Throughout the centuries, the Middle Temple attracted the attention of many writers who exploited its multiple spots as starting points for their plots. Among them stands out the Caroline playwright Richard Brome, who used the location as a setting for two of his works, The Demoiselle (1638) and A Mad Couple Well Matched (1639).The article purposes to discuss the different functions of the location in the two plays and investigate the different ‘faces’ of the law at that time. In these plays he develops the much-discussed issue of justice in the place where laws should be applied, the Temple Walks of the Middle Temple, one of the Inns of Court, thus revealing the many contradictions of the contemporary legal system in an ironic and subversive way. The location provides both the plays with a background rich in resonances and social and political implications, and contribute to emphasize the strong presence of the law in London life and its ineffectiveness at the same time. If in The Demoiselle, the setting of the Temple Walks is used as a vehicle to discuss the issue of justice and reflect on the political situation, in A Mad Couple Well Matched, in which the protagonist lives in the notorious Ram Alley, it represents the lack of any kind of law in the moral, sexual or legal field. The Temple Walks stand out as the place of justice, a no man’s land for illicit dealings, a space where honesty and dishonesty coexist, where to assert one’s rights and to avoid discharging one’s duties. This contradiction clearly emerges in these two plays, in which Brome stages both the search for justice and its absence.
Richard Brome and the Middle Temple : the triumph of justice? / C. Paravano. - In: GRAAT. - ISSN 1954-3220. - 14:(2013 Jun 14), pp. 55-78.
Richard Brome and the Middle Temple : the triumph of justice?
C. Paravano
2013
Abstract
Throughout the centuries, the Middle Temple attracted the attention of many writers who exploited its multiple spots as starting points for their plots. Among them stands out the Caroline playwright Richard Brome, who used the location as a setting for two of his works, The Demoiselle (1638) and A Mad Couple Well Matched (1639).The article purposes to discuss the different functions of the location in the two plays and investigate the different ‘faces’ of the law at that time. In these plays he develops the much-discussed issue of justice in the place where laws should be applied, the Temple Walks of the Middle Temple, one of the Inns of Court, thus revealing the many contradictions of the contemporary legal system in an ironic and subversive way. The location provides both the plays with a background rich in resonances and social and political implications, and contribute to emphasize the strong presence of the law in London life and its ineffectiveness at the same time. If in The Demoiselle, the setting of the Temple Walks is used as a vehicle to discuss the issue of justice and reflect on the political situation, in A Mad Couple Well Matched, in which the protagonist lives in the notorious Ram Alley, it represents the lack of any kind of law in the moral, sexual or legal field. The Temple Walks stand out as the place of justice, a no man’s land for illicit dealings, a space where honesty and dishonesty coexist, where to assert one’s rights and to avoid discharging one’s duties. This contradiction clearly emerges in these two plays, in which Brome stages both the search for justice and its absence.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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