SOURCE: "Heroic Passion in the Early Tragicomedies of Beaumont and Fletcher," in Medieval & Renaissance Drama in England, Vol. I, 1984, pp. 109-30.

In the following essay, Turner examines The Faithful Shepherdess, Philaster, and A King and No King in light of tragicomic depictions of heroism and "extravagant passion."

In The Faithful Shepherdess (ca. 1608), Philaster (ca. 1609), and A King and No King (ca. 1611), Beaumont and Fletcher create their distinctive tragicomic effects by holding up for admiration characters who act with passionate disregard for the dictates of reason. Their intense passions impart an outsized—one could say heroic—dimension to them, but a heroism that lies more in desires than in deeds. This is not to say that these characters are unwilling to act; they are all too willing to lay their lives on the line for what they believe to be matters of life or death. So frequently do they...