Mistress Jeer-all in the Park

Wit and Jeering

Hyde Park seems to place special emphasis on “wit.” The word occurs quite often, usually in a complimentary tone, and much of the play’s subplot concerning Lady Carol is devoted to verbal games in which she and Fairfield try to out-wit each other. Wit seems to be placed in contrast, and sometimes in alignment with the notion of “jeering.” Lady Carol has a “jeering wit” (467) and Fairfield calls her “madam jeer-all” (534). He later commends the Milkmaid for her purity, lamenting “That wit and good clothes should infect a woman” (517).

How does wit function in this play? Is it gendered (i.e., men have wit, women can jeer)? Does it relate to love? To the “games”? How does it compare to other plays (specifically Epicene) in which the notion of “wit” seems to be prominent?

Hyde Park as Pastoral Space?

We have noticed in most of our other tragicomedies elements of the pastoral or green world, in which characters escape and/or become something else (e.g. Philaster, Cymbeline). I was wondering if this might relate to Hyde Park? I’m not terribly familiar with the geography of 17^th century London, but it seems from the text that Hyde Park was (as it is now) a large wooded or open area in the midst of urban London. If I believe my brief internet research, it was originally used as a private hunting ground for the king and other gentlemen, and it was opened to the general public in 1637.

Does this help us understand the workings of Hyde Park? Acts 3 and 4 of the play take place entirely in the park (so that the characters might see the races). It is also in the park that all the lovers begin to find their “true” partners a la Midsummer Night’s Dream. Is this “natural” space in the center of an urban environment the same as a pastoral space in the other plays? Although the park is a place removed from the city, and it at least has some nightingales, the horserace constantly disrupts the calm of the park, and is obviously muddy and dirty [s.d. Enter Venture, covered with mud (520)]. Is Shirley's use of the park a satirical comment on the pastoral in general?