The
following synopsis for The Devil
is an Ass has been adapted from
Claude J. Summers' and Ted-Larry Pebworth's Ben Jonson. Thanks to
R. Faey for her research and careful editing.
A minor devil, Pug, wheedles
permission from a reluctant Satan to work evil on Earth for a single day.
Set down in London, Pug attaches himself as serving man to a foolish, pretentious
and gullible squire, Fabian Fitzdotterel.
Fitzdotterel is
particularly susceptible to the con artist Meercraft, who proposes many
schemes to make the squire rich: distilling wine from raisins, manufacturing
fine gloves from dog skins, and draining the fenlands.
Two young gallants,
Wittipol and Manly, see through both Fitzdotterel and Meercraft and manipulate
both, initially for fun and eventually to effect justice. Knowing Fitzdotterel's
passion for fine clothes, Wittipol trades a rich cloak for the squire's
permission to speak to Mistress Fitzdotterel, whereupon he proceeds to woo
the young woman-in the presence of her husband, who--according to the terms
of the agreement--must remain silent or forfeit the cloak. Later, Wittipol,
disguised as a young English widow come lately from Spain, holds a "school"
for fashionable ladies at Lady Tailbush's house, instructing them in exotic
manners and elaborate cosmetic concoctions. But the ultimate and serious
action of the gallants is to trick Fitzdotterel into giving his power of
attorney to his sensible young wife before he can waste his entire fortune.
Wittipol's courtship
of Mistress Fitzdotterel is passionate and fully realized. In a later scene,
alone with her, Wittipol runs his hands over her body and describes her
charms in poetical conventions, while at the same time arguing the "naturalness"
of their love. Mistress Fitzdotterel is sensible, beautiful, intelligent
and much aggrieved in her marriage to an extraordinarily foolish husband.
Wittipol is a handsome, sound young man who truly loves her. She is tempted
by his advances, and the expectation is raised that somehow, by the end
of the play, the two lovers will be united. But Mistress Fitzdotterel is
irrevocably married, and Wittipol respects the woman he loves; although
he would prefer things to be otherwise, he contents himself with being her
platonic admirer.
Meanwhile, Pug
has discovered that humans are more sophisticated in evil than devils, and
that hell has a lesser array of torments than London society. Having disgraced
his calling by letting humans know they can "out-do a devil" Pug
is carried back to hell.
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