This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.
The Maid's Tragedy (1610) is the masterpiece of Beaumont and Fletcher and exhibits their tragic powers at their best. The plot is simple. Amintor who is betrothed to Aspatia, the maid, is married by the king's command to Evadne and discovers on his wedding night that she is the unshamed mistress of the king. Thoughts of revenge surge in upon him, only to be barred by the contemplation of the divinity which hedges in a king. Milantius, brother of Evadne and a friend of Amintor is taken into confidence and told of the secret amour. He tames the proud sister, who now sees the enormity of her crimes and stirred to repentance, slays her royal lover. As she appears before Amintor with the blood-stained knife in hand, thinking that she has won his love, all she obtains from him is a cry of horror. She is swept into fresh despair, turns the knife against herself and falls dead at his feet. Aspatia after her desertion by Amintor seeks death as her only solace and disguised as a man, challenges Amintor at a duel and is slain by him.