Body and Ritual in Farquhar

Authors

Derek Hughes, University of Warwick

Abstract

In lieu of an abstract, the first paragraph of the essay follows:

In the first incident in Farquhar's first play, the hero inspects and interprets a maimed body. Roebuck arrives, penniless, in England and meditates on possible ways to maintain himself. He considers robbery or soldiership, but is instantly deterred from the latter when a disabled ex-soldier enters, begging: "a glimpse of Damnation just as a Man is entering into sin, is no great policy of the Devil," he reflects (Love and a Bottle, 1.1.10-11).¹ But, after a comparative reading of his and the beggar's body, he concludes that the latter's may be better written: the bullet has given the beggar "a Debenter in thy broken Leg, from which thou canst draw a more plentiful maintenance than I from all my Limbs in perfection" (1.1.21-23).

Recommended Citation

Hughes, Derek (1997) "Body and Ritual in Farquhar," Comparative Drama: Vol. 31: Iss. 3, Article 4.
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/compdr/vol31/iss3/4