The Performing Heir in Jonson's Jacobean Masques

Abstract

When the Prince of Wales, in the film version of Alan Bennett's 7The Madness of King George, pleads something to do, his father replies: Follow in my footsteps, that's what you should do.'I In Prince Henry's Barriers (1610), Ben Jonson presents the young heir to the throne with similar advice: Henry should imitate an earlier prince who acted his father rather than himself. In battle, Prince Edward had captured a plume [flrom the Bohemian crown, which plume for his crest he did preserve / To his father's use with this fit word: I serve.2 This motto and what it represents-the son's virtuous actions undertaken the credit of the father-may serve as an emblem the masques Jonson wrote performance by Henry and, after Henry's death, by Charles. One of the messages encoded in these masques is the voluntary subservience of the future monarch to the reigning monarch. Young Charles was noted, in particular, his filial obedience. In that Jonson's masques succeed in capturing this virtue, they clearly reflect the perspective of Henry and Charles, Jonson's patrons these masques. On the other hand, James perceived the father-son relationship in terms of filial obedience in response to paternal love. That expressions of affection are absent from the masques perhaps indicates the demands of decorum, but also corresponds with records of Charles's insecurity in his relationship with his father, suggesting that he intended, in his early masques, to seek recognition and approval. Later, as Charles became more independent and James more ill, the masques retain the theme of obedience, while omitting not only love but also any hint of familial relationship.