SOURCE: "Realism and Morality in 'Women Beware Women'," in Essays and Studies 1969, Vol. 22, edited by Francis Berry, John Murray, 1969, pp. 56-70.

In this essay, Ewbank assesses Women Beware Women, paying particular attention to the unity underlying what initially seems to be a loosely constructed mixture of realistic and moralistic elements. She stresses that the highly theatrical nature of Middleton's conception and execution, rather than heightening the unreality of the allegorical masque, actually integrates it into the realistically depicted intrigues of the play.

In this essay I wish to examine the unity of Thomas Middleton's Women Beware Women. The art of this play is a compound of realism and morality—a compound which has laid the play open to some fundamental criticisms. Middleton has been praised for the naturalism and psychological insight of the first three and a half acts, and reprimanded for (allegedly) betraying his own vision and...