The Fair Maid of the West

The Fair Maid of the West, or a Girl Worth Gold, Parts 1 and 2 is a work of English Renaissance drama, a two-part play written by Thomas Heywood that was first published in 1631.

Part 1, at least, draws upon what were then current events or contemporary history, and belongs to a group of similar Elizabethan plays; George Peele's The Battle of Alcazar (c. 1588–89) and the anonymous Captain Thomas Stukeley (1596)[8] are two prominent examples of the type, though there are many others in what was a popular subgenre of the era.

One modern editor has described the play as "adventure drama," characterized by "simple, straightforward emotions, black and white morality, absolute poetic justice, and, above all, violent rapidity of action.

At the play's start, Bess Bridges is a young woman who works as a tapster in a Plymouth tavern; her beauty and charm and her reputation for chastity, "her modesty and fair demeanor," have made her a focus of attention for many male patrons.

The early scenes portray the rough and tumble atmosphere of Bess's social millieu, as the town fills up with soldiers and sailors in preparation for the raid on the Azores.

In the belief that bullies are generally cowards, Bess disguises herself as a man to confront and humiliate Roughman; in response, he reforms and becomes her brave and loyal follower.

With a strong financial motive to prove her unchaste, Goodlack tests Bess, insults and humiliates her; but she behaves with dignified restraint, winning his admiration.

Now a married woman, Bess reacts with apparent rage; she wins the Duke's permission to punish Spencer, and the other members of their party regard her as a "shrew" and a "Medusa."

[15][16] As an unmarried, financially well-off woman in her own right, Bess thematically alludes to Elizabethan anxieties surrounding Elizabeth I as a female head of state.

[17] The multiple relationships she holds with the male characters of the play and the multiple instances in which Bess cross-dresses allows her to repeatedly confront existing gender and power dynamics and enable several situations throughout the play when she is empowered to define her own social standing rather than allowing for the male characters around her to define her societal role or power.

[17] Heywood's attribution also serves as a marker of the relationship England held with the Atlantic Ocean, in which the English sought to venture out into in order to engage in mercantile pursuits while at the same time weakening their Spanish and Portuguese rivals by raiding their American settlements and merchant shipping.

[17] As part of her efforts to counter Spain's dominance in the Americas and Europe, Elizabeth I authorized numerous privateers (state-sanctioned pirates known as Sea Dogs) to attack Spanish shipping and settlements.

[19] In order to secure their loyalty, Elizabeth I frequently bestowed valuable gifts that symbolized and uplifted her image and reign to her privateers, most notably Sir Francis Drake.

[23][24][25] Currently on loan in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Drake Jewel is a locket composed of enameled gold decorated with inset diamonds, rubies, and a hanging cluster of pearls.

[26][27][28][15] The depictions of the Muslim Moors as villains in the play who are ultimately defeated has been interpreted by scholars as part of an Elizabethan dramatic tradition which emerged in response to raids on Christian merchant shipping by Barbary corsairs from the 16th century onwards.

Heywood, the son of a priest, used the play to "commemorate the heroic deeds of [Christian] captives as resisting the lure of a ‘false’ Mohamettan religion with its harem and lasciviousness; even overpowering their captors and managing to escape the tyranny of the Moors".

[29][18][21] The play's picture of the role of women in society, and its treatment of cross-cultural issues (the West vs. Near East and Christianity versus Islam), have attracted the attention of interested modern critics.