John Fletcher

English playwright

• Born: December 1, 1579
• Birthplace: Rye, Sussex, England
• Died: August 1, 1625
• Place of death: London, England

John Fletcher was the leading playwright for the King’s Men theatrical company and the most widely imitated dramatist of the post-Shakespearean English theater. Along with Francis Beaumont, he introduced to the stage the genre of the tragicomedy, which attracted unprecedented numbers of elite spectators to London’s private theaters.

Early Life

John Fletcher came from a family of distinction, though details of his early life are few. Fletcher’s father, Richard Fletcher, had a successful ecclesiastical career, attaining the positions of dean of Peterborough, bishop of Bristol, bishop of Worcester, chaplain to Queen Elizabeth I (r. 1558-1603), and finally bishop of London. On February 8, 1587, Richard Fletcher, then dean of Peterborough, officiated at the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots (r. 1542-1567). He gained notoriety for the vehemence with which he harassed the undeterred Mary about her Catholic convictions, even when she was upon the scaffold. Little is known about John Fletcher’s mother, Elizabeth Fletcher.

John Fletcher’s extended family included a number of literary artists. Fletcher’s uncle, Giles Fletcher the Elder (c. 1548-1611), was both an envoy to Russia for Elizabeth I and a minor poet. Fletcher’s first cousins, Giles Fletcher the Younger (c. 1585-1623) and Phineas Fletcher (1582-1650), were both poets who, producing compositions heavily influenced by Edmund Spenser (c. 1552-1599), attained minor celebrity in Cambridge University circles.

On October 15, 1591, Fletcher was accepted as a student at Benet College (now known as Corpus Christi), Cambridge University. In 1593, Fletcher became a Bible clerk, but he does not seem to have pursued an ecclesiastical career with much earnestness. Though few details of his life in Cambridge are known, Fletcher clearly benefited from the university town’s vibrant literary scene. At some point after his father’s death in 1596, Fletcher moved to London.

Life’s Work

In London, Fletcher appears to have become part of the literary circle centered around the Mermaid Tavern, in Cheapside, London. Frequenters of the Mermaid included some of the key dramatists of the day, such as Ben Jonson and William Shakespeare . It was probably in this environment that Fletcher met Francis Beaumont (c. 1584-1616), with whom he would establish a highly successful partnership and, according to anecdotal accounts, a fast friendship. Beaumont and Fletcher’s names first appeared together in print in 1607, when each contributed commendatory verses for Ben Jonson’s Volpone: Or, The Fox (pr. 1605, pb. 1607).

Possibly the first publically produced work of which Fletcher was the sole author was a pastoral play, The Faithful Shepherdess (pr. c. 1608-1609, pb. c. 1610, corrected ed. 1629), probably performed by the Children of the Queen’s Revels at the Blackfriars Theatre , in London. Though there is no consensus as to when Fletcher began to collaborate with Beaumont, scholars see signs of Fletcher’s hand in The Woman Hater (pr. c. 1606, pb. 1607), an unsuccessful play performed by one of the troupes of boy actors at the Blackfriars. By 1609, the two playwrights seem to have been working together in earnest. Their first success was Philaster: Or, Love Lies a-Bleeding (pr. c. 1609, pb. 1620), an early tragicomedy. By 1611, the pair of playwrights, whose works were now being performed by the King’s Men company, had produced two more theatrical triumphs, The Maid’s Tragedy (pr. c. 1611, pb. 1619) and the tragicomical A King and No King (pr. 1611, pb. 1619).

In the preface to the first printed edition of The Faithful Shepherdess, Fletcher offers his definition of what he calls the new genre of tragicomedy, which became the primary offering at the private Blackfriars Theatre after its lease was acquired by Richard Burbage , the leading actor of the King’s Men. Beaumont and Fletcher’s tragicomedies featured exotic settings, upper-class protagonists, and highly romanticized plots designed to appeal to the Blackfriars audience, which consisted largely of the upper classes and the highly educated, as opposed to the largely lower middle class patrons of the public Globe Theatre.

In 1613, Beaumont married Ursula Isley, a wealthy heiress, and retired to the Kent countryside. Despite the fact that Beaumont wrote little after his marriage, numerous plays still carried his name as coauthor with Fletcher; evidently, the collaborators’ relationship was highly marketable. Though it is often difficult to assess authorship in the seventeenth century, in which collaboration seems to have been common, scholars have been able to identify the work of Fletcher through idiosyncrasies in his writing style, such as the very high percentage of end-stopped lines in the blank verse in which he regularly composed.

In 1613, Fletcher was selected as the successor to Shakespeare as the principal playwright for the King’s Men company. Fletcher seems to have been the sole author of some 10 plays in this period, including the tragicomedy The Mad Lover (pr. c. 1616, pb. 1647), the comedy The Wild Goose Chase (pr. 1621, pb. 1652), and the exoticized The Island Princess: Or, The Generous Portugal (pr. 1619-1621, pb. 1647). Among English playwrights of the seventeenth century, Fletcher stands as the most influenced by Spanish drama, as can be seen in his The Pilgrim (pr. 1621, pb. 1647).

Tragicomedies in the style Beaumont and Fletcher had introduced proved to be eminently popular, ensuring that Fletcher was constantly in demand. Fletcher typically composed with other playwrights during his final years. Around 1613, Fletcher seems to have collaborated with Shakespeare on Henry VIII (pr. 1613, pb. 1623) and The Two Noble Kinsmen (pr. c. 1612-1613, pb. 1634). The list of playwrights with whom Fletcher composed includes many of the leading dramatists of his time, such as Thomas Middleton , James Shirley , Nathan Field, John Ford, John Webster , and Ben Jonson.

However, Fletcher’s principal collaborator after the retirement of Beaumont was Philip Massinger (1583-1640), who also came from upper-class origins. Fletcher and Massinger composed at least twelve plays together, including the tragedy The Prophetess (pr. 1622, pb. 1647), tragicomedies such as The Custom of the Country (pr. c. 1619-1620, pb. 1647), and the romantic comedy The Beggar’s Bush (pr. before 1622, pb. 1647). Fletcher and Massinger continued to use the exotic settings, extravagant plots, and romantic language with which Beaumont and Fletcher had won over the well-heeled patrons of the Blackfriars Theatre.

Sometime in August of 1625, Fletcher died of the plague. He was buried in Saint Saviour’s, in Southwark, London, on August 29, 1625.

Significance

Fletcher stands as one of the key figures of seventeenth century drama, having been the leading force behind the explosion in popularity of plays performed in London’s private theaters. In partnership with Beaumont, Fletcher produced plays that spoke in the idiom of wealthy and educated theater patrons, spurring the King’s Men acting company to shift its primary venue from the Globe to the Blackfriars Theatre.

Besides having introduced the highly successful genre of tragicomedy, Fletcher is responsible for a considerable canon of drama. Working alone or in collaboration, Fletcher had a hand in some fifty plays, including perhaps fifteen of which he was the sole author. Fletcher also introduced elements of Spanish literature to English playwrights by turning to sources such as the playwright Lope de Vega Carpio.

Numerous playwrights imitated Fletcher’s penchant for exotic settings, farcical situations, and aristocratic protagonists speaking in highly romanticized language. Fletcherian tragicomedy thus became the preeminent style that shaped English drama in the decades after Shakespeare’s period.

Fletcher’s Major Works

c. 1604

• The Woman’s Prize: Or, The Tamer Tamed

c. 1606

• The Woman Hater (with Francis Beaumont)

c. 1608-1609

• The Faithful Shepherdess

1608-1610

• The Coxcomb (with Beaumont)

c. 1609

• Philaster: Or, Love Lies A-Bleeding (with Beaumont)

c. 1609-1612

• The Captain (with Beaumont)

1609-1614

• Bonduca

1610-1614

• Valentinian

1610-1616

• Monsieur Thomas

1611

• A King and No King (with Beaumont)

c. 1611

• The Maid’s Tragedy (with Beaumont)

c. 1611

• The Night Walker: Or, The Little Thief

1612

• Cupid’s Revenge (with Beaumont)

c. 1612

• Four Plays, or Moral Representations, in One (commonly known as Four Plays in One) (with Beaumont)

c. 1612-1613

• The Two Noble Kinsmen (with William Shakespeare)

1613

• Henry VIII (with Shakespeare)

1613

• The Masque of the Inner Temple and Grayes Inn (with Beaumont)

c. 1614

• Wit Without Money

1615-1616

• The Scornful Lady (with Beaumont)

1616?

• Love’s Pilgrimage

c. 1616

• The Mad Lover

1616?

• The Nice Valour: Or, The Passionate Madman

1616-1617

• The Queen of Corinth

1616-1618

• The Knight of Malta

c. 1617

• The Chances

1617?

• The Tragedy of Thierry, King of France, and His Brother Theodoret (commonly known as Thierry and Theodoret) (with Beaumont)

1618

• The Loyal Subject

1619

• The Humourous Lieutenant

1619

• Sir John van Olden Barnavelt (with Philip Massinger)

c. 1619-1620

• The Custom of the Country (with Massinger)

1619-1621

• The Island Princess: Or, The Generous Portugal

1619-1623

• The Little French Lawyer (with Massinger)

1619-1623

• Women Pleased (pb. 1647)

c. 1620

• The False One (with Massinger)

c. 1621

• The Double Marriage (with Massinger)

1621

• The Pilgrim

1621

• The Wild-Goose Chase

before 1622

• The Beggars Bush (with Massinger)

1622

• The Prophetess (with Massinger)

1622

• The Sea Voyage

1622

• The Spanish Curate (with Massinger)

1623

• The Lover’s Progress (revised by Massinger, 1634)

1623

• The Maid in the Mill (with William Rowley)

1624

• Rule a Wife and Have a Wife

1624

• A Wife for a Month

1625

• The Elder Brother (with Massinger)

1626

• The Fair Maid of the Inn (with Massinger?)

1647

• Wit at Several Weapons (possibly with Beaumont)

Bibliography

Bowers, Fredson, ed. The Dramatic Works in the Beaumont and Fletcher Canon. Vol. 9. New York: University of Cambridge Press, 1994. Part of a ten-volume collection of critical editions of works assigned to Beaumont and Fletcher in 1679, this volume focuses on plays composed with Massinger, Fletcher’s key collaborator in his later years.

Cone, Mary. Fletcher Without Beaumont: A Study of the Independent Plays of John Fletcher. Salzburg, Austria: Insitut für Englische Sprache und Literatur, Universität Salzburg, 1976. Offers in-depth analysis of works often attributed to the sole authorship of Fletcher, highlighting his influences both from English and Spanish drama.

Glover, Arnold, and Alfred Rayney Walker, eds. The Works of Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher. Vol. 1. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1905. First of a ten-volume series. This volume presents editions of Beaumont and Fletcher’s first major successes, including Philaster and A King and No King.

Masten, Jeffrey. Textual Intercourse: Collaboration, Authorship, and Sexualities in Renaissance Drama. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Analysis of the cultural context for collaborative composition in early modern dramatic circles. Includes detailed analysis of Fletcher’s interactions with Beaumont and with Massinger.

Shakespeare, William, and John Fletcher. The Two Noble Kinsmen. 2d ed. Edited by Eugene M. Waith. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. Includes an extensive introduction to the play, with an emphasis on the process of collaborative composition and on the question of determining relative authorship. Includes a full and annotated text of the play.

Squier, Charles S. John Fletcher. Boston: Twayne, 1986. Biography of Fletcher that sets his works in the socio-historical context of Early Modern drama. Includes bibliographical data.