ABSTRACT
The consensus of those critics of Caroline drama and of Shirley who have discussed or mentioned The Opportunity has been that it is a successful comedy of little significance. In an article published in 1890, A. L. Stiefel wrote that for several of his plays Shirley had drawn on Spanish sources, including, specifically, Lope de Vega’s Don Lope de Cardona for The Young Admiral and Tirso de Molina’s El castigo del penseque for The Opportunity. The larger point that Morton wishes to illustrate in citing this scene, however, is as valid in regard to The Opportunity as it is for the other plays he discusses. Throughout the play Shirley sustains certain contrasts between the language of Aurelio and Pisauro and that of Ferrara and the members of the Urbino court. As a comedy based on mistaken identity, The Opportunity is inherently unrealistic.
