The importance of equilibrium in Thomas Dekker’s A Worke For Armourers (1609)

Abstract

This article explores the importance of economic and social equilibrium in Thomas Dekker’s prose allegory, A Worke For Armourers (1609). I investigate the intersection between economics and literature during a period of profound economic growth and social upheaval when the seeds for capitalism were laid. I discuss how Dekker’s allegory grapples with the possibility for radical change but confronts an equally strong desire for balance and stability. Early modern dramatic writers rarely used single terms to convey concepts like change, balance and equilibrium. Instead, Dekker used allegorical situations, complex allusions and metaphors to explore how economic and social change could be achieved. A reading of Dekker’s text shows that he created an allegorical world turned economically and socially upside down before providing a resolution that returns the world to its previous state of equilibrium.