A Tell-Tale Love of Citizenry

The very fact that Beaumont uses a Citizen, and, in fact, a grocer, as the person sitting on the stage and disrupting the play seems to indicate that “The Knight of the Burning Pestle” can be read in two different ways: anti-bourgeois and citizen-loving. In once sense Beaumont is presenting a very satirical drama by having two people sitting on the stage, interrupting the play, and making comments about the play; however, he uses common people in this representation. What I would like to suggest is that Beaumont was trying to indicate a sense of affection for the “middling” people. The dialogue used between the Citizen and his Wife seems to imply that they are in a very loving and affectionate relationship; this is a very positive representation of the middle class (the common people).
Furthermore, the Citizen and his Wife are very concerned with honoring the common people. When the Citizen states, “I will have Rafe do a very notable matter now, to the eternal honour and glory of all grocers,” Beaumont seems to place an emphasis on the fact that the “middling” people should be honoured in the plays instead of the upper class or bourgeois (int. IV, ln. 4-5). This line from the play indicates to me that Beaumont might not be an elitist but, rather, focused on bringing all groups of people up. From using “common” people to push the play forward to wanting to honor the “middling” people (the grocers and the workers), Beaumont is using this play to reveal his affection for the citizenry.