SOURCE: “Is John Heywood's Play of the Weather really about the Weather?,” in Renaissance Drama, Vol. VII, 1964, pp. 11-19.

In the following essay, Bevington concentrates on the role played by Merry Report in Play of the Weather, concluding that the character is an “allowed fool,” “wisely exposing the insanity of supposedly sane men.”

To what extent is John Heywood's Play of the Weather about the weather? A modern reader approaches it first as a jeu d'esprit on a trivial subject, revealing the playwright's skill in mere ingenious debate and farfetched comic situations. Kenneth Cameron theorizes, on the other hand, that Heywood's intent is essentially political, and that the figure of Jupiter as peacemaker and judge among factions is an extended analogy to Henry VIII as governor of the realm.¹

Cameron's hypothesis raises several questions basic to a consideration of early Tudor drama. Is a topical interpretation valid? In...