The Story Archive

Epicoene, or The Silent Woman

Ben Jonson · 1609 CE · Play · English · Renaissance

A rich old Londoner who cannot bear noise has his house lined with mattresses and goes looking for a wife who barely speaks, chiefly to cut his nephew out of the inheritance. The bride is found, the match is made, and the wedding party arrives with musicians. Jonson took the situation from a declamation of Libanius, which is not in this index, and built the wittiest of his London comedies around it.

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Attributes

Genre
ComedySatire
Theme
Appearance vs RealityIdentity & SelfIndividual vs Society
Archetype (Jung / Campbell)
TricksterShapeshifterWise Fool
Plot structure
Mistaken IdentityIronic ReversalComic Resolution
Symbol / motif
The CityThe MaskThe Garment
Conflict
vs Personvs Society
Mode / tone
ComicSatiricalIronic
Culture / tradition
English

Closest analogues