Comparing Middleton's A Chaste Maid in Cheapside and Beaumont's Knight of the Burning Pestle

Upturning Social Tradition in Middleton's A Chaste Maid in Cheapside and Beaumont's Knight of the Burning Pestle

Satirical dramatic works from early seventeenth-century England provide

invaluable information about the society that spawned them through their

comical and critical insights. Recurring themes from these works enhance

one's knowledge of the culture in which they first appeared. The ascension

of the lower and middle classes into social prestige and nobility emerges

among the most prevalent dramatic themes of the time. Capitalizing upon

the subsequent social confusion, seventeenth-century playwrights convey

the uncertainty of whether to follow the dictum of flagging traditions or

to purchase a higher place in society. To understand the nuances of how

social change affected England, one needs only to glance at Thomas

Middleton's A Chaste Maid in Cheapside, which illustrates the struggle of

the English aristocracy to survive as lower-born citizens triumphantly

rise into its ranks. A Chaste Maid in Cheapside's sister drama, Francis

Beaumont's The Knight of the Burning Pestle, also depicts this situation

in England despite its differing plot and structure. Moreover, both plays

feature similar resolutions that subtly contribute to the aura of social

confusion. To emphasize the prevalence of upward mobility, Middleton's A

Chaste Maid in Cheapside and Beaumont's The Knight of the Burning Pestle

feature women who overcome sexually-motivated male suitors by feigning

death, an action that symbolically exemplifies the quavering social

boundaries and the diminishing...

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...h works. One inconspicuous ripple of the numerous

social shock waves appears as women overcome their insolent suitors by

feigning death: a figurative upheaval of orthodox social values. In

addition, the unfulfilled eroticism of the suitors suggests the future

deterioration of their belief that they must marry a woman for propagation

and not for love. After the women escape subjection to this lifestyle by

faking their deaths, the consequences of their resurrection demonstrate

the inconstancy of cultural certainties in their society.

Works Cited

Beaumont, Francis. The Knight of the Burning Pestle. Ed. John Doebler.

Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1967.

Middleton, Thomas. A Chaste Maid in Cheapside. Ed. Alan Brissenden. New

York: WW Norton & Company, Inc., 1997.