The Dutch Courtesan - (Arden Early Modern Drama) by John Marston (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The Dutch Courtesan is a riotous tragicomedy that explores the delights and perils afforded by Jacobean London. While Freevill, an educated young Englishman and the play's nominal hero, frolics in the city's streets, taverns and brothels, Franceschina, his cast-off mistress and the Dutch courtesan of the play's title, laments his betrayal and plots revenge. Juxtaposing Franceschina's vulnerable financial position against the unappealing marital prospects available to gentry women, the play undermines the language of romance, revealing it to be rooted in the commerce and commodification. Marston's commentary on financial insecurity and the hypocritical repudiation of foreignness makes The Dutch Courtesan truly a document for our time.

Review Quotes

Attentive to the literary influences behind Marston's play ... Particularly illuminating is Britland's attention to Marston's borrowings from Montaigne.
Times Literary Supplement

The play is well-chosen for the present moment, with its struggling immigrants, social predation, and vibrant street scenes, and Britland does an excellent job of clarifying the puns and jabs often lost on student readers, much of them in polyglot argot.
Studies in English Literature 1500-1900

This is by far the best edition of the play on the market, superbly treated by Karen Britland.
Professor Alison Shell, University College London, UK

About the Author

Karen Britland is Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.