Dover Publications - Elizabethan tragedies: a basic anthology

ELIZABETHAN TRAGEDIES ELIZABETHAN TRAGEDIES A Basic Anthology DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC. MINEOLA, NEW YORK DOVER THRIFT EDITIONS GENERAL EDITOR: SUSAN L. RATTINER EDITOR OF THIS VOLUME: JANET B. KOPITO Copyright Copyright 2017 by Dover Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. (This may not apply outside of the United States, as copyright conditions may vary.) Bibliographical Note This Dover edition, first published in 2017, is a new compilation of plays reprinted from standard editions. (This may not apply outside of the United States, as copyright conditions may vary.) Bibliographical Note This Dover edition, first published in 2017, is a new compilation of plays reprinted from standard editions.

A Note has been provided specially for this edition. International Standard Book Number ISBN-13: 978-0-486-81332-5 ISBN-10: 0-486-81332-0 Manufactured in the United States by LSC Communications 81332001 2017 www.doverpublications.com Contents Thomas Kyd Christopher Marlowe Thomas Heywood Elizabeth Cary John Webster [The dates given for the plays are approximate, given the numerous versions published and performed at the time.] Note The five plays selected for this collection represent a quarter centurys worth of the great achievements of the Elizabethan era, and, as the successor to Queen Elizabeths reign, the Jacobean period. Theaters were opening up in London, and poetry and music were flourishing. The well-educated queen brought her own curiosity and zest for learning to the general atmosphere of the time. It also is good to remember that some of Shakespeares greatest tragediesHamlet, Macbeth, Othello, and King Learwere contemporaneous with works in this anthology. Thomas Kyds Spanish Tragedy is typical of the revenge play, a popular format of the time.

The plot is replete with murder and madness. Some aspects of The Spanish Tragedy can be found in the work of the Roman dramatist Seneca, including the emphasis on violent outcomes and even the Ghost character, which may have been a source for Hamlet. In Doctor Faustus, Christopher Marlowe invokes the nefarious character depicted in the German Faustbuch (1587), an astronomer and necromancer who was believed to have given up his soul to the Devil in order to receive supernatural powers. Faustus acknowledges the tragic consequences of his actions, however, and tells a group of scholarly gentlemen that his disease cant be cured by a physician, as A surfeit of deadly sin [that] hath damnd both body and soul. A Woman Killed with Kindness by Thomas Heywood offers a domestic setting for its plot: a happy marriage that is damaged by a husbands fateful decision. John and Anne Frankford share a pleasant home life; the disruption occurs when John brings a young acquaintance, Wendoll, into the house as his companion.

The effect of this decision on Anne, and its impact on her wellbeing, spin the plot. In addition to its literary merits, The Tragedy of Mariam is noteworthy as the first work written by a woman and published under her own name. Set in 29 BCE, the play concerns Mariam, the faire queene of Jewry, and the violent events that take place at the court of the villainous King Herod, Mariams husband. Drawing attention in the 1970s during the burgeoning growth of feminist studies and scholarship, The Tragedy of Mariam examines themes of morality in a patriarchal society, including the impact of marriage and divorce, while displaying the brutal acts typical of the genre. The concluding work, John Websters The Duchess of Malfi, shares the violent outcomes of the accompanying plays in this collection. 1567), the play shows the lengths to which the Duchesss brothers will go to control her destiny. 1567), the play shows the lengths to which the Duchesss brothers will go to control her destiny.

The manipulative Cardinal spies on the Duchess, and the Duchesss twin, Ferdinand, is obsessed with his sisters affairs as he descends into madness. Their cruel treatment of the Duchess for her decision to marry for love beneath her social class, prominent among other motives expressed by the brothers, moves the plays action to its inevitable, tragic conclusion. ELIZABETHAN TRAGEDIES THE SPANISH TRAGEDYThomas KydDRAMATIS PERSON KING OF SPAIN CYPRIAN DUKE OF CASTILE, his brother LORENZO, the Dukes son BELLIMPERIA, Lorenzos sister VICEROY OF PORTUGAL BALTHAZAR, his son DON PEDRO, the Viceroys brother HIERONIMO, Marshal of Spain ISABELLA, his wife HORATIO, their son Spanish General Deputy DON BAZULTO, an old man Three Citizens Portuguese Ambassador Two Portuguese PEDRINCANO, Bellimperias servant CHRISTOPHIL, Bellimperias custodian Lorenzos Page CERBERINE, Balthazars servant Isabellas Maid Messenger Hangman Three Kings and three Knights in the first Dumb-show Hymen and two torch-bearers in the second BAZARDO, a Painter PEDRO and JACQUES, Hieronimos servants Army. Banquet. Royal suites. Noblemen.

Halberdiers. Officers. Three Watchmen. Trumpets. Servants, etc. ACT ISCENE I: InductionEnter the Ghost of Andrea, and with him Revenge.Ghost.

When this eternal substance of my soul Did live imprisond in my wanton flesh, Each in their function serving others need, I was a courtier in the Spanish court: My name was Don Andrea; my descent, Though not ignoble, yet inferior far To gracious fortunes of my tender youth. For there in prime and pride of all my years, By duteous service and deserving love, In secret I possessd a worthy dame, Which hight sweet Bellimperia by name. But, in the harvest of my summer joys, Deaths winter nippd the blossoms of my bliss, Forcing divorce betwixt my love and me. For in the late conflict with Portingal My valour drew me into dangers mouth, Till life to death made passage through my wounds. When I was slain, my soul descended straight To pass the flowing stream of Acheron; But churlish Charon, only boatman there, Said that, my rites of burial not performd, I might not sit amongst his passengers. Ere Sol had slept three nights in Thetis lap, And slakd his smoking chariot in her flood, By Don Horatio, our knight marshals son, My funerals and obsequies were done.

Then was the ferryman of hell content To pass me over to the slimy strand, That leads to fell Avernus ugly waves. There, pleasing Cerberus with honeyd speech, I passd the perils of the foremost porch. Not far from hence, amidst ten thousand souls, Sat Minos, Aeacus, and Rhadamanth; To whom no sooner gan I make approach, To crave a passport for my wandring ghost, But Minos, in graven leaves of lottery, Drew forth the manner of my life and death. This knight, quoth he, both livd and died in love; And for his love tried fortune of the wars; And by wars fortune lost both love and life. Why then, said Aeacus, convey him hence, To walk with lovers in our fields of love, And spend the course of everlasting time Under green myrtle-trees and cypress shades. No, no, said Rhadamanth, it were not well; With loving souls to place a martialist: He died in war, and must to martial fields, Where wounded Hector lives in lasting pain, And Achilles Myrmidons do scour the plain.

Then Minos, mildest censor of the three, Made this device to end the difference: Send him, quoth he, to our infernal king, To doom him as best seems his majesty. To this effect my passport straight was drawn. In keeping on my way to Plutos court, Through dreadful shades of ever-glooming night, I saw more sights than thousand tongues can tell, Or pens can write, or mortal hearts can think. Three ways there were: that on the right-hand side Was ready way unto the foresaid fields, Where lovers live and bloody martialists; But either sort containd within his bounds. The left-hand path, declining fearfully, Was ready downfall to the deepest hell, Where bloody Furies shakes their whips of steel, And poor Ixion turns an endless wheel; Where usurers are chokd with melting gold, And wantons are embracd with ugly snakes, And murdrers groan with never-killing wounds, And perjurd wights scalded in boiling lead, And all foul sins with torments overwhelmd. Twixt these two ways I trod the middle path, Which brought me to the fair Elysian green, In midst whereof there stands a stately tower, The walls of brass, the gates of adamant: Here finding Pluto with his Proserpine, I showd my passport, humbled on my knee; Whereat fair Proserpine began to smile, And beggd that only she might give my doom: Pluto was pleasd, and seald it with a kiss.