Marlowe, Edward II, and the Cult of Elizabeth
Kay, Dennis
Early Modern Literary Studies 3.2 (September 1997)
Abstract
This paper seeks to relate Edward II to the cult of Elizabeth, suggesting that it participates fully in the discursive procedures that surrounded the Tudor monarchy. At the most basic level, I will propose that in Marlowe’s play the image of the King may be construed as a negative exemplum, being in effect defined negatively in terms of the well established cult of Queen Elizabeth. Likewise Shakespeare’s King Lear establishes a pointed contrast between the assiduously promoted public image of King James as judge, patriarch and unifier of the Kingdoms of Britain, and Shakespeare’s depiction of Lear, the Last ruler of the whole island, as one who judges foolishly, fragments his family and carves up his realm. Like that of Lear, the world of Edward II is constructed as an admonitory negative example for the present. The parallels extend beyond the age to the more specific question of the ruler as an individual, and that, of course, was a question that could hardly be considered — or even imagined — outside the terms of reference of Elizabeth’s cult.
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