SOURCE: Lund-Baer, Kerstin. “Introduction” and “Summary and Conclusion.” In The Orphan: Tragic Form in Thomas Otway, pp. 3-6; 103-08. Stockholm: Uppsala University, 1980.

[In the following excerpts, Lund-Baer argues that The Orphan cannot be understood without a grounding in contemporary events and social trends and that the play's thematic concerns were creatively constructed to express Otway's views on the moral order.]

“It is not written with much comprehension of thought or elegance of expression.”¹ The quotation is from Lives of The English Poets and the words are those of Samuel Johnson whose verdict on Thomas Otway's tragedy The Orphan (1680) seems to have coloured most critics' views concerning this play. Thus, William Hazlitt admitted that Otway had “susceptibility of feeling and warmth of genius” but “not equal depth of thought or loftiness of imagination.”² Roden Noel has a similar comment on The Orphan. In The Best Plays of the Old Dramatists he says that The Orphan “is not rich in the poetry of repose and contemplation.”³ Otway's biographer, Roswell G. Ham, states mercilessly that “Otway gropes after profundity without achieving it” and he goes on to say: “It is the case of an unphilosophical but imaginative and sensitive poet turning repeatedly to Shakespeare for guidance through the domain of thought.”⁴ Views such as these necessarily lead to the assumption that Otway had composed a tragedy that is hopelessly incoherent, following his emotions rather than any preconceived plan, “indulging his mere sensibility too much yielding to the immediate expression of emotion excited in his own mind,”⁵ as William Hazlitt put it. Very few critics seem more favourably disposed towards Otway's creative powers. Charles Mc. Clumpha, one of Otway's editors, is one of them. The 1909 edition of The English Drama gives his view of The Orphan. Mc. Clumpha thinks that “the use of blank verse and the domestic scenes enacted are indicative of the change which Otway underwent at this period of his life; they indicate strength, fresh and sane views of things.”⁶ Unfortunately, he does not satisfactorily develop his statement.

Aline Mackenzie Taylor, in her incisive analysis of The Orphan with special reference to its stage reputation, likewise draws attention to the major faults critics have been inclined to find in the tragedy.⁷ They focus on confusion of characterization, improbability of plot and in her own terms on “its morbid moral tone.” After her analysis of the play she reaches much the same conclusion as the rest of Otway's critics: “The Orphan is shot through with disharmony.” This, she argues, is mainly because the ideas, which motivate the actions of the characters, seem to clash and fail to convey any point of view from which the play can be judged. She thinks “there is a fundamental dissonance in the central situation” and that “a point of view from which the play can be judged is established neither by Polydore, nor by Castalio, nor by Chamont and Acasto for each represents a mode of thought which though diametrically opposed to those of the others is yet influenced by them.”⁸ This suggests the complexity of The Orphan and also the fact that the whole range of ideas which pervade the play is seemingly out of the author's control.

Although recent research on this subject is scarce there is a noticeable trend towards a recognition of aspects in The Orphan which have been neglected. Above all, there is a focus of interest on the imaginative element in Otway's work and its impact on theme and form. The views of these critics will be considered in this thesis in their proper place and context.

The aim of this study is to sort out the clashing elements in The Orphan in order to reach an understanding from which the motivation of the characters can be judged and from which the significance of the main plot can be realized and the theme of the tragedy made to emerge.

In order to do so it is necessary to consider the play as Otway's audience saw it in the 1680's, full of topical references and implications that had a bearing on it. This will involve among other things a study of the sources of the tragedy. Not only the literary sources will be taken into account but also Otway's own background and social environment. Contemporary conditions, whether political, historical or cultural are equally important in terms of background material. They are of great interest and invaluable for an understanding of the play. The importance of political implications in the play has not been fully recognized.⁹ We can assume, however, that the Restoration audience realized their significance for the play to a far greater extent than has been acknowledged. These implications along with the modes of thought coloured by Otway's own staunch royalism and Christian beliefs should not be overlooked. Political implications are important for the interpretation of Acasto's character, in particular, and, ultimately, through him, for the theme of the tragedy. Furthermore, the character of Acasto has been misinterpreted. It seems that the satirical vein in which his speeches are uttered has eluded his critics. Acasto's speeches focus on states of affairs in the body politic but also on a mode of life which is at variance with his own ideals and code of behaviour. His two sons move in a world where Acasto's principles obviously no longer apply. Their code of behaviour is to be sought in the intellectual climate of the period, in libertine attitudes that provide motives for their behaviour.

Castalio's clandestine marriage has likewise puzzled critics. It has, so far, been looked upon as confusing and badly motivated. No attempt has been made to study the matrimonial laws of the period and relate Castalio's reasons for the secret marriage to physical reality and the laws of actual life. The audience's response to the marriage might thus have been different from that of a modern reader. With some knowledge of legal procedure in those days the secrecy of the marriage does not seem confusing at all but makes perfect sense. Otway's text, with respect to this marriage, has not been sufficiently analysed and taken into account. The obvious love and friendship conflict against which the clandestine marriage is set has likewise been neglected. The Orphan is not only a tragedy of love but one of friendship, as well, an aspect which has not been sufficiently acknowledged.

Furthermore, the theme of the tragedy is reinforced by religious symbolism to which little attention has hitherto been paid. Its impact on the tragedy has not been fully recognized and so-called objectifying symbols have been overlooked. A study of The Orphan which claims special attention, has been carried out by Geoffrey Marshall. It is entitled “The Coherence of The Orphan” (Texas Studies in Literature & Language, 11 (1969-70), 931-43) and is similar to this study in so far that it is an attempt to see a coherent theme in the play. The result reached by Marshall is that the play illustrates a breakdown of communication between the members of the family and that “thematically, The Orphan uses speech with all the implications given it by Locke twenty years later” in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Much as I agree with Marshall that Acasto's ideal of plainspeaking is part of a code of behaviour which is not followed by his sons, I intend to show that it is not lack of words or the inability of the characters to express themselves in speech that is the main problem. Rather it is a distortion of words, the use of evasive language and obvious lies that mar the protagonists' behaviour. On the whole, though, I am pleased to find much in Marshall's study to strengthen my theories as regards the thematic unity of the play.

The function of Chamont and Serina has been disregarded. So far, they have been considered mere stopgaps and of no importance to the plot structure. These characters are not found in Otway's source The History of Brandon but were deliberately added by him. It is therefore presumed that their integration with the main plot is of significance. Their presence and ultimately their functions in the play will be considered.

Aline Mackenzie Taylor claims that it is difficult to see where moral responsibility rests in The Orphan.¹⁰ There is some justification in her statement and the interesting thing is, of course, why this should be so. An explanation might be reached if her statement is seen in relation to the emotional appeal of the tragedy and to characteristics of the Otwavian hero and heroine. This ambiguity of moral responsibility is not an isolated phenomenon in The Orphan but is a feature of Otway's work as a whole. It will become evident that it emerges at an early stage in his work and that Otway's view of tragedy includes sentimental characterization as well as an appeal for pity and empathy with the protagonists.

.....

Apart from Allardyce Nicoll's laudatory estimate of The Orphan, critics, so far, seem unanimous in agreeing with Dr. Johnson's condemnatory statement about it, where he accuses it of confusion of thought and lack of elegance in its expression. This thesis is an attempt to meet this criticism in an effort to bring the seemingly clashing elements in The Orphan together and ultimately to reach a point of view from which the theme and the significance of the plot may be realized.

Deviations from Otway's source, The History of Brandon, have furnished a starting point for further exploration of extraneous influences beyond the source itself. In Otway's reinterpretation the characters express views and ideas that are not found in the source. They are part of a late seventeenth century world-picture, either political, cultural or literary and were thus familiar to Otway's audience.

Furthermore, the function of the additional characters has been considered. It is assumed that they were deliberately included to aid the plot structure. In the case of Chamont and Serina, the investigation has shown how, instead of being mere stopgaps, they provide an interplot contrast which ultimately has a bearing on the moral theme of the tragedy.

So far, among scholars, too little attention has been paid to the political bias of the tragedy. The Prologue hails the Duke of York's return from his Scottish exile connected with the Popish Plot. This was an important contemporary political event. Further investigation of the political situation along with a close study of Otway's text has shown how the author found opportunities for anti-Whig propaganda. As a Tory play, it is above all against faction and meant to reflect on Whig policy which aimed at disrupting the stability of the established government by attempting to exclude the rightful heir from the throne and by questioning the royal prerogative. Court intrigues are alluded to and machinations such as those practised by Buckingham and his party friends become targets of criticism. There are references to Whig activities connected with the Popish plot and the Test Act and their political consequences, among other things the resignation from the admiralty of James, Duke of York.

It is no mere coincidence that political references are interspersed in Acasto's speeches. This character, as demonstrated by a study of Otway's text compared to historical background material, is based on the illustrious Duke of Ormond, himself a victim of Whig policy, above all the machinations of Buckingham. Like the Duke of York and the Duke of Ormond, Acasto is banished from King and Court, though unswervingly loyal to his Sovereign. These implications must not be overlooked since they have a bearing on the interpretation of Acasto's character and ultimately on the moral theme of the play.

Acasto, in Otway's reinterpretation of the sketchy portrait he found in his source, appears as a man who is morally and intellectually virtuous and superior. The moral stamina in Acasto's character is underlined through the implied parallel portrait of Ormond held up to the audience in the 1680's as an example of virtue, loyalty and honour. His principles are in conflict with the code of behaviour that motivates his sons. Acasto's speeches show his contempt for a mode of life that is emerging in society where “fools are all the fashion.”

Polydore and Castalio both move in a world where Acasto's principles no longer apply. Their characters are tested in attitudes to friendship, love and filial duty. Theirs is a relationship marred by dishonesty and envy. Rivalry makes them blind to moral values, such as honesty and mutual trust. In modelling the two brothers on his source, Otway drew heavily on ideas rooted in the cultural climate of the century. Libertine attitudes to love motivate the behaviour of both Polydore and Castalio, the latter a libertine in disguise who shields himself behind the moral conventions of society in order to achieve his end, possession of Monimia. In offering her a clandestine marriage, an arrangement to his own advantage, he defies moral conventions and the laws of society.

The deceitful marriage is set against a love and honour conflict, which shows heroic ideals to be adulterated. Friendship is used as disguise to shield deceit. The reason for Castalio's secret marriage is partly to be sought in this conflict, but also in an attitude towards women which stresses male superiority and the tendency to treat love as an emotion of inferior dignity to friendship. The tragedy deals with the classical notions of friendship but demonstrates rather a false notion of this loyalty. Both friends play false because of a woman and end up victims of each other's treachery.

An investigation of the legal procedure with regard to marriage at that time supports the theory that Castalio deliberately set out to contract a so-called irregular marriage. It was an arrangement to his own advantage only, since with no witnesses to prove the marriage legal, it might easily be annulled at a later stage. Internal evidence drawn from Otway's text seems to corroborate such a theory. In removing the motivation of parental opposition to the marriage which is clearly indicated in the source, Otway turned the clandestine marriage into a forceful symbol of deceit and disloyalty, a device upon which the plot structure is built.

In this, the characters develop true to nature. Fatal flaws in their characters govern their actions. None of the parties involved in the clandestine marriage is without blame and none has proved equal to Acasto's code of behaviour. Not even Monimia, as her separate character study has illustrated, is totally without blame. Too blind in her love for Castalio, she has disregarded her brother's warning and ignored her duty as a daughter in Acasto's house. Like Castalio, she has set aside Acasto's authority as head of the family. Castalio's marriage which is bound to be unhappy, as the subtitle suggests, contrasts with the simple love story of Chamont and Serina. In their case it is a love at first sight, equally romantic, but sanctioned with blessings by the head of the family.

A moral pattern has therefore clearly emerged in the tragedy. The stability of moral order is put to the test in the characters' response to honesty, loyalty, mutual trust, and obedience and these principles provide a coherent pattern within the play.

The strict grouping of characters suggests a didactic purpose. Chamont and Serina both conform to Acasto's principles whereas Monimia and her lovers are in conflict with the code of behaviour and the standards set by Acasto. The first two characters survive the moral chaos in which the other group perishes. Serina and Chamont, along with Acasto, provide the norm of conduct from which the protagonists deviate into moral chaos.

The events of the main plot illustrate the result of a failure to recognize loyalty, honesty and obedience towards the head of the family as the norm upon which the stability of a family should rest; also that mutual trust is vital to the maintenance of a harmonious existence. Moral order rests on such principles. If these are not maintained, the result, as Otway's tragedy illustrates, is merely gradual dissolution and ultimate chaos. The Tory bias of the play, the implication that loyalty and obedience are the Sovereign's due and the tendency to condemn factious activities function as a sort of external framework within which the family tragedy takes place. Moral order is merely an illusion if disruptive forces within a commonwealth or its microcosm, the family, work against its stability. This theme is reinforced by the parallel functions served by Chamont and Serina. Their love story offers a contrast to the main events and through them regeneration is made possible, something which is underlined by the fact that Castalio bequeaths his birth-right to Chamont. Acasto is thus left with an heir and a son whose spiritual kinship with him has been recognized and demonstrated. Together with Serina he is left to mitigate Acasto's grief. Through the deaths of the protagonists order is re-established in Acasto's house and chaos no longer prevails.

The exact ordering of events is underlined by the use of religious symbolism. It reinforces the theme of disobedience with the wider connotation of dishonesty and disloyalty, the abstract idea of which pervades the play. The events in the tragedy take place in the postlapsarian world of good and evil. It is a fallen world characterized by lust and corruption. The story of Adam and Eve runs parallel to the events and indicates how Otway's tragic vision springs from his realization of man's duality which is implicit in the idea of the Fall. Otway's tragedy, however, includes the motif of redemption which operates through Monimia. She is instrumental in bringing about Polydore's acceptance of his guilt and ultimately the reconciliation of the brothers. Polydore's suicide is necessitated by a religious need for atonement and exoneration of his sin. The ordering of events as they take place in the postlapsarian world is further underlined by Otway's reference to the Apocalypse. The colours of the Apocalyptic horses serve as instruments for a power which destroys anything done against its will. There have been purposeful signals which the protagonists have left unheeded and therefore the action proceeds to its fatal outcome. These omens serve as objectifying symbols which join thought and action. They make the protagonists seem caught in a trap from which there is no escape. Self-destructive flaws in their characters have plunged them into ruin. Otway's tragic vision with its roots in the notion of man's duality seems to be in total agreement with the Aristotelian concept of tragedy: the spectacle of a man not outstandingly good or just, whose misfortune is brought upon him, not by depravity or vice but “by some error and frailty.”

Otway's characteristic hero has traits which are alien to the greatness commonly associated with the tragic hero. Exaggerated humanity and overwhelming sentiment make him pitiable and pathetic rather than truly tragic. A strong focusing of attention on sentimental characterization, empathy with the characters' situation, in particular their suffering, emphasizes the emotional appeal of the tragedy. The emotions rather than the fable serve as moral agents. The language, although expressive of character and situation, is nevertheless inimical to the effect of catharsis. Where restraint and brevity of expression would have heightened the tragic effect, a prolonged exploitation of sentiment destroys the stern rectifying effect of fear and horror. The feeling of exaggerated pity, which the tragedy evokes, makes it difficult to see where moral responsibility rests in The Orphan. This view of tragedy with its emphasis on sentimental characterization and on the emotional appeal of the tragedy emerges early in Otway's work. It is not an isolated phenomenon in The Orphan. Interest in Racine might have strengthened Otway's leaning towards the pathetic tragedy. In Don Carlos (1676) he refers to Racine's preface to Bérénice and proudly applies Racine's words to his own tragedy Alcibiades (1675), of which he boasts that it never failed to draw tears from the eyes of the spectators. Certain traits of Racinian drama, in particular the magnanimity attached to Racine's protagonists, may be seen in Otway's Don Carlos and in Titus and Berenice (1677), his adaptation of the French Bérénice. To some extent this applies to The Orphan as well. In Monimia's character there is a nobility of mind that recalls a Racinian heroine. Apart from her unselfish treatment of Castalio, which calls for admiration, it is, however, difficult to trace any further similarities. Rather, Monimia's character has affinities with Shakespearian heroines, such as Desdemona and Ophelia, with Evadne in Fletcher's The Maid's Tragedy and with Semandra in Lee's Mithridates (1678). Lee's heroine undoubtedly provided Otway with a model on which he could base his heroine. Semandra is portrayed with the same tenderness and with the same appeal for empathy with her situation as is Monimia. Lee's tragedy, conceived in the spirit of Shakespeare and Fletcher, no doubt, caught Otway's interest. There is Lee's Ziphares who is similar to Castalio and there are likewise scenes in Mithridates that remind one of The Orphan. The year preceding The Orphan—perhaps taking the hint from Lee—Otway turned to Shakespeare whom he styles significantly the “Lord of Hearts.” The line is found in the prologue to The History and Fall of Caius Marius (1679), the plot of which is partly based on Romeo and Juliet. A catastrophic dénouement, contrary to the contemporary bent for poetic justice, and a tendency towards emotionalism were traits that indicated that Otway's next tragedy would develop along similar lines. The same actress, Mrs. Barry, who acted the part of Lavinia in Caius Marius, acts the part of Monimia.

The focus on domestic situations in The Orphan, the repudiation of libertine attitudes and the use of loyalty as a test to single out the virtuous from the less virtuous characters are also characteristics of Otway's Alcibiades, which is very similar to Dryden's Aureng-Zebe (1676). More important than the theme, however, is the sentimental characterization and the emphasis on pathos and tears, noticeable tendencies in Dryden's later tragedies too. The function of tragedy to arouse emotion, notably the emotion of pity is emphasized. Empathy with the unhappy protagonist arrived at through an interaction between audience and play also become part of Dryden's view of tragedy. These views concerning the function of tragedy are undoubtedly directly influenced by Otway, whose concept of tragedy was of decisive importance to the development of the sentimental style that characterizes late seventeenth century tragedy.

The Orphan should be understood as a tragedy concerned with moral order, the abstract but clear-cut idea which pervades the play. The events of the tragedy illustrate the breakdown of human relationships as a result of deceit and disloyalty. The tragedy illustrates how moral order cannot be maintained if and when disruptive forces work against its stability. This idea is extended beyond the microcosm of Acasto's family when it is reinforced by religious symbolism which is concerned with Man's Fall. In the political implications condemning factious activities against monarchy and the stability of the commonwealth, it extends to bear on the macrocosm, the body politic. The Orphan is certainly a tragedy written with comprehension of thought expressed if not with elegance at least with sentiment and pathos.

Notes

1. Samuel Johnson, “Life of Otway,” in Lives of the English Poets, ed. G. B. Hill, I (Oxford, 1905), p. 245.

2. See “Lectures on the Dramatic Literature of the Age of Elizabeth” in The Collected Works, ed. A. R. Waller and Arnold Glover, V (London, 1903), p. 355.

3. Thomas Otway, ed. Roden Noel (Mermaid Series, 1888), xxxiv.

4. Roswell G. Ham, Otway and Lee: Biography from a Baroque Age (New Haven, 1931), pp. 142-143.

5. William Hazlitt, “Lectures” in Collected Works (London, 1903), p. 355.

6. Quoted from Life in The English Drama, ed. Charles Mc. Clumpha (London, 1909).

7. Aline Mackenzie Taylor, Next to Shakespeare: Otway's “Venice Preserv'd” and “The Orphan” and their History on the London Stage (Durham, N. C., 1950), p. 36. See also the Introduction to The Orphan, ed. Aline Mackenzie Taylor in Regents Restoration Drama Series (London, 1977), pp. xvii, xviii-xix for critics' views on the play either raising objections against the probability of the plot or finding faults with the motivation of the characters.

8. Next to Shakespeare, p. 36. See also the Introduction to The Orphan, p. xx.

9. It is surprising that the Introduction to The English Drama, ed. Belles-Lettres Series, III (London, 1909) should mention “the absence in the former (The Orphan) of political and semi-political material and underlying symbolical reference to circumstances relating to life at Court and problems of the Day,” pp. xxxi-xxxii.

10. Next to Shakespeare, p. 11.