Summary
Prologue
The speaker acknowledges that there are many poets, but the poet whose work the audience is to see today is a singular one. He has no Chorus; no “creaking throne comes down” (7); no bullets or roiling drums disrupt the scene. Instead, he will use the language and write of the deeds of regular men, of the times they live in, of such errors “as you’ll all confess / By laughing at them” (7). He reminds the audience to be wise, to be good with money, to not go where one is not wanted, and be temperate, moderate, and humble.
Scene 1
A servant enters. Master Stephen and Knowell are in the room, and Stephen introduces himself as the old man’s next heir (if his cousin dies). Stephen is querulous and rude to the servant, and Knowell, his uncle, rebukes him and tells him to leave.
The servant asks if this is Master Knowell’s house and Knowell says it is. The servant says he is here to deliver a letter from master Wellbred. Knowell is intrigued, and asks if Wellbred is a young man. The servant replies that he is, and master Kitely married his sister.
Knowell calls for his man, Brainworm, and has him take the servant out. When alone, Knowell comments that he knows the letter is for his son, Edward, but that he is also an “Edward Knowell” and he wants to see what Wellbred says about and to his son.
The letter calls for “Ned” to come join the fun, and says that Wellbred has presents for him, one being a rhymer and the other something he will not say any more about. Ned ought to leave his father alone and come visit him.
Knowell reads this and is offended that this “unhallow’d ruffian” should write “in such a scurrilous manner to a friend” (13). He rues that his son does not have better judgement and chose “petulant, jeering gamesters” (13) as his friends. He calls Brainworm again, and tells him to bring the letter to his son and not to say that Knowell already read it.
After Brainworm leaves, Knowell sighs that he will not get in his son’s way, and he will let the “unbridled course of youth” (13) continue as it would. He can win more by love than by control, knowing that “force works on servile natures, not the free” (14).
Scene 2
Edward Knowell asks Brainworm if his father read the letter, and, if he did, what his face looked like. Brainworm says he did not see Knowell’s face when he opened it.
Stephen enters and asks where the servant is who brought the letter. He is angry, and desirous of finding the man and trussing him up. Brainworm tells him to calm his choler.
Brainworm leaves and Edward Knowell laughs as he reads the letter. For a moment Stephen is worried that his cousin is laughing at him. Edward knows his father is a patient man but wishes this letter had come at a less patient time so he could just hear the end of it. He then sees his cousin and greets him.
Stephen is relieved he was not being laughed at. Edward teases him that he was, to Stephen’s consternation. Edward then asks if he’d like to accompany him to a friend’s place in the Old Jewry. Stephen is pleased and proclaims he’d accompany Edward twice as far as he asked.
Stephen asks if he can speak, and Edward theatrically says his face ought to speak for itself in its nobility and miraculous nature. Stephen is thrilled with this and states that he will be as melancholy, gentlemanly, and proud as he can be.
Scene 3
Mr. Matthew stands in the lane before Cob’s house. Cob comes out and Matthew is surprised the water-bearer lives here, but Cob states that he has an ancient, princely lineage and can smell the ghosts of his ancestors. Matthew is impatient with him, and asks if there is a Captain Bobadil lodging nearby.
Cob replies that Bobadil is actually lodging here, which surprises Matthew. He thinks it a “base, obscure place” (19) for Bobadil. Cob shrugs and says nonetheless he is here, and if Matthew goes upstairs he will find him. He implies Bobadil was drunk, but when pressed, says he deals with water, not wine.
Matthew decides he must chasten Bobadil for staying here at such a place. Tib, Cob’s wife, shows Matthew up to Bobadil.
After they are gone, Cob ruminates on Matthew. Cob sees him frequently at Kitely’s where he pours water. Matthew is in love with Bridget, Cob’s master’s sister. There one can hear Matthew reading “abominable, vile . . . rascally verses . . . and speaking of interludes, ‘twill make a man burst to hear him” (20). Matthew is not the only one who annoys Cob, though; he also scoffs at his guest Bobadil, who owes his wife forty shillings and smokes “filthy, roguish tobacco” (20).
Scene 4
Bobadil is lying on his bench. Tib enters and tells him a gentleman is here to see him. Bobadil tells her to tell the man he is not here, but Tib says Cob already said he was upstairs. Bobadil curses.
Matthew enters the room. Bobadil graciously asks him to sit, and says he was at a gathering of Wellbred’s last night where they spoke of Matthew and toasted him. He groans that he got home very late and is only newly risen. He asks if Matthew would refrain from telling people where he is lodging, as he does not want too many visitors. Matthew agrees with alacrity.
Bobadil asks Matthew what volume he carries and sees it is Thomas Kyd’s Spanish Tragedy. Both men exult over it and Matthew quotes a few lines. Matthew then asks if Bobadil will take a look at his own work—the “infancy of my Muses!” (22). He ventures a compliment on Bobadil’s boot as well.
This makes Matthew then confess he is not on good terms with Wellbred’s brother, Squire Downright, because the other day Matthew was discoursing on something and Downright criticized his work. Bobadil scoffs angrily that Downright has no wisdom whatsoever, no “good phrases” (23) in him, and he is better built for the manger.
Matthew adds that Downright bragged he would give him a bastinado (beating), a word that Bobadil is surprised Downright would use. Matthew said he used it for more color. Bobadil says they will send over the chartel, the written stipulations between two adversaries, and he will teach Matthew what he needs to know to best Downright.
At Bobadil’s command, Tib brings another bedstaff. Bobadil shows Matthew how to move about and make thrusts with his makeshift sword. Bobadil becomes annoyed at Matthew’s “facility or grace” (24), and says they will stop. He says they will go have food and drink and a bit of tobacco, and he will tell Matthew what he needs to know to “control any enemy’s point i' the world” (24).
Analysis
Ben Jonson is known for his pioneering “comedy of humours,” which consists of Every Man in His Humour, Every Man Out of His Humor, Volpone, and more. In these comedies, characters are driven by one humour more than others, meaning their behavior tends toward rashness or anger or jealousy or melancholy depending on which humour predominates (see “Other” in this study guide for more information on the humours). Every Man in His Humour is the first of such works, lauded by critics and audiences for its astute and amusing look at man’s foibles and motivations as well as its engagement with such themes as what good poetry and drama are, class and gender, and youth v. old age. Jonson’s prologue sets out his goals for the play, which consist of avoiding hyperbole and histrionics to focus on the way real people live and speak and think. The narrator claims to show “an image of the times” and “sport with human follies, not with crimes” (7). He encourages the audience to behave rationally and pragmatically, which he will reinforce by bringing out characters who most decidedly do not. Critic A. Richard Dutton explains that Every Man in His Humour is part of Jonson’s turn to more “realistic depiction,” which naturally “relinquished . . . loudly proclaimed moral purposes.” He strives for “an increased psychological realism,” accomplished through “local and verbal realism—familiar settings, topical allusions, and a wider use of colloquial idioms.”
With this humours comedy, Jonson seeks to (gently, and wittily) condemn certain traits. Dutton writes that in this play Jonson “reveals a fully-engaged concern for humanity, for a sane and rational society, in his determination to ridicule and destroy manifestations of folly, which he regards as socially divisive and morally degenerate.” Right from the beginning this is clear through almost every character who steps on the stage. Stephen is greedy, telling a servant he is his uncle’s heir if his cousin Edward dies, and that he hopes he will. He picks a fight with the placid servant, going into a rage when he finds that the “whorson scanderbag / rogue” (15) left without getting a beating by his hand. He is inordinately proud of his dress, asking Brainworm to compliment him on his leg and silk hose.
As for Knowell, he knowingly reads a letter addressed to his son and makes certain conclusions about his son and his son’s friends. He does exhibit a bit of rationality as he tells himself to be patient and modest because “There is a way of winning, more by love, / And urging of modesty, than fear” (14), but he will soon abandon such counsels to himself and seek to confront his son about his putative behavior.
Matthew and Bobadil join Stephen as being some of the most obnoxious characters in the text. Both are braggarts, Matthew about his poetry (which we later learn isn’t even his) and Bobadil about his fighting skills. When Matthew says Squire Downright criticized his poetry, Bobadil launches into a scourge of the man and promises Matthew “you shall kill him with at pleasure” (23). We also learn from Cob that Bobadil has borrowed money and not paid it back. These characters’ foibles and absurdities will only grow more conspicuous as the play continues.
The topic of poetry is ubiquitous in the text. Matthew, as stated, believes himself a great poet and loves to try and impress women with his verse. Cob calls Matthew’s work “abominable, vile” and “rascally” (20). Bobadil glorifies his work but clearly has no idea what he’s talking about. Later Edward and Wellbred will rib him for it, while Downright will roll his eyes and say he’d rather be in the stocks than have to listen to it. Knowell seems worried that his son is interested in poetry, but Edward has no overweening hubris regarding his own abilities. At the end of the play Clement discovers that Matthew does not write his own words but cribs from others, and punishes him by burning his papers. He concludes by suggesting that good poets are not common, certainly something the audience would agree with after having the pleasure of listening to Jonson’s work.
