SOURCE: "The Subplot," in The Two Noble Kinsmen and Its Beginnings, Institut Für Anglistik Und Amerikanistik der Universitat Salzburg, 1993, pp. 34-85.

In the essay that follows, Underwood analyzes the role of the Jailer's Daughter in The Two Noble Kinsmen and studies the significance of the subplot in relation to the main plot. Focusing on the sexual overtones of the subplot, Underwood maintains that through the Jailer's Daughter and her relationship with Palamon, the playwrights emphasize the play's theme of the interchangeability of wooers to the wooed.

It is interesting that one's first reactions to The Two Noble Kinsmen tend to be accurate, so far as they go, but limited. Few readers have seen the play produced. If you asked a first-time reader for a description of the structure of the play, you might get this hypothetical reply:

There are scenes of high life played off against scenes...