Derek B. Alwes
“I would faine serve”: John Lyly's Career at Court.
Volume 34.4, Winter 2001-01

This article examines the ways that Lyly's plays reflect his changing attitudes toward his career at Elizabeth's court by focusing on his treatment of the servants in all of his plays. Arguing that the servants represent a kind of self-portrait of Lyly's desire to serve the queen, this article begins with an analysis of the early Euphues works as patronage pieces and traces the trajectory of Lyly's aspirations and frustrations as a humanist/courtier that is revealed in his plays. Instead of seeing the plays as unproblematic praise of Queen Elizabeth, the article argues that the plays trace a much more complex and dynamic network of courtly relationships which include both monarch and loyal servant.

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