The Renegado
The Renegado, or The Gentleman of Venice. The play has attracted critical attention for its treatment of cultural conflict between Christian Europe and Muslim North Africa.
Massinger based the plot of his play on a novel by Miguel de Cervantes titled Los Baños de Argel, which had been printed in 1615.[2]
Performance and publication
The Renegado was licensed for performance by Sir
The play was revived in
The cast
The 1630 quarto features a cast list for the play, making The Renegado one of the few plays in English Renaissance drama for which cast information exists. (Only five cast lists survive for the entire history of Queen Henrietta's Men. The others are for The Fair Maid of the West, Hannibal and Scipio, King John and Matilda, and The Wedding.) The actors and their roles were:
Role | Actor |
---|---|
Asambeg, Viceroy of Tunis | John Blaney |
Mustapha, basha of Aleppo | John Sumner
|
Vitelli, a Venetian genleman, disguised as a merchant | Michael Bowyer |
Francisco, a Jesuit | William Reignalds |
Antonio Grimaldi, the Renegado | William Allen |
Carazie, an eunuch | William Robbins |
Gazet, servant to Vitelli | Edward Shakerley |
Donusa, niece to Amurath | Edward Rogers |
Paulina, sister to Vitelli | Theophilus Bird |
Synopsis
Set in Tunis, the titular "renegado" is Antonio Grimaldi, who has converted to Islam and become a pirate. The true protagonist of the play, however, is Vitelli, a Venetian gentleman; he has come to Tunis disguised as a merchant, in order to search for his sister Paulina, who has been captured by Grimaldi's pirates and sold into the harem of the city's Viceroy, Asambeg. Even in the harem, however, Paulina's virtue is protected by an amulet she wears around her neck; Asambeg is infatuated with her and treats her with respect. A Turkish princess named Donusa falls in love with Vitelli; when this is discovered, they are both imprisoned in the Black Tower. Donusa tries to convince Vitelli to convert to Islam and marry her, and so gain freedom for them both; Vitelli refuses, and in their ensuing conversation converts Donusa to Christianity.
The renegade Grimaldi falls afoul of Asambeg's bad temper, and his career as a pirate is finished. He experiences remorse for his past, and engineers the escape of Vitelli, Donusa, Paulina, and himself from Tunis back to Italy.
Critical commentary
Nineteenth-century critics tended to interpret the play's positive portrayal of a
Jowitt, in the early 21st century, reads The Renegado as a political allegory on the
Notes
- ^ The play's subtitle also serves as the title of a later play by James Shirley; see The Gentleman of Venice.
- ^ Schelling, Vol. 2, p. 231.
- ^ Vitkus, p. 340.
- ^ Garrett, p. 11.
- Cahiers Elisabethains, 65, pp 45–53
Sources
- Fuchs, Barbara. Mimesis and Empire: The New World, Islam, and European Identities. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2004.
- Garrett, Martin. Massinger: The Critical Heritage. London, Routledge, 1991.
- Schelling, Felix Emmanuel. Elizabethan Drama 1558–1642. 2 Volumes, Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1908.
- Vitkus, Daniel J. Three Turk Plays from Early Modern England: Selimus, A Christian Turned Turk, and The Renegado. New York, Columbia University Press, 2000.