If there is a locus classicus of the lusty widow stereotype in early modern drama, a good candidate for the title would be Chapman's 1604 comedy, The Widow's Tears. This play about two widows – one genuine, the other the unsuspecting victim of a faked-death scheme – who succumb to the carnal temptations of remarriage appears to have enjoyed considerable popularity: it was produced in two theatres, Blackfriars and Whitefriars, was not published until seven years after its first performance (with a dedication noting that it was “of many desired to see printed”), and was played at Court even a year after its publication (Parrott, 797). Judging from most modern criticism, its enthusiastic reception would suggest that Jacobean audiences favored some particularly harsh condemnation of the desirous widow and her decision to take a second husband, for it is widely agreed that Chapman portrays both women as suffering morally reprehensible falls from an exalted ideal of widowed chastity.