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List of Characters
(as they appear in print)

Edward Middleton

Lawyer Cribbs

William Dowton

Farmer Gates

Farmer Stevens

Old Johnson

Sam

First Loafer

Second Loafer

Mr. RenCelaw

Landlord

Bar Keeper

Watchman

Mary Wilson

Patience

Julia

Miss Spindle

(Villagers, Loafers, Watchmen, etc.)

Description of Major Characters
Edward Middleton: The bachelor swain; the male protagonist and the titular “drunkard.” He is the most eligible bachelor in his small country town until Lawyer Cribbs turns him on to the drink. He inherits his father’s land, as well as all his debts, which makes him vulnerable to the suggestions of the evil Lawyer Cribbs, to whom his father’s debts are owed. Aptly named, Edward Middleton is the ‘middle’ class hero of the story, purposefully given every trait of the contemporary American ideal of the young man to emphasize alcohol’s cruel effect on even the strongest of dispositions.

Mary Wilson: The ingenue, the tragic female protagonist whose father has just died, leaving her and her mother penniless. She falls to the mercy of Lawyer Cribbs. She is meant to be portrayed as the helpless innocent, the vulnerable woman unable to defend herself against her drunken husband, In the context of Temperance Movement reform, she is meant to represent the ‘everywoman;’ her undying devotion to her husband was meant to represent what all wives, or any woman, should aspire toward, and also to make Edward’s downfall all the tragic.

Lawyer Cribbs: in the true black-and-white nature of American melodramas, Cribbs fits into the formula as the mustache-twirling, spindly intellectual villain. He is the main antagonist who uses deception to drive Edward to the drink. The play takes advantage of the popular nineteenth century American ideals of ‘manliness’ and instills the exact opposite in this man, making it clear even by his demeanor that he is the one the audience is supposed to despise.

I.i
The stage is set up like the interior of a small but elegant rural cottage. Mrs. Wilson tells Mary, her daughter, about the death of Mr. Wilson and muses over the chair in the corner of her home where he passed away. We also learn that their old landlord, Old Mr. Middleton, has also passed away, leaving his son Edward with debt, meaning that he may be poised to sell their land. When Lawyer Cribbs enters we then learn that Edward is prone to recklessness. With this new information as well as Cribbs’ refined eagerness to evict them, Mary and Mrs. Wilson plan to partially pay their rent and appeal to Edward’s better nature in order to avoid eviction.

I.ii
In this scene we find Lawyer Cribbs congratulating himself on how well he falsified his interaction with the Wilsons. We also learn that Mr. Wilson had years ago wronged him in some way. As he hears Mary’s footsteps, he decides to hide and watch what she does. She appears disheartened, insisting that Edward will not show their family mercy, and leaves to go gather flowers. Edward enters and converses with Cribbs, who attempts to persuade Edward to turn the Wilson’s out of their home. Edward, recalling how his father held the Wilson’s in such high esteem, refuses. Angered Cribbs leaves and, shortly after, returns to explain how he now understands Edwards decision. He then proceeds to question Edward’s honor by suggesting his motives for refusing to evict them were selfish and lusty. Edward refutes this and threatens to punish Cribbs for saying such vile things. Mary enters from hiding and thanks Edward for his kind actions and offers to pay part of their rent, which Edward half refuses, and instead he asks if she will put it towards her dowry, as he intends to marry her.

I.iii
In this scene we meet Miss Spindle the spinster, prone to malapropisms. Miss Spindle opens I.iii with a speech about how she values her beauty, saying she spends fifty dollars a year to make herself beautiful. William, Edward’s foster brother, enters, and in conversation proceeds to make fun of Miss Spindle’s egotism. She tries to confide in William that she is in love with him, but he mistakes her coyness for simple small talk, and inadvertently says something that confirms to Miss Spindle that he accepts her love. She proceeds to say how she cannot stand the Wilsons, and William promptly but politely leaves.

I.vi
The next scene starts with a “ring-play” sung by Patience Brayton, Sam Evans, Old Johnson, and the villagers. When they’re finished, they have a dance before heading to Mary’s wedding. Lawyer Cribbs enters and tells the audience of his plan to get Edward drunk in order to get revenge on Mary. William comes along and Cribbs tries to swindle himself an invitation to Mary and Edward’s wedding, but when Cribbs raises his cane to Agnes, William’s deranged sister, William steps in and curses the lawyer. Before her entrance, Cribbs reveals the reason Agnes is so unhinged: her fiance died in a drunken fit at Cribbs’s hand.

I.v
Scene 5 opens outside of a beautiful cottage inhabited by the newly married Edward and Mary Middleton. The couple are notably happy, and are congratulated by their Mary’s mother and other witnesses to the marriage. The newlyweds dance with the villagers to end act I.

II.i
Miss Spindle and Cribbs are talking in Miss Spindle’s house. Miss Spindle claims that Edward has kissed her, and she has been sending him letters, but that he has not sent any to her. Therefore, to Cribbs’s great frustration, there is no hard evidence that Edward has been unfaithful.

II.ii
The scene opens on Farmer Gates, and Farmer Stevens walking with William Dowton, talking about how Edward Middleton was not at church during the last sabbath and how they fear he has not returned to his old reckless ways. William assures the farmers that Edward is just as “kind-hearted” as ever right now, and intends purchase a new tailored suit for Edward. Farmer Stevens mentions that Lawyer Cribbs (here referred to as Squire Cribbs) told him otherwise. After a back and forth between the farmers and William we learn that Edward has been spending his Sundays going around to different bars. William begins to grow concerned for his brother, but quickly excuses Edward, suggesting that it is normal to drink.

II.iii
This scene is set in a bar-room. Farmer Stevens, The Landlord (or bar-room owner), and the Loafers are in conversation. Edward enters, orders a drink and downs it. Lawyer Cribbs enters. Edward refuses another drink but Lawyer Cribbs insists. The Landlord supports Lawyer Cribbs’ request, and Edward is convinced when he is offered whiskey instead of brandy. As Edward drinks, Farmer Stevens shakes his head. While Edward talks, Cribbs fills Edward’s glass. Eventually Stevens gets up and confronts Edward, telling him he’s making a fool of himself. Edward strikes Stevens, so Cribbs and the Loafers sneak off. Stevens retaliates by hitting Edward with a whip, knocking him him out. William enters, and seeing his foster brother unconscious, attacks the Landlord, asking him who attacked. When Edward comes to, he tells William that Cribbs was with him.

II.iv
Lawyer Cribbs starts the scene off with a short monologue about how well his plan is going. William enters and delivers a monologue about if Edward’s wife is not properly warned, his drunken state might frighten her to death. William notices Cribbs and warns the audience that if Cribbs gets in his way, he will have no problem wringing his neck. William exits and Edward enters. He, now falling further in his descent into drunken madness, begins to experience the trembling in the hands, burning brains, and shaking knees. Cribbs attempts to understand what’s the matter but Edward has not forgotten how he was left at the bar in the previous scene. Cribbs proceeds to persuade Edward into selling his cottage which he refuses yet again on the grounds that he family has lived there of generations. Cribbs, unshaken, refuses to let Edward return to his family in his condition, so he offers to take him back to his home and take care of him, offering him brandy.

II.v
In the cottage, we find Mary praying for strength while others try to locate her lost husband. Julia enters and tries to console her mother. She mentions that when last she saw Edward, he seemed sick, ill-tempered, and pale. Mary exits and Julia laments for her mother, and her grandmother, whom we learn is close to death. William enters looking for Mary. Mary re-enters and asks if William has found her husband, whether he is sober or not. William tries to soften the blow, but confesses that he is indeed drunk. Edward enters singing an incoherent song. Mary attempts to quiet him, and only when she mentions his mother does he stop. Filled with guilt, Edward remembers the death of his father and how he is thankful his father never saw him this way. Julia enters, trying to appeal to his better side, but Edward tells her to leave him. Edward then asks William if he remembers a young elm tree that his father planted. He asks because he tripped over it and decided to cut it down, asking why it should live while he is lost. Then Mary leaves and quickly returns to tell Edward that her mother has died. Edward immediately believes he is responsible and tries to leave. William, Julia, and Mary all try to keep him from leaving but to no avail.

III.i
Lawyer Cribbs starts to wonder where Edward has wandered off to. Cribbs believes he can profit from Edward’s drunken, wretched state. Edward enters with two Loafers, clothes torn and shabby. We learn he has lost all his money but is still thirsty for more alcohol. Cribbs, noting Edwards state, offers him a dollar which he takes reluctantly. The lawyer tells Edward about his wife and child and how they pity him and what he has become. Edward asks Cribbs how he may be saved from his poor drunken state, to which Cribbs advises him to sign a check for five thousand dollars with the name of Arden Rancelaw. Edward is offended that Cribbs would suggest such a thing and refuses.

III.ii
In this scene we learn more about what happened to the Mary and Julia via a conversation between Miss Spindle and Lawyer Cribbs. We learn they have left their village and come to New York City in search of Edward and that they have taken on lowly washing jobs to get by. Edward and the Loafers replace Miss Spindle and Cribbs. Having just earned a few dollars, Edward endeavors to get even drunker.

III.iii
Edward and the Loafers enter the same bar as before singing loudly, the bar-keeper warns them to keep quiet. They do not stop singing however, so the bar-keeper offers them liquor in return for their silence. Edward obliges. Suddenly, two other men in the bar begin to fight over a card game. In the confusion, Edward and his posse leave.

III.iv
This scene takes place immediately outside the bar. Cribbs is found commenting on the bar fight, and says Middleton must be safe. Edward, Watchmen and the Loafers exit the bar and there is some confusion over who is who and then they exit.

III.v
Scene 5 finds Mary and Julia in a poorly furnished home with very little food. Mary and Julia talk about their troubles and lament the fact that they have heard nothing about Edward. Cribbs enters and advises them to change their lodging and cease looking for Edward, for he has become a lascivious man. Nonetheless, Mary stands by her husband. Cribbs then tries to seduce Mary and when he fails he seizes her and she screams for help. William comes to the rescue and pushes Cribbs down the stairs. He vows to find Edward.

III.iv
Edward is being taken into custody by two watchmen. William enters, knocks down the watchmen, and rescues Edward, then they both exit. Cribbs enters and ponders how he might be able to get out of this predicament. Before he can figure a way out, William points him out to the watchmen and he is seized and taken away.

IV.i
The scene opens on Edward in front of his now-decrepit house. He speaks of how thirsty he is for alcohol, how much he hurts, and how he abhors his drunken state. The Landlord enters with a whip. He comments on how terrible Edward looks, and asks why he is here. The Landlord does not recognize him. Edward seizes the him, pleading for brandy. The Landlord cries out for help. William enters and Edward releases the landlord. Edward then begins to writhe around in delirium. He believes there are snakes crawling on him and squeezing him. William, believing there is nothing to be done, exits. Mr. Rencelaw enters and keeps Edward from drinking from a phial that would have killed him. Rencelaw tells him to mend his life rather than take it, and he tells him he will help.

IV.ii
Cribbs escapes imprisonment and tells the audience he wants to act out his plan to take money from Rencelaw via a forged signature. He tasks a boy on the street to go to the bank and cash in the check. William enters, unseen by Cribbs. Miss Spindle enters to talk to to Cribbs, having heard from William that he had been at a fancy party during the time that he was, in fact, in jail. Miss Spindle asks him about the party while William makes jail puns, and Cribbs himself is completely lost, and exits.

IV.iii
Arden Rencelaw enters and a bank messenger enters after to ask him if his signature is on a check just cashed for $5,000 (the check the young boy has just cashed). Rencelaw notices that his signature has been forged, and tells the messenger to call the police. William enters, and Rencelaw tells him William has been looking for him. Renceleaw also tells William of the forgery that has been committed, and William is shocked. He reveals that he’d just seen Cribbs give a boy a check to cash in Mechanics’ Bank, where Rencelaw’s money is housed, and to run the money to the Pearl Street House. The men run to find Cribbs.

IV.iv
Edward is discovered in Rencelaw’s lavish living room extolling the good that Rencelaw has done for him. Mary and Julia enter for a tender reunion. The women thank Rencelaw graciously, and he humbly accepts. The act ends with Edward reciting a poem about his struggles and ultimate recovery.

V.i
Act five begins with Farmers Stevens and Gates talking about how William formally accused Lawyer Cribbs of forgery and wrongdoing. Stevens hopes he is not guilty because of how that might affect the village but he warrants that he has long suspected Cribbs of ill intent. Stevens also informs Gates that Agnes is no longer suffering from her affliction and that her mind is restored. William enters in pursuit of Cribbs and tells Gates and Stevens that he is sure to be caught. Gates then tells William his sister has recovered and he is overwhelmed with joy. Agnes enters and reveals that she knows the location of Edward’s grandfather’s will and that Cribbs had forged a previous will. Rencelaw enters with Farmers Gates and Stevens and informs William that Cribbs is on the upper road, coming downhill. William then tells Gates to stay behind and answer all questions he asks while the others go off to watch Cribb from the house. Cribbs appears and is identified by the same boy he gave the forged check to as he escapes down the road.

V.ii
William, Rencelaw, Agnes, Boy, Farmers, and Police Officers all hide behind trees waiting for Cribbs to appear. Cribbs enters and begins to dig up the area where he hid the will. Agnes then confronts him and, Cribbs rushes toward her. William subdues him and finally Rencelaw asks him why he did all these horrible deeds. Cribbs reveals all: Edward’s father thwarted an early plan of Cribbs’s that nearly cost him his life, so Cribbs befriended his father’s father, who, on his deathbed, bequeathed to Cribbs his will. Rencelaw says “repentance may yet avail you” but Cribbs refuses and is taken offstage. Rencelaw tells William to tell Edward that he will see him within two days and then exits.

V.iii
The final scene takes place in the interior of the same cottage in act one, scene one. There is no dialogue. Edward plays the flute while Julia sings. Then a chorus of villages accompanies them. They exit, leaving Edward, Mary, Julia, William and Agnes. Julia kneels in prayer, Edward has his hand on a bible, the other pointing up. Mary stands, leaning on his chair.

Background
The series of socioeconomic changes that gave rise to the early Temperance Movement were what prompted the writers of The Drunkard to write so passionately. Clean, drinkable water in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was difficult to come by without boiling, so it was far more common for Americans in those days to drink alcohol instead. Alcohol quickly became an intrinsic part of American life, and it even became typical for a workman to receive a day’s wages worth in distilled spirits in lieu of “monetary wages;” drinking your wages during the workday was therefore not uncommon. With the rise of Industrialism came an influx of new workers into urban areas, and more distilled wages in lieu of money. Alcohol addiction an intense problem. Managers suffered considerable absences, and the wives and mothers of the workers “were concerned that their husbands...were often stopping at pubs on the way home.” It was women, in fact, at the head of the Temperance Movement, and it can be noted that the Movement spurred the fledgling American movement for women’s advancement ; it cannot be noted, however, that The Drunkard itself had any influence on the women’s movement.

Reform Melodramas
Though the term melodrama is often used to describe an extremely over-performed and overemotional play, it once only meant ‘a play with music,’ or a melody, hence, melo-drama. It was also the most popular kind of play on the American stage at one point. It was also a powerful method of propaganda, as melodramas were usually written with the intent to appeal to emotions, usually in order to convey a certain idea or opinion. This sub-genre of melodrama is known as Moral Reform Melodrama. The Drunkard is widely regarded as the most successful Moral Reform Melodrama of its time, and was crucial to the mainstream popularization of the Temperance movement. Reform melodrama, or spectacles of reform, particularly Temperance melodrama, arose from the already popular practice of going to museum lecture halls in order to see a dramatization of the particular topic in question. Shortly before the Drunkard’s debut, lecture halls would have an actor perform the drunken state of “Delirium Tremens” in order to warn audiences of the dangerous effect of alcohol consumption. These performances were so successful that The Drunkard built on the already popular performances by adding situations involving the family and friends of the drunkard. These situations were meant to serve as warnings as to how drunkenness can unwillingly affect those you care for. More to note, the original actor to play the role of the Drunkard was not just an actor, but a reformed alcoholic. The Drunkard brought the Temperance Reform movement into the mainstream consciousness, and was one of the major stepping stones that allowed the Temperance Society to gain political traction in popular culture. With the plays impressive success, the Temperance movement evolved from a grassroots movement into a major social reform movement that would one day abolish alcohol.