''Sir Thomas Wyatt'' is a

history play History is one of the three main genres in Western theatre alongside tragedy and comedy, although it originated, in its modern form, thousands of years later than the other primary genres. For this reason, it is often treated as a subset of trage ...

published in 1607 and written in collaboration by

John Webster John Webster (c. 1578 – c. 1632) was an English Jacobean dramatist best known for his tragedies '' The White Devil'' and ''The Duchess of Malfi'', which are often seen as masterpieces of the early 17th-century English stage. His life and car ...

and Thomas Dekker. It was probably first performed in 1602.

Plot

The play opens with the death of King

Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. The only surviving son of Henry VIII by his thi ...

. Under the will of King

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

, his daughter

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

was due to succeed, but, under an Act of Parliament later in the reign of Edward VI,

Lady Jane Grey Lady Jane Grey (1536/1537 – 12 February 1554), also known as Lady Jane Dudley after her marriage, and nicknamed as the "Nine Days Queen", was an English noblewoman who was proclaimed Queen of England and Ireland on 10 July 1553 and reigned ...

was entitled to take the throne. Her father-in-law,

John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland (1504Loades 2008 – 22 August 1553) was an English general, admiral, and politician, who led the government of the young King Edward VI from 1550 until 1553, and unsuccessfully tried to install Lady Jane ...

, proclaims Jane Grey Queen and forces her to accept, though she is reluctant. Thomas Wyatt the Younger goes to Mary, who rejoices at the death of her half-brother Edward VI, and encourages her to move fast to assert her claim. Support for Jane Grey vanishes away and the Duke of Northumberland is arrested and charged with treason. Jane Grey and her husband Guildford Dudley are also arrested. Mary, now acknowledged Queen, accepts a marriage proposal from the future

Philip II of Spain Philip II (21 May 152713 September 1598), sometimes known in Spain as Philip the Prudent (), was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from 1580, and King of Naples and List of Sicilian monarchs, Sicily from 1554 until his death in 1598. He ...

. Wyatt protests vehemently and leaves the court to mount a rebellion based in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. When London does not let his forces in, they scatter, leaving Wyatt to be captured. In the last part of the play, Jane Grey, Guildford Dudley and Thomas Wyatt are executed.

Characteristics of the play

The play consists of a series of short episodes with relatively little emphasis on detailed characterisation. It is not divided into Acts or Scenes. The style is plain, with little use of metaphor. Much of the play is in

blank verse Blank verse is poetry written with regular metre (poetry), metrical but rhyme, unrhymed lines, usually in iambic pentameter. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English poetry has taken since the 16th cen ...

. Jane Grey and her husband are presented as a loving couple caught up in the machinations of others. Despite the title of the play, Jane Grey's role is as central as that of Sir Thomas Wyatt. Wyatt himself is shown as someone loyal to the wishes of Henry VIII and opposed to foreign influence in English affairs.

Stephen Gardiner Stephen Gardiner (27 July 1483 – 12 November 1555) was an English Catholic bishop and politician during the English Reformation period who served as Lord Chancellor during the reign of Queen Mary I. Early life Gardiner was born in Bury St Ed ...

, Bishop of

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

, makes several appearances and is portrayed as a harsh supporter of Mary who is uncompromising in his treatment of those who oppose her or her policies. In the second half of the play there is some anti-Spanish sentiment, reflecting the state of hostility between England and Spain when the play was written and in the preceding decades. As in many plays of the period, there are passages featuring a clown. These give

comic relief Comic Relief is a British charity, founded in 1986 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Sir Lenny Henry in response to the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The concept of Comic Relief was to get British comedians to make t ...

, but contribute little to the main plot.

Sources

The play may have drawn heavily on a previous play called ''Lady Jane'', thought to have been written by Henry Chettle,

Thomas Heywood Thomas Heywood (early 1570s – 16 August 1641) was an English playwright, actor, and author. His main contributions were to late Elizabethan and early Jacobean theatre. He is best known for his masterpiece ''A Woman Killed with Kindness'', a ...

and Wentworth Smith. This earlier work has not survived.

Publishing history

The play was first published in 1607, and there is a copy of this edition in the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

. It was not published again until its inclusion in an 1830 edition of the works of John Webster which was put together by

Alexander Dyce Alexander Dyce (30 June 1798 – 15 May 1869) was a Scottish writer and scholar. He was very well known for his books on Shakespeare. Life He was born in Edinburgh and received his early education at the high school there, before becoming a stu ...

.British Library BLL01014831826 Most recently, it can be found in ''Delphi Complete Works of John Webster'', an eBook issued by Delphi Classics in 2015, which reproduces the Dyce introduction and text.

References

External links

''Sir Thomas Wyatt''
- online text in the Oxford Text Archive. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wyatt, Sir Thomas English Renaissance plays 1602 plays Biographical plays about English royalty Plays set in the 16th century Plays set in England Cultural depictions of Lady Jane Grey Plays by John Webster Plays by Thomas Dekker (writer) Cultural depictions of Edward VI Tudor England in popular culture Cultural depictions of Mary I of England Cultural depictions of Lord Guildford Dudley