[1] The play was first published in 1608 by Nicholas Okes and were sold at John Bache's in Popes-head Palace near the Royal Exchange in London.
[3] While the subplot of Prate and Alphonso provide comic foolery and clash with the main plot at the end of the play.
The Dumb Knight is essentially two plays put together, one serving as the main plot while the other as the subplot.
[4] The two plots converge once at the beginning, when Lollia the wife of Prate views the duelling which determines the outcome of the war between Sicily and Cyprus, and at the end of the play when accusations of Prate reach the King, and Lord Alphonso is brought forth by guards as a pretender of class.
In scene three the combatants meet, and spectators gather to witness the duel including Lollia the wife of Prate.
Feeling humiliated for losing the war between Sicily and Cyprus the Duke of Epire swears revenge against Philocles.
It is considered a miracle, or some form of magic, that holds Philocles tongue from speaking to his beloved King causing the royal court to be troubled by the knight's dumbness.
Greatly grieved the King pronounces, “Since no man hitherto could do him good,/the next shall help him or else lose his blood”.
[10] Mariana speaks up that she knows the cure, and the King declares that if she is successful she will attain great glory but if she fails she will be executed.
Turning to face Philocles she informs the dumb knight that he no longer is bound to his vow to her.
Mariana figures out her brother's plot and attempts to rescue her beloved Philocles and the Queen.
Most of the conversation hangs on Lollia's husband, Prate, who has an anger which “is the worst favour’dest ... of any man’s in all Sicily”.
Florio gives Prate summons to the royal court for “the drawing out of [surrender agreements] for the benefit of both kingdoms”.
Before the orator can head to the court, three of his clients – Drap, Velours, and Mechant – do their best to bring closure to their various suits.
They all imply that he has been putting off their affairs for a while, but the orator informs them that he has “present business of the King’s”[15] and he would attend to them later then runs off to court.
After Prate has left for the court Lord Alphonso enters the scene looking for Lollia, hoping to woo her into adultery he professes his love to her.
When Lord Alphonso arrives to lay “his horns in [the orator’s] way”,[16] the Mechant hides to witness the act.
Caught in the act Lollia is clever and lies telling her husband that a friend has brought the clothes over for him try on.
Having witnessed these acts the Mechant goes to court to find royal guards with the goal to have Lord Alphonso apprehend.
The Mechant then steps forward to testify to the story and brings forth that the orator has refused to see to his suit.
The Duke's plots of revenge fail due to honour and justice, causing him in the end to confess his crimes leading to his sentence to execution.
Desiring to gain honour Mechant tries informing the orator of his wife's adulterous plans, but Prate still refuses to speak with him.
Instead of taking revenge the Mechant instigates a plot to reveal the orator's laziness before the King, a higher power.
[19] It is believed the drama was first performed by the Children of the King's Revels|Children of the King's Revels acting company some time in 1601, and later adapted into German by Jakob Ayrer, an amateur playwright of the Englische Kömedianten a Nuremberg acting company, before his death in 1605.
[27] Further Joseph Quincy Adams in his essay “Every Woman in Her Humor” and “The Dumb Knight” goes in depth as to how heavily Machin relied on his previous play to write the subplot at times using direct lines verbatim from Every Woman in Her Humor.