''Bellamira: or, The Mistress'' is a comedy by Sir

Charles Sedley Sir Charles Sedley, 5th Baronet (March 1639 – 20 August 1701), was an English noble, dramatist and politician. He was principally remembered for his wit and profligacy.. Life He was the son of Sir John Sedley, 2nd Baronet, of Aylesford in K ...

, published in 1687, partly modelled on

Terence Publius Terentius Afer (; – ), better known in English as Terence (), was a Roman African playwright during the Roman Republic. His comedies were performed for the first time around 166–160 BC. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator, brought ...

's ''

Eunuchus ''Eunuchus'' (''The Eunuch'') is a comedy written by the 2nd century BC Roman playwright Terence featuring a complex plot of rape and reconciliation. It was Terence's most successful play during his lifetime. Suetonius notes how the play was stage ...

''.

Stage history and reception

Ascertaining the exact number of performances of ''Bellamira'' presents some problems. It is a fact that ''Bellamira'' was performed by the

United Company The United Company was a London theatre company formed in 1682 with the merger of the King's Company and the Duke's Company. Both the Duke's and King's Companies suffered poor attendance during the turmoil of the Popish Plot period, 1678&ndas ...

in the

Drury Lane Theatre The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) and backs onto Drur ...

on 12 May 1687. ''Bellamira'' may also have been performed in the

Dorset Garden Theatre The Dorset Garden Theatre in London, built in 1671, was in its early years also known as the Duke of York's Theatre, or the Duke's Theatre. In 1685, King Charles II died and his brother, the Duke of York, was crowned as James II. When the D ...

. However, as it was a standard play, without fancy scenery or machinery, the Drury Lane Theatre is the most likely place of performance. According to ''The London Stage'', 12 May, however, may not be regarded as the première. It is uncertain how many performances followed in the season of 1687/88, and there may have been a revival of the play in the season of 1690/91. At least two sources testify that ''Bellamira'' was not a failure in spite of obvious criticism from parts of the audience. The first testimony is that of

Thomas Shadwell Thomas Shadwell ( – 19 November 1692) was an English poet and playwright who was appointed Poet Laureate in 1689. Life Shadwell was born at either Bromehill Farm, Weeting-with-Broomhill or Santon House, Lynford, Norfolk, and educated at Bury ...

, who, in his ''Tenth Satyr of Juvenal'' (1687), which is dedicated to Sedley, thanks Sir Charles for his patronage, adding: "Your late great obligation in giving me the advantage of your Comedy, call’d ''Bellamira'', or the ''Mistress'', has given me a fresh subject for my Thanks ... I am heartily glad that your Comedy (as I never doubted) found such success, that I never met with any Man of Sence but applauded it" (''The Complete Works of Thomas Shadwell'', ed. Montague Summers, Vol. V, p. 291). The phrase "advantage" here presumably means that Sedley offered Shadwell, a Whig out of favour and debarred from the theatre in the mid-1680s, the third night's income to support him. If this is correct, ''Bellamira'' was performed more often than two times. The second source of the play's success is that it went into print within six weeks after the première. However, instant publication does not necessarily speak in favour of a play's success, since even prompt copies of unsuccessful plays were sent to the printer. Evidence about the success of ''Bellamira'' is not consistent, however. In his Preface to ''Bellamira'', Sedley himself refers to a rather cool reception of his comedy. He seems to have attributed this to a latent element of obscenity. In Sedley's view, female spectators with their increasing demand for morals and manners on the stage, showed a particular dislike of this kind of lasciviousness in comedy. Contemporary authors who spoke in favour of ''Bellamira'' again include Shadwell and

George Etherege Sir George Etherege (c. 1636, Maidenhead, Berkshire – c. 10 May 1692, Paris) was an English dramatist. He wrote the plays '' The Comical Revenge or, Love in a Tub'' in 1664, ''She Would If She Could'' in 1668, and '' The Man of Mode or, ...

. Shadwell defended Bellamira from the charge of obscenity. Etherege, who served as diplomat at the Imperial Court in

Ratisbon Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the f ...

between 1685 and 1689 and was bored there, apparently found reading ''Bellamira'' a welcome change. ''Bellamira'' saw no further editions after 1687. This means that it cannot have been a smash hit. Nor does it occur in the list of the most successful plays between 1660 and 1747 which were still performed after 1900. And yet, ''Bellamira'' was adapted by Robin Chapman and broadcast on 18 March 1975 by Thames Television under the title "Way of the World: Bellamira".

(Stock) characters and couples

* Merryman and Thisbe (Falstaffian drunkard meets Bellamira's ''confidante'') * Keepwell and Bellamira (Fool meets scheming heroine) * Dangerfield and Bellamira (''miles gloriosus'' is fooled by scheming heroine) * Lionel and Isabella (alleged eunuch and excessive rake meets and rapes helpless ''ingénue'') * Cunningham (old syphilitic rake) * Eustace (another rake, friend of Merryman) * Smoothly (Dangerfield's servant) * Pisquil (the real eunuch) * Silence and Betty (servant girls)

Inversion of traditional hierarchies in the plot

''Bellamira'' is full of relationships and affairs, and only one couple is married on stage while more marriages are only planned for the future. However, all the marriages are doubtful as to how close they function as satiric norm(s). Traditional hierarchies and ties of interdependence are inverted. Previously unprivileged members of society dominate the plot. The ones formerly in power either have to pay for their ''status quo'' or have to submit to survive: * Bellamira, the daughter of a bankrupt merchant, turns courtesan and takes advantage of her indulgent keeper's wealth to manipulate her male admirers from her luxurious residence. * Isabella, a

gentlewoman A gentlewoman (from the Latin ''gentilis'', belonging to a ''gens'', and English 'woman') in the original and strict sense is a woman of good family, analogous to the Latin ''generosus'' and ''generosa''. The closely related English word "gentry" ...

by birth, is degraded to a state of slavery: she is kidnapped as a child, bought by the bragging Dangerfield, sold as a present to Bellamira, kept by Bellamira as a pawn and finally raped by an overardent lover. * Having originally come from an (impoverished) family of the

gentry Gentry (from Old French ''genterie'', from ''gentil'', "high-born, noble") are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. Word similar to gentle imple and decentfamilies ''Gentry'', in its widest ...

, Smoothly turns parasitic sycophant to serve his master, Dangerfield. * Finally, the (alleged) eunuch turns out to be a rapist. It is Lionel's deed in particular that propels the plot and brings about the climactic effects in the play. * Perhaps only Thisbe and Merryman are a match for each other, despite the moral deficiencies accompanying the couple. The ''proviso scene'' testifies to their mutual consent to marry each other at last. The marriage of Thisbe and Merryman, then, presents a norm, however limited, within the play. Both feel affection for one another, and their marriage is as free of (pretended) romanticism (Isabella / Lionel) as it is of deceptive selfishness (Bellamira / Keepwell).

Criticism of competitive society

The criticism of contemporary society in ''Bellamira'' is achieved by satire and parody.For a detailed analysis of the play, see ''Sir Charles Sedley's "The Mulberry-Garden" (1668) and "Bellamira: or, The Mistress" (1687)'', ed. Hanowell. The play presents the picture of a competitive society which is largely characterised by materialistic and cynical as well as libertinistic, if not nihilistic, tendencies. The society of ''Bellamira'' is morally corrupt and profit-seeking, degenerate, cunning and violent. Established standards of conduct, codes of honour and polite conversation all serve to cover up the prevalent hypocrisy.

The motif of sterility and disease in the play

In ''Bellamira'', a profit-seeking attitude has infected every aspect of life and ruined each relationship. Materialistic motives lead to arranged marriages devoid of feelings and love. The society delineated here is an ageing society not only morally deficient but also literally diseased: Bellamira is a veteran courtesan; Merryman an elderly drunkard; Cunningham a crumbling syphilitic wretch; Dangerfield an old-fashioned, impotent soldier in retirement. In addition to this picture of ageing and disease, the imagery of sterility receives special emphasis in the play: the device of the eunuch becomes the very symbol of the play, and thus, characteristics such as incompleteness and lack of fulfilment dominate the play. While characters like Dangerfield and Merryman suffer from physical impotence, others like Lionel are emotionally sterile. In his raving, Lionel commits a crime by raping the girl he professes to love. Keepwell, too, who is ruled by a courtesan, seems less than a man. The pervasive animal imagery underlines this impression: Pisquil, the real eunuch, is called "Humane Gelding," Dangerfield "gelt" by Bellamira, and Merryman refers to him as "Gib’d Cat," that is, gelded cat. In a final piece of irony, the lean Cunningham refers to himself as a "Capon," that is, gelded cock.

Notes

Edition

* Quarto edition of 1687, printed by D vidMallet. * ''The Works of the Honourable Sir Charles Sedley''. 2 vols (London, 1776).

Modern edition

* Holger Hanowell, ''Sir Charles Sedley's "The Mulberry-Garden" (1668) and "Bellamira: or, The Mistress" (1687). An Old-Spelling Critical Edition with an Introduction and a Commentary'' (Frankfurt a.M., 2001)