Edward II - Christopher Marlow
[alert-success] Edward II [/alert-success]
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[alert-primary] Critical Analysis [/alert-primary]
[alert-primary] Edward II as a Historical Play [/alert-primary]
Man's eternal quest is to discover the unknown, unseen, and unseen. That's Elizabethan spirit. They have the nostalgia to dive into history and retrieve the pearl of spirit. Christopher Marlowe, an excellent Elizabethan writer, squares historical background in his play Edward II. He pours "new wine into old bottles" and awakens dozing spectators. If someone asks, "Edward II as a historical play," we must find other answers.
Marlowe isn't the first Elizabethan to write a historical play; there are many others. Marlowe was inspired by Henry VI after writing tragedies with giant figures. Edward II is the result of the episodes' historical agenda. But it surpassed Shakespeare in dealing with deposed and assassinated King Edward II. Modern and anti-heroic, it's still a marvel in historical plays. Edward, the king is not important, Edward the man claims our sympathy. It gives Shakespeare the model for his Richard II (1595).
Edward II is Marlowe's finest historical play. Historical fervour and spirit are well-conceived. Marlowe invites Elizabethans, who were filled with national pride, to learn about national heroes' deeds from dramatists. Marlowe depicts the narrow bar from the historical threshold to the castle of keats' imagination. Here, 'the life of sensations rather than thought! Edward I ruled England from 1272-1307 and banished his son's most dissolute friend Gascon. Marlowe doesn't follow even's chronology slavishly. He adopts, abridges, transposes, and juxtaposes them. Gaveston replaces Gascon. He compressed the plot by shortening time and omitting events. After Gaveston's arrest and execution, 27 years are compressed into scenes. Three years have been eliminated between the king's death and Mortimer's execution.
Historical plays have clumsy plots. The writer prefers episodes. Edward II has a plot, well unit, and Marlowe's realism requires a coherent plot. Such scenes continue the previous scene and have a beginning, middle, and end. Marlowe creates a tragedy, but it's part of history. The characters aren't puppets or Shavian flatlines. His characters, not historical figures, are colourful. Like Pygmalion, Marlowe revives his characters. Edward wasn't as voluptuous as portrayed in the play. Nor did he mistreat the queen as in the play. Prof. Tout proclaims:
“He has no other wish than to amuse himself… If he
did not like work he was out very vicious, he stuck
loyalty to his friends and was fairly harmless, being
nobody’s enemy so much as his own”.
Perhaps Gaveston was not so such deliberate Miss Leader of the king as Marlowe has Marlowe portrays Gaveston as a deliberate Miss Leader of the King. He's loved and admired the king since childhood.
Edward II of Marlowe contains other historical errors. Marlowe treats Spencers freely. They weren't poor or adventure-hungry. After Gaveston's execution, they met the king. The play's downfall of Mortimer is too abrupt. Executed in 1330 for treason. The accusations against him included murdering the late king and being a spy. The charges against him is that of having been –
“more privy with Queen Isabella, the king’s mother, than
stood either with God’s law, or the king’s pleasure”.
Edward II is a great historical play despite its flaws. History is well-dramatized. Historical characters dominate. It's obvious. Audiences may also notice Edward's weaknesses, such as his lowliness to his wife, dotage to Gaveston, haughtiness to his barons, and carelessness for England and its people. They may mark barons' insolence and haughtiness, Mortimer's selfishness and unpatriotism, and the queen's faithlessness and hypocrisy. The play may lack the vigorousness and vitality of Shakespeare’s Richard. But to quote Charles Lamb we can utter –
“The death scene of Marlowe’s king moves pity and terror
beyond any scene, ancient or modern with
which I am acquainted”.
Marlowe uses history to test human indulgence. Wilson says, Marlowe manages his things from Holinshed’s Oromiete but shapes out of the Chronicle History of “disagreeable reign into historical tragedy”. Una Ellis Fermor says - the excellence of the play lies in Marlowe’s delineation of Edward’s character, "he is not a king but a man as a whole, a truly pathetic figure, the victim of maladjustment of circumstances".
In conclusion, Marlowe's Edward II is historical. But 'history' and 'historical' should not be used to describe the play. History records events in order. A play is meant to transport readers to a world of 'beauty and truth' It combines both genres.
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