The Old Wives’ Tale (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: George Peele
- First Published: 1595
- Type of Work: Play
- Type of Plot: Comedy
- Time of Work: Indeterminate
- Setting: England
- Genres: Drama, Comedy, Folklore, Fairy tale
- Subjects: Husbands, Wives, Magic or magicians, Love or romance, Ghosts or apparitions, England or English people, Sisters, Knights or knighthood
- Locales: England
Characters Discussed
Clunch, a smith who is generous, kind, and simple. He finds three pages lost in a wood and takes them to his hut.
Madge, Clunch’s hospitable wife. Sleeping accommodations being limited, she entertains two of the boys with a fantastic story that becomes the main play.
Antic,
Frolic, and
Fantastic, the lost pages.
Sacrapant (SAK-ruh-pant), a wicked magician, probably borrowed from Orlando furioso, foreshadowing John Milton’s Comus. Although young in appearance, when he is dead he becomes old and withered.
...[The entire page is 613 words long]
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