A Wife for a Month A Wife for a Month A Wife for a Month is a late Jacobean era stage play, a tragicomedy written by John Fletcher and originally published in the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1647. The play was licensed for performance by Sir Henry Herbert, the Master of the Revels, on 27 May 1624; it was acted by the King's Men. The partial cast list added to the play in the second Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1679 mentions Joseph Taylor, Robert Benfield, Richard Robinson, John Underwood, Nicholas Tooley, and George Birch. The list contains a contradiction, since Tooley died
A Wife for a Month the King orders that Valerio be killed within the month, and sentences Evanthe to a series of marriages that will all end in her husbands’ deaths after each month passes. The Queen is horrified: marriage ought to be holy, and all agree that the King is interfering with divine ordinance in disregarding and disrespecting marriage. Once Evanthe and Valerio are married, they decide to make the best of it, and to love each other. They plan to consummate the marriage, but Sorano comes secretly to Valerio with the King's order that if he lies with his wife, she will face