Philaster (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Francis Beaumont, John Fletcher
- First Published: 1620
- Type of Work: Play
- Type of Plot: Tragicomedy
- Time of Work: The romantic past
- Setting: Sicily
- Genres: Drama, Comedy, Tragedy, Tragicomedy
- Subjects: Love or romance, Europe or Europeans, Mistaken or secret identity, Kings, queens, or royalty, Italy or Italians, Princes or princesses, Throne restoration, Braggarts
- Locales: Sicily, Italy
Characters Discussed
Philaster (fi-LAS-tur), the rightful heir to the Sicilian kingdom. Although he is popular with the people who should be his subjects and with several of his noblemen, he lacks the strength of character to attempt to regain his throne. His melancholy, poetic personality is that of a weaker Hamlet; he calls himself “a thing born without passion, a faint shadow that every drunken cloud sails over and makes nothing.” He is a typical romantic hero in his longing for refuge in a pastoral world and in his distraught reaction to Arethusa when he thinks she has...
[The entire page is 959 words long]
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