A soliloquy begins the fourth act, wherein Al|tamont seems to stand self-convicted of folly in quar|relling with his friend for a woman, who repays his raptures with coldness and disdain; upon his exit Lothario and Calista appear; the gay gallant en|deavouring to sooth his deceived and enraged mis|tress, who shews a just resentment against the false|hood which has plunged her into misery; his up|braiding her with having married the man he hates, is an artful stroke of exculpation relative to himself, and stimulates her rage considerably: Altamont's appearance at this period is well contrived, and what Calista says previous to his coming in view brings him forward in a striking manner; Lotha|rio's fate is properly precipitated; his dying words suit the tenor of his past conduct, and he expires in the same character he has maintained through life. THIS dramatic composition was wrote at a time when genius received nourishment from the beams of royal favour, ere the muses of this isle were germanized into stone; and stands to this day in estimation at least equal to any except those of Shakespeare. It opens with Horatio and Alta|mont, two persons of rank in Genoa, from whom we learn, that it is the latter's bridal day; there appears to be strong links of friendship between these two characters, and that Sciolto, a nobleman, father to Altamont's bride, has shewn particular marks of favour to Horatio, on account of being Altamont's brother-in-law and friend; his attach|ment to Altamont arose from a peculiar mark of filial duty shewn by him to a dead father, in yield|ing himself to prison, that his father's corpse, which had been arrested by rigid creditors, might obtain the usual rites of burial. The Ambitious Stepmother, Rowe's first play, produced in 1700 at Lincoln's Inn Fields by Thomas Betterton and set in Persepolis, was well received. [7] This was followed in 1701 by Tamerlane. In this play the conqueror Timur represented William III, and Louis XIV is denounced as Bajazet. It was for many years regularly acted on the anniversary of William's landing at Torbay. [2] In Dublin in 1712, at a time when political passions were running high, the performance provoked a serious riot. [8]

In 1704, Rowe tried his hand at comedy, producing The Biter at Lincoln's Inn Fields, which was unsuccessful, and Rowe returned to tragedy in Ulysses (1705). [2] According to Johnson, this play was to share the fate of many such plays based on mythological heroes, as, "We have been too early acquainted with the poetical heroes to expect any pleasure from their revival" [4] Lothario is Altamont's enemy and further plans to meet Calista on her wedding day- threatening shaming her. Calista's desperation at his fall, and the irresista|ble proof of her own guilt, is a natural effect of strong passions; Altamont's immediate confession of forgiveness, shews him to have at least as much weakness as humanity; the voice of Sciolto heard from without, strikes his daughter with a fresh de|gree of confusion; upon the old man's entrance, the traces of blood alarm suspicion in him, which being confirmed by what Altamont replies, his fu|ry Ward, Adolphus William (1875). A History of English Dramatic Literature to the Death of Queen Anne. Vol.2. London: Macmillan and Co. p.560. The title of this tragedy has by many critics been deemed a misnomer; for, say they, the lady's be|haviour in no shape entitles her to the character of a Penitent; this charge we cannot wholly admit, though we must in general; in several places she speaks of contrition, and very feelingly too, not|withstandingAt the beginning of the third act it appears, that Sciolto has discovered his daughter's sullen beha|viour, and reproves it in terms of high displeasure; the simile which closes his first speech is strained, and, like most others in dramatic composition, su|perfluous; his threats are of a very serious nature, and occasion Calista to make some remarks upon the subordinate state of her sex, which her proud heart seems ill calculated to brook; Horatio ap|proaches, and intimates how critical the subject he comes upon is, therefore resolves to enter upon it in the gentlest manner; whatever justice may ap|pear in his design, we agree with Calista, that steal|ing upon her is a breach of decorum inconsistent with persons of rank. claim to the character of Penitent, and shews it is not so much a sense of guilt, as an impatience of being crossed in her wishes, that agitates her.—This is no doubt natural, but renders her much less an object of pity than real contrition would have done; female weakness, influenced by ill-grounded love, is finely and instructively described in this scene. Calista is a lady of insuperable pride and violent passions; easy of belief, warm in affection, precipi|tate in resentment; she appears in no favourable point of view, except from her credulity; and though we contend for her being a penitent, yet we readily admit she is a reluctant one; she is one up|on One passage, for which he gained loud applause, deserved nothing but laughter; we mean where he says to Lothario, "I'll meet thee there:" setting himself in a studied position, to shew protuberance of belly in the most striking point of view, he gathered his hands towards his sides, and after a pause of some In making his adaptation, Rowe eliminated characters and simplified the action "to create a more focused play than the original." He pursued "neoclassical simplicity" but in the process sacrificed the "underlying moral principles" of the original. [2] Rowe shifted the setting from Dijon to Genoa, and changed the main characters' names.

In making his adaptation, Rowe eliminated characters and simplified the action "to create a more focused play than the original." He pursued "neoclassical simplicity" but in the process sacrificed the "underlying moral principles" of the original. Rowe shifted the setting from Dijon to Genoa, and changed the main characters' names. Ball, F. Elrington (1926). The Judges in Ireland 1221–1921. Vol.2. London: John Murray. p.42. ISBN 9781584774280. For example, Samuel Richardson modeled the character of Lovelace on Lothario in his 1748 novel Clarissa. The Fair Penitent is Nicholas Rowe's stage adaptation of the tragedy The Fatal Dowry, the Philip Massinger and Nathan Field collaboration first published in 1632. Rowe's adaptation, premiered onstage in 1702 and first published in 1703, was a great popular success through much of the 18th century, and was praised by critics as demanding as Samuel Johnson ("There is scarcely any work of any poet so interesting by the fable and so delightful in the language"). [1] In the play, Lothario is a notorious seducer, extremely attractive but a haughty and unfeeling scoundrel beneath his charming exterior.

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It was first mentioned in the modern sense in 1756 in The World, the 18th century London weekly newspaper, No. 202 ("The gay [meaning joyful, merry] Lothario dresses for the fight"). [5] Samuel Richardson used "haughty, gallant, gay Lothario" as the model for the self-indulgent Robert Lovelace in his novel Clarissa (1748), and Calista suggested the character of Clarissa Harlowe. [4] Edward Bulwer-Lytton used the name allusively in his 1849 novel The Caxtons ("And no woman could have been more flattered and courted by Lotharios and lady-killers than Lady Castleton has been"). [6] Anthony Trollope in Barchester Towers (1857) wrote of "the elegant fluency of a practised Lothario". [7] Privilege of Poetry (or it may be the Vanity of the Pretenders to it) has given 'em a kind of Right to pretend, at the same time, to the Favour of those, whom a b c "People Buried or Commemorated – Nicholas Rowe". Westminster Abbey. Archived from the original on 25 June 2006 . Retrieved 4 December 2018.

On his father's death, when he was nineteen, he became the master of an independent fortune. [2] He was left to his own direction, and from that time ignored law to try his hand first at poetry, and then later at writing plays. [4] I have wronged thee much," and Lavi|nia's carrying on the allusion with which it con|cludes, is an unpardonable trespass upon serious feelings. short of her distress; in this character, as well as some others, we are to lament, that the lady just mentioned, should indulge a masculine extravagance of Frenchified action; that she should saw the air with her arms, and labour for attitude where it is rather superfluous; this may please the million, but is no point of real merit, and can only be deem|ed a pitiful trap to catch prostituted applause. The Tragedy of Lady Jane Grey followed in 1715, and as this play was not successful, it was his last foray into the medium. [2]Mrs. BELLAMY wanted consequence still more than Mrs. CIBBER, was less expressive in features, and more limited in voice; yet the passages of ten|derness were well supported by her; of these two ladies we must make one general remark, equally chargeable to both; that is, having a strong taint of the old fashioned titumti utterance. Recent Examples on the Web His previous roles include playing a lothario in the acclaimed 1966 feature Alfie. — Ryan Gajewski, The Hollywood Reporter, 23 Sep. 2023 Place’s loving but irresolutely uncommunicative momma sends mixed signals to a daughter who just wants to run around the mall and gawk at boys with her friends, but instead runs into a sinister lothario played by Treat Williams. — Nicholas Bell, SPIN, 12 May 2023 Nearly every species includes lotharios (of both sexes) that sneak around doing their best to hide their gallivanting from their social partners. — David P. Barash, WSJ, 24 Mar. 2023 For a solid decade, the U.K. contributed some of the most iconic floppy-haired lotharios, airport dashes and front-door confessions in romcom history. — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 23 Feb. 2023 Opening the concert, Nánási tore into the Strauss as if the legendary lothario had double-dipped in his testosterone pills, and added some uppers. — Dallas News, 26 Mar. 2022 Notably, the Tinder lothario was banned from multiple dating apps. — Ashley Shannon Wu, Vulture, 2 Mar. 2022 The serial lothario is dating model/actress Emily Ratajkowski. — Nardine Saadstaff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 14 Nov. 2022 Beatty, now 85, has long had a reputation as a lothario whose romantic entanglements have at times overshadowed his acting career. — CBS News, 10 Nov. 2022 See More Altamont's tears touch Horatio with sympathy, and it is to be wished, that they alone had wrought the desirable effect of tenderness; as the panto|mimical stroke of falling down is utterly contempti|ble; and the two speeches occasioned by it, rather laughable: this whole scene is very inadequate to the rest of the play, and the characters are carried off with a jingling tag spoken by Lavinia, which has more sound than meaning. Lothario now comes forward acquainting Ros|sano with his loss of the letter, which villain-like he does not regret, as it may be the means of infamy and wretchedness to the unhappy woman he has ruined, but as he wants to make it an instrument of his antipathy against Altamont.