborative tragicomedy and a solo tragicomedy: The Elder Brother (with Fletcher) and The Guardian."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This volume provides a selection of four plays by Philip Massinger who, from 1625 to 1640, replaced John Fletcher as principal dramatist for the King's Men, the chief London theatre company for more than forty years. The selection consists of two of Massinger's finest comedies, A New Way to Pay Old Debts and The City Madam, and his two best known tragedies, The Duke of Milan and The Roman Actor. These plays have interested readers, scholars and critics for hundreds of years, and although the tragedies have seldom been performed since the seventeenth century, the comedies have a long stage tradition. A New Way to Pay Old Debts has been performed more often than any other play by Shakespeare's contemporaries, and together with The City Madam continues to delight modern audiences.