Other editions of book The Lady's Not for Burning: A Comedy

"A romantic comedy in three acts, set in verse, it is set in the Middle Ages, it reflects the world's 'exhaustion and despair' following World War II, with a war-weary soldier who wants to die, and an accused witch who wants to live."Please note line breaks are hard-coded to preserve the original flow of the blank verse and may appear inconsistent on large text sizes.

written for a cast of 8 men and 3 women. Thomas Mendip, a discharged soldier, weary of the world and eager to leave it, comes to a small town, announces he has committed murder and demands to be hanged. A philosophical humorist, Thomas is annoyed when the officials oppose his request, even believing he is not guilty of the crime he suggests. Shortly afterward, a young woman, Jennet, is brought before the Mayor for witchcraft, but for some strange reason she has no wish to be put to death! Thomas tries, in his own way, to prove to the official how absurd it would be to refuse to hang a man who wants to be hanged, and at the same time to kill a woman who is not only guiltless, but doesn't want to die. Jennet enjoys the banter, and soon sees the merit in Thomas the man. The Mayor's family members, clerks and officials gather for an impending wedding and seem to be stuck with the dilemma of two uninvited people-who may or may not be hanged in the morning-who must be included in the pre-nuptual activities. Through the party and the night, the intended bride slips off with the orphan clerk, two brothers fight over the bride and later become bored over her, the Mayor gets the vapors, Jennet becomes the guest of honor and poor Thomas falls helplessly in love. Luckily, Jennet has fallen for him too; and when the so-called murder victim is found alive and inebriated, Thomas can't be hanged. The family, having grown fond of Jennet, and with no proof of her witchcraft, leaves the question of hanging until morning, but Justice Tappercoom indicates he will turn a blind eye if she escapes. Jennet convinces Thomas that a life with her is worth putting off his hanging, and they run away together as dawn rises.

Excerpt from The Lady's Not for Burning: A ComedyThe Scene (the house of hebele tyson, the Mayor of the little market town of Cool Clary) and the appearance of the characters are as much fifteenth century as anything.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from The Lady's Not for Burning: A ComedyThe Scene (the house of hebele tyson, the Mayor of the little market town of Cool Clary) and the appearance of the characters are as much fifteenth century as anything.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.