Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #77711 in Books
• Published on: 1997-05-30
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 172 pages

Synopsis
This is a modern-spelling, fully-annotated edition of Christopher Marlowe's play "Edward the Second". It is part of the New Mermaids series and includes a critical introduction, biography of the author, discussions of sources, textual details, and information about the staging of the play.

Customer Reviews

Moving and powerful
Marlowe's play about the gay king of England seems incredibly modern in its sympathetic representation of a homosexual man. Sure, Edward may get 'punished' for his crime (in the most hideous way imaginable), but Marlowe's sympathies are clearly with Edward, whose love scenes with Gaveston are poetic and touching. By contrast, Edward's overthrower, Mortimer is a cold-blooded villain, and he too gets his comeuppance. Compare this play with the supposedly modern film 'Braveheart', which vilifies Edward II's homosexuality, and you can see that Marlowe is ahead of his time even now.

Marlowe at his best
This is a powerful play whereby Marlowe examines the humiliations that the King has to suffer due to his homosexuality. The reader begins to understand the great difficulty involved in balancing personal and political concerns, especially in centuries past. It sweeps the reader away into history, politics, corruption and controversy which exemplifies Marlowe at his best. I would recommend this play to anyone who has an interest in Renaissance culture or has enjoyed the works of Webster and Middleton & Rowley.