Individual Summary

Source:
Demaray, John. Milton and the Masque Tradition: The Early Poems, "Arcades," & Comus.
Cambridge, Massachusettes: Harvard University Press, 1968.


The Oxford English Dictionary defines a masque as, “A form of courtly dramatic entertainment, often richly symbolic, in which music and dance played a substantial part, costumes and stage material tended to be elaborate, and the audience might be invited to contribute to the action or the dancing.” In the fourth chapter of Milton and the Masque Tradition, which is entitled “Comus is Invented”, Demaray goes into great depth discussing the difference between Milton’s Masque Comus, and other masques that had preceded it. The most involved comparison existed between Comus and an earlier masque entitled Tempe Restored (84). This connection is important because both masques concentrate on the idea of virtue, but each has a slightly different take on the subject (92). For Tempe Restored, the focus is on “heroic virtue,”as was the focus of many masques of that time (92). In Comus, on the other hand, Milton took the idea of virtue and expanded on it so that it not only encompassed heroic deeds, but also “virginity” and “chastity” (93). Milton used his version of virtue to stress that, “the virtuous man, living by the “holy dictate of spare Temperance”, can triumph “o’er sensual Folly and Intemperance”… (93-94).” Milton created a completely new spin on the idea of virtue, which greatly intrigued the Egerton Family, for which both Tempe Restored and Comus were produced (83).Even with all of its sprawling ideas though, Comus really did boil down to, “a masque invented and structured in a tradition and adapted to the needs of three children aged nine, eleven. And fifteen (96).”

Sheryl W.