31
The relevance of this equine image is noted by Forcione, p. 120. (N. from the A.)
32
Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, The Custom of the Country, ed. Arnold Glover (New York: Octagon Books, 1969), p. 303. Notwithstanding the play's inclusion in this collection, most critics agree that it was written by Fletcher and Massinger. All page references are to this edition. (N. from the A.)
33
See Forcione, p. 123. (N. from the A.)
34
The Travels of Persiles and Sigismunda, A Northern History, London, 1619, p. 395. In quoting from this translation we have modernized only to the extent of replacing the old tall S with the modern «s». (N. from the A.)
35
This last verse is identical to one from an earlier chapter of the Persiles containing a hymn to the Virgin Mary that stresses the divine blessing given to the sacrament of matrimony, reminding the reader of the Virgin's marriage to God the Father: «sois la esposa / que al sacro Verbo limpia carne distes» (p. 311). Mary's exalted place in Heaven above the reach of the restless changes of this world is stressed: «Pasó la tierra, pasó el mar; los vientos / atrás como más bajos, se quedaron, / el fuego pasa, y con igual fortuna / debajo de sus pies tiene la luna» (p. 309). Similarly, but more simply in the play, Arnaldo says to Zenocia: «You are so heavenly good, no man can reach you» (p. 309). The traditional likening of Mary to a star is amplified in both works in images that also link her with the appearing sun. In Cervantes we find; «Antes que el sol, la estrella hoy da su lumbre,» «prudentísima Ester, que el sol más bella» (p. 310) and «Del claro amanecer, del sol sagrado / sois la primera aurora» (p. 311). The solar metaphor for Zenocia is somewhat different, but just as fully developed: «Your mind I know is pure, and full as beauteous; / After this short eclipse, you would rise again, / And shaking off that cloud, spread all your lustre» (p. 309). Nevertheless, this imagery in the play probably did not come directly from Cervantes' hymn for it was omitted in the 1619 translation (based on a previous French one) and only alluded to as verses sung by Feliciana de la Voz. Two possibilities suggest themselves at this point: either the playwrights were able to read the Persiles in the original Spanish or, more plausibly, this scriptural imagery so pervaded European culture of the time that once the identification of the heroine with the Virgin was established, similar phrases naturally were generated from the common tradition. (N. from the A.)
36
The verses in praise of the Virgin in Feliciana's hymn place the matter on the archetypal, theological plane. Adam's fall is likened to mankind's death, for which the virtuous soul grieves; but through the loving sacrifice and triumphal resurrection of Mary's son, mankind is restored to life and the soul shows its delight by putting on glad colors: «el alma espera / cambiar en ropa rozagante el luto / que la gran culpa le visitió primera» (p. 311). (N. from the A.)
37
For the use of details suggesting a perverted Christian ritual see Forcione, p. 131. (N. from the A.)
38
See Ramírez, pp. 214-18. (N. from the A.)
39
Clifford Leech includes some of these incidents in his list of unusual situations that abound in the play. He adds, «Each is an incident in a densely packed plot, and it is as if Fletcher and his collaborator were bent on outdoing each other in the cult of the strange». See his The John Fletcher Plays (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1962), p. 59. (N. from the A.)
40
See Avalle-Arce's edition of the Persiles, p. 472. (N. from the A.)