THE WILD–GOOSE CHASE
1621?
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Go to "Notes of Interest"
Go to "Plays to be Compared"
De Gard meets his sister Oriana, whom he left in La Castre's care at her request. She wanted to be with La Castre because she secretly loves Mirabel. She is resolute and virtuous in her admiration of Mirabel and means to marry him.
I.ii: Mirabel and his two companions, Pinac and the fat Belleur, enter and talk bawdily about women, whom they compare to good food and drink or to livestock. Mirabel knows La Castre will try to get him married, but he is determined not to marry and give up his freedom. He is a traveler and intends to remain so.
I.iii: La Castre has planned with his neighbor Nantolet to try to interest Mirabel in one of Nantolet's two daughters-Rosalura or Lillia Bianca. Again women are treated as livestock to be traded. Lugier, the girls' tutor, is very proud of the learning he has given his charges (he's a bit of a fool, though he has wit).
Mirabel enters arguing with Oriana that he will not love her. La Castre tries to interest Mirabel in some woman; he is fearful of not having a grandson and future heir. Rosalura appears too saucy and libidinous. Lillia Bianca appears too demure and spiritual. Mirabel abjures both. Bellura, however, is much taken with the bawdy-talking Rosalura. Pinac, also, falls for the virtuous and scholarly Lillia Bianca. Oriana does not give up hope of catching Mirabel.
II.i: Mirabel gives up his interest in Rosalura and Lillia Bianca to Belleur and Pinac, going so far as to promise to help them win their women. Both gentlemen are bashful about the prospect. Oriana again confronts Mirabel, and he again rejects her. He shows her a book of his "conquests." She leaves weeping. When De Gard enters to ask what Mirabel has done to upset his sister, Mirabel says that she cries because he will not put her in his book of conquests. De Gard bristles at the suggestion and warns Mirabel against dishonoring her.
II.ii: Pinac comes to Nantolet's house to try to woo Lillia Bianca. He fears he will not be smart or sober enough for her. She enters, though, completely changed in demeanor. She has him dance with her vigorously; she gossips with him about people he does not know, mistakes him for a serving man (hurting his feelings), and finally grows tired of him and leaves him humiliated. Mirabel, having watched, is glad to have escaped her.
II.iii: Rosalura tries to comfort Oriana in her grief over Mirabel. Mirabel enters with Belleur, telling him that Pinac has succeeded with Lillia Bianca. Belleur approaches Rosalura and, taking a cue from the last time he saw her, talks bawdily to her. She, like her sister, has changed. She flouts him scornfully for insulting her. Mirabel sees that she, too, is a dissembling hypocrite. After she leaves, Belleur, mad with his shame, threatens to beat any man he sees laughing just in case they might be laughing at his humiliation. Mirabel takes him away, promising to help him to win Rosalura yet.
III.i: Lugier plots with De Gard and the ladies how to trap their gentlemen. The two daughters of Nantolet rebuke Lugier for misdirecting them how to make men love them. He tells them that he has a trick to catch them. They agree to be ruled by him. Oriana also fits into his scheme. Rosalura and Lillia Bianca both confess they like the men that have come wooing them.
Mirabel enters and speaks bawdily, obscenely, to Rosalura. He reproaches Lillia Bianca for flouting his friend. He tells the ladies that Pinac has fallen in love with a foreign lady of great wealth. Pinac enters with the disguised Mariana. Lillia Bianca grows jealous but restrains herself and pretends indifference. Belleur enters railing at two gentlemen whom he found laughing. He makes them swear never to laugh again and chases them away. He turns his fury on Rosalura, who melts at his onslaught, and finally runs away for fear with Lillia Bianca. Mirabel laughs with Belleur that the ruse has worked and the women are theirs.
Lugier enters disguised as a gentleman and tells Mirabel that a great but rowdy lord has taken Oriana with a view toward marrying her. When Oriana enters with De Gard disguised as the lord, Mirabel grows jealous and sees new worth in Oriana. A servant, though, who was lately beaten by Lugier, exposes the trick to Mirabel, who takes no time in unmasking the impostor. Oriana decides to try another trick.
IV.i: Lugier leads Lillia Bianca to Pinac's door. There she waits in an abject mood for him to return. When he does, she swears penitence and wishes to serve him in his wedding to the fair foreign woman. She swears she loves him and would marry him in an instant if she could. Pinac says he will prefer her to the foreigner. Lillia laughs at having unmasked his ruse, tells him she knows the foreign woman is Mariana, the whore in disguise, and leaves him humiliated. She tells him to be manlier next time he comes wooing her. Mirabel assures Pinac that he has another trick to catch her.
IV.ii: Lugier sets up Rosalura to unmask Belleur. When Belleur meets her in the street, he roars at her. She reacts by demurely acquiescing to all of his demands. Finally, when she can no longer keep from laughing, she calls for her women. Lillia and three maids enter brandishing knives, make a fool of Belleur, and send him off in humiliation. Rosalura tells Belleur to be manlier when next he comes wooing her. Belleur in contrition decides that everyone should laugh at him. He meets the hapless two gentlemen again and orders them to laugh at him, which they reluctantly do. He also has them kick him.
IV.iii: Mirabel is sent for to come to Nantolet's house. There he meets De Gard and the two daughters. Oriana it seems has run mad for love of Mirabel. Belleur warns him not to trust the tricks of women. When Mirabel sees her distracted he pities her. Oriana gestures for all but Mirabel to leave the room. She then tells Mirabel that she is only pretending to be mad in order to be with him. He shouts down her dissembling. The others re-enter glad to see she is not distracted indeed, but the ruse has failed to win Mirabel. Mirabel commends Belleur for being savvy to the tricks of women. Lugier promises that his next trick will catch the men surely.
V.i: De Gard and Lugier plan the trap.
V.ii: Mirabel, Pinac, and Belleur have decided that they have had enough foolishness in France and will go traveling again. La Castre tries to persuade Mirabel to reconsider, but he will not. Mirabel does agree to bid the ladies farewell.
A boy disguised as a factor enters to tell Mirabel that an Italian merchant whose life Mirabel once saved has left him a fortune. The merchant's beautiful sister, who is also bequeathed to Mirabel in the will, brings the fortune. Mirabel is interested.
V.iii: Lugier draws the daughters into the plot. Both Rosalura and Lillia Bianca are weary of playing cat and mouse with the men they love for fear they have already lost them, but they agree to abide by the trick.
V.iv: Mirabel sees Oriana disguised as the merchant's wealthy sister. She is on a balcony. He falls in love with her at once. Rosalura and Lillia are taken to wait upon the fine lady. They are surprised when they learn she is Oriana, her disguise is so perfect.
V.v: Mirabel returns to the fine lady's house with Pinac and Belleur-the latter gentlemen are there to bid their good-byes to the two daughters of Nantolet.
V.vi: Mirabel is given a casket of fine jewels, ostensibly from the Italian merchant. Rosalura decides to go with Belleur on his travels, and Lillia decides also to accompany Pinac. The gentlemen despair of ever ridding themselves of their tormentors. Belleur again admonishes Mirabel to beware the tricks of women. But Mirabel is so smitten by the fine lady that he proposes marriage on the spot. Oriana unmasks and accepts him. Mirabel hints that he knew it was she all along and is happy to go through with the marriage. The gentlemen decide to marry the daughters as well. All leave for church. Belleur thinks it is better to forsake a trip to Italy for a tour of the "Low Countries." And thus the play ends.
Oriana is the Fletcherian girl insofar as she is virtuous, sentimental, and resolute of purpose in her romantic exploits. She does not scruple to win her man by deceit, fraud, and trickery.
Rosalura is a bit bawdy. She can feign indignation at scurrility when it suits her purposes, but she is really a rather free-liver.
Lillia Bianca is the more studious girl, though she can be caustic and sharp-witted when she needs to be. Both sisters are after a husband.
Lugier is something of a fool though not an idiot. He is officious and pushy. He believes he is correct in his way to catch a husband for his pupils, and his ruse finally does work, though many fail first.
De Gard is a noble young man with a sense of family honor. He is willing to dissemble in order to assist his sister Oriana to win Mirabel.
Pinac is a little shy about meeting the woman he thinks is his ideal, but once put down he does not scruple to fight fire with fire by pretending to love the great foreign lady Mariana.
Belleur is positively bashful about meeting his ideal woman, the upshot being that when he is humiliated he reacts violently. He is described as "fat".
Disguises and pretense play an important role here. A brief summary of disguises is as follows:
The view of Italy here is quite different from those views found in the blood tragedies and in some of the comedies of Marston. Here Italy is seen as the perfect place, where the ideal woman dwells-that is, the woman who is lusty and who does not play foolish games to catch a man in marriage. But this view is that of the lusty young gallants who are, to be sure, not to be trusted as disinterested parties. Their view of Italy and Italian women are very likely warped by their own libidinous natures.
This play, designed for a coterie audience at the second Blackfriars, is bawdier and more sophisticated than the popular stage plays of the same time. It hints at the Restoration Comedies of Manners with its examination of male/female relationships in a closed, upper-class society of wealth and privilege.
The types of tricks played are not overly varied:
Synopsis:
I.i: De Gard, brother of Oriana, returns from a long journey with his footboy. He sends his boy to set a table for Mirabel, who is soon to return. He meets Mirabel's father, La Castre, and tells him that his son and son's companions are soon to be home from their wanderings in Italy. La Castre hopes Mirabel has learned temperance in his travels.
Characterization:
Mirabel is the rebellious son who will not let his freedom go in order to marry, even at his father's request.
Notes of Interest:
This is a COMEDY OF INTRIGUE.
Love and courtship in this play are viewed as a game, a business arrangement, and sexual exploits. Women are merchandise for exchange: food and wine, livestock to be appreciated and/or used as necessity dictates. In the end, however, true love wins out-that is, Oriana's type of romantic love.
The difference is the women see through the disguises, calling the bluffs of both Pinac and Belleur while the men, denser creatures that they are, must be told of the deception. Mirabel is disillusioned first by a disgruntled servant and second by Oriana herself. Another interesting note is that all of the tricks work up to a point. That is, they each achieve some significant degree of success at first.