Dame Kiteley has the gross misfortune to be married to an insanely jealous merchant. Kiteley has got it into his head that his wife's been cheating on him with a string of handsome young men brought to his house by his ne'er-do-well brother-in-law Wellbred. His jealousy makes him vulnerable to the devious wiles of Wellbred, who delights in making complete fools out of people.
Unfortunately, Dame Kiteley turns out to be every bit as jealous and gullible as her husband, and so she too falls victim to another of Wellbred's japes. He manages to convince his sister that her husband's been cheating on her. So the Dame goes off to spy on her husband; and as Kitely himself is also out of the house on a fool's errand, Wellbred has the ideal opportunity to arrange the marriage of Edward Knowell and Bridget. Thankfully, the Kiteleys are eventually reconciled, and realize that they had no reason to be jealous of one another. But not before the mischievous Wellbred has managed to put into effect his daring plan to get his friend Edward married to Bridget.
Every Man in His Humour is a play by Ben Jonson, and was first performed in the year 1598. There are a few different plot lines, but they all revolve around characters tricking each other, spying on each other, making mistakes, or letting their imaginations run wild.
Dame Kitely is the older sister of Wellbred, as well as the the wife of a merchant named Kitely. Kitely becomes convinced that the Dame is cheating on him, and that both she and his younger sister Bridget could be having affairs with a group of men Wellbred invited to his house. In fact, at one point he specifically believes that Dame Kitely and the unmarried Bridget could be hiding Edward Knowell in his house, because Bridget is in love with him. Because of a suggestion from Wellbred, Dame Kitely also becomes suspicious that her husband may be unfaithful.
No comments:
Post a Comment