Wit Without Money: A Comedy

Fletcher, John, 1579-1625Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 120K words
Chapters: 13

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Wit Without Money; A Comedy by John FletcherAuthor: Fletcher, John, 1579-1625,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Sep 10, 2004

Editor's review

Wit Without Money is a comedy by John Fletcher (1579–1625), a play of the English Renaissance, made available as a public-domain electronic text by Project Gutenberg. The title itself signals its central tension: the mismatch between wit and money, eloquence and livelihood, a common theme of city comedy in that era. For readers, its value lies first in the text itself—one can observe Fletcher's dialogue rhythm, character configuration, and comic structure, and as a sample of a playwright contemporary with Shakespeare, it is rewarding for comparative reading. Second, at the linguistic level, the vocabulary and syntax of early modern English pose a real barrier for today's readers, but precisely for that reason it suits use as supplementary material for close reading and courses in English literary history. It should be noted that this is a historical dramatic text, its humor and plot logic bearing distinct marks of its time; today's readers may not find it funny, and it is better approached with a research-oriented, appreciative eye.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Researchers and course students of English Renaissance drama
Readers who want to compare plays by Shakespeare's contemporaries
Language learners interested in early modern English texts
Collectors of public-domain English play texts

Not a good fit for

General readers who only want light modern comedy
Beginners unfamiliar with early modern English and lacking annotated support
Readers expecting strong plot and fast-paced narrative

Reading tips

Read the plot summary and character list first, then enter the dialogue once relationships are clear.
Consult an annotated edition or introductory materials to ease the barrier of early modern English.
Read act by act, reviewing character motives and comic conflicts at the end of each act.
Read alongside contemporary city comedies to observe similarities and differences in subject and technique.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this comedy still funny today?

Some humor depends on the social customs, class attitudes, and verbal puns of the time and may not be directly funny today. Yet its character setup and verbal wit still have value for appreciation, and it is better suited as a text for the history of comedy and rhetorical analysis than as pure entertainment.

What level of English is needed to read the original?

The text uses early 17th-century English, with spelling, vocabulary, and syntax distant from modern English. Even readers with good English proficiency still need annotation support; a heavily annotated edition or introduction is recommended, to be consulted while reading rather than reading unannotated.

Is Fletcher connected to Shakespeare?

Fletcher was a playwright of the generation after Shakespeare, collaborated with Beaumont and others, and is commonly recorded in public-domain sources as having co-written plays with Shakespeare. Reading his independent works helps in understanding the writing conventions and commercial operations of the theater world of that era, and serves as background reading for Shakespeare's plays.

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About the author

Fletcher, John, 1579-1625 Author

John Fletcher (1579–1625) was a playwright of the English Renaissance, and he is the author addressed here. Public information about his life is limited: details of his education, official positions and specific experiences are largely unknown, and his literary standing rests chiefly on plays written in collaboration with Francis Beaumont and others. The collection holds twenty-three related works, mostly in collection form, including several volumes of the ten-volume Beaumont and Fletcher's Works, as well as plays such as The Maids Tragedy, A King, and No King and The Loyal Subject. These works are notable for tragedy and tragicomedy, with tightly constructed plots, witty dialogue and intense personal conflict, making effective use of dramatic tension and stagecraft. His plays hold a place in the seventeenth-century English dramatic tradition and are often named alongside Beaumont, exercising a certain influence on later English drama.