Thomas Dekker

English playwright

• Born: c. 1572
• Birthplace: London, England
• Died: August 1, 1632
• Place of death: London, England

An Elizabethan and Jacobean dramatist, Dekker was one of the most prolific and versatile playwrights of the late Renaissance and early seventeenth century. Working both alone and in collaboration, he wrote dramas that represented an unusual synthesis of romance, realism, and Christian morality.

Early Life

Though no documents have been found to corroborate the date or place of birth of Thomas Dekker, the fact that in 1632 Dekker mentioned being three score years old makes 1572 a plausible birth year, and there are references in his works to London as the place where he was born and bred. He must have had a Dutch heritage, for his surname is Dutch, and Dekker had a good knowledge of the Dutch language.

Dekker evidently attended an excellent grammar school, for he often quotes from Latin writers, and he demonstrates an easy familiarity with classical mythology, English history, European politics, and even economic theory. His knowledge of the Bible and his reverence for it, his consistently moral view of life, and his lifelong attachment to Anglicanism suggest all that his parents were faithful members of the Church of England. Dekker may have gone to sea after leaving grammar school, for his plays are filled with nautical terms. He probably married a woman named Mary in 1592 or 1593, and their first child may have been born in 1594. However, as far as verifiable history is concerned, Dekker’s public life began in January, 1598.

Life’s Work

One of the best sources of information about the seventeenth century theater is a business journal kept by Philip Henslowe, a theater owner and entrepreneur. On January 8, 1598, and again on January 15, Henslowe recorded payments to Dekker for writing the playPhaethon (pr. 1598). However, Dekker must have been writing for Henslowe for several years, for when the playwright was put in debtors’ prison in February, Henslowe loaned him the money for his release, as he would do again in January, 1599.

During this early period, Dekker wrote his most popular play, The Shoemaker’s Holiday: Or, The Gentle Craft (pr., pb. 1600), the story of a lowly shoemaker who becomes lord mayor of London. The Shoemaker’s Holiday shows Dekker at his best, writing a mixture of sentimental romance and realistic comedy. Although based on a narrative by Thomas Deloney, the text of The Shoemaker’s Holiday was altogether Dekker’s own invention. However, Henslowe’s playwrights were often expected to collaborate on their plays, sometimes with as many as four other writers. Henslowe’s records indicate that, writing alone or with others, Dekker was one of his most prolific playwrights. In 1602 alone, Dekker rewrote two old plays, composed two of his own, and collaborated on four more. Dekker was also an amazingly versatile writer: He could write tragedies of all varieties as easily as he turned out his realistic urban comedies, and he was as skilled in evoking the atmosphere of ancient Greece or of European courts as he was in depicting daily life in his beloved London.

Dekker was least adept at writing dramatic satire. Unfortunately, after 1600, when two companies of boy actors reappeared on the London stage, that became the genre most popular with London’s most sophisticated audiences. Those dramatists who excelled in satirical writing embraced the opportunity presented by satire’s rise in popularity, but before long dramatic competition and satiric writing proved a vitriolic combination. The satirists began openly to ridicule each other, and former friends became bitter enemies.

A feud between two such playwrights, Ben Jonson and John Marston, began the so-called War of the Theaters: Marston skewered Jonson in Histriomastix: Or, The Player Whipd (pr. 1599, pb. 1610), and Jonson returned fire in his Poetaster: Or, His Arraignment (pr. 1601, pb. 1602). The malicious delight of his audiences, in fact, caused Jonson to attack several of those who wrote for the popular theater, including Dekker, whom Jonson depicted in Poetaster as an ignorant, venal hack. Dekker responded by disparaging Jonson in his play Satiromastix: Or, The Untrussing of the Humourous Poet (pr. 1601, pb. 1602). Critics agree that Dekker’s work was inferior to that of Jonson, but in any case, the war ended, though it took some time for it to be forgotten.

When the theaters were closed in 1603 because of an outbreak of plague, playwrights had to seek other ways to make a living. Dekker and Ben Jonson were fortunate in that they were commissioned to write the speeches for a show in honor of the new monarch, King James I . Dekker’s contribution was published in 1604 as The Magnificent Entertainment Given to King James (pr. 1603, pb. 1604); Jonson’s work was published separately, probably because of their earlier antipathy. In order to support himself, at this time Dekker began writing prose tracts on moral and religious subjects. He would continue to do so for the remainder of his life.

Meanwhile, with the aid of Thomas Middleton, Dekker had written a play called The Honest Whore (pr., pb. 1604; now known as The Honest Whore, Part I), a moving story about the attempts of a prostitute to reform. That play and its sequel, The Honest Whore, Part II (pr. c. 1605, pb. 1630), are considered two of Dekker’s best works. Another of Dekker’s serious plays demonstrates both his commitment to his faith and his patriotism. The Whore of Babylon (pr. c. 1606-1607, pb. 1607) was written in the wake of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, a conspiracy by Roman Catholics to blow up both houses of Parliament and kill the royal family. Dekker portrays the conflict between Roman Catholicism and Anglican Protestantism as a clear case of a battle between good and evil.

After The Whore of Babylon, Dekker devoted four or five years to producing prose tracts. He took up drama again around 1610, producing three minor plays between 1610 and 1612. In 1612, he was commissioned to write the pageant for the annual inauguration of the new lord mayor of London. In 1613, however, Dekker was arrested for debt, and he spent the next seven years in prison. During his confinement, his wife, Mary, died.

By the time Dekker emerged from prison, romantic tragicomedy had become the fashion, inspired in part by William Shakespeare’s romance plays, such as Pericles, Prince of Tyre (pr. c. 1607-1608) and The Winter’s Tale (pr. c. 1610-1611). Dekker could not seem to master the new genre, however. Perhaps for that reason, during the last years of his life, he almost always worked in collaboration with others. When an outbreak of plague in 1625 again caused the theaters to be closed, Dekker returned to writing tracts. In 1627, he was again commissioned to write the pageant for the lord mayor’s inauguration. However, the fact that in both 1626 and 1628 this devout man was indicted for recusancy, or failure to attend services of the Church of England, suggests that he avoided public places for fear of being arrested for debt. Dekker died in August, 1632, leaving only debts to his second wife, Elizabeth. On August 25, he was buried in the parish of Saint James’s, Clerkenwell.

Significance

Although most critics agree that on occasion Dekker had problems with dramatic structure, he is admired for his skill in maintaining suspense by alternating tone from scene to scene, moving from sentiment to pathos to broad humor and back again. He also excelled in the use of language. He was as adept at writing lyrical speeches for his sentimental lovers as he was at reproducing the dialogue of comic characters from the streets of London.

Dekker is also important because, just when playwrights were becoming increasingly pessimistic, he maintained his belief that, with the grace of God, human beings could correct their moral flaws. Modern students of Renaissance literature have found in Dekker’s work not only the realistic picture of London life for which he has long been known but also an admirable seriousness, united with optimism, that links his work to the medieval morality play. As a result, after being largely neglected for centuries, this brilliant playwright began to achieve some level of serious recognition in the early twenty-first century.

Dekker’s Major Works

1599

• The Whole History of Fortunatus

1600

• The Shoemaker’s Holiday: Or, The Gentle Craft (based on Thomas Deloney’s narrative The Gentle Craft)

1600

• Patient Grissell (with Henry Chettle and William Haughton)

1601

• Satiromastix: Or, The Untrussing of the Humourous Poet

1602

• Sir Thomas Wyatt (pr. as Lady Jane)

1603

• The Magnificent Entertainment Given to King James (with Ben Jonson and Thomas Middleton)

1603

• The Wonderful Year

1604

• The Honest Whore, Part I (with Thomas Middleton)

1604

• Westward Ho! (with John Webster)

c. 1605

• The Honest Whore, Part II

1605

• Northward Ho! (with Webster)

1606

• The Double PP

1606

• The Seven Deadly Sins

1606

• News from Hell

c. 1606-1607

• The Whore of Babylon

1608

• The Bellman of London

1608

• Lanthorn and Candlelight (revised as O per se O, 1612; Villanies Discovered, 1616)

1609

• Four Birds of Noah’s Ark

1609

• The Gull’s Hornbook

1609

• A Work for Armourers

c. 1610

• The Roaring Girl: Or, Moll Cutpurse (with Middleton)

c. 1610-1612

• If This Be Not a Good Play, the Devil Is in It

c. 1611-1612

• Match Me in London

1620

• English Villanies, 1632, 1638, 1648)

1620

• Dekker, His Dream

c. 1620

• The Virgin Martyr (with Philip Massinger)

1621

• The Witch of Edmonton (with William Rowley and John Ford)

c. 1622-1631

• The Noble Soldier: Or, A Contract Broken, Justly Revenged (with John Day; thought to be the Same as The Spanish Fig, 1602)

c. 1623

• The Wonder of a Kingdom

1624

• The Sun’s Darling (with John Ford)

c. 1624

• The Welsh Embassador: Or, A Comedy in Disguises (revison of The Noble Soldier)

1631

• Penny-Wise, Pound-Foolish

Bibliography

Adler, Doris Ray. Thomas Dekker: A Reference Guide. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1983. The introduction to this useful book provides an excellent overview of Dekker criticism. Annotated bibliography and index.

Baston, Jane. “Rehabilitating Moll’s Subversion in The Roaring Girl.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 37 (1997): 317-336. A feminist critic argues persuasively that though it begins by challenging social norms, The Roaring Girl ends in acquiescence.

Champion, Larry S. Thomas Dekker and the Traditions of English Drama. American University Studies, Series IV, English Language and Literature 27. New York: Peter Lang, 1985. Contends that for stagecraft as well as content, Dekker should be ranked among the most important playwrights of his time. Bibliography and index.

Franssen, Paul. “Horace the Second: Or, Ben Jonson, Thomas Dekker, and the Battle for Augustan Rome.” In The Author as Character: Representing Historical Writers in Western Literature, edited by Paul Franssen and Ton Hoenselaars. Madison, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1999. A lucid explanation of the War of the Theaters, demonstrating how first Jonson, then Dekker, used the Roman writer Horace in verbal attacks on each other.

Gasper, Julia. The Dragon and the Dove: The Plays of Thomas Dekker. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1990. Focuses on how the political and religious history of the period is reflected in several of Dekker’s plays.

Hoy, Cyrus Henry. Introductions, Notes, and Commentaries to Texts in “The Dramatic Works of Thomas Dekker,” edited by Fredson Bowers. 4 vols. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1980. Contains close readings and useful annotations of all the plays.

McLuskie, Kathleen. Dekker and Heywood. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1994. Addresses such issues as the demands of the marketplace, the infuence of the new theatergoing elite, the question of gender, and the difference between the play as written and the play as staged.

Price, George R. Thomas Dekker. New York: Twayne, 1969. A thoroughly researched and well-written book on Dekker’s life, his dramatic and nondramatic works, and his religious and social thought. Includes chronology, notes, bibliography, and index.