A Satire of the Three Estates
Satire of the Three Estates, A (Ane Satyre of the Thrie Estaits) Author: Sir David Lindsay (or Lyndsay)
First Performance: 1540, Linlithgow
Published: 1602
Genre: Morality play in 2 parts; verse in Scots dialect
Setting: Scotland, 16th c.
Cast: 27m, 9f
A learned doctor Diligence delivers a sermon on Christian doctrine. The main character then appears King Humanity (
rex humanitas), who is at first led astray by Sensuality and the Vices. He even consigns Charity and Verity to the stocks. The Poor Man, emerging from the audience, establishes an alliance with John the Commonweal to demand reform, and Diligence reappears to announce that the King will seek to improve his realm. In the second part the three Estates are summoned: Spirituality (the Church), Temporality (the aristocracy), and Burgesses...
[The entire page is 313 words long]
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