The Fair Penitent (Annotated)

First performed in 1703, The Fair Penitent is Nicholas Rowe's celebrated reworking of Massinger and Field's The Fatal Dowry, transformed into a polished early eighteenth-century tragedy of passion, honour, and remorse. Centred on Calista, whose clandestine involvement with the libertine Lothario destroys her marriage prospects with Altamont and provokes fatal consequences, the play exemplifies the...