Massinger, Philip (măs`ənjər), 1583–1640, English dramatist, b. Salisbury. He studied at Oxford (1602–6) but left without a degree, apparently to go to London to write plays. A prolific writer, Massinger wrote more than 40 plays (often in collaboration). He is best known for the comedies A New Way to Pay Old Debts (1625) and The City Madam (1632), in which the gluttony of the two central characters leads to tragic consequences. His other extant works, most of which were produced between 1620 and 1630, include the romantic dramas The Duke of Milan and The Great Duke of Florence and the tragicomedies The Fatal Dowry (with Nathaniel Field), The Virgin Martyr (with Thomas Dekker), and The Bondman. A sober, meticulous writer, Massinger was a harsh moralist and frequently employed humor humor, according to ancient theory, any of four bodily fluids that determined man's health and temperament. Hippocrates postulated that an imbalance among the humors (blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile) resulted in pain and disease, and that good health was
..... Click the link for more information. characters to illustrate the evils of a frivolous and avaricious society.

Bibliography

See studies by A. H. Cruickshank (1920, repr. 1971), T. A. Dunn (1957), D. Howard (1985), and D. Adler (1987).

Massinger, Philip

(born 1583, near Salisbury, Wiltshire, Eng.—died March 1639/40, London) English playwright. After a period during which he collaborated with playwrights such as John Fletcher, Massinger began c. 1620 to write independently. From 1625 he was associated with the theatrical company The King's Men. His 15 surviving solo works are noted for their social realism and satirical power. They include the comedies A New Way to Pay Old Debts (c. 1624), his most popular and influential play, and The City Madam (c. 1632), both of which probed economic and social issues, and the historical tragedy The Roman Actor (c. 1626).