Epicœne, or The Silent Woman, commonly referred to now simply as Epicene, is a comedy by early modern English playwright Ben Jonson. It was originally performed in 1609 by The Blackfriars Children but did not become popular until many years later, in the 1660s, after the restoration of the English monarchy when Charles II assumed the crown.
Epicene tells the story of Morose, a crotchety older man who detests noise of any kind. When his nephew, Dauphine, discovers that Morose does not plan to leave him any part of his wealth after his death, Dauphine and his friends Clerimont and Truewit – along with a handful of other colorful characters – devise a plan to get revenge on him. Morose expresses his interest in marrying, but will only marry a woman who makes as little noise as possible. His barber, Cutbeard, tells him about a young woman named Epicene who is known for her silent demeanor. What Morose does not know is that Epicene has been sent there by Dauphine: not only is she far from the meek and obedient persona she feigns, but she is also, as the final scene of the play reveals, a boy in disguise.
Thus, the revelatory moment of Jonson’s satire is the startling admission by the audience that it has been fooled. Of course, one must keep in mind that one of the reasons a play John Dryden singled out as the most sublimely plotted of all stage comedies has not been routinely performed since the eighteenth century is that fooling an audience into believing a male actor is a female character was infinitely easier back when actual female characters were always played by male actors. With the addition of the word “actress” to the lexicon of the stage, the casting of the play’s silent “woman” became infinitely trickier even for those audiences unfamiliar with the play’s delightfully unforeseen twist. By the end of the 18th century, Epicene had pretty much exhausted its popularity and has only rarely enjoyed successful revivals.
Despite the play's chaotic structure and typical Jonsonian antics, Jonson actually relied on historical precedent in crafting some of its stranger elements. The notion that the main character — appropriately named Morose — cannot stand noise with any good humor only to find himself saddled with a wife who will not stop chattering was lifted almost verbatim from the circumstance laid out in the Sixth Declamation of Libanius (Libanius was a Sophist and instructor of rhetoric in ancient Greece). The climax of gender revelation harkens back to a plot device utilized by ancient Roman poet Titus Maccius Plautus in a comedy titled Casina.
One notable historical influence on the play concerns the reaction to its original production by one Lady Arabella Stuart who infamously complained that Epicene “introduced an allusion to her person and the part played by the Prince of Moldavia.” This complaint actually resulted in Epicene being suppressed from production for a short period. As the great-great-granddaughter of King Henry VII and cousin to Queen Elizabeth I, Lady Arabella Stuart was relatively high up on the list of heirs to the British throne. Far more fascinating, however, is the fact that after being imprisoned for the crime of getting married without first receiving permission from King James, Lady Arabella succeeded in a daring escape plan by disguising herself as a man.
