Story summary
Краткое содержание: Томас Деккер
- Чтение: 8 мин.
- 10 parts
- Аудио скоро
A shoemaker becomes lord mayor, a patient draper keeps his calm, and a poor old woman bargains with a devil.
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Томас Деккер — кратко о книге
Краткое содержание: 8 min на чтение
- Время чтения
- Около 9 h 25 min7 h 30 min fast, 11 h 15 min slow
- Длительность
- Слов: 134 700
- Уровень в библиотеке
- Средний longer sentences, everyday words
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Сколько времени нужно на чтение классики · Обновлено
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Томас Деккер in short
Five plays ask what makes a person worth something. Simon Eyre climbs from a workshop to the mayor's chair while Lacy hides as Hans to win Rose. In The Honest Whore, a duke's schemes, a gambler's debts and a patient draper's calm surround Bellafront, who tries to start again, and her father who watches in disguise.
What Томас Деккер is about
What happens when a shoemaker gets rich enough to feed every apprentice in London? In The Shoemaker's Holiday, Simon Eyre rises from a workshop on Tower Street to the Lord Mayor's chair, joking all the way. Meanwhile a young nobleman, Rowland Lacy, hides in his shop as a Dutch craftsman named Hans to stay close to the girl he loves.
This book gathers five plays by Thomas Dekker, who died in 1632 and wrote for the London stage around 1600. It holds the shoemaker comedy, both parts of The Honest Whore, the fable Old Fortunatus, and The Witch of Edmonton, written with William Rowley and John Ford. You will hear each play told in order, and learn what they say about money, rank, patience and virtue.
Для кого. You will love this book if you enjoy lively London comedy, clever disguises, tales of fortune and temptation, and old plays full of songs, sharp jokes and the odd devil.
The story in 10 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
A nobleman hides as a Dutch shoemaker
The Shoemaker's Holiday opens with a family quarrel. The Earl of Lincoln wants his nephew Rowland Lacy to forget Rose, daughter of the Lord Mayor. The Mayor thinks his child too lowly for a Lacy, yet he also wants the young man far away. Both agree to send Lacy to the wars in France.
Lacy hands his command to his cousin and slips away. On the street he meets the master shoemaker Simon Eyre, with his wife Margery, his foreman Hodge, the joker Firk and a weeping young wife named Jane. They beg the officers to spare her husband Ralph from the army, but Ralph is taken anyway. Eyre shouts and blusters, yet he gives Ralph money, and so do Hodge and Firk.
Lacy once learned the trade, and now he uses it. He turns up at Eyre's door speaking broken Dutch and calls himself Hans. Firk tests him, and Hans passes by paying for beer all round. Eyre hires him on the spot. Skill and good humour can open doors that birth alone cannot.
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Eyre climbs from workshop to mayor's chair
Eyre's luck begins with a ship.
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A duke, a funeral and a grieving count
The Honest Whore, Part One, begins at a funeral in Milan.
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Candido's patience becomes a gentleman's wager
Signor Candido is a linen draper known as the patient man.
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Bellafront hears the truth and tries to change
Bellafront is the courtesan Hippolito meets through Matheo.
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A father in disguise watches his daughter's marriage
Part Two of The Honest Whore moves Bellafront from the street to a poor home.
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Fortunatus chooses gold over wisdom
Old Fortunatus is a fable, and it starts in a wood in Cyprus.
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Mother Sawyer makes a deal with a dog
The Witch of Edmonton is based on a case from 1621, which the title page calls a known true story.
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Money, rank and virtue run through every play
Across the five plays runs the same worry about what money does to people.
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Dekker mixes songs, slang and noble speech
Dekker writes for the ear, and his plays move between registers with ease.
Read all 10 key ideas now
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Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- Simon Eyre A loud, generous master shoemaker of Tower Street who rises to Lord Mayor and promises to feast every apprentice in London.
- Rowland Lacy A young nobleman who disguises himself as the Dutch shoemaker Hans to stay near Rose, the Lord Mayor's daughter.
- Bellafront A sharp-tongued Milanese courtesan who hears a hard truth from Count Hippolito and tries to build an honest life.
- Candido A linen draper so patient that gallants bet money on whether anything can make him angry.
- Orlando Friscobaldo Bellafront's gruff father, who pretends to have disowned her and takes a servant's job to watch over her.
- Andelocia The careless son of Fortunatus, who inherits a magic purse and a wishing hat and goes to court to impress Agripyne.
- Mother Sawyer A poor old woman, beaten and mocked by her neighbours, who bargains with a devil in the shape of a black dog.
How it ends (spoiler)
In The Shoemaker's Holiday, the king forgives Lacy for deserting his post, blesses his marriage to Rose and visits Eyre's great feast. In The Honest Whore, Bellafront's honesty is proved and Candido is honoured. In Old Fortunatus, both sons die after misusing their gifts, and Virtue wins the contest. In The Witch of Edmonton, Frank Thorney kills his second wife and is hanged, and Mother Sawyer is executed for witchcraft.
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Вопросы о книге Томас Деккер
What is Thomas Dekker's The Shoemaker's Holiday about?
It follows the master shoemaker Simon Eyre, who rises to Lord Mayor of London, while the young nobleman Rowland Lacy hides in his shop disguised as a Dutch shoemaker so he can be near Rose, the Lord Mayor's daughter.
Who is Bellafront in The Honest Whore?
Bellafront is a courtesan in Milan. After a stern talk with Count Hippolito, she decides to leave her old life and become honest, and Part Two follows her marriage to the gambler Matheo and her father's secret care.
What is the Witch of Edmonton based on?
The play is built on a real 1621 case, that of Elizabeth Sawyer, who was accused of witchcraft in the village of Edmonton. Dekker, Rowley and Ford added a second plot about a young man named Frank Thorney.
What is the magic purse in Old Fortunatus?
Fortune offers Fortunatus one of six gifts, and he chooses riches. She gives him a purse that yields ten gold coins with each withdrawal, in local currency, until his sons' lives end.
What is the main message of Dekker's plays?
The plays ask what makes a person worth something. They set money, rank and reputation against generosity, patience and honest work, and they keep returning to the idea that kindness matters more than show.
Как сослаться на это издание
Dekker, Thomas. Thomas Dekker. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/thomas-dekker.
Dekker, T. (2026). Thomas Dekker. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/thomas-dekker
Dekker, Thomas. Thomas Dekker. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/thomas-dekker.
@book{dekker2026thomas,
author = {Dekker, Thomas},
title = {Thomas Dekker},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/thomas-dekker}
}
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