EDWARD II
1591-1593
The Queen convinces the nobles to allow Gaveston to be
recalled from Ireland so that they may assassinate him. When he
returns, the nobles rise and capture him. The king asks that he
see Gaveston one last time before Gaveston is executed, but
Warwick intercedes and beheads Gaveston in a ditch.
Edward chooses a new favorite, Spencer, Jr. and bestows many
honors on him. The nobles object to Spencer, Jr. and seek his
ouster, believing him to be another mere waterfly. When Edward
refuses to disassociate himself with Spencer, Jr., the nobles
rise up again. Edward wins this time and takes the nobles
prisoner. He sends all except Mortimer, Jr. and Mortimer, Sr.
(the latter is held prisoner by the Scots and never heard from
again in the play) to be executed.
Kent, the king's brother, speaks in defense of the nobles
and is exiled from the king.
Isabella, meanwhile, has gone to her father, king of France,
to enlist aid, ostensibly for the king, but actually in league
against Edward. Isabella has by now joined with her lover
Mortimer in his Machiavellian quest for power.
Mortimer escapes from the Tower and makes for France.
Edward sends money to bribe the French nobles and keep them from
joining with Isabella and Mortimer against him.
Isabella is thwarted in raising an army in France because of
Edward's bribes, but she and her son, the heir apparent, is
joined there by Mortimer and Kent.
Mortimer succeeds in raising an army and attacking the king.
His efforts are successful. He defeats Edward. Kent, seeing
that the Queen and Mortimer are dissembling in an attempt to
wrest power from the line of Edward, has second thoughts about
them.
Edward, Spencer, and Balldock flee to an Abbey where they
are caught after a Mower betrays their whereabouts. In
the Abbey the king reverts to childlike behavior and a wish to
remain in the pastoral setting, free from the cares of monarchy.
Edward, Spencer, and Baldock are captured. Spencer and Baldock
are executed; Edward is sent to Killingworth castle where he is
placed in the dungeon, knee-deep (?) in water, and mentally
tortured by unsympathetic wardens.
He survives the ordeal to the admiration of even his
captors, who see in him the true demeanor of a noble king.
Mortimer and the Queen dissemble and have Edward further
tortured, all unbeknownst to the prince, Edward's son. The Queen
and Mortimer, who wants the Regency, see Kent as a threat because
Kent has the ear of the young Prince.
Mortimer and the Queen send Lightborn (a loose translation
of Lucifer) to kill Edward at Killingsworth. Lightborn does not
know that Mortimer gave orders to the wardens of Edward, Gurney
and Matrevis, to kill Lightborn once the commission is fulfilled.
Meanwhile, Kent is called before Mortimer and the Queen for
attempting to redeem Edward. He is labeled a traitor by
Mortimer and, despite the Prince's protestations to save Kent,
Kent is taken off and executed. The Prince becomes wrathful.
Lightborn arrives at Killingsworth. He pretends at first no
harm to Edward, but Edward sees through him. Edward is strapped
down and a hot iron is inserted in his fundament. After Edward's
death, Gurney and Matrevis are shocked at the death and happily
carry out their commission to murder Lightborn. They repent
themselves of the heinous crime and flee the court of Mortimer
after announcing the outcome of Lightborn's act.
The Prince, now king, rallies the support of the lords and
condemns Mortimer for his part in Edward's slaying. Mortimer
goes to his death with scorn. Mortimer sentences his mother, the
Queen, to the Tower until her part in the crime can be
determined. Edward's body is brought in a hearse and
Mortimer's decapitated head is placed upon it.
The play ends with the new king attesting to his obvious
innocence of all that has transpired regarding Edward II.
Gaveston is little more than a pandering waterfly, who leads
Edward astray with his licentious, hedonistic ways.
The Prince is wholly innocent of all the wrongdoing in the
play.
Kent is a man on conscience, who opposes tyranny from all
quarters at all times.
Mortimer, Jr. begins the play by appearing to be the noblest
of the nobles, eager only for the betterment of England and truly
concerned for the threat imposed by Gaveston in Edward's court.
He turns out, however, to be a Machiavel, interested only in his
own rise to power. When his Machiavellian tendencies surface,
Mortimer, Jr. becomes a cardboard character.
The Queen appears at first to be truly devoted to Edward.
Indeed, even in soliloquy, she professes her all-encompassing
love for Edward. But she turns to Mortimer, Jr. as lover and co-ruler without much (if any) motivation or foreshadowing. So
great is her change that we find her at the end of the play
requesting a new warden for Edward when she learns that the
present wardens begin to pity their charge. She is bent on
Edward's destruction, but moreover, she thirsts for his torture
and humiliationpossibly for the humiliation she felt earlier
when cast aside in favor of Gaveston. Her change, nevertheless,
is a matter of consternation in critical circles. One hint that
she has Machiavellian tendencies appears early in the playat I.
iv.229-73when she has the idea to call Gaveston back from
Ireland in order to assassinate him.
Spencer, Jr. is not the waterfly Gaveston was. He
demonstrates a true patriotism and love of king qua king which is
to be admired by the auditor. When we first see him and Baldock
(II.i.) we are given to believe that both are mere favor-seekers,
but by their demise we find both bewailing the fall of their king
although it has been suggested that, at least as far as Baldock
is concerned, he may be "putting the make" on God to get in with
the "big guy" whence he goes. But Spencer, Jr. as favorite
demonstrates Edward's gradual conversion from irresponsible king
(as suggested by his choice of Gaveston) to the wholly noble and
honorable king (as demonstrated in the dungeons of Killingworth).
There is a chiasmus of fortunes that can be traced between
Edward II and Mortimer, Jr. Socially (in court) Edward is at the
top and Mortimer is at the bottom. As Mortimer's fortunes wax,
so Edward's wane, and vice versa. Morally, however, Edward
is at the bottom and Mortimer appears to be at the topEdward is
a wonton and Mortimer a patriot. As Mortimer's morality
degenerates, however, Edward's increases. (Perhaps "morality" is
too loaded and "dignity" the better discriptor.)
This play demonstrates Boccacio's De casibus virorum et
feminarum illustrium by which the theme is of falling when vanity
of human wishes climbs aboard the Wheel of Fortune. There is no
tragic flaw in the character, but the character makes the mistake
of taking his eyes off of God in favor of temporal success and
damns himself to the vagaries of the Wheel of Fortune. This
demonstrates the Marlovian deterministic world wherein everyone
is responsible for his/her own fate.Synopsis:
Edward II, recently made king by his father's death,
takes advantage of his power to recall his favorite and
lover, Gaveston, back from exile in France. Mortimer Sr. &
Jr., Warwick, Lancaster, Pembroke, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Bishop of Winchester deplore Gaveston, who was
exiled by the former king. The former king made his
subjects promise their enmity to Gaveston, which they
readily did. Now they oppose the recall of Gaveston.
When Gaveston returns the king puts many honors onto him,
neglects his Queen, Isabella, daughter of the king of France, and
flouts his nobles. When the nobles advise Gaveston be exiled,
Edward refuses. The nobles revolt, win, and demand the ouster of
Gaveston. Gaveston, who has been promised in marriage to
Margaret, Edward's niece, is sent to Ireland.Characterization:
Edward II is first viewed as a weak king,
interested in toying with his favorites (in a suggestively
homosexual manner) than in running his kingdom, which is
threatened on all sides by either Ireland, Scotland, France,
or Denmark. While Gaveston is his favorite, Edward
languishes and loses in the noble's uprising. When Spencer
is chosen favorite Edward becomes a stronger king, mainly
because of Spencer's patriotic streak and belief in the
sovereignty of kingship. Edward defeats the nobles with
Spencer as his favorite. But, ultimately, Edward must find
his own strength without relying upon favorites. This he
does in the dungeons of Killingsworth; stripped of all
dignity and show, Edward rises to the height of nobility.Notes of interest:
There are 11 deaths10 are executions
(counting Edward's death as a state-ordered murder) and 1 is a murder (of Lightborn).