''The False Friend; or, the Fate of Disobedience'' is a

she-tragedy The term she-tragedy, also known as pathetic tragedy refers to a vogue in the late 17th and early 18th centuries for tragic plays focused on the sufferings of a woman, sometimes innocent and virtuous but often a woman who had committed some sort o ...

written by

Mary Pix Mary Pix (1666 – 17 May 1709) was an English novelist and playwright. As an admirer of Aphra Behn and colleague of Susanna Centlivre, Pix has been called "a link between women writers of the Restoration and Augustan periods". Early years ...

, and first performed at

Lincoln's Inn Fields Lincoln's Inn Fields is the largest public square in London. It was laid out in the 1630s under the initiative of the speculative builder and contractor William Newton, "the first in a long series of entrepreneurs who took a hand in develo ...

in 1699. The play is a reworking of

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 Othello. The original cast featured John Bowman as Viceroy of Sardinia,

John Verbruggen John Baptista Verbruggen, d. 1708, was an English actor working in London. Verbruggen is first mentioned as a member of the United Company in a Lord Chamberlain's warrant in 1688. His name does not appear in any cast lists until October 1690. Th ...

as Emilius,

John Thurmond John Thurmond (died 1727) was a British stage actor. To distinguish him from his son, also an actor named John, he is sometimes called John Thurmond the Elder. His earliest known stage performance was in 1695, when he played in '' Cyrus the Grea ...

as Lorenzo, John Hodgson as Bucarius, Joseph Harris as Roderigo,

Elizabeth Barry Elizabeth Barry (1658 – 7 November 1713) was an English actress of the Restoration period. Elizabeth Barry's biggest influence on Restoration drama was her presentation of performing as the tragic actress. She worked in large, prestigious ...

as Adellaida,

Elizabeth Bowman Elizabeth Bowman (c. 1677 – 1707) was an English stage actor of the seventeenth and early eighteenth century.Caines p.149 The daughter of Sir Francis Watson, 1st Baronet she was adopted by the actor manager Thomas Betterton. In 1692 she married ...

as Appamia, Anne Bracegirdle as Lovisa, and

Abigail Lawson Abigail Lawson was an English stage actor of the seventeenth and early eighteenth century. She was a member of the United Company, making her first known appearance in ''The Marriage-Hater Matched'' by Thomas D'Urfey in 1692. From 1695 she was pa ...

as Zelide.

Plot

The Spanish Emilius has secretly married the French Louisa. The play begins with their safe arrival in

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

, where Emilius' father is the

Viceroy A viceroy () is an official who reigns over a polity in the name of and as the representative of the monarch of the territory. The term derives from the Latin prefix ''vice-'', meaning "in the place of" and the French word ''roy'', meaning " ...

. Appamia (Emilius' foster-sister) is also in love with Emilius, and is shocked to hear of his marriage. She hopes to make the couple doubt each other's fidelity, and when this doesn't work, she tricks Emilius into giving Louisa poison. As Louisa convulses in agony, Appamia's plot is revealed to all. A distraught Emilius kills himself, and Louisa dies immediately afterwards. Appamia is taken into custody.

Portrayal of Appamia

Jacqueline Pearson argues that Pix treats Appamia and her desires 'with deep sympathy "...as a result of Pix's sympathy for Appamia - the central emotional pivot, I think, of the play - the character is modeled not only on the evil

Iago Iago () is a fictional character in Shakespeare's ''Othello'' (c. 1601–1604). Iago is the play's main antagonist, and Othello's standard-bearer. He is the husband of Emilia, who is in turn the attendant of Othello's wife Desdemona. Iago ha ...

but also on the heroic Othello". Unlike Shakespeare's Iago, Appamia ultimately repents of her actions, and through her final words, Pix gives the audience a moral message:

"Let me for ever Warn my Sex, and fright 'em from the thoughts of Black Revenge, from being by Violent Passions Sway'd. Murder! And am I the cause? Fall Mountains On this Guilty Head, and let me think no more."

Appamia is closely linked to the Greek mythological figure of

Medea In Greek mythology, Medea (; grc, Μήδεια, ''Mēdeia'', perhaps implying "planner / schemer") is the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, a niece of Circe and the granddaughter of the sun god Helios. Medea figures in the myth of Jason an ...

: at one point, she explicitly compares herself to Medea; both women murdered their love-rivals with an extremely painful poison. K. Heavey writes that Pix "recognised the dramatic and pathetic potential of a comparison between Medea and a scorned woman".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:False Friend; or, the Fate of Disobedience 1699 plays Tragedy plays Plays by Mary Pix