272:, 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.
212:("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
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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
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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
235:. 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.
29:
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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.
256:, 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
324:
Gordon, Ian A. "John Lyly: Overview." Reference Guide to
English Literature. Ed. D. L. Kirkpatrick. 2nd ed. Chicago: St. James Press, 1991. Literature Resource Center. Web. 3 November 2013
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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.
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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
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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.
308:, 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 2018.
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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
292:– 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
204:, 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
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style "The blank verse is that of the nineties, rather than the early eighties." The modern critical consensus tends to favour the view that
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Lyly, John. "The Woman in the Moon." The Plays of John Lyly. Ed. Carter A. Daniel. Lewisburg: Bucknell UP, 1988. 317-58. Print.
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in 1597 by the bookseller
William Jones. The title page of the quarto states that the play was presented before Queen
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Beforeshakespeare. "The Woman in the Moon: In
Conversation with Edward's Boys". Before Shakespeare, 20 Mar. 2018,
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holy bower, / But not the last...." Nineteenth-century critics took this statement at face value, and considered
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DEEP: Database of Early
English Playbooks. Ed. Alan B. Farmer and Zachary Lesser. 2007. Web. 3 Nov. 2013. <
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The Predecessors of Shakespeare: A Survey and Bibliography of Recent Studies in English Renaissance Drama,
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https://beforeshakespeare.com/2018/03/13/the-woman-in-the-moon-in-conversation-with-edwards-boys/
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56:. Its unique status in that playwright's dramatic canon – it is the only play Lyly wrote in
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The play's Prologue maintains that the work "is but a poet's dream, / The first he had in
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far from being Lyly's first play, was likely his last, written in the 1590–95 period.
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Although most of Lyly's plays were acted by the children's company Paul's Boys, the
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is thought to have been first produced between 1590 and 1595, most likely in 1593.
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Tamburlaine's Malady and Other Essays on Astrology in Elizabethan Drama,
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The play was performed by Bryn Mawr College in 1928. Future actress
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English Writers: An Attempt Toward a History of English Literature,
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Lincoln, NE, University of Nebraska Press, 1973; pp. 135, 137.
353:, 4 Volumes, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1923; Vol. 3, p. 416-17.
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Tuscaloosa, AL, University of Alabama Press, 1953; pp. 38–49.
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Vol. 11., London, Cassell & Co., 1892; pp. 197–200.
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that acted this particular work is a mystery. However,
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Freedland, Michael. Katharine Hepburn. Crescent, 1986.
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Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1962; p. 219.
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shoots his arrows, and romantic disruptions follow.
79:on 22 September 1595, and was first published in
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296:-casting that typified the Elizabethan era.
375:Henry Morley and William Hall Griffin,
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399:John Lyly: The Humanist as Courtier,
52:era stage play, a comedy written by
488:Greek and Roman deities in fiction
473:Plays based on classical mythology
21:Woman in the Moon (disambiguation)
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260:turn: Joculus inspires dancing,
200:The play is set in the world of
182:Ganymede – Jupiter's attendant
179:Gunophilus – Pandora's servant
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493:Plays set in ancient Greece
397:George Kirkpatrick Hunter,
68:Publication and performance
16:Elizabethan era comedy play
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458:English Renaissance plays
136:Discord – Nature's Maiden
133:Concord – Nature's Maiden
122:In Order of Appearance:
188:Joculus – son of Venus
112:The Woman in the Moon,
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351:The Elizabethan Stage
185:Juno – Jupiter's wife
107:The Woman in the Moon
96:The Woman in the Moon
75:was entered into the
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37:The Woman in the Moon
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191:Cupid – son of Venus
77:Stationers' Register
19:For other uses, see
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149:Iphicles – shepherd
463:Plays by John Lyly
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447:Categories
312:References
276:upon her.
233:melancholy
33:Title page
294:horoscope
218:astrology
214:astronomy
54:John Lyly
196:Synopsis
103:Phoebus'
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266:Mercury
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173:Mercury
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290:sexism
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126:Nature
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48:is an
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262:Cupid
170:Venus
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288:and
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248:Mars
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216:and
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176:Luna
161:Mars
254:Sol
167:Sol
35:of
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