The False Friend; or, the Fate of Disobedience

The False Friend; or, the Fate of Disobedience is a she-tragedy written by Mary Pix, and first performed at Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1699.[1] The play is a reworking of William Shakespeare's Othello.[2]

For the John Vanbrugh play, see The False Friend (Vanbrugh play).
The False Friend; or, the Fate of Disobedience
Written byMary Pix
Date premiered1699
Place premieredLincoln's Inn Fields
Original languageEnglish
GenreShe-tragedy

Plot

The Spanish Emilius has secretly married the French Louisa. The play begins with their safe arrival in Sardinia, where Emilius' father is the Viceroy.

Appamia (Emilius' foster-sister) is also in love with Emilius, and is shocked to hear of his marriage. She hopes to make the couple doubt each other's fidelity, and when this doesn't work, she tricks Emilius into giving Louisa poison. As Louisa convulses in agony, Appamia's plot is revealed to all. A distraught Emilius kills himself, and Louisa dies immediately afterwards. Appamia is taken into custody.

Portrayal of Appamia

Jacqueline Pearson argues that Pix treats Appamia and her desires 'with deep sympathy "...as a result of Pix's sympathy for Appamia - the central emotional pivot, I think, of the play - the character is modeled not only on the evil Iago but also on the heroic Othello".[2] Unlike Shakespeare's Iago, Appamia ultimately repents of her actions, and through her final words, Pix gives the audience a moral message:

"Let me for ever Warn my Sex, and fright 'em from the thoughts of

Black Revenge, from being by Violent Passions

Sway'd. Murder! And am I the cause? Fall Mountains

On this Guilty Head, and let me think no more."[3]

Appamia is closely linked to the Greek mythological figure of Medea: at one point, she explicitly compares herself to Medea; both women murdered their love-rivals with an extremely painful poison.[4] K. Heavey writes that Pix "recognised the dramatic and pathetic potential of a comparison between Medea and a scorned woman".[4]

References
  1. Nicoll, Allardyce (2009). A History of English Drama, 1660-1900 (Volume 2). Cambridge University Press. p. 96.
  2. Katherine M. Quincey (ed), Jacqueline Pearson (1996). "Blacker than Hell Creates: Pix Rewrites Othello". Broken Boundaries: Women and Feminism in Restoration Drama. Univ. Press of Kentucky. pp. 15, 25. ISBN 0813119456. OCLC 715868441.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  3. Pix, Mary, 1666-1720. The false friend, or The fate of disobedience : a tragedy, as it is acted at the new theatre in Little Lincolns-Inn-Fields. OCLC 933138396.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. Heavey, K (2015). The Early Modern Medea: Medea in English Literature, 1558–1688. Springer. ISBN 978-1137466242.
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