''The Woman in the Moon'' 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 ...
era stage play, a comedy written by
John Lyly. Its unique status in that playwright's dramatic canon – it is the only play Lyly wrote in
blank verse rather than
prose
Prose is a form of written or spoken language that follows the natural flow of speech, uses a language's ordinary grammatical structures, or follows the conventions of formal academic writing. It differs from most traditional poetry, where the f ...
— has presented scholars and critics with a range of questions and problems.
Publication and Performance
''The Woman in the Moon'' was entered into the
Stationers' Register
The Stationers' Register was a record book maintained by the Stationers' Company of London. The company is a trade guild given a royal charter in 1557 to regulate the various professions associated with the publishing industry, including print ...
on 22 September 1595, and was first published in
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 ...
in 1597 by the bookseller William Jones. The title page of the quarto states that the play was presented before
Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
El ...
, though no specific performance is mentioned.
Although most of Lyly's plays were acted by the children's company Paul's Boys, the
playing company that acted this particular work is a mystery. However, ''The Woman in the Moon'' is thought to have been first produced between 1590 and 1595, most likely in 1593.
The play's Prologue maintains that the work "is but a poet's dream, / The first he had in
Phoebus' holy bower, / But not the last...." Nineteenth-century critics took this statement at face value, and considered ''The Woman in the Moon'' the first of Lyly's plays, written sometime in the early 1580s. As such, it would have been an important early development in English dramatic blank verse. Later critics, however, disputed this conclusion, arguing that the Prologue may only mean that this was Lyly's first play in verse, and that in style "The blank verse is that of the nineties, rather than the early eighties." The modern critical consensus tends to favour the view that ''The Woman in the Moon,'' far from being Lyly's first play, was likely his last, written in the 1590–95 period.
Character List
In Order of Appearance:
* Nature
:* Concord – Nature's Maiden
:* Discord – Nature's Maiden
* Pandora
* Stesias – shepherd
* Iphicles – shepherd
* Learchus – shepherd
* Melos – shepherd
* Saturn
* Mars
* Jupiter
* Sol
* Venus
* Mercury
* Luna
* Gunophilus – Pandora's servant
* Ganymede – Jupiter's attendant
* Juno – Jupiter's wife
* Joculus – son of Venus
* Cupid – son of Venus
Synopsis
The play is set in the world of
Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...
, at the time of the very beginning of the human race, when the first woman was not yet created. A personified goddess of Nature, accompanied by
Concord
Concord may refer to:
Meaning "agreement"
* Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony)
* Harmony, in music
* Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...
and
Discord ("For Nature works her will from contraries"), descends to a pastoral Earth inhabited by four shepherds. At their petition, Nature breathes life into a clothed statue of the first woman. Concord seals her soul to her body with an embrace, and the new woman is given the best gifts of the seven planets of traditional
astronomy
Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...
and
astrology
Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of Celestial o ...
. She is named
Pandora
In Greek mythology, Pandora (Greek: , derived from , ''pān'', i.e. "all" and , ''dōron'', i.e. "gift", thus "the all-endowed", "all-gifted" or "all-giving") was the first human woman created by Hephaestus on the instructions of Zeus. As Hes ...
.
The seven planets, however, are unhappy that Pandora has been given their best qualities, and decide to spite Nature with a malevolent demonstration of their power.
Saturn
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...
, the eldest, goes first: seating himself on a throne, he afflicts Pandora with his characteristic
melancholy. The shepherds meet Pandora when she is suffering this baleful influence; when one tries to kiss her hand, she hits him across the lips. She treats the rest as badly, then runs away. Saturn leaves his throne at the end of the first act, pleased with the mess that he has made.
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but ...
assumes the throne at the start of Act II. He inspires Pandora with ambition, vanity, and superciliousness – so much so that she obtains his sceptre and tosses it to
Juno
Juno commonly refers to:
*Juno (mythology), the Roman goddess of marriage and queen of the gods
*Juno (film), ''Juno'' (film), 2007
Juno may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters
*Juno, in the film ''Jenny, Juno''
*Ju ...
when the queen of the gods comes in search of her husband (he hides himself in a cloud). Pandora inflicts her pride upon the hapless shepherds: she orders them to behead a wild boar, promising her glove to the man who brings the trophy to her.
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...
takes over from Jupiter, turning Pandora into a "vixen martialist." The shepherds fight over the dead boar and the right to Pandora's glove – but she grabs a spear and bests them all.
Sol
Sol or SOL may refer to:
Astronomy
* The Sun
Currency
* SOL Project, a currency project in France
* French sol, or sou
* Argentine sol
* Bolivian sol, the currency of Bolivia from 1827 to 1864
* Peruvian sol, introduced in 1991
* Peruvian sol ( ...
, the Sun, takes over at the start of Act III; for a change, his influence is largely beneficial. Pandora becomes "gentle and kind," and chooses Stesias, one of the shepherds, as her husband. But then comes
Venus's turn: Joculus inspires dancing,
Cupid
In classical mythology, Cupid (Latin Cupīdō , meaning "passionate desire") is the god of desire, lust, erotic love, attraction and affection. He is often portrayed as the son of the love goddess Venus (mythology), Venus and the god of war Mar ...
shoots his arrows, and romantic disruptions follow.
Mercury
Mercury commonly refers to:
* Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun
* Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg
* Mercury (mythology), a Roman god
Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to:
Companies
* Merc ...
succeeds Venus in Act IV; he makes Pandora "false and full of sleights, / Thievish and lying, subtle, eloquent...." By Act V, under the influence of
Luna, Pandora simply runs mad. Stesias is fed up by now, and the other shepherds want nothing to do with Pandora, even when the seven planetary deities have restored her sanity. With no place for her on Earth, the planets vie for the distinction of taking Pandora up to their individual spheres; Pandora chooses Luna, since they are both inherently changeable.
At the end of the play, Nature chooses to punish Stesias, Pandora's husband, because he is so easily swayed by the opinions of others. He is condemned to "be...her slave, and follow her in the moon." His punishment is to always follow Pandora, but never to act on his anger towards her or inflict pain upon her.
Interpretations
Most critics have judged the play as "a satire on women," an expression of traditional
male chauvinism
Chauvinism is the unreasonable belief in the superiority or dominance of one's own group or people, who are seen as strong and virtuous, while others are considered weak, unworthy, or inferior. It can be described as a form of extreme patriotism ...
and
sexism
Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primari ...
— though dissent from this view can also be found in the critical literature. Lyly's use of astrology has been seen in the context of the craze for
horoscope
A horoscope (or other commonly used names for the horoscope in English include natal chart, astrological chart, astro-chart, celestial map, sky-map, star-chart, cosmogram, vitasphere, radical chart, radix, chart wheel or simply chart) is an ast ...
-casting that typified the Elizabethan era.
Other Performances
The play was performed by Bryn Mawr College in 1928. Future actress
Katharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn (May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003) was an American actress in film, stage, and television. Her career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned over 60 years. She was known for her headstrong independence, spirited perso ...
, who was studying at the university at the time, played the role of Pandora.
A production of this play was put on by the Edward's Boys company in March of 2018.
[Beforeshakespeare. “The Woman in the Moon: In Conversation with Edward's Boys.” Before Shakespeare, 20 Mar. 2018, https://beforeshakespeare.com/2018/03/13/the-woman-in-the-moon-in-conversation-with-edwards-boys/.]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woman in the Moon, The
English Renaissance plays
1590s plays