The Maid's Tragedy
Maid's Tragedy, The,a tragedy by Beaumont and Fletcher , written ?1610 – 11 , published 1619 , generally considered one of their best works.
Amintor , a gentleman of Rhodes, breaks his engagement to Aspatia at the king's request and in her stead marries Evadne , sister to his friend Melantius . On their wedding night, in a powerful confrontation, Evadne reveals that she is the king's mistress and refuses to sleep with him. Amintor initially agrees to conceal the position and present a mock marriage to the world; but later he reveals the truth to Melantius, who passionately reproaches the by now penitent Evadne, and persuades her to murder the king. Meanwhile the desolate Aspatia laments her loss in some of the finest verse in the play (ii. ii); her lines ‘And the trees about me, | Let them be dry and leafless; let the rocks | Groan with continual surges; and behind me | Make all a desolation. Look, look,...
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