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ROBERT GREENE (c. 1560-1592)

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 541 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ROBERT See also:GREENE (c. 1560-1592)  , See also:English dramatist and See also:miscellaneous writer, was See also:born at See also:Norwich about 156o . The identity of his See also:father has been disputed, but there is every See also:reason to believe that he belonged to the tradesmen's class and had small means . It is doubtful whether See also:Robert See also:Greene attended Norwich See also:grammar school; but, as an eastern counties See also:man (to one of whose plays, See also:Friar See also:Bacon, the See also:Norfolk and See also:Suffolk borderland owes a lasting poetic See also:commemoration) he naturally found his way to See also:Cambridge, where he entered St See also:John's See also:College as a See also:sizar in 1575 and took his B.A. thence in 1579, proceeding M.A. in 1583 from See also:Clare See also:Hall . His See also:life at the university was, according to his own See also:account, spent " among wags as lewd as himself, with whom he consumed the See also:flower of his youth." In ROBERT 539 1588 he was incorporated at See also:Oxford, so that on some of his See also:title-pages he styles himself "utriusque Academiae in Artibus Magister "; and See also:Nashe humorously refers to him as utriusque Academiae Robertus Greene." Between the years 1578 and 1583 he had travelled abroad, according to his own account very extensively, visiting See also:France, See also:Germany, See also:Poland and See also:Denmark, besides learning at first-See also:hand to " hate the See also:pride of See also:Italic " and to know the See also:taste of that poet's See also:fruit, " See also:Spanish mirabolones." The grounds upon which it has been suggested that he took See also:holy orders are quite insufficient; according to the title-See also:page of a pamphlet published by him in 1585 he was then a " student in phisicke." Already, however, after taking his M,A. degree, he had according to his own account begun his See also:London life, and his earliest extant See also:literary See also:production wals in hand as See also:early as 1580 . He now became " an author of playes and a penner of love-See also:pamphlets, so that I soone See also:grew famous in that qualitie, that who for that See also:trade growne so See also:ordinary about London as See also:Robin Greene ?" " Glad was that printer," says Nashe, " that might See also:bee so blest to pay him deare for the very dregs of his wit." By his own account he rapidly sank into the worst debaucheries of the See also:town, though Nashe declares that he never knew him guilty of notorious See also:crime . He was not without passing impulses towards a more righteous and sober life, and was derided in consequence by his associates as a " Puritane and Presizian." It is possible that he, as well as his See also:bitter enemy, See also:Gabriel See also:Harvey, exaggerated, the looseness of his conduct . His See also:marriage, which took See also:place in 1585 or 1586, failed to steady him; if See also:Francesco, in Greene's pamphlet Never too See also:late to mend (1590), is intended for the author himself, it had been a runaway match; but the fiction and the autobiographical See also:sketch in the Repentance agree in their account of the unfaithfulness which followed on the See also:part of the See also:husband . He lived with his wife, whose name seems to have been Dorothy (" See also:Doll "; and cf . Dorothea in See also:James IV.), for a while; " but forasmuch as she would perswade me from my wilful wickednes, after I had a See also:child by her, I See also:cast her off, having spent up the marriage-See also:money which I obtained by her . Then See also:left I her at six or seven, who went into See also:Lincolnshire, and I to London," where his reputation as a playwright and writer of pamphlets of " love and vaine fantasyes " continued to increase, and where his life was a feverish See also:alternation of labour and debauchery . In his last years he took it upon himself to make See also:war on the cutpurses and " conny-catchers " with whom he came into contact in the slums, and whose doings he fearlessly exposed in his writings . He tells us how at last he was friendless " except it were in a fewe alehouses," where he was respected on account of the See also:score he had run up .

When the end came he was a dependant on the charity of the poor and the pitying love of the unfortunate . See also:

Henri Murger has See also:drawn no picture more sickening and more pitiful than the See also:story of Greene's See also:death, as told by his Puritan adversary, Gabriel Harvey—a veracious though a far from unprejudiced narrator . Greene had taken up the cudgels provided by the Harvey See also:brothers on their intervention in the Marprelate controversy, and made an attack (immediately suppressed) upon Gabriel's father and See also:family in the See also:prose-See also:tract A Quip for an Upstart Courtier, or a See also:Quaint Dispute between See also:Velvet Breeches and See also:Cloth Breeches (1592) . After a banquet where the See also:chief See also:guest had been See also:Thomas Nashe—an old See also:associate and perhaps a college friend of Greene's, any See also:great intimacy with whom, however, he seems to have been anxious to disclaim—Greene had fallen sick " of a surfeit of See also:pickle herringe and Rennish See also:wine." At the See also:house of a poor shoemaker near Dowgate, deserted by all except his compassionate hostess (Mrs Isam) and two See also:women—one of them the See also:sister of a notorious thief named " Cutting See also:Ball," and the See also:mother of his illegitimate son, See also:Fortunatus Greene—he died on the 3rd of See also:September 1592 . Shortly before his death he wrote under a See also:bond for £10 which he had given to the See also:good shoemaker, the following words addressed to his See also:long-forsaken wife: " Doll, I See also:charge thee, by the loue of our youth and by my soules See also:rest, that See also:thou wilte see this man paide; for if hee and his wife had not succoured me, I had died in the streetes.—Robert Greene." Four Letters and Certain Sonnets, Harvey's attack on Greene . appeared almost immediately after his death, as to the circumstances of which his relentless adversary had taken care to inform himself personally . Nashe took up-the See also:defence of his dead friend and ridiculed Harvey in See also:Strange See also:News (1593); and the dispute continued for some years . But, before this, the dramatist See also:Henry See also:Chettle published a pamphlet from the hand of the unhappy man, entitled Greene's See also:Groat's-See also:worth of Wit bought with a Million of Repentance (1592), containing the story of Roberto, who may be regarded, for See also:practical purposes, as representing Greene himself . This See also:ill-starred production may almost be said to have done more to excite the resentment of posterity against Greene's name than all the errors for which he professed his repentance . For in it he exhorted to repentance three of his quondam acquaintance . Of these three See also:Mar%we was one—to whom and to whose creation of " that Atheist Tamberlaine " he had repeatedly alluded . The second was See also:Peele, the third probably Nashe .

But the passage addressed to Peele contained a transparent allusion to a See also:

fourth dramatist, who was an actor likewise, as " an vpstart See also:crow beautified with our feathers, that with his Tygres See also:heart wrapt in a player's See also:hyde supposes hee is as well able to bombast out a blanke-See also:verse as the best of you; and being an See also:absolute Iohannes-fac-totum, is in his owne conceyt the onely shake-See also:scene in a countrey." The phrase italicized parodies a passage occurring in The True Tragedie of See also:Richard, See also:Duke of See also:York, &c., and retained in Part III. of Henry VI . If Greene (as many eminent critics have thought) had a hand in The True Tragedie, he must here have intended a charge of See also:plagiarism against See also:Shakespeare . But while it seems more probable that (as the late R . See also:Simpson suggested) the upstart crow beautified with the feathers of the three dramatists is a sneering description of the actor who declaimed their verse, the animus of the whole attack (as explained by Dr See also:Ingleby) is revealed in its concluding phrases . This " shake-scene," i.e. this actor had ventured to intrude upon the domain of the See also:regular See also:staff of playwrights—their See also:monopoly was in danger ! Two other prose pamphlets of an autobiographical nature were issued posthumously . Of these, The Repentance of Robert Greene, See also:Master of Arts (1592), must originally have been written by him on his death-See also:bed, under the See also:influence, as he says, of Father See also:Parsons's Booke of See also:Resolution (The See also:Christian Directorie, appertayning to Resolution, 1582, republished in an enlarged See also:form, which became very popular, in 1585); but it bears traces of having been improved from the See also:original; while Greene's See also:Vision was certainly not, as the title-page avers, written during his last illness . Altogether not less than See also:thirty-five prose-tracts are ascribed to Greene's prolific See also:pen . Nearly all of them are interspersed with verses; in their themes they range from the " misticall " wonders of the heavens to the See also:familiar but " pernitious sleights " of the sharpers of London . But the most widely attractive of his prose publications were his " love-pamphlets," which brought upon him the outcry of Puritan censors . The earliest of his novels, as they may be called, Mamillia, was licensed in 1583 . This interesting story may be said to have accompanied Greene through life; for even part ii., of which, though probably completed several years earlier, the earliest extant edition bears the date 1593, had a sequel, The Anatomic of Love's Flatteries, which contains a See also:review of suitors recalling Portia's in The See also:Merchant of See also:Venice .

The Myrrour of Modestie (the story of Susanna) (1584); The Historic of Arhasto, See also:

King of Denmarke (1584); Morando, the Tritameron of Love (a rather tedious See also:imitation of the Decameron (1584); Planetomachia (1585) (a contention in story-telling between See also:Venus and See also:Saturn); See also:Penelope's See also:Web (1587) (another See also:string of stories); Alcida, Greene's See also:Metamorphosis (1588), and others, followed . In these popular productions Ire appears very distinctly as a follower of John See also:Lyly; indeed, the first part of Mamillia was entered in the Stationers' Registers in the See also:year of the See also:appearance of Euphues, and two of Greene's novels are by their titles announced as a See also:kind of sequel to the See also:parent See also:romance: Euphues his Censure to Philautus (1587), Menaphon . Camilla's Alarum to Slumbering Euphues (1589), named in some later See also:editions Greene's See also:Arcadia . This pastoralromance, written in See also:direct emulation of See also:Sidney's, with a heroine called Samila, contains St Sephestia's charming See also:lullaby, with its refrain " Father's sorowe, father's joy." But, though Greene's See also:style copies the balanced oscillation, and his diction the ornateness (including the proverbial See also:philosophy) of Lyly, he contrives to See also:interest by the See also:matter as well as to attract See also:attention by the manner of his narratives . Of his highly moral intentions he leaves the reader in no doubt, since they are exposed on the title-pages . The full title of the Myrrour of 114 odestie for instance continues: " wherein appeareth as in a perfect glasse how the See also:Lord delivereth the See also:innocent from all imminent perils, and plagueth the See also:blood-thirsty hypocrites with deserved punishments," &c . On his Pandosto, The See also:Triumph of See also:Time (1588) Shakespeare founded A See also:Winter's See also:Tale; in fact, the novel contains the entire See also:plot of the See also:comedy, except the See also:device of the living statue; though some of the subordinate characters in the See also:play, including See also:Autolycus, were added by Shakespeare, together with the See also:pastoral fragrance of one of its episodes . In Greene's Never too Late (1590), announced as a " See also:Powder of Experience: sent to all youthfull gentlemen " for their benefit, the See also:hero, Francesco, is in all See also:probability intended for Greene himself, the sequel or second part is, however, pure fiction . This episodical narrative has a vivacity and truthfulness of manner which savour of an 18th See also:century novel rather than of an Elizabethan tale concerning the days of " Palmerin, King of Great See also:Britain." Philador, the prodigal of The See also:Mourning Garment (1590), is obviously also in some respects a portrait of the writer . The experiences of the Roberto of Greene's Groat'sworth of Wit (1592) are even more palpably the experiences of the author himself, though they are possibly overdrawn—for a born rhetorician exaggerates everything, even his own sins . Besides these and the See also:posthumous pamphlets on his repentance, Greene left realistic pictures of the very disreputable society to which he finally descended, in his pamphlets on " connycatching ": A Notable See also:Discovery of Coosnage (1591), The Blacke Bookes Messenger . Laying open the Life and Death of Ned See also:Browne, one of the most Notable Cut purses, Crossbiters, and Conny-catchers that ever lived in See also:England (1592) .

Phoenix-squares

Much in Greene's manner, both in his romances and in his pictures of See also:

low life, anticipated what proved the slow course of the actual development of the English novel; and it is probable that his true metier, and that which best suited the See also:bright See also:fancy, ingenuity and wit of which his See also:genius was compounded, was pamphlet-See also:spinning and story-telling rather than dramatic See also:composition . It should be added that, euphuist as Greene was, few of his contemporaries in their lyrics warbled See also:wood-notes which like his resemble Shakespeare's in their native freshness . Curiously enough, as Mr Churton See also:Collins has pointed out, Greene, except in the two pamphlets written just before his death, never refers to his having written plays; and before 1592 his contemporaries are equally silent as to his labours as a playwright . Only four plays remain to us of which he was indisputably the See also:sole author . The earliest of these seems to have been the Comicall See also:History of Alphonsus, King of Ar7agon, of which See also:Henslowe's See also:Diary contains no trace . But it can hardly have been first acted long after the production of See also:Marlowe's Tamburlaine, which had, in all probability, been brought on the See also:stage in 1587 . For this play, " comical " only in the negative sense of having a happy ending, was manifestly written in emulation as well as in direct imitation of Marlowe's tragedy . While Greene cannot have thought himself capable of surpassing Marlowe as a tragic poet, he very probably wished to outdo him in " business, " and to equal him in the rant which was sure to bring down at least part of the house . Alphonsus is a history proper—a dramatized See also:chronicle or narrative of warlike events . Its fame could never equal that of Marlowe's tragedy; but its composition showed that Greene could seek to See also:rival the most popular See also:drama of the See also:day, without falling very far See also:short of his See also:model . In the See also:Honourable History of Friar Bacon and Friar See also:Bungay (not known to have been acted before See also:February, 1592, but probably written in 1589) Greene once more attempted to emulate Marlowe; and he succeeded in producing a masterpiece of his own . Marlowe's See also:Doctor Faustus, which doubtless suggested the composition of Greene's comedy, reveals the mighty tragic genius of its author; but Greene resolved on an altogether distinct treatment of a cognate theme .

Interweaving with the popular tale of Friar Bacon and his wondrous doings a charming See also:

idyl (so far as we know, of his own invention), the story of See also:Prince See also:Edward's love for the See also:Fair Maid of Fressingfield, he produced a comedy brimful of amusing See also:action and genial fun . Friar Bacon remains a dramatic picture of English Elizabethan life with which The Merry Wives alone can See also:vie; and not even the ultra-classicism in the similes of its diction can destroy the naturalness which constitutes its perennial See also:charm . The History of Orlando Furioso, one of the Twelve Peeres of France has on unsatisfactory See also:evidence been dated as before 1586, and is known to have been acted on the 21st of February 1592 . It is a See also:free dramatic See also:adaptation of See also:Ariosto, See also:Harington's See also:translation of whom appeared in 1591, and who in one passage is textually quoted; and it contains a large variety of characters and a superabundance of action . Fairly lucid in arrangement and fluent in style, the treatment of the madness of Orlando lacks tragic See also:power . Very few dramatists from See also:Sophocles to Shakespeare have succeeded in subordinating the See also:grotesque effect of madness to the tragic; and Greene is not to be included in the See also:list . In The Scottish Historie of James IV . (acted 1592, licensed for publication 1594) Greene seems to have reached the See also:climax of his dramatic See also:powers . The " See also:historical " See also:character of this play is pure pretence . The story is taken from one of See also:Giraldi Cinthio's tales . Its theme is the illicit See also:passion of King James for the chaste See also:lady See also:Ida, to obtain whose hand he endeavours, at the See also:suggestion of a villain called Ateukin, to make away with his own wife . She escapes in doublet and See also:hose, attended by her faithful See also:dwarf; but, on her father's making war upon her husband to avenge her wrongs, she brings about a reconciliation between them .

Not only is. this well-constructed story effectively worked out, but the characters are vigorously drawn, and in Ateukin there is a See also:

touch of Iago . The fooling by Slipper, the See also:clown of the piece, is unexceptionable; and, lest even so the play should hang heavy on the See also:audience, its action is carried off by a " pleasant comedie "—i.e. a prelude and some dances between the acts—" presented by Oboram, King of Fayeries," who is, however, a very different See also:person from the See also:Oberon of . A Midsummer See also:Night's See also:Dream . See also:George-a-Greene the Pinner of See also:Wakefield (acted 1593, printed 1599), a delightful picture of English life fully worthy of the author of Friar Bungay, has been attributed to him; but the See also:external evidence is very slight, and the See also:internal unconvincing . Of the comedy of Fair Em, which resembles Friar Bacon in more than one point, Greene cannot have been the author; the question as to the priority between the two plays is not so easily solved . The conjecture as to his supposed See also:share in the plays on which the second and third parts of Henry VI. are founded has been already referred to . He was certainly See also:joint author with Thomas See also:Lodge of the curious drama called A Looking Glasse for London and England (acted in 1592 and printed in 1594)—a dramatic See also:apologue conveying to the living See also:generation of English-men the warning of See also:Nineveh's corruption and prophesied See also:doom . The See also:lesson was frequently repeated in the streets of London by the " Ninevitical motions " of the puppets; but there are both See also:fire and See also:wealth of See also:language in Greene and Lodge's See also:oratory . The comic See also:element is not absent, being supplied in abundance by See also:Adam, the clown of the piece, who belongs to the family of Slipper, and of Friar Bacon's servant, See also:Miles . . Greene's dramatic genius has nothing in it of the intensity of Marlowe's tragic muse; nor perhaps does he ever equal Peele at'' his best . On the other hand, his dramatic See also:poetry is occasionally ' animated with the breezy freshness which no artifice can simulate . He had considerable constructive skill, but he has created no character of commanding power—unless Ateukin be excepted; but his personages are living men and women, and marked out from one another with a vigorous but far from See also:rude hand .

His comic See also:

humour is undeniable, and he had the See also:gift of See also:light andgraceful See also:dialogue . His diction is overloaded with classical See also:ornament, but his versification is easy and fluent, and its See also:cadence is at times singularly sweet . He creates his best effects by the simplest means; and he is indisputably one of the most attractive of early English dramatic authors . Greene's dramatic See also:works and poems were edited by See also:Alexander See also:Dyce in 1831 with a life of the author . This edition was reissued in one See also:volume in 1858 . His See also:complete works were edited for the Huth Library by A . B . See also:Grosart . This issue (1881–1886) contains a translation of See also:Nicholas Storojhenko's monograph on Greene (See also:Moscow, 1878) . Greene's plays and poems were edited with introductions and notes by J . Churton Collins in 2 vols . (Oxford, 1905); the See also:general introduction to this edition has superseded previous accounts of Greene and his dramatic and lyrical writings .

An account of his pamphlets is to be found in J . J . See also:

Jusserand's English Novel in the Time of Shakespeare (Eng. trans., 1890) . See also W . Bernhardi, Robert Greenes Leben and Schriften (1874); F . M . See also:Bodenstedt, in 'Shakespeare's Zeitgenossen and ihre Werke (1858); and an introduction by A . W . See also:Ward to Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (Oxford, 1886, 4th ed., 1901) . (A . W .

End of Article: ROBERT GREENE (c. 1560-1592)
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