The Parnassus plays are three satiric comedies, or full-length academic dramas, each divided into five acts. They date from between 1598 and 1602. They were performed in London by students for an audience of students as part of the Christmas festivities of St John's College at Cambridge University. It is not known who wrote them.The pilgrimage to Parnassus with the two parts of The return from Parnassus. Three comedies performed in St. John's college, Cambridge, A.D. 1597-1601. Editor: Macray, William Dunn. Oxford Clarendon Press, 1886 Muir, Andrew. Shakespeare in Cambridge. Amberley Publishing Limited, 2015.
The titles of the three plays are The Pilgrimage to Parnassus The Return from Parnassus The Return from Parnassus: Or the Scourge of Simony The second and third plays are sometimes referred to as Part One and Part Two of The Return from Parnassus.
The trilogy raises an Elizabethan question: After college – what comes next? Francis Bacon in his essay "Of Seditions and Troubles" pointed to a 16th-century problem – universities were producing more scholars than there were opportunities for them. The University Wits – Lily, Marlowe, Green, Peele, Nashe and Lodge – were scholars who found employment in theatre, not perhaps their first choice, but there was little else for them. Their great education tended to discourage them from taking up the humble trades of their fathers. The Parnassus plays may not provide a solution, but they at least illustrate the fears of such ambitious young scholastic dreamers.Edmondson, Paul. Wells, Stanley. The Shakespeare Circle; An Alternative Biography. Cambridge University Press. 2015. Munro, Lucy. Archaic Style in English Literature, 1590-1674. Cambridge University Press. 2013.
For the most part, the plays follow the experiences of two students, Philomusus and Studioso. The first play tells the story of two pilgrims on a journey to Parnassus. The plot is an allegory understood to represent the story of two students progressing through the traditional course of education known as the trivium. The accomplishment of their education is represented by Mount Parnassus. The second play drops the allegory and describes the two graduates' unsuccessful attempts to make a living, as does the third play, which is the only one that was contemporaneously published. New in the third play is the serious treatment of issues regarding censorship.Glatzer, Paula. The Complaint of the Poet: The Parnassus Plays. The Edwin Mellen Press (1977) Reyburn, Marjorie. New Facts and Theories about the Parnassus Plays. PMLA. Vol. 74, No. 4 (Sep. 1959). pp. 325-335. Modern Language Association.Wiggins, Martin. Richardson, Catherine Teresa. British Drama (1533-1642): A Catalogue. 1598-1602. Volume 4. Oxford University Press (2014)
It has been said that this trilogy of plays "in originality and breadth of execution, and in complex relationship to the academic, literary, theatrical and social life of the period, ranks supreme among the extant memorials of the university stage",The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21). Volume VI. The Drama to 1642, Part Two. XII. University Plays. § 16. The Parnassus Trilogy. and that they are "among the most inexplicably neglected key documents of Shakespeare's age".Sams, Eric. The Real Shakespeare; Retrieving the Early Years, 1564 —1594. Yale University Press. 1995 page 86.
Overview of the three plays The first play, The Pilgrimage to Parnassus, describes allegorically the progress of the two students through the university courses of the trivium, grammar, logic and rhetoric, and the temptations that are set before them by their meeting with Madido, a drunkard, Stupido, a puritan who hates learning, Amoretto, a lover, and Ingenioso, a disappointed student.
The first play was certainly intended to stand alone, but the favour with which it was received led to the writing of a sequel, The Return from Parnassus, which deals with the struggles of the two students after the completion of their studies at the university, and shows them discovering by bitter experience of how little pecuniary value their learning is.
A further sequel, The Return from Parnassus, Or the Scourge of Simony, is more ambitious than the two earlier plays. Knowledge of what occurs in the first two plays is not essential to understand the third play, but it is helpful to illuminate a few of the allusions that occur.Gililov, Ilya. The Shakespeare Game, Or, The Mystery of the Great Phoenix. Algora Publishing (2003) page 261Fleay, F. G. A Biographical Chronicle of the English Drama, 1559–1642, 3 Volumes. Reeves & Turner (1891)McKerrow, Ronald Brunlees. "Parnassus Plays". Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition. Cambridge University Press (1911)
The trilogy of the Parnassus plays can be seen as a sustained questioning of the worth of a humanist education, and as a consideration of the employment crisis that faced graduates at the end of the Elizabethan period.Knight, Sarah. "Milton and the Idea of the University". Jones, Edward. Young Milton: The Emerging Author, 1620-1642. Oxford (2013) page 142 The plays are lively and amusing, and contain a sense of taking stock of the writer's place in society at the turn of the century. They are neglected by academic scholarship, and not greatly appreciated as plays in their own right, but they are known as a source for references to Shakespeare and Jonson, and for other allusions they contain.Blakely, John. "Exchanging Words for Money; The Parnassus Plays and Literary Remuneration". Erne, Guillemette. Bolens, Lukas. editors. Medieval and Early Modern Authorship. Books on Demand (2014) . page 164.
Synopsis of The Pilgrimage to Parnassus Cast
Studioso Philomusus Consiliodorus Madido Stupido Amoretto Ingenioso Clowne Dromo
An old farmer, Consiliodorus, gives advice to his son, Philomusus, and his nephew, Studioso, as the two young men are about to begin their journey to Parnassus. He advises them not to consort with wastrels and to eschew alcohol and sex, which will distract them. The first place the two young men travel through is the mountainous land of Logique on their way to the island of Dialectica, where they meet a poet, Madido. Madido doesn't believe in Parnassus and thinks inspiration is only to be found in drink. Madido urges them not to bother with their journey, but to stay and drink with him. They decline and continue on.
Next, in the land of Rhetorique, Philomusus and Studioso overtake a character named Stupido, who set out on the same pilgrimage ten years ago, but has given up and now follows trivial pursuits. He disguises his lack of talent with a pose of not appreciating scholarship.
Philomusus and Studioso then encounter the lover, Amaretto, who encourages them to leave their pilgrimage, and instead linger in the land of Poetry and dally with wenches. This time Philomusus and Studioso are persuaded and abandon, at least for a while, the path to Parnassus.
Before it's too late, Philomusus and Studioso have come to their senses, have decided to leave the amorous land of poetry. They continue on, and meet a character who is former student, Ingenioso. He tries to discourage Philomusus and Studioso from their pilgrimage by telling them that there is nothing but poverty on Mount Parnassus. Dromo enters drawing on a clown by a rope, because he feels that every play needs a clown. They finally arrive at the foothills of Mount Parnassus, and take a moment to gaze up at it in a spirit of celebration. Studioso invites the audience to applaud.
Synopsis of The Return from Parnassus Cast
Studioso Philomusus Consiliodorus Ingenioso Luxurioso Gullio Leonarde Draper Tayler Simson Parcevall Boy to Luxurioso Boy to Studioso Stage Keeper
Consiliodorus, father to Philomusus and uncle to Studioso is meeting with a messenger, Leonarde, who will deliver a letter to Philomusus and Studioso. He sent those two young men to on a journey seven years ago, and now expects results. Consiliodorus exits as Philomusus and Studioso enter, both bemoaning that since leaving Parnassus fate hasn't been kind, and the world is not a fruitful place for scholars. They meet a former student, Ingenioso, who tells them he has been living by the printing house and selling pamphlets. Now he is pursuing the support of a patron. The patron appears, and Ingenioso offers him immortality through his verse. Ingenioso then offers the patron a pamphlet that is dedicated to him. The patron glances at it, gives Ingenioso two small coins, and exits. Ingenioso, alone, is furious with the patron's miserliness. Philomusus and Studioso reenter to hear how it went. Ingenioso now plans to go to London and live by the printers trade. Philomusus and Studioso decide to go along, and include Luxuioso, who has also left Parnassus to go to London. The four, now former students, take a moment to bid farewell to Parnassus.
The Draper and the Tayler, local businessmen, both complain that they trusted Philomusus and Studioso, did some draping and tailoring, and Philomusus and Studioso ran away owing them money. The Tapster has a similar problem with another former student, Luxuioso. Philomusus and Studioso meet up, both complain of the lowly jobs they have taken, Philomusus is a sexton/gravedigger, and Studioso is a household servant, farmhand, waiter and tutor. Percevall enters with a grave-digging job for Philomusus. Percevall wants Philomusus to quickly dig a grave for his father, who may not be dead yet, but will be very soon. He also wants Philomusus to write out the soon-to-be-dead father's will so that Percevall will inherit his fortune. Next Studioso enters with the boy he is tutoring, and attempts to give a lesson in Latin grammar. Then Luxurio and a boy enter, on the way to a fair. Luxurio has written some poems and plans to sell them at the fair by having the boy recite them. They give a demonstration.
Ingenioso has found a kind of patron in Gullio, a character that is partly based on Thomas Nashe's portrait of "an upstart" in his pamphlet Pierce Penniless. Gullio "maintains" Ingenioso very neglectfully. Foppishly dressed Gullio falsely boasts of being a valiant, noble and romantic character. Ingenioso offers himself as a poet to memorialize Gullio in sonnets. Gullio then persuades Ingenioso to impersonate his mistress, Lesbia, while Gullio rehearses love poetry that Gullio himself has written and derived from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and Venus and Adonis. Gullio plans to eventually recite these verses as part of his wooing of Lesbia. In the next scene, Consiliodorus, father to Philomusus, uncle to Studioso, who funded their journey to Parnassus meets with the carrier and horse-back messenger Leonarde. Leonarde reports that he scolded Philomusus and Studioso and reminded them that their nurturing was costly. Leonarde thinks they may have found jobs as clerks. Consiliodorus is disappointed they are not doing as well as they should be doing.