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The Triumph of Beauty


The Triumph of Beauty is a Caroline era masque, written by James Shirley and first published in 1646. The masque shows a strong influence of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

The plot of the masque draws upon one of the most famous tales of Greek mythology, the Judgement of Paris; Shirley derives some material from the Dialogues of Lucian. (Shirley had previously used the same subject matter in the masque in Act V of his 1640 play The Constant Maid.) The cast includes all the principals of the story, with the divinities occurring in their Roman versions: Paris, Juno, Venus, and Pallas all appear, along with Mercury, Cupid, Hymen, the Graces, the Hours, and a personified Delight. (The three Hours, Eunomia, Dike and Eirene, also appear in Shirley's The Triumph of Peace.) The figures of the anti-masque are seven shepherds, Bottle, Crab, Clout, Toadstool, Shrub, Scrip, and Hobbinoll; as a group they resemble the comic Athenians in Shakespeare's Dream, with Bottle as Shirley's version of Bottom. The scene is set at Mount Ida, in keeping with the traditional story; the masque ends with Venus's victory in the contest of beauty, and makes no mention of the ensuing events (that is, the Trojan War).


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