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The Tragedy Of Tragedies Or The Life And Death Of Tom Thumb The Great
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Manufacturer: Kessinger Publishing
Author: Henry Fielding
Publisher: Kessinger Publishing
Average Customer Rating:
Our Price: $12.44
You Save: $ 3.51 ( 22% )
Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Kessinger Publishing
Author: Henry Fielding
Publisher: Kessinger Publishing
Average Customer Rating:
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The Tragedy Of Tragedies Or The Life And Death Of Tom Thumb The Great Description
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9781419185632
ISBN: 1419185632
Label: Kessinger Publishing
Manufacturer: Kessinger Publishing
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 48
Publication Date: 2004-06-30
Publisher: Kessinger Publishing
Studio: Kessinger Publishing
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9781419185632
ISBN: 1419185632
Label: Kessinger Publishing
Manufacturer: Kessinger Publishing
Number Of Items: 1
Book Pages: 48
Publication Date: 2004-06-30
Publisher: Kessinger Publishing
Studio: Kessinger Publishing
Editorial Review of The Tragedy Of Tragedies Or The Life And Death Of Tom Thumb The Great
Customer Reviews of The Tragedy Of Tragedies Or The Life And Death Of Tom Thumb The Great
Customer Rating:
Review Summary: A Madcap Comedy Posing as Classical Tragedy - Delightful, Silly Plot
Review: One might infer from its title, The Tragedy of Tragedies, or The Life and Death of Tom Thumb the Great, that this play might not actually be drama of a dignified and serious character. If so, one would be entirely right. Henry Fielding's three-act, madcap comedy ridicules contemporary tragedies; simultaneously, its copious footnotes parody eighteenth century literary criticism. The courageous hero and killer of giants, the diminutive Tom Thumb, is beloved by all, even passionately so by the King's daughter, and the King's wife as well, and for that matter by a captive giantess too. His tragic death - swallowed by a bovine - has few parallels.
This play began as Tom Thumb in 1730, on stage for forty nights (a considerable run, as most plays in the eighteenth century were staged for only a few days). A year later Fielding released a revised version, now with the lengthy title The Tragedy of Tragedies, or The Life and Death of Tom Thumb the Great. It proved equally successful.
The characters include King Arthur, his wife Queen Dollallolla, their daughter the Princess Huncamunca, Tom Thumb, Lord Grizzle (rival to Tom Thumb), the giantess Glumdalca, the ghost of Gaffer Thumb, and various servants like Noodle, Doodle, and Foodle. Fielding describes Queen Dollallolla in the Dramatis Personae as wife to King Arthur, and mother to Huncamunca, a woman entirely faultless, saving that she is a little given to drink, a little too much of a virago towards her husband, and in love with Tom Thumb.
The Tragedy of Tragedies, or The Life and Death of Tom Thumb the Great is often found in anthologies of eighteenth century English plays. I recommend the Everyman edition, The Beggar's Opera and Other Eighteenth Century Plays, edited by David Lindsay (ISBN 0460873148).
Review Summary: A Madcap Comedy Posing as Classical Tragedy - Delightful, Silly Plot
Review: One might infer from its title, The Tragedy of Tragedies, or The Life and Death of Tom Thumb the Great, that this play might not actually be drama of a dignified and serious character. If so, one would be entirely right. Henry Fielding's three-act, madcap comedy ridicules contemporary tragedies; simultaneously, its copious footnotes parody eighteenth century literary criticism. The courageous hero and killer of giants, the diminutive Tom Thumb, is beloved by all, even passionately so by the King's daughter, and the King's wife as well, and for that matter by a captive giantess too. His tragic death - swallowed by a bovine - has few parallels.
This play began as Tom Thumb in 1730, on stage for forty nights (a considerable run, as most plays in the eighteenth century were staged for only a few days). A year later Fielding released a revised version, now with the lengthy title The Tragedy of Tragedies, or The Life and Death of Tom Thumb the Great. It proved equally successful.
The characters include King Arthur, his wife Queen Dollallolla, their daughter the Princess Huncamunca, Tom Thumb, Lord Grizzle (rival to Tom Thumb), the giantess Glumdalca, the ghost of Gaffer Thumb, and various servants like Noodle, Doodle, and Foodle. Fielding describes Queen Dollallolla in the Dramatis Personae as wife to King Arthur, and mother to Huncamunca, a woman entirely faultless, saving that she is a little given to drink, a little too much of a virago towards her husband, and in love with Tom Thumb.
The Tragedy of Tragedies, or The Life and Death of Tom Thumb the Great is often found in anthologies of eighteenth century English plays. I recommend the Everyman edition, The Beggar's Opera and Other Eighteenth Century Plays, edited by David Lindsay (ISBN 0460873148).