The Roaring Girl
by Thomas Dekker, Thomas Middleton

Name: The Roaring Girl
Brand: Thomas Dekker
SKU: 9780713668131
Rating: 3.4 (1294 reviews)

The Roaring Girl Book Cover — The Roaring Girl Cover

Highlights

British

What readers are saying

Readers love the vibrant character of Moll and the unique take on Renaissance drama. Many appreciate its fresh perspective away from typical Shakespearean works, though some find it less engaging than Shakespeare's plays. Overall, it garners attention for its fun narrative and historical relevance.

Strong and cunning main characterFun and fantastic dramaFresh perspective on Renaissance dramaSome find it boring compared to Shakespeare

Synopsis

This Jacobean city comedy is a curiosity in that it presents a real-life character, the notorious cross-dresser Moll Frith, who probably was among the first audiences of 'her' play before she was taken up for public misconduct.

Middleton and Dekker's 'roaring girl' may outrage her society with her pipe, bluster and swagger, but she turns out to be the moral centre of the play.

Her code of honour leads her to call the bluff on rogues and conspicuous consumers, to thrash a hypocritical gallant in a duel, and to act as go-between for the young lovers thwarted by parental tyranny.

This wry dramatisation of female deviancy exposing male ineffectuality is as much to the point today as it was in King James's England.

An appendix helps the modern reader to appreciate the canting terms used by the low-life characters.