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Middle-Class Heroism and the Cardinal Virtue Fortitude in Thomas Dekker's Honest Whore Plays

Middle-Class Heroism and the Cardinal Virtue Fortitude in Thomas Dekker's Honest Whore Plays Critics of Thomas Dekker's The Honest Whore, Parts I and II, have either generally not recognized or have undervalued the role played by the merchant Candido, who is subjected to repeated tests of his saint-like patience. For example, Gerald Bentley and Fred Millet find the sub-plot to be irrelevant farce.} Hazelton Spencer, however, calls Candido's patience" "a comic parallel to the fortitude of Bellafront"2 and Normand Berlin argues that the sub-plot "cannot be dismissed merely as a piece of merriment. Candido is, essentially, a Dekker hero.,,3 Michael Manheim agrees that "Candido is Bellafront's counterpart.,,4 Larry Champion has demonstrated how, in Part II, the Candido plot offers important comic parallels to the serious main plot and how it provides the audience with a "comic perspective" and a "position of knowledgeable security . . . which provides the emotional assurance of comedy.,,5 Champion also states that Candido "survives the role of comic butt to emerge as a kind of middle class hero who delivers an encomium on the virtues of patience at the end of the play.,,6 I would argue, too, that Candido's patience is no simple, one-dimensional comic humor to be viewed as folly. In fact, Candido's patience is http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Explorations in Renaissance Culture Brill

Middle-Class Heroism and the Cardinal Virtue Fortitude in Thomas Dekker's Honest Whore Plays

Muir, Norman R.
Explorations in Renaissance Culture , Volume 15 (1): 83 – Dec 2, 1989
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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© Copyright 1989 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0098-2474
eISSN
2352-6963
DOI
10.1163/23526963-90000111
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Critics of Thomas Dekker's The Honest Whore, Parts I and II, have either generally not recognized or have undervalued the role played by the merchant Candido, who is subjected to repeated tests of his saint-like patience. For example, Gerald Bentley and Fred Millet find the sub-plot to be irrelevant farce.} Hazelton Spencer, however, calls Candido's patience" "a comic parallel to the fortitude of Bellafront"2 and Normand Berlin argues that the sub-plot "cannot be dismissed merely as a piece of merriment. Candido is, essentially, a Dekker hero.,,3 Michael Manheim agrees that "Candido is Bellafront's counterpart.,,4 Larry Champion has demonstrated how, in Part II, the Candido plot offers important comic parallels to the serious main plot and how it provides the audience with a "comic perspective" and a "position of knowledgeable security . . . which provides the emotional assurance of comedy.,,5 Champion also states that Candido "survives the role of comic butt to emerge as a kind of middle class hero who delivers an encomium on the virtues of patience at the end of the play.,,6 I would argue, too, that Candido's patience is no simple, one-dimensional comic humor to be viewed as folly. In fact, Candido's patience is

Journal

Explorations in Renaissance Culture – Brill

Published: Dec 2, 1989

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