Question

The widow's tears

Accepted Answer

The Widow's Tears is an early Jacobean era play, a comedy written by George Chapman. It is often considered the last of Chapman's comedies, and sometimes his most problematic, "the most provocative and the most paradoxical of any of his dramatic works."

Date
The play is universally dated to sometime in the first decade of the 17th century, based on all the available data. Many scholars favor the year 1605; leading Chapman scholar T. M. Parrott assigned it to the winter of 1605–6. Critics have seen the parody of incompetent justice in the play's final scene as Chapman's response to his imprisonment over the Eastward Ho scandal of 1605 — though E. K. Chambers demured on this point, suggesting that "It would be equally sound to argue that this is just the date when Chapman would have been most careful to avoid criticism of this kind." Chambers and others have given a dating range of 1603–9.

Widow's Tears Chapman's Date Chapman Chambers Early Jacobean