Blog Teaser: Time and Performance in Marlowe’s Edward II

The stage can do strange things to time, compressing an hour into a few minutes or making a suspenseful second feel like an eternity. Christopher Marlowe is a master of such effects. In my presentation I will attempt to focus our attention on Marlowe’s command of time in Edward II.

My own thinking on this topic has led me to a number of paradoxical conclusions. The first of these conclusions is that although the play compresses historical years into theatrical hours, this play nevertheless feels very, very long. I will spend much of the presentation attempting to explain how I think Marlowe accomplishes his feats of temporal dilation. For example, one technique crucial to the play’s management of time is the use of foreshadowing. In Edward II Marlowe’s foreshadowing makes the action of the play seem pointless and painful, and makes the audience impatient to reach the inevitable conclusion. A second, and to my mind even more effective technique for lengthening the play, however, is repetition. And while I will save my own favorite examples of the play’s repetitions for class, I ask that you please look for some examples on your own that we might compile a comprehensive list. What’s more, while it is my opinion that the play’s repetitive language and structure give it a hopeless, endless, even traumatic dimension, I encourage you to please consider if you agree or disagree with the argument that Marlowe’s use of foreshadowing and repetition make the play seem longer. What was your experience of reading this play? Did it seem long to you?

I also plan to briefly contrast the effects that Marlowe creates in this play with the ones that he uses in Doctor Faustus, particularly in Faustus’ final scene. If you are unfamiliar with that play here is a link to Dylan Thomas reading Faustus’ final monologue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUGq5yMUKMI (although I hope that you’ll understand the point that I’m making without knowing Faustus and I don’t think that you should feel obligated to watch the clip).

Finally, although I haven’t really come up with a smooth way to transition into it, I will also be covering Phelan’s chapter and hope to use it to extend Thursday’s fascinating discussion about Edward’s performance of the role of king. If possible, please start to think about what Phelan might help us to say about Edward II’s performance of his role, and whether or not Edward is a bad performer who cannot perform the kinghood or a great performer who is able to extend the role to remarkable lengths.