“A Magazine of all perfection”: Mathematics in the Early Modern Satire Histrio-Mastix

Mathematics might not be the first subject to come to mind when one is seeking a connection between Early Modern literature and broader cultural developments. Often, when students are introduced to European culture in this time period (roughly 1450–1750), they are exposed to works by William Shakespeare (1564–1616), Christopher (Kit) Marlowe (1564–1593), John Milton (1608–1674), and other political, historical, and religious dramatists and poets. However, a handful of satires and comedies written throughout the late 16th and early 17th centuries offered a number of insights into Early Modern mathematics. The perspectives on mathematics and the mathematician presented in these plays must have resonated with their audiences at the time, but they can also illuminate how we discuss these topics with students today.

In this article we explore the Early Modern satire Histrio-Mastix: Or, the player whipt by John Marston (ca 1575–1634), an English playwright and satirist active during the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras.^[1] The play was printed in 1610, a decade after it was performed on stage in 1599 [Cathcart 2023]. Although the play is not as well-known as other theatricals from the era, it can be used to teach students about mathematics and mathematicians and to provide perspective on other literary works, in particular Plato's The Republic.

Below we outline aspects of Histrio-Mastix that relate to 17th-century mathematics and present ideas for discussion topics that can be used in teaching. Brief background material on Early Modern mathematics is included to help clarify the play’s setting and context. The popularity of recent trade books such as Sarah Hart’s Once Upon a Prime [2023] and Rob Eastaway’s Much Ado About Numbers [2024] shows that highlighting intersections between mathematics and literature is an effective way to engage students with the cultural significance of both disciplines. Thus, rather than teaching mathematical content directly, the treatment of the play proposed in this article is aimed at provoking discussions about the status of mathematics and mathematicians from a historical perspective. Thereby the play may lead modern readers to reflect on their own identities as mathematicians of different kinds and to recognise and challenge the stereotypes that surround us. These insights, which blend literary analysis with the philosophy and history of science, could be developed within history of mathematics courses, senior topical seminars, or even mathematics for the liberal arts. Enquiry-based instructional approaches, either individually or in groups, are recommended to instructors who wish to introduce this material in their classrooms.