ABSTRACT
Jonson's literary apprenticeship has to be assessed with care. The Isle of Dogs was so firmly suppressed after its staging in July 1597 that only its title and the whiff of brimstone surrounding its reputation now survive. Jonson's earliest dramas, which included collaboration with others ofHenslowe's team of hacks , were allowed to perish . One such was Hot Anger Soon Cold, a comedy written with Henry Chettle and Henry Porter in the first half of 1598. There were many more;Jonson told Drummond in 1619 that 'the half of his comedies were not in print' (HS I, 143). All we have now to judge of Jonson's work as a 'beginner or learner' are the pieces that he deemed worthy of the judgement of posterity, and so rescued from the jaws of time. This loss of so much of Jonson's prentice or hack work from the years before 1600 means that all observations on his early development have to be made with some reservation. But the evidence is not entirely wanting . The Case Is Altered is the first play of Jonson 's to survive in almost its original form, having undergone a small change not long after writing; and it has much to tell us about this phase ofJonson's creative career. 1
Most immediately interesting are the abundant signs of Jonson's immature stagecraft. To the young man who was at this time earnestly pursuing his 'wonted studies' in the classics, the idea of combining two plots from separate plays of Plautus must have seemed an excellent way of ensuring a double ration of dramatic intrigue and humour. The complex design so produced would also have held for a devoted classicist like Jonson the further merit of emulating the more sophisticated structuring of the other great Roman comedy writer, Terence . In practice, however, the joining of the story of the father who has lost his son with that of the miser who has lost his gold, does not result in a balanced whole. It is never clear to the
Additionally the young Jonson felt strongly that a romantic comedy must contain plenty of romance. Accordingly he maximized the love interest of the miser's story, Plautus' Aulularia, and inserted love themes of his own into The Captives, where Plautus has none . The effect of this is to bring about an absurd multiplication of incident as no fewer than five characters are in love with the principal heroine Rachel, and all have to have their chance to pay their addresses to her in the course of the play.
