ABSTRACT
Mistress Alice, the young impulsive wife of the older Thomas Arden, a wealthy gentleman of Feversham in Kent, has been having an adulterous affair with the steward Mosbie. Arden of Feversham is a domestic tragedy and probably the first and best example of this genre in Elizabethan drama. The action of the play centres on the efforts of Mistress Alice Arden and her lover Mosbie to plot and execute the murder of Alices husband Thomas Arden. The play is full of sensational twists and turns of plot, events both highly dramatic and melodramatic that threaten to turn into farce at some points. It was based on a notorious murder committed in 1551 and presages Shakespeares Macbeth. One of the great strengths of the play is the portrait of Alice Arden. Critics have claimed that Alice is the most lifelike character to have been depicted in English drama up to this time.
