Act 2, Scene 4 Summary

The Gossips bicker over who is higher in the social ranking, which determines the order of the procession to the church. They suggest that Maudlin should go first but she refuses. The two Puritan women tell them to stop their quarreling. It does not matter who goes before or behind, they say; in the eyes of God, all are equal.

Act 2, Scene 4 Analysis

It was not uncommon for Middleton to satirize the Puritans in his plays. In this scene, he takes the opportunity to mock the Puritans' hypocrisy when they state that all people are equal. Puritans did not view all people as equal; they were considered the most zealous group in the Protestant movement and, as their name implied, sought to be the purest and to impose their lifestyle on others. For example, the Puritans considered the theatrical community to...