''The Three Ladies of London'' is an

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

about

usury Usury () is the practice of making unethical or immoral monetary loans that unfairly enrich the lender. The term may be used in a moral sense—condemning taking advantage of others' misfortunes—or in a legal sense, where an interest rate is ch ...

that was probably first performed in 1581; it was published in a

quarto Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...

edition both in 1584 and 1592. The play is unusual and noteworthy as a

philo-Semitic Philosemitism is a notable interest in, respect for, and appreciation of the Jewish people, their history, and the influence of Judaism, particularly on the part of a non-Jew. In the aftermath of World War II, the phenomenon of philosemitism sa ...

response to the prevailing

anti-Semitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

Elizabethan drama English Renaissance theatre, also known as Renaissance English theatre and Elizabethan theatre, refers to the theatre of England between 1558 and 1642. This is the style of the plays of William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson ...

and the larger contemporaneous English society.

Date, authorship, publication

The play was first published in 1584 by the bookseller Roger Warde of

Holborn Holborn ( or ) is a district in central London, which covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part ( St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. The area has its roots ...

; a second edition appeared in 1592, published by John Danter of Smithfield. The title page of both editions describe the play as "right excellent and famous", "a perfect pattern for all estates to look into, and a work right worthy to be marked." They also assign the play's authorship to "R. W." The consensus of modern scholarly and critical opinion identifies "R. W." as the comic actor and playwright Robert Wilson; strong commonalities among three plays, ''The Three Ladies of London'', its sequel ''The Three Lords and Three Ladies of London'' (printed 1590), and ''The Cobbler's Prophecy'' (printed 1594), indicate that all three dramas were written by the same person. ''Three Ladies'' appears to date from the year 1581; an allusion to the (temporary) restoration of

Peter's pence Peter's Pence (or ''Denarii Sancti Petri'' and "Alms of St Peter") are donations or payments made directly to the Holy See of the Catholic Church. The practice began under the Saxons in England and spread through Europe. Both before and after the ...

by the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

Queen

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

in the winter of 1554–55, as having occurred 26 years earlier, favours that dating. The proclamation controlling

issued on 19 May 1581 would have made the play's subject topical at that time; Queen

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...

's 1571 statute against usury was scheduled to expire in 1581, making the topic a matter of public interest. In his ''Plays Confuted in Five Actions'' (1582),

Stephen Gosson Stephen Gosson (April 1554 – 13 February 1624) was an English satirist. Biography Gosson was baptized at St George's church, Canterbury, on 17 April 1554. He entered Corpus Christi College, Oxford, 1572, and on leaving the university in 1576 h ...

provided a description of the story of ''The Three Ladies of London'' that does not match the extant version of the play – perhaps indicating that Wilson revised the work between its premier and its first publication. The revision might have been provoked by negative reactions to the original – Gosson's, and the play ''London Against the Three Ladies'' (see below).

Form and plot

In its form and structure, ''The Three Ladies of London'' looks back to the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

allegory As a literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a hidden meaning with moral or political significance. Authors have used allegory th ...

and the

morality play The morality play is a genre of medieval and early Tudor drama. The term is used by scholars of literary and dramatic history to refer to a genre of play texts from the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries that feature personified concepts ( ...

, with characters who are

personification Personification occurs when a thing or abstraction is represented as a person, in literature or art, as a type of anthropomorphic metaphor. The type of personification discussed here excludes passing literary effects such as "Shadows hold their b ...

s of abstract qualities rather than distinct individuals. The three ladies of the title are the Ladies Lucre, Love, and Conscience; the story shows Lady Lucre gaining control over Love and Conscience with the help of Dissimulation, Fraud, Simony, and Usury. Their regime of greed and deception penetrates the Baker's house, the Chandler's, Tanner's, and Weaver's houses too. Lady Lucre forces Lady Love into a marriage with Dissimulation; Lady Conscience protests vainly when Usury murders Hospitality ("Farewell, Lady Conscience; you shall have Hospitality in London nor England no more"). When Lady Conscience is reduced to selling brooms to survive, Lucre makes Conscience her keeper of a house of sexual assignation. Diligence, Simplicity, Sincerity, Tom Beggar, Peter Pleaseman the parson, and similar figures populate the play. In the final scene, the upright judge Nicholas Nemo ("Nemo" being

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

for "No one") attempts to restore order to society, through harsh punishments of the three Ladies. The Levantine Jewish moneylender Gerontius is a supporting character; but his portrayal as an honest businessman and a generous, good-natured, moral person is diametrically opposed to the standard image of the grasping and ruthless Jewish usurer. In contrast, it is the Christian Italian merchant Mercadorus, who borrows money from Gerontius but refuses to repay, who is the economic villain. Gerontius is shocked by Mercadorus's assertion that he would convert to

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

to avoid repayment. Curiously, Wilson makes his personified Usury an Englishman of Jewish descent. The play's villains tend to be cosmopolitan foreigners: Dissimulation is a "Mongrel," half Italian and half Dutch, while Fraud is half French and half Scottish; Simony is a Roman. The play is written in a very rough and uneven verse, a jumble of

alexandrine Alexandrine is a name used for several distinct types of verse line with related metrical structures, most of which are ultimately derived from the classical French alexandrine. The line's name derives from its use in the Medieval French '' Rom ...

and

heptameter Heptameter is a type of meter where each line of verse contains seven metrical feet.Harmon, William, and Hugh Holman. ''A Handbook to Literature.'' Eleventh ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson-Prentice Hall, 2009. 264. It was used frequently in Cl ...

fourteener In the mountaineering parlance of the Western United States, a fourteener is a mountain peak with an elevation of at least . The 96 fourteeners in the United States are all west of the Mississippi River. Colorado has the most (53) of any single ...

meter: ::But senior Mercadorus tell me, did ye serve me well or no? ::That having gotten my money would seem the country to forego: ::You know I sent you two thousand ducats for three months' space, ::And ere the time came you got another thousand by flattery and your smooth face. ::So when the time came that I should have received my money, ::You were not to be found but was fled out of the country: ::Surely if we that be Jews should deal so one with another, ::We should not be trusted again of our own brother....

Dramatic context

E. K. Chambers Sir Edmund Kerchever Chambers, (16 March 1866 – 21 January 1954), usually known as E. K. Chambers, was an English literary critic and Shakespearean scholar. His four-volume work on ''The Elizabethan Stage'', published in 1923, remains a s ...

argued that ''The Three Ladies of London'' may have responded to the prior anonymous lost play ''The Jew'' (1579 or earlier), which portrayed the conventional social attitude toward "the bloody minds of usurers." ''Three Ladies'', in its turn, is thought to have prompted a hostile response in another anonymous lost play, ''London Against the Three Ladies'' (c. 1582). These plays may have influenced important later plays on the subject, including

Christopher Marlowe Christopher Marlowe, also known as Kit Marlowe (; baptised 26 February 156430 May 1593), was an English playwright, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe is among the most famous of the Elizabethan playwrights. Based upon the ...

's ''

The Jew of Malta ''The Jew of Malta'' (full title: ''The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Jew of Malta'') is a play by Christopher Marlowe, written in 1589 or 1590. The plot primarily revolves around a Maltese Jewish merchant named Barabas. The original story comb ...

'' and

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

The Merchant of Venice ''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. Although classified as ...

''. Wilson's play itself has been perceived as, if not a source, then an "analogue" of Shakespeare's play.Bullough, Vol. 1, pp. 476–82.

Notes

References

* Bullough, Geoffrey, ed. ''Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare.'' 8 Volumes, New York, Columbia University Press, 1957–75. * Calimani, Dario, "The Three Ladies of London: L'ebreo diverso", in ''Confluenze intertestuali'', Napoli, Liguori, Vol. 113, pp. 15-38. * Chambers, E. K. ''The Elizabethan Stage.'' 4 Volumes, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1923. * Halliday, F. E. ''A Shakspeare Companion 1564–1964.'' Baltimore, Penguin, 1964. * Hirsch, Brett D. "Jewish Questions in Robert Wilson’s The Three Ladies of London." ''Early Theatre'' 19.1 (2016): 37-56
online
* Kermode, Lloyd Edward, ed. ''The Renaissance Usury Plays: The Three Ladies of London, Englishmen for My Money, The Hog Hath Lost His Pearl''. The Revels Plays Companion Library ser. Manchester, MUP. 2009. * Mackenzie, William Roy. ''The English Moralities from the Point of View of Allegory.'' Boston, Ginn and Co., 1914. *Mann, Irene. "A Lost Version of ''The Three Ladies of London''." ''Papers of the Modern Language Association'' Vol. 59 No. 2 (June 1944), pp. 586–9. * Palmer, Daryl W. "Merchants and Miscegenation: ''The Three Ladies of London'', ''The Jew of Malta'', and ''The Merchant of Venice''." In: ''Race, Ethnicity, and Power in the Renaissance''. Edited by Joyce Green MacDonald. Madison, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1997.

External links

E-text of The Three Ladies of London
{{DEFAULTSORT:Three Ladies of London, The English Renaissance plays 1581 plays Women in London