Ben Jonson, Epicene, or, The Silent Woman

Amritesh Singh (University of York)

Ed. by William M. Hamlin, Washington State University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.03: English Writing and Culture: Renaissance (Elizabethan and Jacobean periods) , 1485-1625.
Vol. editors: William M. Hamlin (Washington State University), J A Roe (University of York), Virginia Mason Vaughan (Clark University), Ema Vyroubalova (Trinity College Dublin)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1609 - 1610

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Comedy
Play

Resources

Ben Jonson’s Epicene, or The Silent Woman was first performed either in December 1609 or January 1610 by the Children of Her Majesty’s revels in the Whitefriars, a new private playhouse. This makes it one of the first plays to be performed upon the reopening of London theatres after their closure in June 1608 “by reason of the sickness [an epidemic of plague]” (1.1.176-77). Along with Volpone (1606), The Alchemist (1610), and Bartholomew Fair (1614), scholars regard Epicene as one of Jonson’s most compelling and vibrant comedies. This critical consensus echoes contemporary sentiments as expressed in this anonymous couplet:

The Fox, The Alchemist, and Silent Woman,
Done by Ben Jonson and outdone by no man.

Epicene’s plot centers on Sir Dauphine Eugenie’s connivances to wrest his inheritance out of his bilious and querulous elderly...

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1485 words

Citation: Singh, Amritesh. "Epicene, or, The Silent Woman". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 24 September 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5341, accessed 09 June 2026.]

Ben Jonson, Epicene, or, The Silent Woman

Dates

Places

Genres and Modes

Resources

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