Epicœne, or The Silent Woman
E399539
Epicœne, or The Silent Woman is a satirical comedy play by Ben Jonson that skewers marriage, gender roles, and social pretension in early 17th-century London.
All labels observed (3)
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T3940559 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Epicœne, or The Silent Woman Context triple: [Ben Jonson, notableWork, Epicœne, or The Silent Woman]
-
A.
The Rehearsal; or, Bays in Petticoats
The Rehearsal; or, Bays in Petticoats is an 18th-century satirical stage piece associated with comic actress Kitty Clive, known for lampooning theatrical and literary pretensions of its time.
-
B.
The Procuress
The Procuress is a 1622 genre painting by Dutch Caravaggist Dirck van Baburen depicting a brothel scene with a leering procuress overseeing a transaction between a man and a young woman.
-
C.
The Country Wife (stage)
The Country Wife (stage) is a classic Restoration comedy by William Wycherley, renowned for its witty, sexually charged satire of marriage and hypocrisy in 17th-century London.
-
D.
The Beaux' Stratagem (stage)
The Beaux' Stratagem (stage) is a classic Restoration-era comedy play by George Farquhar, frequently revived in modern theatre for its witty dialogue and satirical take on marriage and social pretensions.
-
E.
Measure for Measure
Measure for Measure is a dark comedic play by William Shakespeare that explores themes of justice, morality, and hypocrisy in a corrupt Vienna.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Epicœne, or The Silent Woman Target entity description: Epicœne, or The Silent Woman is a satirical comedy play by Ben Jonson that skewers marriage, gender roles, and social pretension in early 17th-century London.
-
A.
The Rehearsal; or, Bays in Petticoats
The Rehearsal; or, Bays in Petticoats is an 18th-century satirical stage piece associated with comic actress Kitty Clive, known for lampooning theatrical and literary pretensions of its time.
-
B.
The Procuress
The Procuress is a 1622 genre painting by Dutch Caravaggist Dirck van Baburen depicting a brothel scene with a leering procuress overseeing a transaction between a man and a young woman.
-
C.
The Country Wife (stage)
The Country Wife (stage) is a classic Restoration comedy by William Wycherley, renowned for its witty, sexually charged satire of marriage and hypocrisy in 17th-century London.
-
D.
The Beaux' Stratagem (stage)
The Beaux' Stratagem (stage) is a classic Restoration-era comedy play by George Farquhar, frequently revived in modern theatre for its witty dialogue and satirical take on marriage and social pretensions.
-
E.
Measure for Measure
Measure for Measure is a dark comedic play by William Shakespeare that explores themes of justice, morality, and hypocrisy in a corrupt Vienna.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Jacobean play
ⓘ
comedy play ⓘ satirical play ⓘ stage play ⓘ |
| alsoKnownAs |
Epicene
ⓘ
The Silent Woman ⓘ |
| author | Ben Jonson ⓘ |
| centralTheme |
deception and disguise
ⓘ
gender roles ⓘ marriage ⓘ misogyny and anti-matrimonial attitudes ⓘ noise and silence ⓘ social pretension ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | England ⓘ |
| dramaticStructure | five-act play ⓘ |
| dramaticStyle | humours comedy ⓘ |
| firstPerformanceDate | 1609 ⓘ |
| firstPublicationDate | 1616 ⓘ |
| genre |
city comedy
ⓘ
comedy ⓘ satire ⓘ |
| hasCharacterType |
fop
ⓘ
gallant ⓘ learned lady ⓘ noisy courtiers ⓘ |
| includedIn | Ben Jonson’s 1616 folio of Works ⓘ |
| influencedBy | classical Roman comedy ⓘ |
| literaryPeriod |
Stuart period
ⓘ
surface form:
Jacobean era
|
| mainCharacter |
Clerimont
ⓘ
Dauphine Eugenie ⓘ Epicœne, or The Silent Woman self-linksurface differs ⓘ
surface form:
Epicœne
Morose ⓘ Sir Amorous La-Foole ⓘ Sir John Daw ⓘ Truewit ⓘ |
| notableFeature |
complex plotting and use of deception
ⓘ
extensive use of witty dialogue and repartee ⓘ satire of London’s urban society ⓘ |
| originalLanguage | English ⓘ |
| plotDevice | revelation that Epicœne is actually a boy in disguise ⓘ |
| plotSummary |
Epicœne, or The Silent Woman
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
surface form:
The play centers on Morose, a rich gentleman obsessed with silence, who is tricked into marrying a seemingly quiet woman, Epicœne, as part of a scheme to secure his estate.
|
| settingLocation |
London, England
ⓘ
surface form:
London
|
| settingTime | early 17th century ⓘ |
| subjectOf |
literary criticism on gender and performance
ⓘ
scholarly analysis of early modern marriage ideology ⓘ |
| theatreOfFirstPerformance |
Blackfriars Theatre
ⓘ
surface form:
Whitefriars Theatre
|
| theatricalCompanyAtFirstPerformance |
Children of the Queen's Revels
ⓘ
surface form:
Children of the Queen’s Revels
|
| tone |
farce-like
ⓘ
satirical ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Epicœne, or The Silent Woman Description of subject: Epicœne, or The Silent Woman is a satirical comedy play by Ben Jonson that skewers marriage, gender roles, and social pretension in early 17th-century London.
Referenced by (5)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
subject surface form:
Benjamin Jonson
Epicœne, or The Silent Woman
→
mainCharacter
→
Epicœne, or The Silent Woman
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
this entity surface form:
Epicœne
Epicœne, or The Silent Woman
→
plotSummary
→
Epicœne, or The Silent Woman
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
this entity surface form:
The play centers on Morose, a rich gentleman obsessed with silence, who is tricked into marrying a seemingly quiet woman, Epicœne, as part of a scheme to secure his estate.