SOURCE: Nason, Arthur Huntington. “The Cardinal.” In James Shirley, Dramatist, pp. 344-61. New York: Arthur H. Nason, 1915.

In the following excerpt, Shirley's early twentieth-century biographer, Arthur Nason describes The Cardinal as a romantic tragedy and one of the playwright's best works, noting especially the strength of Shirley's character development, particularly in the female lead role.

Foremost among the later plays of Shirley, and among the greatest that Shirley ever wrote, is The Cardinal, licensed November 25, 1641. In plot, this romantic tragedy is a struggle between the duchess Rosaura on the one hand and the cardinal on the other: the duchess being supported by a colonel named Hernando, and the cardinal being in alliance with his nephew Don Columbo. Opening in a struggle concerning the marriage of the duchess, the play concludes as a struggle for revenge.

The cardinal, for the strengthening of his own power, has persuaded the king...