How does marlowe represent the ironies of kingship in edward ii ?
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Christopher Marlowe’s Edward IIis a superb specimen of historical tragedy of a historical king. Here the hero is King Edward II whose tragic downfall is due to his own characteristic weakness and setbacks. His thoughtless, unwise, impulsive, monomaniac approach to the world around him, his wrong dealing with barons and lords and even his own wife and his total lack of wisdom and capability to rule, result in his tragic fall and inhumansuffering.
To be a king is definitely a matter of glory and honour and there are many to aspire for the crown, though there are a few to get it and a very few to wield it with wisdom and caution. History presents a good many kings who believed in the theory of the divine right of the kingship and ruled despotically, but very often they are found to have their own lessons, like Charles I, the Stuart King of England. Marlowe’s all four tragedies – Edward II,Tamburlaine, Dr. Faustus, The Jew of Malta bring out the universal truth that all mighty men (kings of their own kingdoms) suffer their tragic fall in their life.
A good ruler is supposed to lead his country and keep his kingdom united but Edward II prefers to waste time and enjoy himself with his flatterers. Edward II is introduced to the audience as a ‘pliant king’, a pleasure seeker who prefers to divide his kingdom than have his lover Gaveston exiled from the kingdom. Later in the play, hisorders are disregarded by the nobles and a civil war within the kingdom of England ensues. By the end of the play we see the king at his most tragic, having lost everything including his friends, his lover Gaveston, his kingdom and having been betrayed by his own wife, Isabella.
The play Edward II reaches its emotional climax in Act V, Scene I. The temporary bliss of wearing the crown makes him refuse to surrender it and he again breaks in hysterical anger, which is now impotent. When Leicester reminds him of the fact that if he refuses to put down the crown, the prince may lose his right, he immediate surrenders his crown. After that he finds it useless to remain alive and comes fully under the operation of death instinct. In a final gesture of his love for the queen, he sends a handkerchief to her. But this does not sound as tragic as his last wordsto his son:
To be a king is definitely a matter of glory and honour and there are many to aspire for the crown, though there are a few to get it and a very few to wield it with wisdom and caution. History presents a good many kings who believed in the theory of the divine right of the kingship and ruled despotically, but very often they are found to have their own lessons, like Charles I, the Stuart King of England. Marlowe’s all four tragedies – Edward II,Tamburlaine, Dr. Faustus, The Jew of Malta bring out the universal truth that all mighty men (kings of their own kingdoms) suffer their tragic fall in their life.
A good ruler is supposed to lead his country and keep his kingdom united but Edward II prefers to waste time and enjoy himself with his flatterers. Edward II is introduced to the audience as a ‘pliant king’, a pleasure seeker who prefers to divide his kingdom than have his lover Gaveston exiled from the kingdom. Later in the play, hisorders are disregarded by the nobles and a civil war within the kingdom of England ensues. By the end of the play we see the king at his most tragic, having lost everything including his friends, his lover Gaveston, his kingdom and having been betrayed by his own wife, Isabella.
The play Edward II reaches its emotional climax in Act V, Scene I. The temporary bliss of wearing the crown makes him refuse to surrender it and he again breaks in hysterical anger, which is now impotent. When Leicester reminds him of the fact that if he refuses to put down the crown, the prince may lose his right, he immediate surrenders his crown. After that he finds it useless to remain alive and comes fully under the operation of death instinct. In a final gesture of his love for the queen, he sends a handkerchief to her. But this does not sound as tragic as his last wordsto his son:
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