Bromham, A. A. 1986. “The Tragedy of Peace: Political Meaning in Women Beware Women.” Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 26, no. 2: 309–29.
The text focuses on Thomas Middleton’s Women Beware Women and studies it as a peace play with an astute awareness of the context of its creation, namely King James I’s comparatively-pacifistic approach to foreign policy and the debate that sparked among the British community. The main argument follows that Middleton presents social responsibility as the only means with which peace can be achieved, and the pursuit of a false peace can result in a tragic end similar to that of the play itself.