Station 26 in the Don Quixote Exhibit

Don Quixote Exhibit - Station 26


Behn, Aphra. The Amorous Prince; Or, The Curious Husband. London, 1671.

From the collection of the John Work Garrett Library
Collection number: PO 3317 A6 1671


Interest in England in Don Quixote in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was not limited to the art of translation. As early as 1611, Philip Massinger's play, The Second Maiden's Tragedy (or Voyage) used one of the interpolated stories in Part I of the novel as the basis of its plot. And around 1620, John Fletcher and Massinger modeled The Double Marriage on the episode of Sancho's governorsip in Part II of the novel. Throughout the century, interest in Don Quixote primarily concentrated on its use as a source for theatrical plots . The "Curioso impertinente" tale in Part I was the principal source for Aphra Behn's The Amourous Prince (also called The Curious Husband) of 1671, for Sotherne's The Disappointment (1684), and John Crown's The Married Beau; Or, The Curious Husband (1694). Cervantes' Exemplary Tales also became a popular source for authors from 1640, the date of Mabbe's translation of six of the twelve stories.