Genre
Romantic Comedy
Language
English
Setting and Context
In the Middle Ages, around 1400 (" either more or less or exactly" as the play says)
Narrator and Point of View
Told from a third person point of view
Tone and Mood
Exhausting, Sad, Violent, Comedic, Dark, Chaotic, and Mysterious
Protagonist and Antagonist
Thomas Mendip (Protagonist) vs. the oppressive society he lives in (Antagonist)
Major Conflict
Initially, Thomas' struggle to get killed. Later, his struggle to fit in despite a society which is oppressive and cruel.
Climax
When Thomas and Jennet escape into the night.
Foreshadowing
Thomas and Jennet's arrest is foreshadowed quite early on in the play.
Understatement
The extent and severity of Thomas' mental illness is understated.
Allusions
To history (of the 1400's and the Salem Witch Trials, primarily), geography, religion, mythology, and popular culture.
Imagery
Fry uses intense imagery to underscore the oppressiveness and strangeness of the time and place which Thomas lives.
Paradox
Thomas is a downtrodden and suicidal man, yet he wants to get with Jennet, who is accused of being a Witch.
Parallelism
Jennet's story is paralleles quite nicely with the Salem Witch Trials, in which accused witches were imprisoned and then drowned.
Personification
N/A
Use of Dramatic Devices
Fry uses stage directions to help the reader understand the setting much better.
