Genre
Dramaturgically, The Fair Maid of the West is normally classed as a comedy, rather than any of the other standard classifications; yet it is a comedy of a specific type. Part 1, at least, draws upon what were then current events or contemporary history, and belongs to a group of similar Elizabethan plays; George Peele's The Battle of Alcazar (c. 1588–89) and the anonymous Captain Thomas Stukeley (1596) are two prominent examples of the type, though there are many others in what was a popular sub-genre of the era. One modern editor has described the play as "adventure drama," characterized by "simple, straightforward emotions, black and white morality, absolute poetic justice, and, above all, violent rapidity of action."
Heywood drew upon contemporary events for the atmosphere and ambience of his play. For plot materials he relied mainly on the general folklore and ballad literature of his period, rather than on any more formal literary sources.
To a significant degree, The Fair Maid of the West also partakes of melodrama; it is easily and naturally classed with several other "fair maid" plays of its era — The Fair Maid of the Exchange (c. 1602), often attributed to Heywood; and the anonymous The Fair Maid of Bristow (before 1604), The Fair Maid of London, and The Fair Maid of Italy.
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