Everything about Appius And Virginia totally explained
Appius and Virginia is an early seventeenth-century stage play, a tragedy by
John Webster (and perhaps
Thomas Heywood). It is the third and least famous of his tragedies, after
The White Devil and
The Duchess of Malfi.
The play
On the basis of his distinctive Latinate vocabulary, Heywood has been suggested as a part-author of the play, though some commentators disagree. (Heywood has also been proposed as a part-author of Webster and
Rowley's A Cure for a Cuckold.)
No definite evidence on the play's date of origin or early performance history has survived. Scholars have conjectured dates of authorship anytime in the interval between
1608 and
1634. Critics who consider the play crude have favored an early date, and thought of the work as Webster's first venture into the genre of tragedy. Others have focused on the 1625–7 period as perhaps the most likely. It has been argued that Webster was influenced by
Shakespeare's classical Roman tragedies, and that he likely wrote his play after the publication of the
First Folio in
1623. The play was certainly in existence by
1639, when it was listed among the repertory of
Beeston's Boys.
Webster's play was published late: it was entered into the
Stationers' Register on May 13,
1654 by bookseller
Richard Marriot, and appeared in print before the end of that year. The original title page assigns the play to Webster, and doesn't identify the publisher. A second impression of the original
quarto, with a new title page, was issued in
1659 by
Humphrey Moseley; a third edition followed in
1679. Webster wasn't the first English Renaissance playwright to dramatize the story of
Appius Claudius Crassus and
Verginia; another play with the same title and subject matter had been published in
1576, as the work of "R. B.," probably a Richard Bower. The earlier play influenced Webster's treatment.
Webster's play was revived during the
Restoration era, in an adaptation by
Thomas Betterton called
The Roman Virgin, or The Unjust Judge that was acted at
Lincoln's Inn Fields in
1670, and was printed in
1679. (Betterton played Virginius, and his wife was Virginia.) Betterton combined elements from the sixteenth-century play with Websterian material. Later dramatists also dealt with the story:
John Dennis's Appius and Virginia was staged at
Drury Lane in
1709 (Betterton was Virginius again). At least seven other versions followed.
Precedents
Beyond the 1576 play, the classical tale was available to Webster and his contemporaries in a variety of forms. Apart from the original
Ab Urbe condita of
Livy, it appears in
The Romance of the Rose, and the
Confessio Amantis of
John Gower, and
The Physician's Tale in
The Canterbury Tales of
Geoffrey Chaucer. It is also found in the
Pecorone of Ser Giovanni Fiorentino (1378), and closer to home in
William Painter's
Palace of Pleasure (1566/7).
The crticial response
Critics have differed widely and radically over the worth of Webster's
Appius and Virginia. For Dugdale Sykes, the play is "Firmly constructed, lucid in style, and with a simple, coherent plot," which "is utterly unlike
The White Devil and
The Duchess of Malfy [sic], those profounder and more poetic tragedies...." Other critics have rendered harsher judgements, regarding the play's black-and-white morality as simplistic and uninteresting compared to Webster's other, more complex tragedies.
Synopsis
The play is set in
ancient Rome in the time of the
Decemvirate, from 451 to 449 B.C.E. In the opening scene, Appius Claudius is offered membership among the Decemviri; he feigns humility and claims unworthiness for the high office, and accepts only when faced with the penalty for refusal, which is banishment. Yet in private conversation with his closest follower, Marcus Claudius, Appius shows that he actually covets the office and its power, and cynically masks his ambition with an outward show of modesty.
The play's second scene introduces Virginia, her uncle Numitorius, and her betrother, Icilius. Virginia's father Virginius is away commanding the army of Rome; but Icilius brings word that Virginius has suddenly returned to Rome from the field, spurring his horse bloody as he races directly to the Senate. Appius confesses to Marcus Claudius that he lusts after Virginia, and Marcus encourages Appius to exploit his power to obtain the girl; Appius, he says, can easily exert control over Virginius through his position in the state. Before the Senate, Virginius pleads for money for the hungry troops, warning the Senate that the army is close to mutiny. Appius puts him off, promising help "Hereafter." The Senate breaks up, and Virginius pauses only briefly to see his family before returning to the camp, where he manages to stifle the mutiny by the force of his commanding personality.
Virginia is serenaded by musicians she thinks are sent by Icilius; when she learns that they were actually sent by Appius, she rejects his advance. Appius courts her and pursues her with letters and gifts; at first Virginia conceals this from Icilius, but later she reveals all. Icilius meets Appius in private and threatens to kill him if he continues. Appius is outraged by this, and unhappy at the poor results of his pursuit of Virginia. Marcus reveals a bold plan to win the girl: he'll use false evidence and perjured testimony to claim that Virginia isn't really her father's daughter, but in fact a "bond-slave" belonging to himself.
Virginia is apprehended by Appius's
lictors while she's shopping in the market. Marcus brings the legal action before Appius, who makes a pretense of impartiality and even of suspicion and hostility toward Marcus — which doesn't fool Icilius or Numitorius. Appius tries to stage the trial before Virginius has time to return to Rome, but the general shows up for the hearing dressed like a slave. Before the trial starts, Virginia tells her father that she'd rather die than be prostituted to Appius's lust. The rigged hearing goes as Appius and Marcus plan: their unctious Advocate presents false documents, and Appius rules in Marcus's favor. Icilius protests, and is taken into custody. Virginius bows to the demands of honor and to his daughter's words, and stabs Virginia to death in the courtroom. There is outrage, and an attempt to apprehend Virginius, but he escapes back to his troops. He confronts the soldiers with the fact of his deed, and once again wins their backing; he leads the army back to Rome.
The authorities imprison Appius and Marcus and release Icilius from prison to confront Virginius when the general arrives. Icilius is appalled that Virginius has killed his daughter ("thou hast turn'd / My bridal to a funeral"), and the two have a debate on the intertwined considerations of law and justice and honor. The two men join forces to go to the Senate to confront Appius.
Appius and Marcus are produced in chains. Virginius is emotionally drained after the ordeal of his daughter's death at his own hand, and seems ready to pardon Appius. This provokes Icilius. He brings Virginia's body through the streets; the Roman populace, confronted by the sight, becomes passionate for Appius's downfall, and Virginius's resolve is strengthened again. Appius and Marcus are offered swords; Appius uses his to commit suicide, but Marcus lacks the nerve to do the same, and pleads for mercy. He is sent to be executed by the common hangman.
The play's
comic relief is supplied by soldiers and servants, led by Virginia's servant Corbulo.
Further Information
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