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Every Man in His Humor

Ben Jonson

275 ratings
Every Man in His Humor | Ben Jonson

Every Man in His Humor

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Knowell, an old man - rumor says Shakespeare originally played this part - tries to spy upon the doings of his potentially wayward son. Meanwhile, Kitely, a merchant, worries so much about being cuckolded by his wife that perhaps it has to happen. All this while a swarm of other interesting characters surround them.
pany without them; and by gadslid I scorn it, I, so I do, to be a consort for every humdrum: hang them, scroyles! there's nothing in them i' the world. What do you talk on it? Because I dwell at Hogsden, I shall keep company with none but the archers of Finsbury, or the citizens that come a ducking to Islington ponds! A fine jest, i' faith! 'Slid, a gentleman mun shew himself like a gentleman. Uncle, I pray you be not angry; I know what I have to do, I trow. I am no novice.
  Know.
     You are a prodigal, absurd coxcomb, go to!
     Nay, never look at me, 'tis I that speak;
     Take't as you will, sir, I'll not flatter you.
     Have you not yet found means enow to waste
     That which your friends have left you, but you must
     Go cast away your money on a buzzard,
     And know not how to keep it, when you have done?
     O, it is comely! this will make you a gentleman!
     Well, cousin, well, I see you are e'en past hope
     Of all reclaim:—-ay, so; now you are told on't,
     You look another way.

  Step. What would you ha' me do?

  Know.
     What would I have you do? I'll tell you, kinsman;
     Learn to be wise, and practise how to thrive;
     That would I have you do: and not to spend
     Your coin on every bauble that you fancy,
     Or every foolish brain that humours you.
     I would not have you to invade each place,
     Nor thrust yourself on all societies,
     Till men's affections, or your own desert,
     Should worthily invite you to your rank.
     He that is so respectless in his courses,
     Oft sells his reputation at cheap market.
     Nor would I, you should melt away yourself
     In flashing bravery, lest, while you affect
     To make a blaze of gentry to the world,
     A little puff of scorn extinguish it;
     And you be left like an unsavoury snuff,
     Whose property is only to offend.
     I'd have you sober, and contain yourself,
     Not tha
Pritam 02/26/2024
Three distinct sub-plots are woven into the framework of this play:

1) A father-son relationship, where old Knowell is an over-jealous father who entertains suspicions of his son Edward Knowell's conduct. His suspicions are instituted on a letter misdelivered to him. The deceitful servant Brainworm
Richard 10/05/2023
This was the hardest slog I've ever had reading old plays. Wow.

I'll admit, I just didn't get it. Broadly, sure--different people represent different "humours," or personality types, like those prone to anger or jealousy, and we see how that works out for them. But scene by scene? I didn't know what
Yorgos 09/24/2023
To the mass of reviewers who gave this three stars: come on guys be so for real right now.

The language is delightful and LOTS of the jokes are very funny. Elizabethan comedies sometimes have a bit too much of that mean schoolboy humour (e.g. locking someone in a room and pretending they're insane in
Tom 08/25/2023
If this play has any purpose, beyond being utterly silly, it totally escaped me. But, because it is so silly, it avoided most of the worrying renaissance tropes of misogyny, racism, and classism that pervade so many like plays. Ben Jonson is just having a laugh, and the silly misunderstandings turn
Aaron 01/14/2023
This is an endlessly delightful play. I can't say anything, really, about editor Miola's decision to work with the Quarto text rather than the much later Folio text, but as he notes, all of the editions are worth editing (including Garrick's 18th century cut). In any case, as an edition of the 1598
Gill 07/03/2020
Read as part of the 2020 Extra Mile readathon of the Shakespeare Institute in the lockdown summer of 2020.

We read the 1601 Quarto version, set in Florence, as that is what was performed by the Lord Chamberlain's Men at the Theatre. A group reading usually brings out the strengths and weaknesses of a
Jessica 05/13/2019
I'd give this somewhere between two and three stars, closer to three. I read it just a few months back and remember surprisingly little...which perhaps testifies to my memory of being unimpressed. Dickens loved this play enough to have staged it famously (and every so often?), but then Bobadil is ex
imts 12/09/2017
Actual rating: 3.5 stars

This play was the one which made me realize Ben Jonson's work wasn't actually all that bad... well, to be fair, the only reason I disliked his plays to begin with was that I had to study them.

Man, I wish I could get my hands on a really good, well-written biography of Jonson

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