Then, with a band of his tournament friends, he captured and executed Mortimer, and forced his mother into a nunnery. He used tournaments and binges to mask the consolidation of a power bloc within the younger generation and those disaffected with the current regime. Young Edward, knowing he’d be killed if he got in their way, played a masterful game of pretending to be a young buffoon.

In real life, the queen and her lover, Mortimer, controlled the kingdom. Then Marlowe chickens out on the real historical drama and has Edward III roll in and kill the conspirators. Powerful forces of reaction rise up and destroy him. His flaw is that he wants to make his lover the most powerful noble other than him in the Realm.

Some of the Stewarts get away with this sort of thing. If he’d just kept Gaveston as an Extra Gentleman of the Wardrobe, it would have been considered a bit odd, but since he’d already fathered an heir, it would have been easy enough for him to get away with. It is, however, hard favour him, because he goes about the whole business in such a dreadfully stupid way. I presume I’m meant to be on Edward’s side, as he loses everything for love. Basically this is the period where Edward II is infatuated with Piers Gaveston, and splits his realm in half over it. Marlowe does good work here, and the readers in the Librivox version are great, but he’s let down a little by the historical events he’s chosen to portray, and the political slant he takes. It lets you see how much of the grandeur of his work is based one what, back then, was a sort of national style.

It’s always interesting to listen to Elizabethan plays which aren’t Shakespeare. Messenger/Herald: Caprisha Page Audio edited by Elizabeth Klettįor further information, including links to online text, reader information, RSS feeds, CD cover or other formats (if available), please go to the LibriVox catalog page for this recording.įor more free audio books, or to become a volunteer reader, please visit. Third Poor Man/Rice Ap Howell/Trussel/Second Lord: Amanda Friday (Summary by Elizabeth Klett)Įarl of Warwick/Sir John of Hainault/Lightborn: Alan Mapstoneīishops of Coventry, Winchester, and Canterbury/Spencer Senior: Algy Pugįirst Poor Man/Earl of Arundel/First Lord: bala LibriVox recording of Edward II by Christopher Marlowe, performed by a full cast.Ĭhristopher Marlowe's Elizabethan tragedy focuses on the downfall of King Edward II, whose love for his favorite courtier, Piers Gaveston, leads to rebellion.

Edward ii marlowe full text