Thomas Middleton - TV Tropes

Thomas Middleton (1580-1627) was an English playwright and poet. The London-born son of a bricklayer who had become a wealthy man, Middleton spent much of his childhood watching lawyers fight over his inheritance after his father died. He attended Oxford University, but did not graduate.

Several of Middleton's works immediately proved controversial. His poem Microcynicon: Six Snarling Satires was burned by the church, his pamphlet Penniless Parliament of Threadbare Poets was the subject of a parliamentary inquiry and his final play, 1624's A Game At Chess, was banned in England, after a complaint from the Spanish ambassador. When A Game at Chess was banned the Privy Council reportedly took further action against Middleton himself. His punishment was never made public, but it's widely believed that he was banned from writing anything further.

In addition to his solo works, Middleton co-wrote several plays with other playwrights, most frequently Thomas Dekker and William Rowley. He's also believed to have co-written William Shakespeare's Timon of Athens and contributed some dialogue to Shakespeare's Macbeth.

Works by Thomas Middleton include:

Plays

• Anything For A Quiet Life
• The Bloody Banquet: Co-written with Thomas Dekker.
• Caesar's Fall: Believed to be completely lost.
• The Changeling
• A Chaste Maid In Cheapside
• The Chester Tragedy: Also referred to as Randal Earl of Chester. Believed to be completely lost.
• A Fair Quarrel
• A Game At Chess
• Hengist King Of Kent
• The Ladys Tragedy
• The Life of Timon of Athens: The play was originally credited solely to Shakespeare, but Middleton is now believed to have been his co-writer.
• Macbeth: Middleton is believed to have amended the Shakespeare play seven years after Shakespeare's death, as part of its initial publication in the First Folio. Middleton's exact changes are unconfirmed, but it's thought that he added more lines for the witches and inserted the character of Hecate. Two songs from Middleton's play The Witch (written several years after Macbeth debuted) are also reused. Many modern productions remove these elements again.
• A Mad World My Masters
• Measure for Measure: An updated version of Shakespeare's play. It's believed that Middleton amended it for a revival in 1621, five years after Shakespeare's death.
• Michaelmas Term
• More Dissemblers Besides Women
• The Nice Valour
• No Wit Like A Womans
• The Old Law: Co-written with William Rowley and Philip Massinger.
• The Patient Man And The Honest Whore: Co-written with Thomas Dekker
• The Phoenix
• The Puritan Widow
• The Revenger's Tragedy
• The Roaring Girl: Co-written with Thomas Dekker.
• The Spanish Gypsy
• A Trick To Catch The Old One
• The Viper And Her Brood
• The Widow
• Wit At Several Weapons
• The Witch
• Women Beware Women
• Your Five Gallants
• A Yorkshire Tragedy