Scandal
The play resulted in Jonson, Marston and Chapman being thrown in jail for a time, for offending the King with the anti-Scottish reference in Act III. Because of the scandal, a significant body of documentation exists regarding the play, including personal letters written by both Chapman and Jonson while they were in prison. In 1619, William Drummond of Hawthornden recalled Ben Jonson explaining how he got into trouble "for writing something against the Scots in a play, Eastward Ho, and voluntary imprisoned himself with Chapman and Marston who had written it amongst them. The report was that they should have had their ears cut and noses". In actuality Marston fled and escaped arrest. Jonson and Chapman were out of jail by November 1605; Chapman's commendatory poem in the first edition of Jonson's Sejanus (1605) appears to indicate that the Earl of Suffolk was influential in obtaining their release and resolving the matter.
The play was never entirely banned or suppressed. It was revived by the Lady Elizabeth's Men in 1613; and on 25 January 1614, that company performed Eastward Ho at Court.
Read more about this topic: Eastward Hoe
Famous quotes containing the word scandal:
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—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)
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