- Baptized:
- Oct. 7, 1576, Oxfordshire, Eng.
- Died:
- June 25, 1634, London
- Movement / Style:
- Jacobean age
John Marston
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Who was John Marston?
John Marston (1576–1634) was an English dramatist and satirist during the Shakespearean era. His notable work, The Malcontent (1604), critiques the immoralities of a licentious court.
Marston's career began with erotic poems like The Metamorphosis of Pigmalions Image (1598) and the satirical verses of The Scourge of Villanie (1598). Transitioning to theater in 1599, he wrote Histrio-mastix, which sparked a feud with Ben Jonson, part of the "war of the theaters".
Marston wrote Antonio and Mellida (1600) and Antonio’s Revenge (1601) for the Children of Paul’s. Later, he penned The Dutch Courtezan and The Malcontent for the Children of the Queen’s Revels. In 1605, he collaborated with Jonson and George Chapman on Eastward Ho, leading to imprisonment for its satire. After another imprisonment, Marston entered the Church of England in 1609.
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When and where did John Marston live?
John Marston was born in Oxfordshire, England, and baptized on October 7, 1576. He resided at the Middle Temple in London from 1595. Marston began his literary career in 1598 with The Metamorphosis of Pigmalions Image and Certaine Satyres. In 1599, he started writing for the theatre, producing Histrio-mastix.
Marston wrote Antonio and Mellida (1600), its sequel, Antonio’s Revenge (1601), and What You Will (1601) for the Children of Paul’s theatre company. He wrote his remaining plays for the boy company at the Blackfriars Theatre from 1604. After another imprisonment in 1608, Marston entered the Church of England, took orders in 1609, and accepted an ecclesiastical post in Christchurch, Hampshire, in 1616. He died in London on June 25, 1634.
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What types of plays did John Marston write?
John Marston was an English dramatist and satirist who wrote plays for children's companies during the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. Marston's works include:
- Histrio-mastix (1610)
- Antonio and Mellida (1600)
- Antonio’s Revenge (1601)
- What You Will (1601)
- The Dutch Courtezan (1603–04)
- The Malcontent (1604)
- Eastward Ho (1605, in collaboration with Ben Jonson and George Chapman)
- The Insatiate Countesse (unfinished)
Marston's plays often adopt a sharp satirical tone, and his comic plays frequently border on tragedy.
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What are some famous works written by John Marston?
John Marston (1576–1634) was an English dramatist and satirist during the Shakespearean era. Some of his famous works include:
- The Malcontent (1604), in which he criticizes the injustices of a lecherous court.
- Histrio-mastix (1610), a play that satirized Ben Jonson. This play triggered a literary feud between them, part of the "war of the theatres."
- Antonio and Mellida (1600) and Antonio’s Revenge (1601), savage melodramas of political power struggles with elements of parody and fantasy.
- The Dutch Courtezan (1603–04), a clever comedy exploring libertinism.
- Eastward Ho (1605), a comedy written in collaboration with Jonson and George Chapman.
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How did John Marston's style differ from other playwrights of his time?
John Marston, a vigorous satirist of the Shakespearean era, stood out for his sharp satirical tone that often bordered on tragedy. His play The Malcontent (1604) is known for its wild language and exploration of sexual and political disgust, setting him apart from other playwrights.
Marston mocked all values with a bitter and universal skepticism. Unlike some contemporaries who celebrated the commercial metropolis, Marston, along with Ben Jonson and George Chapman, used their plays to highlight the self-seeking avarice symptomatic of societal sicknesses. His unique approach involved cutting the audience adrift from reason through a dizzying interplay of parody and seriousness.
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How did John Marston's work influence English drama or other writers?
John Marston, a satirist of the Shakespearean era, is best known for The Malcontent (1604), in which he critiques the corruption of a lascivious court. His sharp satirical tone often blurred the line between comedy and tragedy, influencing Jacobean drama.
Marston's influence is evident in the works of playwrights who succeeded Shakespeare, whose plays focused on wealth and power. His play The Dutch Courtesan (1605) explores libertinism, while The Malcontent (1604) employs wild language and explores sexual and political disgust. Marston's skepticism mocked all values, setting him apart from his contemporaries.
Marston was involved in the war of the theatres, a conflict with Ben Jonson and Thomas Dekker, which influenced the nature of English drama.
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John Marston (baptized Oct. 7, 1576, Oxfordshire, Eng.—died June 25, 1634, London) was an English dramatist, one of the most vigorous satirists of the Shakespearean era, whose best known work is The Malcontent (1604), in which he rails at the iniquities of a lascivious court. He wrote it, as well as other major works, for a variety of children’s companies, organized groups of boy actors popular during Elizabethan and Jacobean times.
Marston was educated at the University of Oxford and resided from 1595 at the Middle Temple, London. He began his literary career in 1598 with The Metamorphosis of Pigmalions Image and Certaine Satyres, an erotic poem in the newly fashionable Ovidian style. In the same year, the rough-hewn, obscure verses of The Scourge of Villanie, in which Marston referred to himself as a “barking satirist,” were widely acclaimed.
In 1599 Marston began writing for the theatre, producing Histrio-mastix (published in 1610), probably for performance at the Middle Temple. In his character Chrisoganus, a “Master Pedant” and “translating scholler,” the audience was able to recognize the learned Ben Jonson. A brief, bitter literary feud developed between Marston and Jonson—part of “the war of the theatres.” In Poetaster (produced 1601) Jonson depicted Marston as Crispinus, a character with red hair and small legs who was given a pill that forced him to disgorge a pretentious vocabulary.
For the Children of Paul’s, a theatre company, Marston wrote Antonio and Mellida (1600); its sequel, Antonio’s Revenge (1601); and What You Will (1601). The most memorable is Antonio’s Revenge, a savage melodrama of a political power struggle with elements of parody and fantasy.
In 1604 Marston transferred his allegiance to the boy company at the Blackfriars Theatre (i.e., the Children of the Queen’s Revels, later Children of the Blackfriars), for which he wrote his remaining plays. The Dutch Courtezan (produced 1603–04) as well as The Malcontent earned him his place as a dramatist. The former, with its coarse, farcical counterplot, was considered one of the cleverest comedies of its time. Although Marston used all the apparatus of contemporary revenge tragedy in The Malcontent, the wronged hero does not kill any of his tormentors and regains power by sophisticated Machiavellian stratagems.
In 1605 Marston collaborated with Jonson and with George Chapman on Eastward Ho, a comedy of the contrasts within the life of the city. But the play’s satiric references to opportunistic Scottish countrymen of the newly crowned James I gave offense, and all three authors were imprisoned.
After another imprisonment in 1608, presumably once again for libel, Marston left unfinished The Insatiate Countesse, his most erotic play, and entered the Church of England. He took orders in 1609, married the daughter of James I’s chaplain, and in 1616 accepted an ecclesiastical post in Christchurch, Hampshire. In 1633 he apparently insisted upon the removal of his name from the collected edition of six of his plays, The Workes of John Marston, which was reissued anonymously the same year as Tragedies and Comedies.
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