ABSTRACT
Massinger seems to have been one of the reluctant dramatists of his age: a gentleman in reduced circumstances who became a playwright as gentlewomen later became governesses. Everyone who writes on Massinger recognizes him as a moralist, a sage and serious man determined to indicate what behavior was acceptable and what was not. Yet the kind of dramatic romance he chose to write, or felt he had to write, seems preposterously unsuitable for preachments and sermons. The weakness of A Very Woman helps us to judge the strength of two other plays, The Bondman and The Maid of Honour. A much lighter play, The Picture, also has a strong ending to underline Massinger's criticism of his characters. The best example of a play in which the trappings of romantic drama are used to test character is The Bondman, the finest of the more serious tragicomedies.
