Philip Massinger
born 1583, near Salisbury, Wiltshire, Eng.
died March 1639/40, London
English Jacobean and Caroline playwright noted
for his gifts of comedy, plot construction,
social realism, and satirical power.
Besides the documentation of his baptism at St.
Thomas’s Church, Salisbury, it is known that
Massinger attended St. Alban Hall, Oxford, in
1602, but nothing certain is known about his
life from then until 1613, when he was in prison
for debt. Bailed out by the theatrical
impresario Philip Henslowe, he spent a period
working as the junior partner in coauthored
plays, collaborating with established dramatists
such as Thomas Dekker and John Fletcher, and
eventually graduated to his own independent
productions. In 1625 he succeeded Fletcher, some
of whose plays he revised, as the chief
playwright of the King’s Men (formerly Lord
Chamberlain’s Men). Though apparently not as
successful as Fletcher, he remained with the
King’s Men until his death, producing plays
marked by a high moral tone and elevated
philosophic character.
Among the plays Massinger collaborated on
with Fletcher is The False One (c. 1620), a
treatment of the story of Caesar and Cleopatra.
Two other important plays written in
collaboration are The Fatal Dowry (1616–19, with
Nathan Field), a domestic tragedy in a French
setting, and The Virgin Martyr (1620?, with
Thomas Dekker), a historical play about the
persecution of Christians under the Roman
emperor Diocletian. Fifteen plays written solely
by Massinger have survived, but many of their
dates can only be conjectured. The four
tragedies are The Duke of Milan (1621–22) and
The Unnatural Combat (1624?)—both skillfully
told mystery stories of a melodramatic type—and
The Roman Actor (1626) and Believe As You List
(1631)—each a historical tragedy in a classical
setting. The Roman Actor is considered his best
serious play.
The Bondman (1623), about a slave revolt in
the Greek city of Syracuse, is one of
Massinger’s seven tragicomedies and shows his
concern for state affairs. The Renegado (1624),
a tragicomedy with a heroic Jesuit character,
gave rise to the still-disputed theory that he
became a Roman Catholic. Another tragicomedy,
The Maid of Honour (1621?), combines political
realism with the courtly refinement of later
Caroline drama. The tendency of his serious
plays to conform to Caroline fashion, however,
is contradicted by the mordant realism and
satirical force of his two great comedies—A New
Way to Pay Old Debts, his most popular and
influential play, in which he expresses genuine
indignation at economic oppression and social
disorder, and The City Madam (1632?), dealing
with similar evils but within a more starkly
contrived plot that curiously combines
naturalistic and symbolic modes. One of his last
plays, The King and the Subject (1638), had
politically objectionable lines cut from it by
King Charles himself.
