Marlowe marathon
I ran out of Shakespeare. Clearly, the correct response is to move on to Marlowe.
Play: Dido Queen of Carthage
Date finished: August 11, 2014
Death count: 3: Dido, Iarbus, Anna.
Shipwrecks: Not quite a wreck, but Aeneas came to Carthage because his ships needed repairs.
Comments: Venus has no business talking about saints.
Play: Tamburlaine the Great, Part 1
Date finished: August 14, 2014
Death count: 9+: Mycetes, Cosroe, Agydas, the kings of Fez, Morocco and Argier (offstage), Bajazeth, Zabina, Prince of Arabia, soldiers.
Comments: Tamburlaine is kind of a boring invincible hero, and ancient warfare was barbaric. I'm looking forward to Part 2. It's also interesting coming in to these not knowing whether the play is a comedy or tragedy.
Play: Tamburlaine the Great, Part 2
Date finished: August 15, 2014
Death count: 8+: Sigismund, Zenocrate, Captain of Balsera, his son, Calyphas, Olympia, Governor of Babylon, Tamburlaine, soldiers and conquered peoples.
Comments: Theridamas, you idiot.
I suppose it's not so much that it might be a comedy--as tortoise points out, Marlowe didn't write comedies--so much as I don't know what flavor of tragedy it's going to be. There's a spectrum of tragedy, from say Othello, with the sweet innocent murdered for a lie and the hero killing himself out of guilt, to Henry IV, where the title character dies at the end and is succeeded by a totally awesome new king. I also don't know what kind of tragedy it's going to be: revenge at a high price, the corruption and fall of a good man, grand foolish mistake, or just, well, the title character is dead, it must be a tragedy.
Play: The Jew of Malta
Date finished: August 24, 2014
Death count: 10+: Lodowick, Mathias, Abigail, the Abbess, more nuns, Friar Barnandine, Friar Jacomo, Belladona, Pilia-Borza, Ithamore, Turkish soldiers, Barabas.
Comments: So the literarily obvious thing to do with this one is to compare it to The Merchant of Venice. As of Act I, Barabas is much more sympathetic than Shylock: he's been screwed over by the government for being Jewish, so obviously he's got a strong motivation. Of course, after that he goes on to be waaaay more evil than Shylock...
Play: Edward II
Date finished: November 8, 2014
Death count: 9+: Gaveston, Warwick, Lancaster, Baldock, Spencer, Spencer senior, Kent, Edward II, Mortimer, soldiers.
Comments: This one really doesn't quite feel like the Shakespearean histories. In particular, there's no one arguing over who gets to be king. There's a lot of jockeying between the King's favorites and the other lords, but there's never anyone who suggests that anyone but Edward III should succeed Edward II.
Play: Dido Queen of Carthage
Date finished: August 11, 2014
Death count: 3: Dido, Iarbus, Anna.
Shipwrecks: Not quite a wreck, but Aeneas came to Carthage because his ships needed repairs.
Comments: Venus has no business talking about saints.
Play: Tamburlaine the Great, Part 1
Date finished: August 14, 2014
Death count: 9+: Mycetes, Cosroe, Agydas, the kings of Fez, Morocco and Argier (offstage), Bajazeth, Zabina, Prince of Arabia, soldiers.
Comments: Tamburlaine is kind of a boring invincible hero, and ancient warfare was barbaric. I'm looking forward to Part 2. It's also interesting coming in to these not knowing whether the play is a comedy or tragedy.
Play: Tamburlaine the Great, Part 2
Date finished: August 15, 2014
Death count: 8+: Sigismund, Zenocrate, Captain of Balsera, his son, Calyphas, Olympia, Governor of Babylon, Tamburlaine, soldiers and conquered peoples.
Comments: Theridamas, you idiot.
I suppose it's not so much that it might be a comedy--as tortoise points out, Marlowe didn't write comedies--so much as I don't know what flavor of tragedy it's going to be. There's a spectrum of tragedy, from say Othello, with the sweet innocent murdered for a lie and the hero killing himself out of guilt, to Henry IV, where the title character dies at the end and is succeeded by a totally awesome new king. I also don't know what kind of tragedy it's going to be: revenge at a high price, the corruption and fall of a good man, grand foolish mistake, or just, well, the title character is dead, it must be a tragedy.
Play: The Jew of Malta
Date finished: August 24, 2014
Death count: 10+: Lodowick, Mathias, Abigail, the Abbess, more nuns, Friar Barnandine, Friar Jacomo, Belladona, Pilia-Borza, Ithamore, Turkish soldiers, Barabas.
Comments: So the literarily obvious thing to do with this one is to compare it to The Merchant of Venice. As of Act I, Barabas is much more sympathetic than Shylock: he's been screwed over by the government for being Jewish, so obviously he's got a strong motivation. Of course, after that he goes on to be waaaay more evil than Shylock...
Play: Edward II
Date finished: November 8, 2014
Death count: 9+: Gaveston, Warwick, Lancaster, Baldock, Spencer, Spencer senior, Kent, Edward II, Mortimer, soldiers.
Comments: This one really doesn't quite feel like the Shakespearean histories. In particular, there's no one arguing over who gets to be king. There's a lot of jockeying between the King's favorites and the other lords, but there's never anyone who suggests that anyone but Edward III should succeed Edward II.