John Lyly Critical Essay | Joseph W. Houppert

Joseph W. Houppert

SOURCE: "Middle Plays," in John Lyly, Twayne Publishers, 1975, pp. 84-113.

In the excerpt below, Houppert provides a structural and thematic overview of Endimion.

Endimion is Lyly's comedy of ideas. Except for some antics, the play offers little action: Dipsas casts a spell, Eumenides journeys to a strange land, Endimion falls asleep, and Corsites is pinched black-and-blue by fairies. There is some slapstick and horseplay, but the comedy is basically an abstract drama which explores the relationships of five different groups of characters. The effect of love on human character provides the stimulus, and the analysis of love in five of its many faces forms the substance of the comedy. Endimion is by far the most lei-surely examination of love that the drama of the 1580's produced.

Endimion, a courtly lover, loves Cynthia, the Moon Goddess; Tellus, the Earth Goddess, loves Endimion; and Corsites, a plain soldier, loves Tellus. Around...
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