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Endymion

Prologue

The play begins with a prologue originally made for a performance before Queen Elizabeth I. It asks the audience to excuse anything that might be seen as foolish fancy and asserts the fiction of the narrative.

ACT I

The play begins with Endymion and Eumenides in conversation. Endymion tells his friend, "My thoughts, Eumenides, are stitched to the stars" (I.i.5-6), Eumenides, confused, presses him further, and Endymion says Moon has become the object of his infatuation, and Eumenides becomes seriously concerned that his friend has gone mad. Finally, Endymion clarifies, he is in love with Cynthia. (Quote Act I.i.68-75? bizarre, sexually explicit, mentions "ravishing" Cynthia??). Eumenides is astonished at Endymion's ebullient proclamations of love; he decides his friend is bewitched and needs to be closely watched.

Next, Tellus and Floscula have a parallel conversation about Endymion; he has pivoted away from Tellus in his growing obsession with the Queen. Tellus is distraught, but Floscula warns her mistress that the cause is hopeless, and if she considers herself next to Cynthia, she would give up, "being between you and her no comparison," (I.ii.18) she should instead "wonder than rage at the greatness of his mind, being affected with a thing more than mortal" (I.ii.19). She warns Tellus that Cynthia's power is absolute, and advises her to leave Endymion to his love. Tellus becomes more enraged and announces her intentions to use any means necessary to appease her broken heart and avenge herself on Endymion. In the final scene of this act, Tellus meets with Dipsas, the sorceress, who explains the while she cannot "rule hearts" (I.iv.27), she can make Endymion's love less ardent for a time.

In the meantime, Sir Tophas--a pompous, foolish knight--is introduced and provides comic relief in a witty repartee with the pages of Endymion and Eumenides. Because the play was originally performed by a cast of young boys and one adult player, this scene is notable because the dialogue comically alludes to this disparity:

"Now my pretty companions, you shall see how unequal you be to me.but I will not cut you quite off; you shall be my half friends, for, reaching my middle, so far as from the ground to the waist I will be your friend. (I.iii.33-35)

II

Tellus confronts Endymion, and forces him to admit that his love for her has waned, and that he loves Cynthia. In this scene, it is stated that Cynthia is an unchanging virgin queen, a woman--not an immortal goddess, she is like "Vesta" and "Venus," however, ". . .Immortal? . . . No, but incomparable" (II.i.89-98). This description is parallel with depictions of Elizabeth I throughout her reign, and links the fictional figure to the queen.

Dipsas and her assistant, Bagoa, secretly follow Endymion and listen to him as he laments his love of the unattainable Cynthia as well as his his dismissal of the worthy Tellus. He then falls asleep, and Dipsas bewitches his slumber so that he will not wake.

Immediately after this scene, a dumbshow is performed in which three ladies enter, one makes as though to kill Endymion, but is stopped. Then, an old man enters with a book; he offers it three times to Endymion, who refuses twice and takes it on the third attempt. This scene is explained as a dream sequence at the end of the play.

III

Cynthia learns of Endymion's sleep. She discusses this with Eumenides, Tellus, Semele, and three other lords (Corsites, Zontes, and Panelion). During this conversation, Tellus offends Cynthia by contradicting her judgement of Endymion. Cynthia, in a rage, commands Corsites to take Tellus to the dessert, where she will be imprisoned for her impudence. While they travel, however, Corsites falls in love with Tellus.

Cynthia sends Eumenides, Zantes and Panelion to Thessaly, Greece, and Egypt to find a cure for Endymion. Eumenides, in Thessaly, finds a magic fountain that shows him how to save his friend.

Sir Tophas again appears and now proclaims his love for the hideous sorceress, Dipsas, whose decrepit body and unfavorable nature make her a perfect match in his eyes.

IV

The final acts of the play appear to occur after a span of 20-40 years--the entire time that Endymion sleeps.

Tellus remains imprisoned and is required to weave a giant tapestry. Playing on Corsites' love, she convinces him to go to Endymion and bring him back to her. She reveals to the audience that this is an impossible task, but it will take Corsites away from her for a while, and she explains that this tactic is sometimes necessary for women,

"Otherwise we should be cumbered with importunities, oaths, sighs, letters, and all implements of love, which, to one resolved to the contrary, are most loathsome." (IV.ii.84-88)

Corsites goes to Endymion and finds that it is impossible to lift or move the sleeping body, it does, however, call up four wrathful fairies who pinch and torture him for touching Endymion. The fairies chase him off stage, and Cynthia enters accompanied by the lords returned from Greece and Egypt. They have brought Pythagoras, the mathematician and philosopher, and a soothsayer named Gyptes to help. Corsites returns, covered in welts, and explains that Tellus tricked him.

The scene ends with both Gyptes and Pythagoras thwarted by Endymion's spell--they believe that until the witch responsible dies, nothing can be done.

V

Eumenides finally returns with information: Cynthia must kiss the sleeping man and he will awake. The prophecy works, and Endymion comes back to life, though he has aged significantly. He initially barely recognizes anyone except for Cynthia.

He describes his dream: a beautiful woman appeared to him, holding a knife and a looking-glass, she wanted to cut his throat, but her wrathful image in the glass was so repulsive she stopped herself. She is accompanied by two women, one sorrowful and one malicious. The vision of the woman overcoming her anger was so beautiful to Endymion he wished he could have "enjoyed that sight without end" (V.i.108-109). He then says an old man appeared and offered him a book. Inside was a image of wolves threatening Cynthia, but they destroyed themselves. Treachery and Envy appeared as figures in the background, and Endymion believes the dream is about the dangers of Cynthia's courtly enemies.

During a humorous scene where Sir Tophas expounds on his love for Dipsas, Endymion's page Dares tells him that Bagoa has revealed Dipsas and Tellus' plot against Endymion, and the sorceress has turned her into a tree in revenge.

Dipsas and Tellus, exposed for their malicious actions are called to account. Tellus begs forgiveness and explains that Endymion's wavering love made her so unhappy she became mad, and acted against her true nature. Dipsas says that she regrets bewitching Endymion over all her other misdeeds.

Endymion explains that feelings for Cynthia chaste and sanctified, no one is higher in his affection, but he does not love her romantically. In response, Cynthia grants him her favor, and this blessing transforms him back into a young man. Because Endymion is restored, Tellus is forgiven, and happily agrees to marry Corsites, who still loves her, in exchange for forgiveness. Semele and Eumenides are coupled, and Dipsas repents--she returns to her estranged husband Geron, and promises to abandon witchcraft. Cynthia tells Bagoa, still a tree, to become human and she is also restored. Gyptes and Pythagoras, amazed at all they've seen in this land, decide to stay in Cynthia's court for a little longer. All follow Cynthia offstage, and all seems happily resolved.

Epilogue

The final section of the play contains a fable about "A man walking abroad" and two elements competing for "sovereignty" over him in a show of strength: the wind tries to tear the man's coat from his body, while the sun simply warms him, and he voluntarily removes the coat (epilogue.1-10). Lyly's fable, like the prologue, is a direct address to Queen Elizabeth, and suggests that control is gained more easily with warmth than with violence. The next lines explain,

"Dread sovreign, the malicious that seek to overthrow us with threats do but stiffen our thoughts . . . But if your Highness vouchsafe with your favorable beams to glance upon us, we shall not only stoop, but with all humility lay both our hands and hearts at your feet." (Epilogue. 11-15).

This directly applies the narrative of the fable to the behavior of the queen it addresses, and suggests that the action of the play is also intended for her education and benefit.

Sources

"As the title indicates, the play references the mythical story of Endymion, but the narrative deviates sharply. In the myth, Endymion loves the Moon goddess Selene, not a human. Cynthia is another name for Selene, as well as an epithet for the goddess Artemis. This change in immortal status allows the Cynthia of the play to act as an allegorical stand-in for Queen Elizabeth, who was often represented as a moon goddess in popular imagery."

"Lyly also seems to have borrowed some of the dialogue between the Moon and Venus written by Lucian. Elements in the comic subplot derive from the Italian Commedia dell'arte and the classical Latin comedy of Plautus and Terence."