SOURCE: "The Tragedies," in Thomas Middleton, Longman Group, Ltd., 1979, pp. 23-45.

In the following excerpt, Mulryne considers The Changeling to be one of the most powerful tragic works of its era.

Middleton wrote The Changeling in collaboration with William Rowley, the actor and playwright. The collaboration must have been especially close, for the division of work accepted by most scholars gives Rowley not only the sub-plot—where his talents as a writer of comedy are particularly called on—but also the play's opening and closing scenes (and a short passage in Act IV, scene ii). It has usually been assumed that Middleton as the better-known dramatist deserves much of the credit for the tragedy's success, and certainly his long-practised skill as a contriver of plots, and his ability to render in dialogue the inner life of his characters, must have contributed in a major way to the play's...