Old Fortunatus (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Thomas Dekker
- First Published: 1600
- Type of Work: Play
- Type of Plot: Allegory
- Time of Work: Tenth century
- Setting: Cyprus, Babylon, and England
- Genres: Drama, Comedy, Folklore
- Subjects: Parents and children, Sin or Original sin, England or English people, Fathers, Good and evil, Greed, Gods or goddesses, Middle East, Tenth century
- Locales: England, Cyprus, Babylon, ancient
Characters Discussed
Fortunatus (fohr-tew-NAH- tuhs), a shabby, miserable man who becomes for a time Fortune’s darling. He acquires from her a magic purse that is never empty when he wishes to draw out money, and he steals for himself a wishing hat owned by the Soldan of Babylon, whose greed for the purse makes him careless. Fortunatus lives to regret his choice of wealth rather than wisdom and pleads that his sons may have the better choice. He dies, leaving the magic objects and much advice—largely disregarded—to his sons.
Andelocia (an-deh-LOH-chee- ah),...
[The entire page is 612 words long]
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