Every Man in His Humour

Every Man in His Humour
Name	Every Man in His Humour
Caption	Title page of the 1601 quarto
Writer	Ben Jonson
Premiere	1598
Place	London
Language	Early Modern English
Genre	Comedy

Every Man in His Humour is a late sixteenth-century English comedy by Ben Jonson associated with the Elizabethan stage. The play was performed in London and became notable in discussions alongside works by William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, and Thomas Kyd for its representation of city life and humoral theory. Its reputation has been shaped through interactions with institutions such as the Globe and Blackfriars theatres and through the advocacy of playwrights and critics including Philip Henslowe, Edward Alleyn, and later editors like Edmond Malone.

Background and Composition

Jonson composed the play during the 1590s amid literary activity involving figures such as William Shakespeare, Richard Burbage, and John Heminges. Influences can be traced to classical authors translated and expounded by scholars including Horace, Juvenal, and Galen, and to contemporary humanists like John Dee and Thomas Nashe. The London theatrical milieu connected Jonson with playhouses such as the Curtain and the Rose, and with patrons including the Earl of Southampton and the Lord Chamberlain's Men. Legal, civic, and courtly networks—represented by the Privy Council, the Stationers' Company, and the Inns of Court—shaped production conditions and the circulation of printed quartos under printers like Richard Tyrell and publishers tied to the Stationers' register.

Characters and Plot

The dramatis personae include urban figures drawn from stock types prominent in comedies staged by troupes such as the Admiral's Men and by performers like Will Kempe and Robert Armin. Principal characters interact in London settings evocative of locations such as Cheapside, St. Paul's, and the Strand, and their exchanges reflect contemporary references to social actors like aldermen, mercers, and goldsmiths. The plot interweaves subplots of deception, romantic pursuit, and financial folly, with scenes that recall episodes familiar to audiences who frequented plays by Thomas Middleton, John Lyly, and George Peele. Comic episodes hinge on social encounters similar to those found in texts performed at the Rose and the Fortune.

Themes and Style

Jonson's comedy mobilizes theories associated with physicians and philosophers such as Galen and Hippocrates alongside civic concerns to explore temperament, hypocrisy, and reputation; such themes resonate with intellectual currents championed by figures like Francis Bacon and Robert Burton. Stylistically, the play employs classical devices admired by humanists including Erasmus and Petrarch, while drawing on vernacular traditions illustrated in works by Chaucer and Gavin Douglas. Its satirical mode connects to pamphleteers like Thomas Dekker and booksellers of the Stationers' Company, and it engages with debates that preoccupied jurists and moralists such as Sir Edward Coke and Sir Thomas More.

Performance History

First staged in the late 1590s, the play was associated with companies and venues including the Lord Chamberlain's Men, the Globe, and later the King's Men under royal patents. Early performances involved actors and managers such as Richard Burbage, William Kemp, and James Burbage, and the play's staging practices reflected contemporary scenography found at the Curtain and Blackfriars. Revivals in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries occurred in contexts shaped by the Restoration theaters, impresarios like Colley Cibber, and repertory decisions influenced by theatre managers in Dublin and provincial houses. Nineteenth- and twentieth-century productions engaged directors and scholars including William Poel, Harley Granville-Barker, and Peter Hall, and intersected with institutions such as the Royal Shakespeare Company and academic programs at Oxford and Cambridge.

Critical Reception and Influence

Critical responses have involved commentators such as Samuel Johnson, Edmund Malone, and Alexander Pope, while scholarly debates have been advanced by editors and critics including A. C. Bradley, E. K. Chambers, and C. H. Herford. The play influenced comic realism in later dramatists like Richard Brinsley Sheridan and Oliver Goldsmith and informed neoclassical readings by figures such as Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Its satirical strategies were taken up in pamphlets and periodicals produced in London print-culture circles involving printers like John Wolfe and later bibliographers such as Joseph Hunter. Modern criticism has linked Jonson's methods to theories elaborated by Mikhail Bakhtin, Erving Goffman, and Northrop Frye in comparative literature and theatre studies.

Textual Variants and Editions

Surviving texts exist in multiple quartos and in collected editions such as the folios associated with publishers and editors including Robert Allot and William Stansby. Editorial histories involve scholarly interventions by Isaac Reed, William Gifford, and C. H. Herford, and bibliographic work has been conducted by organizations like the Early English Text Society and librarians at the British Library and Bodleian Library. Textual criticism has addressed issues of authorial revision, performance corruption, and emendation practices reflected in printings overseen by the Stationers' Company and in archival materials preserved in holdings related to the National Archives and private collections.

Category:Plays by Ben Jonson