Marlowe’s Edward II

Marlowe’s Edward II?

A single line stood out as an effeminate and aging King was roused to a war–like stance —

Strike off their heads, and let them preach on poles!

King Edward in Marlowe’s Edward II III.ii.20

Just such graphic imagery.

The audio file is available from LibriVox.org.

After hearing all the plays through, twice now, I’m back at the beginning, and — obviously — I’ll be starting with Marlowe’s lamentable History of King Edward the 2nd, before jumping into an apocryphal — possibly very early — version of alleged Shakespeare’s Edward III.

Marlowe’s Edward II?

I really did like that line, “Strike off their heads, and let them preach on poles!”

Christopher Marlowe’s work is — to me — very similar to Shakespeare’s canon.

Of course, Marlowe’s Edward II is a tragedy, so it doesn’t end well for many of the characters.

Edward II – Christopher Marlowe

Edward II — Christopher Marlowe.