The Town Fop Or, Sir Timothy Tawdry
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''The Town-Fopp: or, Sir Timothy Tawdrey'' is a Restoration comedy written by
Aphra Behn Aphra Behn (; baptism, bapt. 14 December 1640 – 16 April 1689) was an English playwright, poet, prose writer and translator from the Restoration (England), Restoration era. As one of the first English women to earn her living by her writ ...
and first staged in 1676. It deals with an unhappy marriage and its dissolution. The play reworks
George Wilkins George Wilkins (died 1618) was an English dramatist and pamphleteer best known for his possible collaboration with William Shakespeare on the play ''Pericles, Prince of Tyre''. By profession he was an inn-keeper, but he was also apparently invol ...
' play ''
The Miseries of Enforced Marriage ''The Miseries of Enforced Marriage'' is a play written by George Wilkins which was published in London in 1607. The play is a fictionalised treatment of the real life case of murderer Walter Calverley whose marriage was forced on him through C ...
'' (1607), itself based on events from the life of
Walter Calverley Walter Calverley (1579–1605) was an English squire from Yorkshire. In some of her letters, his mother-in-law spelled the name "Coverley", which suggests that it was then pronounced with the "al" as in "calf" ("Calverley" means "pasture for calv ...
who, as a result of Tudor wardship practice, was forced into his marriage. A heavy drinker, Calverley stabbed his wife and killed two of his children in 1605, but these crimes are not related in Wilkins' play which contrives a happy ending. In Behn's play the unhappy couple manage to dissolve their marriage and seek happiness with other partners.


Plot

Bellmour is in love with Celinda, and they are secretly
betrothed An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...
. However, Celinda's parents intend her to marry Sir Timothy Tawdrey, a
fop ''Fop'' was a pejorative term for a man excessively concerned with his appearance and clothes in 17th-century England. Some of the many similar alternative terms are: ''coxcomb'', ''fribble'', ''popinjay'' (meaning 'parrot'), ''dandy'', ''fas ...
. Lord Plotwell, who is Bellmour's uncle and guardian, forces him to marry Diana. Bellmour refuses to consummate his marriage to Diana, and tells her that he cannot love her. An angry Diana tries to seduce Celinda (whilst Celinda is in male disguise). She then turns her attention to Friendlove (Celinda's brother), who agrees to kill Bellmour for her. A despairing Bellmour falls into debauchery, and visits a
bagnio Bagnio is a loan word into several languages (from ). In English, French, and so on, it has developed varying meanings: typically a brothel, bath-house, or prison for slaves. In reference to the Ottoman Empire The origin of this sense seems to ...
with Tawdrey. They meet Betty Flauntit (Tawdrey's mistress) and other women there. Lord Plotwell receives a letter from Diana begging for her marriage to be
annulled Annulment is a legal procedure within secular and religious legal systems for declaring a marriage null and void. Unlike divorce, it is usually retroactive, meaning that an annulled marriage is considered to be invalid from the beginning almo ...
. Diana and Bellmour's marriage is dissolved, and Plotwell reconciles with Bellmour (who has now reformed). Diana agrees to marry Friendlove, and Bellmour is now free to marry Celinda. In a subplot, Tawdrey plots to revenge himself upon Bellmour by using a mock marriage to trick his sister (Phillis) into having sex with him. However, their 'fake' marriage ceremony in fact turns out to be fully legal.


Reception

When reviewing Behn's life and works, one writer stated that 'in all her ehn'scomedies we can remember but one true, honest lover, Belmour, in "The Town Fop"'.
Montague Summers Augustus Montague Summers (10 April 1880 – 10 August 1948) was an English author, clergyman, and teacher. As an independent scholar, he published many works on the English drama of the Stuart Restoration (1660–1688) and helped to organise ...
felt that ''The Town Fop'' showed 'in a marked degree her intimate knowledge of the earlier dramatists'.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Town Fop or, Sir Timothy Tawdry Plays by Aphra Behn 1676 plays Restoration comedy Plays about marriage Cross-dressing in literature