This is one of the first plays to attempt tragedy among the middle (or
merchant) class. It shows the relation of the merchants
and bankers to the enterprises of kings (by showing Elizabeth''s hand in persuading the Genoese bankers to abandon financing the King of Spain''s armada, giving England breathing room by the delay, and time to arm and equip herself and prepare to fight the potential and intended invasion), comparing the merchants (indirectly was all the author dared) to sovereigns by service in making others happy, which Thorogood, as a
merchant, extols as the highest gift of a good sovereign.
This is an odd cross between a problem play (one which shows the faults and flaws
of society) and a tragedy (the sad downfall of an individual through his own fatal flaw in an otherwise blameless, flawless, noble, or heroic character). It emphasizes the hypocrisy of a society where men enslave and then pander to women of vice, while paying court to innocent young girls, and attempting to make them into what they purport to despise, while incurring little or no social opprobrium thereby--a gross injustice, which leads women like the vicemistress Millwood to offer their conduct as an excuse for leading men like the once innocent Barnwell astray.
This play is puportedly based on a popular ballad about a real-life incident during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen, although it was not written into play form for many decades thereafter.
It would have been understood by audiences in the past that he could not return to his chaste and innocent life, even if forgiven, not only because of his ill-timed and ill-fated passion, but because of his contamination by the then incurable syphilis, a disease which can ravage the brain even more swiftly than AIDS can today. It is an extremely REALISTIC play, especially for its time in history, and remained popular (and in production) for several centuries, until penicillin conquered syphilis, and sexual freedom became a (temporarily) popular cause.
It is a prophetic play, as well, in that it shows the influence global corporations will come to have in the politics of our time, as well as times leading up to ours, adumbrating a time when they assume virtual rule and actual use of the whole world and all its peoples.