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The Drunkard

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The Drunkard “The Drunkard” is a play written by William H. Smith and was first performed in 1844. This play centers around the characters of Edward Middleton, his wife, Mary Middleton, his half-brother William Dowton, William’s crazy sister Agnes, and an old lawyer named Cribbs. The setting for the first two acts is a picturesque countryside. From the start, it is understood that Cribbs is a malicious, evil man out to ruin Edward and get his fortune. Edward and Mary wed in the beginning of the play, and have a daughter, Julia by the second act. William, who lived with Edward when he was still single, sort of works for Edward and thinks the world of him. He is a good friend to Edward in every situation the play brings about. As the play progresses, we see that Edward is the “drunkard”, who does not go to church on Sundays, but gets into brawls at local bars instead. He comes home one day in a drunken state to find out that his mother-in-law, Mrs. Wilson, (Mary’s mother), has died. In his drunken stupor, he storms out of the house with Mary, his daughter and William all begging him to stay. He is both disgusted by himself and his alcoholism, but yet unable to prevent or stop fulfilling his cravings for brandy.
The third and fourth acts take place in New York City where we find out that Edward has squandered what was left of his fortune, and is living on the streets begging for money for alcohol. Mary and Julia have moved to New York in hope of finding him, and also live in poverty. We find out that Cribbs has been making a fortune in New York by forging checks and having others cash them. He is also in contact with both Edward and Mary, and tells lies about the other to each of them so that they both think the other doesn’t want anything to do with them.
Edward continues with his drunkenness until he is saved by a seemingly perfect man with no ulterior motives. This savior, Rencelaw says that he only wishes to help Edward get back on his feet because he was once a drunkard himself. Around this same time, Cribbs goes to Mary and tries to get her to be with him, almost attacks her, but then William comes and saves her and tells her he knows where Edward is. Edward, with the help of Rencelaw, finally has his act together, and is reunited with Mary and Julia. They move back to their countryside cabin.
While all this was happening, Cribbs forged a check with the name of Rencelaw’s company on it, and had a little boy go and cash it for him. When Rencelaw gets word of this forgery, William is there and explains that he knows where Cribbs will flee to. Rencelaw, William, and the police head to the countryside to ambush Cribbs. On the way there, William runs into his sister, Agnes, whose madness was only temporary and is now completely sane. She tells William that while she was crazy, she was digging in their yard, and she discovered a buried Last Will and Testament. This was the Will of Edward’s grandfather which allots Edward inheritance of his entire estate and fortune. The Will Edward thought was his grandfather’s was actually just one that Cribbs had forged so that he could keep the real one and claim the property.
Cribbs, fleeing to the countryside with his stolen money to collect this hidden Will that he had buried, arrives and finds his hiding spot empty. Rencelaw and the police arrest him. The final scene closes with Edward, Mary and Julia, happily existing in the perfect ever after in their country cottage.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this play. I thought it was very telling of the time, which was the Temperance Movement. The very message of the play was that this man’s life was ruined by alcohol, and only when he had renounced it and found Jesus again, could he have his happiness. There was also an old, sort of pun-y humor throughout this play that made me laugh.
The settings in this play I thought were appropriate. The setting is what drives the characters to act as they do. The small town, countryside setting provided that Mary and Edward should get married, as was proper custom. This small town setting also provided all of the gossip surrounding Edward and his alcoholism, as it was frowned upon and everyone knew what he was doing. New York City is also appropriate as a setting because it drives Edward to beg on the streets and drives Mary to pick up work as a seamstress to try and get food for her and Julia. My only critique is that I wanted to know more specific details about the setting of the time, like what year it was exactly. I also wanted to know where the little countryside village was in comparison to New York City, just to make a visual map in my head.
I enjoyed the characters in this play. My only critique of them is that I want to know more. Why is Edward enticed to start drinking in the first place? He has a small fortune and a loving wife. He is very well off, considering the times, and has somewhat of a status to maintain. But then he goes off on this huge drinking binge. Not to mention, he just decides to leave everything and go to New York one night. This made no sense to me. What was his thought process here? I also wanted to more about William and his relationship with Edward. Is it their mother or father that they have in common and how did this come about? Why does William adore Edward so much? I would initially think that William might secretly hate Edward and be jealous of him as Edward inherited a small fortune and he didn’t. I would also like this family tree spelled out because I would like to know where Agnes comes from. Also, I actually thought Rencelaw was a bit creepy. Here is this successful man in New York city, who picks a drunk off the streets, gets him back on his feet and says that Edward’s gratitude is repayment enough for him. All in the name of the Good Lord, Jesus, of course. No one is that nice, and I thought it wasn’t genuine. His character could make more sense given this time of the Temperance Movement, but I was sure he had an ulterior motive.
As for the overall message of the play, I thought it delivered that feel-good ending that only a “Hollywood” drama can. However, I did feel like the message, that Edward was only happy again when he had found Jesus and renounced alcohol was a bit staged and unrealistic, in today’s time. People today can enjoy alcohol in moderation while living a successful life. But this play was produced during the Temperance Movement, so this message was obviously very fitting.
Though the writing and dialogue were sometimes strange and difficult for me to understand, it was very appropriate for the time when this play was produced; it was language the audiences then spoke. So although some of it was strange for me to read, I really enjoyed how they spoke. There were some really great phrases in this play that struck me like: “I’ll follow you sir, heart and hand” and “I think, really, if Mr. Edward's soul was put in a great box, that seven thousand such souls as that black beetle's wouldn't fill up the chinks—the spare room around the edges.” This way of speaking just seems more genuine, like they are saying more than we are today with our comparable phrases of “I’ve got your back”, and “he’s a really great guy.” There was also some funny insults in this play like, “Get your friends to send you to the insane hospital, and place you among the incurable as the most fusty, idiotic old maid that ever knit stockings”, and “you most contemptible of earthborn creatures.”
Literary Sources In 1989, Judith McArthur wrote an article about the Temperance Movement in the U.S. More particularly, she discusses how popular plays, which were the major source of entertainment for people during the Temperance Movement, usually had an underlying message of temperance running through them. “The Drunkard” is the perfect example. Alcohol is what got Edward into his mess, and finding Jesus and pledging sobriety was what got him out of it. McArthur says that audiences loved this play, so much so that it played “144 times at the Boston Museum” compared to other popular plays only breaking 50. (McArthur, 1989)She reiterates that popular dramas reflect the morals and ideals of a society, and “The Drunkard’s plot delivered that feel good story the audiences wanted to see. I was also interested to find a review of “The Drunkard” written by Joan Kelly in 1969. So in this secondary source, Kelly was more critiquing the actual actors of the specific production of the play she saw, than “The Drunkard” itself. It was still interesting to read though, because she explained that this play was a good play for the audience to “participate” in. She said the crowd booed when Cribbs was doing his evil deeds, they cheered for Edward when he was trying to find his way, and took every opportunity to laugh. It was also helpful for me to read this source because she mentioned something that I completely missed when I was reading the play. Kelly explained that it was actually the evil Cribbs who insisted that Edward should have his first drink, which then pushed him into his spiral to be a drunkard.

In conclusion, I enjoyed this play and I have found myself thinking about the plot and characters over the past few days when I have actually not been working on this assignment, which I take to be the mark of a genuine work of art/entertainment!

Kelly, J. (1960). Drama in sydney. The Australian Quarterly, 32(3), 122-126. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/stable/20633649?&Search=yes&searchText="the drunkard"&searchText=smith&list=hide&searchUri=/action/doAdvancedSearch?q0=smith&f0=all&c1=AND&q1=%22the+drunkard%22&f1=all&acc=on&wc=on&fc=off&Search=Search&sd=&ed=&la=&pt=&isbn=&prevSearch=&item=2&ttl=366&returnArticleService=showFullText

McArthur, J. (1989). Demon rum on the boards: Temperance melodrama and the tradition of antebellum reform. Journal of the Early Republic , 9(4), 517-540.
Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.library.wisc.edu/stable/3123754?&Search=yes&searchText="the drunkard"&searchText=smith&list=hide&searchUri=/action/doAdvancedSearch?q0=smith&f0=all&c1=AND&q1=%22the+drunkard%22&f1=all&acc=on&wc=on&fc=off&Search=Search&sd=&ed=&la=&pt=&isbn=&prevSearch=&item=1&ttl=366&returnArticleService=showFullText

University of Virginia. , & Railton, S. (2012). Uncle tom's cabin and american culture.
Retrieved from http://utc.iath.virginia.edu/sentimnt/drunkardhp.html

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