Analyse the Character of Edward II.
With Edward
II Marlowe seems to have left away the
non-English legends and myths with tragic potentialities and melodrama in
favour of the native historical themes that have some sort of socio-political
relevance for the time without the melodrama. Marlowe drew upon the accounts of
Stowe and Holinshed and presented the much debated personality of Edward II in
perfect balance with the dynamics of tragedy and the psychology of the audience
whose maturity he must have invested his faith in. It
may be pointed out here that Marlowe might have been influenced by the
Renaissance notion of history as a teacher, a notion reinforced in England by
the vogue of the “courtesy books” like the Mirror
of the Magistrates. In other words, the
tragedy of Edward II was expected to illustrate the
ways of life a king should avoid and the kind of the ways the subjects should
not take resort to in order to advance personal gains or whims. Again, it must
be emphasised here that Marlowe must have been fascinated with the ‘queer’ and
‘unnatural’ personality of the king, which we now plainly categorise as
homosexual. But it is not the sole trait which brings about his downfall; in
fact, a number of tragic flaws can be marked in his character in the process of
the drama.
The
play starts at a crucial juncture of English history: it is a transition from
the supposedly stable reign of Edward I to the uncertain one of his son. The
situation demands at one level an abler king than the former, but unfortunately
for both the king and his subjects he turns out to be anything but a king. At
the very opening of the play when Gaveston is seen on the stage reading aloud
the lines of the letter sent by Edward II,
“My
father is deceased! Come, Gaveston,
And
share the kingdom with thy dearest friend.”
The contemporary audiences could well anticipate the extent to which the new king was going to be irresponsible as he forgot that a kingdom was to be ruled better, not something to be shared and enjoyed with a person who had been banished from the kingdom by the former king for some serious charges, which the chroniclers could not clearly put in black and white out of decency or taboo.
