The late “Elizabethan” tragedy Andromana; or, The Merchant's Wife, probably written shortly after 1642 and first published in 1660, furnishes interesting evidence of the assimilation of certain material into the drama just as the Puritans were closing the London theatres. In its sources, in many of its ideas, in the way of presenting its problem, and in its mood, it reflects the influence of John Ford's studies of abnormal psychology, modelled on the case histories presented in Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy. The play allows a carefully documented study of this literary material and of the deepening interest in its dramatic presentation in that its story can be examined in three successive stages at three widely separated dates:
In the generally acknowledged source, the Plangus story in Sidney's Arcadia (1590).
In Beaumont and Fletcher's Cupid's Revenge (ca. 1611).
In Andromana (after 1642).