EDWARD II
CRITICAL APPRECIATION
I. THE RENAISSANCE DRAMA
From Ancient times Constantinople was the centre of learning.
The Turks captured it in 1453.
The Greek scholars had to take refuge in Italy. Here they spread Greek philosophy and literature.
The inventions brought the new learning accessible to the people.
In England, Greek literature came from a group of Scholars Colet, Erasmus and Sir Thomas More.
Utopia is one of the famous books of More.
One feature of the Renaissance was translations.
There was Sir Thomas North's translation of Plutarch's life and John Florio's translation of Montaigne's Essays.
There was also Metamorphoses by Arthur Golding.
There were translations of French and Spanish works also.
In this age patriotism was a significant feature.
The greatest in English drama came with the university wits. This was a group of seven young writers.
The period of Renaissance was a period of great progress for England.
Marlowe is the true representative of the age. In Edward II Renaissance element finds expression in King Edward himself. He has no idol, his favourite Gaveston and pleasures for which he stands.
He says: "I have Gavton poets, pleasant wits Music and poetry is his delight".
Then in Mortimer's speech, we find the Renaissance note :
"Base fortune now I see that in thy wheel
There is a point….
Weep not for Mortimer…
That scorns the world…."
Here we find Mortimer is ready to die without any feeling of sorrow after enjoying earthly power.
II. CONCEPTION OF TRAGEDY
Marlowe gave form to drama and brought a great change in the form of tragedy.
He discarded the Seve can concept. He created the Romantic tragedy.
Marlowe has been termed the 'Father of English tragedy'.
He gave a true picture of the contemporary time.
He changed the concept of 'hero'.
According to Aristotle, the king or great man was to be the hero. Marlowe brought in common persons as heroes.
He laid stress on the struggle of bravery and misery against forces that were stronger than them.
Marlowe believed in the Machiavellian philosophy. The interest in his plays is more in the personality of the hero than the didactic purposes.
For him, death was the loss of active and glorious living. The loss of individual power
Ex - a) King Edward prefers to die.
b) Mortimer accepts death.
The physical pains do not matter.
We also find in his tragedies, a lack of comic spirit and female characters.
III) HISTORICAL AND CHRONICLE
Edward II is based on Holinshed's Chronicles of England.
Edward II is a powerful but unhistorical tragedy.
Marlowe omitted what he felt was irrelevant from the historical sources and added what he thought important.
These changes made things different. Marlowe took the liberty to change the chronicle record.
The pathos and horror of Edward's end is a moving part.
Marlowe's king does not repent and apologies
On the contrary, he says :
"How have I transgressed
Until it is with too much clemency".
Gaveston was a close friend of the king. But Marlowe made him play some unhistorical important part.
Marlowe simplified the whole series of events very beautifully.
i) The quarrel between Gaveston and Spencer.
ii) Warwick has been kept alive to support Lancaster.
iii) Mortimers were associated with the enemies of Gaveston. Actually, they had no concern.
iv) Marlowe has made Isabella and Mortimer, an active participation in the king's quarrel.
Marlowe changed the historical events for a better dramatic purpose.
But the history of the reign of Edward II is almost correct.
He omits the king's marriage and his going to France. This was because it had no part in the tragedy.
Marlowe has interested in artistic grace but at the same time, he did not overrule the major truth of history.
Chronicle plays had become very popular in England after the defeat of the Spanish Armada.
Marlowe wrote Edward II. Here the dramatist selected events for his dramatic purpose. He added some events out of his imagination to make his drama appealing to the people.
Marlowe was a great literary artist.
He succeeded in converting the story of Edward II into a real tragedy.
Marlowe took his material from -
a) Fabyon's chronicle.
b) Holinshed's chronicle.
c) Stow's chronicle
He made use of legends and current history in his drama.
At the same time, he brought about changes in facts and characters alive.
He did this for a better dramatic effect.
As we see in the characters of Kent, the Archbishop of Canterbury and Mortimer are sketched after some contemporary characters.
Marlowe shaped out the chronicle history of a disagreeable reign to a historical tragedy.
Marlowe gave life and reality to his characters.
He gave unity to drama, which was earlier lacking.
IV) EDWARD II
Edward, Prince of Wales succeeded his father at the age of 23.
His reign was the most ruinous in English history.
The chief cause of his misfortune was pleasure-seeking and weakness for his favourites.
Gaveston says, ".... Music and poetry is his delight".
The king himself realizes this. He says. "O Gaveston, it is for thee that I wronged".
But Edward was conscious of his dignity. He preferred to die, rather than succumb.
At the same time, he did not realize his duties and responsibilities.
V) ISABELLA
Isabella was the daughter of Philip the king of France.
She was married to King Edward II at Boulogne.
Edward remembered how he had to fight in the arena with the other rivals for the hand of Isabella.
VI) BLANK VERSE
Blank verse is poetry with a consistent meter, but no formal rhyme scheme. It has a measured beat. The beat is usually iambic pentameter.
The blank verse in English was used by Henry Howard. He used it in his translation of the Aeneid.
i)Blank verse is called iambic pentameter.
ii ) The second is called trochee blank verse. It follows a pattern of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable.
iii) The third is ductile verse. It followed the pattern of stressed syllables followed by two unstressed syllables.
Marlowe was not the first - English dramatist to write his play in blank verse.
Marlowe was the first dramatist to break from the formal line.
He brought the poetry more in line with the natural flow and rhythms of everyday speech.
His poetry was more impressive and carried a considerably more dramatic impact.
Marlowe's plays had greater emotional range and depth. The audience also empathizes with the character to a much greater extent.
It resembled colloquial speech. Marlowe's verse was also more accessible to the audience.
The audience listened to the words and appreciated the poetry and lyricism of each line.
It helped the audience to better understand as a whole.
In Edward II, the language Marlowe uses is poetic. This is to heighten the overall dramatic effect.
Blank verse fulfils the vitality and sense of the spoken words.
It is such a flexible verse that it can capture the sadness rhythms of everyday speech without drawing attitude to itself. Ex :
"Here take my crown, the life of Edward too
Two kings in England cannot reign at a time".
Blank verse allows Marlowe to do many different things with words.
The meter is what makes it different from free verse.
Christopher Marlowe was the first English writer to use this. It was called, 'Mighty line'.
VII) MACHIAVELLIAN -
It is that a ruler is justified in using any means to stay in power - by dishonesty or trick.
The theme - Monarchy, Legitimacy and loyalty and beautifully portrayed.
For Edward, Gaveston is everything. He would forego his kingdom for the sake of Gaveston.
He is surrounded by Machiavellian schemers and conspirators.
The Lords around the king are drenched by the lust for power.
We see how Marlowe goes about exploring the idea of power.
Mortimer and Isabella are passionate about each other. They are eager to take the throne.
Mortimer is a Machiavillian schemer.
Isabella as her son says is
Gaveston is selfish.
Other characters also lack heroic qualities.
Marlowe seems to say that, "divine kingship" is not what makes someone fit to rule.
Rebellion is everywhere in the drama.
The characters want power, influence wealth or complete freedom to do exactly what they please, even if it is deleterious to the realm.
All the rebellions fail. They fail because it is not rooted in something legitimate and hence it cannot succeed.
David Thurn, a critic says - 'Spectacle and Power are central issues of Marlowe's historical plays.
The spectacle of Galveston is the problem. He has no power to meditate.
The spectacle is one of the components of tragedy. It is something to view as an unusual, notable, eye-catching dramatic display, an object of curiosity and contempt.
In a simple way, we can say it is look and observe.
It helps the audience to understand the play.
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