Work record

Edward the Second

Name: Edward the Second
Author: Christopher Marlowe

Christopher Marlowe

c. 1592 (printed 1594) · Renaissance Early Modern · Drama · English

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Abstract

Written: c. 1591-1592
Setting: 1307-1330; England and France
Author: Christopher Marlowe
Country: England
Language: English
Genre: Elizabethan history play
Form: History play (acts and scenes undivided in this edition)
Recommended: Grades 11–12 (History play with political violence and a brutal murder; upper high school.)

Summons. A newly crowned English monarch recalls his exiled companion and heaps titles on him, scorning wife and nobles.

Revolt. Proud barons demand the companion's banishment; the queen, hoping to regain her husband's love, helps bring him back; the lords finally seize and kill him.

New favourites. The monarch elevates fresh flatterers, wins a battle, and beheads a great earl, but a rebel lord escapes to France and wins the queen's confidence.

Fall. The queen and her ally invade, capture the monarch in a monastery, force him to surrender the crown, and have him murdered at Berkeley.

Reckoning. The boy heir avenges his father, executing the usurping lord and confining his mother.

Reading. Tightly built and often called the best English history play before Shakespeare, it shows private love colliding with public duty. Its brutal murder and intense royal friendship call for mature readers. Comparison with Shakespeare's Richard II, written a few years later under its influence, shows how both dramatists turn a weak king into a figure of pity, and how the rebels who depose him become tyrants in their own turn before falling at last.

Main characters

King Edward II: A king who neglects his duties for his favourite.
Piers Gaveston: The king's beloved, low-born friend.
Queen Isabella: Edward's wife, who turns against him.
Mortimer the younger: Leader of the rebellious barons.
Prince Edward: The future Edward III.
Lightborn: The murderer of Edward.

Summary

Edward the Second, written around 1592 and printed in 1594, is Christopher Marlowe's history play about the troubled reign and violent deposition of King Edward II of England, who ruled from 1307 to 1327. It is often considered the finest English history play before Shakespeare's. The play opens with Piers Gaveston, the king's favourite, reading a letter: Edward's father is dead, and Edward calls him back from exile to share the kingdom with his dearest friend. The king showers Gaveston with titles and wealth, neglecting his wife, Queen Isabella, and insulting the great nobles, led by the elder and younger Mortimer and the Earls of Lancaster and Warwick. The barons force Gaveston into exile, and Isabella, hoping to win back her husband's love, persuades them to recall him, but conflict breaks out again. The barons capture and execute Gaveston. Edward then takes new favourites, the Spencers, and defeats the rebels for a time, executing Lancaster. The younger Mortimer escapes to France, where Isabella, rejected by Edward, joins him; together they return with an army, defeat the king, and capture him in a monastery. Forced to give up his crown in a scene of great pathos, Edward is imprisoned, moved from place to place, and humiliated. Mortimer, now ruling through Isabella and the young prince, sends the assassin Lightborn, who murders Edward cruelly in a dungeon at Berkeley Castle. The young King Edward III, however, avenges his father, has Mortimer executed and sends his mother to the Tower. As he goes to die, Mortimer reflects that Fortune's wheel raises men to a point from which they tumble headlong down. The play explores the conflict between private love and public duty, the misuse of royal favour, and the cruelty of political ambition. Its murder scene is harrowing, and the relationship between Edward and Gaveston is intense; it suits mature students.

Virtues in this work

Justice: Edward III restores justice at the end.
Prudence: The play shows the cost of imprudent rule.

Plot or Argument

Gaveston's return
Edward recalls Gaveston and offends the barons.
Civil conflict
The barons exile and later kill Gaveston; Edward takes new favourites.
Isabella and Mortimer
The queen and Mortimer invade and depose Edward.
The murder and the reckoning
Edward is murdered; Edward III punishes Mortimer and Isabella.

Characters

King Edward II, king
A king who neglects his duties for his favourite.
Piers Gaveston, favourite
The king's beloved, low-born friend.
Queen Isabella, queen
Edward's wife, who turns against him.
Mortimer the younger, baron
Leader of the rebellious barons.
Prince Edward, heir
The future Edward III.
Lightborn, assassin
The murderer of Edward.

Lessons

Duty and favour
Edward's devotion to Gaveston weakens the realm.
- Why do the barons hate Gaveston?
- What duties does Edward neglect?
- Can a ruler have favourites?
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Context

Edward II reigned 1307-1327; his favourites, Piers Gaveston and the Despensers, provoked noble revolts, and he was deposed and probably murdered at Berkeley Castle.

Composition

Based chiefly on Holinshed's Chronicles; performed by Pembroke's Men and printed in 1594.

Reception

Admired for its tight construction; it influenced Shakespeare's Richard II.

Power / Politics Love Desire Leadership War Violence Fate / Free Will

Comparisons

Richard II
Shakespeare's play of another king deposed and murdered.
Tamburlaine the Great, Parts I and II
Marlowe's earlier study of power, from the conqueror's side.

Quotes

“My father is deceas'd. Come, Gaveston, And share the kingdom with thy dearest friend”

— Christopher Marlowe, Edward the Second, Opening scene (Project Gutenberg #20288).Quote card

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— Christopher Marlowe, Edward the Second, Final scene (Project Gutenberg #20288).Quote card

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For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

Gaveston's opening speech.
The barons' first confrontation with Edward.
Isabella's shifting loyalties.
The abdication scene.
Mortimer's last speech.

Key terms and names

Favourite: A courtier especially loved and rewarded by a monarch.
Deposition: The removal of a ruler from power.
Wheel of Fortune: A medieval image of fortune raising and lowering people.
Chronicle play: A drama based on historical chronicles.

Seminar Questions

Comprehension Why do the barons oppose Gaveston?
Comprehension How is Edward deposed?
Comprehension How does the play end?
Interpretation Why does Isabella turn against Edward?
Interpretation How does Marlowe make Edward sympathetic?
Big Question What does a ruler owe his people?

Faith Connections

Proverbs 16:18 (Scripture)
The proverb falls on king and favourite-killer alike. Mortimer climbs from rebel to Protector, boasts that he stands like Jove’s huge tree, and is sent to the block by the young Edward III; the king’s own fall began with his scorn for the barons’ counsel.
Psalm 146:3 (Scripture)
Put not your trust in princes.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: A king who puts private affection above public duty invites rebellion, but those who seize power by violence fall in their turn.

Rhetorical device: reversal. The proud king becomes a pitiable prisoner, and the rebel lord becomes the condemned.

Debate: Resolved: that the barons were justified in deposing Edward.

Memory Work

My father is deceas'd. Come, Gaveston, And share the kingdom with thy dearest friend
Opening scene. The opening letter sets the conflict of the play.

Writing Prompts

Essay: Is Edward a tragic hero or a failed king?

Comparison with Richard II: Compare Edward's deposition with Richard II's.

Creative Prompts

Essay
Compare Edward II with Shakespeare's Richard II.
Fiction
Write Isabella's private reflection before she joins Mortimer.
Classroom
Draw a timeline of the reign and compare it with the play.