Citizens, Gentry, and the Double Ending of Rowley and Middleton's A Fair Quarrel

Abstract

Studies of William Rowley and Thomas Middleton's A Fair Quarrel have overlooked the significance of the class identity of the characters to the play's structure. The play is often viewed through the lens of Middleton's satirical city comedies, even though most of it was written by Rowley whose more romantic comedies often celebrate the citizenry. This article examines the play's much-debated generic structure using Walter Cohen's and Lawrence Manley's methods of categorizing the London comedies of the period according to their representation of class divisions. It demonstrates that in its depiction of the interactions between citizens and gentry, A Fair Quarrel is rather more sympathetic toward the values that it attributes to citizens than those it attributes to the gentry. This attitude is especially apparent in the play's ending, which stages two forms of comic resolution in parallel, contrasting a climax that is harmonious and inclusive with another that is awkward and socially exclusive to the gentry.