Epicene or the Silent Woman Author:Ben Jonson Epicene is now one of the most widely-studied of Jonson's plays. This new edition is based on a thorough re-examination of the earliest texts. It discusses its composition at a critical time in Jonson's life and career, established as the principal writer of entertainments of the court; his relationships with ambitious wits such as John D... more »onne, Sir Edward Herbert, and Nathan Field are examined as models for the principal characters. The edition also examines the play in relation to the religious tensions of the era, to the masques which Jonson had recently written for Queen Anna and her ladies, and to the newly-recovered "Entertainment at Britain's Burse".« less