SOURCE: Jordan, Robert. “Inversion and Ambiguity in The Maid's Last Prayer.” Restoration 15, no. 2 (fall 1991): 99-110.

In the following essay, Jordan proposes that The Maid's Last Prayer's “structural inconclusiveness may work as a deliberate image of its society's own inconsistencies and confusions.”

Since John Harrington Smith's vigorous advocacy in 1948, the reputation of Thomas Southerne's dark comedies, The Wives' Excuse and The Maid's Last Prayer, has risen spectacularly. These plays, which could be dismissed as worthless fifty years ago, are now frequently listed among the major comedies of their half century.¹ It is notable, however, that detailed study has been concentrated on The Wives' Excuse. This is unfortunate, since The Maid's Last Prayer is a work of considerable complexity, and if efforts to revalue it are to be justified, further detailed analysis is called for. The present article is offered as a contribution to that process of revaluation and...