ABSTRACT

As the protagonist of a “comical satire,” Macilente seems to share with late sixteenth-century verse satirists a motivating saeva indignatio at the injustices of the time. Yet Jonson consistently differentiates him from his alter ego Asper by vitiating his indignation with self-interest: like Sordido, Macilente has a humour of envy that ironically links him with those phauloi characters he exposes, and like Carlo Buffone, his malice invites audience indignation towards him. In contrast, Truewit and Clerimont in Epicoene lack any indignation toward the play’s fools. While this lack implies that the play might be understood as farce, Jonson systematically demonstrates that the wits ought to feel indignation toward folly, and that the audience should itself feel indignation at their lack. In contrast to the hoaxes of Truewit and Clerimont, Dauphine’s master-trick, like Macilente’s, is motivated by an envy that verges on malice, and which in turn complicates audience response to Morose.