The Tragedy of Mariam

Last updated

The Tragedy of Mariam
The Tragedy of Mariam.jpg
Title page of Elizabeth Cary's The Tragedy of Mariam.
Author Elizabeth Cary
CountryEngland
LanguageEnglish
GenreTragedy
Set inJudea, 29 B.C.
Publisherprinted by Thomas Creede for Richard Hawkins
Publication date
1613

The Tragedy of Mariam, the Fair Queen of Jewry is a Jacobean-era drama written by Elizabeth Cary, Viscountess Falkland, and first published in 1613. There is some speculation that Cary may have written a play before The Tragedy of Mariam that has since been lost, but most scholars agree that The Tragedy of Mariam is the first extant original play written by a woman in English. [1] It is also the first known English play to closely explore the history of King Herod's marriage to Mariamne. [2]

Contents

The play was written between 1602 and 1604. [3] It was entered into the Stationers' Register in December 1612. The 1613 quarto was printed by Thomas Creede for the bookseller Richard Hawkins. Cary's drama belongs to the subgenre of the Senecan revenge tragedy, which is made apparent by the presence of the classical style chorus that comments on the plot of the play, the lack of violence onstage, and "long, sententious speeches". [4] The primary sources for the play are The Wars of the Jews and The Antiquities of the Jews by Josephus, which Cary used in Thomas Lodge's 1602 translation.

Front Matter

The printed edition of Cary's play includes a dedication to Elizabeth Cary. [5] It is unknown whether this refers to the sister of Cary's husband, Henry Cary, or the wife of his brother Philip Cary. [5]

The play is then preceded by an invocation to the goddess Diana:

When cheerful Phoebus his full course hath run,
His sister's fainter beams our hearts doth cheer:
So your fair brother is to me the sun,
And you his sister as my moon appear.

You are my next belov'd, my second friend,
For when my Phoebus' absence makes it night,
Whilst to th'antipodes his beams do bend,
From you, my Phoebe, shines my second light.

He like to Sol, clear-sighted, constant, free,
You Luna-like, unspotted, chaste, divine:
He shone on Sicily, you destin'd be
T'illumine the now-obscurèd Palestine.
My first was consecrated to Apollo,
My second to Diana now shall follow. [6]

Scholars have suggested that the last two lines of the invocation, "My first was consecrated to Apollo; / My second to Diana now shall follow" support the argument that Cary may have written a play previous to The Tragedy of Mariam. [5]

Characters

Synopsis

The Tragedyof Mariam tells the story of Mariam, the second wife of Herod the Great, King of Judea from 39 to 4 B.C. The play opens in 29 B.C., when Herod is thought dead at the hand of Octavian (later Emperor Augustus).

Act I

Act II

Act III

Act IV

Act V

Recent performance history

The Tragedy of Mariam was directed by Stephanie Wright for Tinderbox Theatre Co. at the Bradford Alhambra Studio, 19–22 October 1994.

The Tragedy of Mariam, Fair Queen of Jewry was directed by Liz Schafer at the Studio Theatre, Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, October 1995 (two performances). [9]

Mariam was directed by Becs McCutcheon for Primavera at the King's Head Theatre, Islington, 22 July 2007.

The Tragedy of Mariam, Faire Queene of Jewry was directed by John East, 28 June 2012, Central School of Speech and Drama, London.

On 14 March 2013, The Tragedy of Mariam was produced by the Improbable Fictions staged reading series in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. [10] It was directed by Kirstin Bone, produced by Nicholas Helms, and starred Miranda Nobert, Glen Johnson, Deborah Parker, Steve Burch, Michael Witherell, and Lauren Liebe.

The Mariam Project - Youth and Young Girlhood was directed by Becs McCutcheon for Burford Festival 2013, 12 June 2013 at St John the Baptist Church, Burford, Oxfordshire. [11] The designer was Talulah Mason. [12]

Lazarus Theatre Company performed The Tragedy of Mariam at the Tristan Bates Theatre in London's Covent Garden, in a version by director Gavin Harrington-Odedra, 12–17 August 2013.

The Mariam Pop Up installation was at the Gretchen Day Gallery, Peckham South London, 13 August 2013, directed by Rebecca McCutcheon and designed by Talulah Mason. [13]

The Tragedy of Mariam, a cut-down version of the play, was performed on Shakespeare's Globe stage on 7 December 2013, directed by Rebecca McCutcheon. [14]

The Tragedy of Mariam, a full cast audio adaptation of the play, was released on the Beyond Shakespeare podcast on 13th January 2023, produced by Robert Crighton. [15]

Critical reception

The story of Herod and Mariam would have been obscure to most English audiences, which makes Cary's choice of inspiration a point of interest for many scholars. [4] The play received only marginal attention until the 1970s, when feminist scholars recognized the play's contribution to English literature. Since then the play has received much more scholarly attention. [16]

While some continue to argue that The Tragedy of Mariam was not written to be performed, and that because it was not intended for the stage, much of the action in the play is described through dialogue rather than shown, [2] others, such as Alison Findlay, have argued the play could have been staged at a great house associated with Cary’s family such as Burford Priory, Ditchley, or Berkhamstead. [17] Indeed Stephanie Wright, who has directed the play, argues that action is often important in the play, in particular

The presentation of the ‘poison’ cup to Herod, the sword fight between Constabarus and Silleus, and the physical vacillation of Herod’s soldiers, with Mariam as their prisoner, as they respond to Herod’s constantly changing orders, are actions which need physical representation. [18]

Elizabeth Schafer points out that the opening of 4.1., Herod’s first entrance, has the stage direction ‘Enter Herod and his attendants’ and that given that the attendants subsequently say nothing, this stage direction is primarily visual or physical, that is, evidence of a theatrical rather than a readerly imagination. [19]

Critics who believe that Mariam is a closet drama argue that this form allowed women to exercise a form of agency without disrupting the patriarchal social order, and that they were able to "use closet activity to participate directly in the theater" [20] since they were forbidden from participating in stage theatre. The close links between closet drama's and conduct literature were able to disguise potentially more transgressive ideas, such as the proto-feminist ideas of female liberation proposed by the play's antagonist, Salome.

Themes

Critics often address the theme of marriage in Cary's play, such as how Mariam's tumultuous marriage may have been written as a response by Cary to her own relationship with her husband. Mariam is caught between her duty as a wife and her own personal feelings, much as Cary might have been, as a Catholic-leaning woman married to a Protestant husband. [4]

The theme of female agency and divorce is another common topic for critics. For example, some critics focus on Salome, who divorces her husband of her own will in order to be with her lover, Silleus. [4] Though Mariam is the title character and the play's moral center, her part in the play amounts to only about 10% of the whole. [21]

Tyranny is another key theme. Cary uses a Chorus and a set of secondary characters to provide a multi-vocal portrayal of Herod's court and Jewish society under his tyranny. [22]

In addition, though the racialized aspects of this play are often overlooked by many critics, the theme of race, both as it pertains to feminine beauty standards and religious politics is another key theme in this tragedy.[ citation needed ]

See also

Notes

  1. Hackett, Helen (2013). A Short History of English Renaissance Drama. New York, New York: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd. p. 184. ISBN   978-1-84885-686-8.
  2. 1 2 Kiefer, Frederick (2015). English Drama from Everyman to 1660: Performance and Print. Tempe, Arizona: ACMRS (Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies). pp. 593–594. ISBN   978-0-86698-494-2.
  3. Cerasano and Wynne-Davies, p. 47.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Bevington, David; Engle, Lars; Maus, Katharine Eisaman; Rasmussen, Eric, eds. (2002). "The Tragedy of Mariam". English Renaissance Drama: A Norton Anthology. New York, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. pp. 615–620. ISBN   0-393-97655-6.
  5. 1 2 3 English Renaissance drama : a Norton anthology. Bevington, David M., Engle, Lars., Maus, Katharine Eisaman, 1955-, Rasmussen, Eric, 1960- (1st ed.). New York: W.W. Norton. 2002. p. 621. ISBN   0393976556. OCLC   49044771.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  6. Cary, Elizabeth (1994). Weller, Barry; Ferguson, Margaret W. (eds.). The Tragedy of Mariam, the Fair Queen of Jewry. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 66. ISBN   978-0-520-07969-4.
  7. 2.4.105
  8. 5.C.35-36
  9. RoyalHollowayDrama (26 January 2016), The Tragedy of Mariam, Fair Queen of Jewry by Elizabeth Carey, archived from the original on 14 December 2021, retrieved 8 October 2018
  10. Helms
  11. "The Mariam Project | Rebecca McCutcheon". rebeccamccutcheon.com. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  12. "The Mariam Project". Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  13. "Cary: The Mariam Cycles". Archived from the original on 20 February 2015. Retrieved 8 October 2018.
  14. "The Tragedy of Mariam". YouTube . Retrieved 29 April 2022.
  15. https://beyondshakespeare.org/the-tragedy-of-mariam-by-elizabeth-cary/
  16. Wray, R. (2015). "Performing 'The Tragedy of Mariam' and Constructing Stage History". Early Theatre. 18 (2): 149. doi: 10.12745/et.18.2.2542 via Queen's University Belfast - Research Portal.
  17. Findlay, Alison (2006). Playing Spaces in Early Women's Drama. Cambridge: Playing Spaces in Early Women’s Drama. pp. 35–6.
  18. Wright, Stephanie J. (1996). The Tragedy of Mariam, the Fair Queen of Jewry. Keele: Keele University Press. pp. 21–22.
  19. Clark, Tom; Finlayson, Emily; Kelly, Philippa, eds. (2016). "Unsilencing Elizabeth Cary: world-making in The Tragedy of Mariam, Fair Queen of Jewry". Worldmaking: Literature, Language, Culture. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. pp. 44–45.
  20. Nesler, Miranda Garno (Spring 2012). "Closeted Authority in The Tragedy of Mariam". SEL: Studies in English Literature 1500–1900. Johns Hopkins University Press. 52 (2): 363–385. doi:10.1353/sel.2012.0013. S2CID   143781322.
  21. Elaine Beilin, in Pacheco, p. 137.
  22. Falk, p. 1.

Related Research Articles

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1613.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salome</span> Daughter of Herod II and Herodias

Salome, also known as Salome III, was a Jewish princess, the daughter of Herod II, who was the son of Herod the Great, with princess Herodias. She was granddaughter of Herod the Great, and stepdaughter of Herod Antipas. She is known from the New Testament, where she is not named, and from an account by Flavius Josephus. In the New Testament, the stepdaughter of Herod Antipas demands and receives the head of John the Baptist. According to Josephus, she was first married to her uncle Philip the Tetrarch, after whose death she married her cousin Aristobulus of Chalcis, thus becoming queen of Armenia Minor.

<i>Samson Agonistes</i> Tragedy by John Milton (1671)

Samson Agonistes is a tragic closet drama by John Milton. It appeared with the publication of Milton's Paradise Regained in 1671, as the title page of that volume states: "Paradise Regained / A Poem / In IV Books / To Which Is Added / Samson Agonistes". It is generally thought that Samson Agonistes was begun around the same time as Paradise Regained but was completed after the larger work, possibly very close to the date of publishing, but there is no certainty.

<i>Salome</i> (play) Tragedy by Oscar Wilde

Salome is a one-act tragedy by Oscar Wilde. The original version of the play was first published in French in 1893; an English translation was published a year later. The play depicts the attempted seduction of Jokanaan by Salome, stepdaughter of Herod Antipas; her dance of the seven veils; the execution of Jokanaan at Salome's instigation; and her death on Herod's orders.

<i>A Yorkshire Tragedy</i>

A Yorkshire Tragedy is an early Jacobean era stage play, a domestic tragedy printed in 1608. The play was originally assigned to William Shakespeare, though the modern critical consensus rejects this attribution, favouring Thomas Middleton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Closet drama</span> Type of play

A closet drama is a play that is not intended to be performed onstage, but read by a solitary reader or sometimes out loud in a large group. The contrast between closet drama and classic "stage" dramas dates back to the late eighteenth century. The literary historian Henry A. Beers considers closet drama "a quite legitimate product of literary art."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dance of the Seven Veils</span> Dance of Inanna, Salome

The Dance of the Seven Veils is Salome's dance performed before King Herod Antipas, in modern stage, literature and visual arts. It is an elaboration on the New Testament story of the Feast of Herod and the execution of John the Baptist, which refers to Salome dancing before the king, but does not give the dance a name.

<i>Salome</i> (1953 film) 1953 film

Salome is a 1953 American drama Biblical film directed by William Dieterle and produced by Buddy Adler from a screenplay by Harry Kleiner and Jesse Lasky Jr. The music score was by George Duning, the dance music by Daniele Amfitheatrof and the cinematography by Charles Lang. Rita Hayworth's costumes were designed by Jean Louis. Hayworth's dances for this film were choreographed by Valerie Bettis. This film was the last produced by Hayworth's production company, the Beckworth Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Cary, Viscountess Falkland</span> English poet and dramatist, 1585–1639

Elizabeth Cary, Viscountess Falkland was an English poet, dramatist, translator, and historian. She is the first woman known to have written and published an original play in English: The Tragedy of Mariam. From an early age, she was recognized by her contemporaries as an accomplished scholar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herodian dynasty</span> Royal dynasty of Idumaean (Edomite) descent

The Herodian dynasty was a royal dynasty of Idumaean (Edomite) descent, ruling the Herodian Kingdom of Judea and later the Herodian Tetrarchy as a vassal state of the Roman Empire. The Herodian dynasty began with Herod the Great, who assumed the throne of Judea, with Roman support, bringing down the century-old Hasmonean Kingdom. His kingdom lasted until his death in 4 BCE, when it was divided among his sons as a tetrarchy, which lasted for about 10 years. Most of those tetrarchies, including Judea proper, were incorporated into Judaea Province from 6 CE, though limited Herodian de facto kingship continued until Agrippa I's death in 44 CE and nominal title of kingship continued until 92 CE, when the last Herodian monarch, Agrippa II, died and Rome assumed full power over his de jure domain.

Ariana Nozeman : born Ariana van den Bergh, was the first woman to play a leading role in a public play in The Netherlands. She made her debut on stage on April 19, 1655, at the Amsterdam Schouwburg in a play by Jan Jacobsz. Schipper which incidentally bore her name ‘Onvergelijkelijke Ariana’.

<i>Hamlet</i> (Thomas) 1868 opera by Ambroise Thomas

Hamlet is a grand opera in five acts of 1868 by the French composer Ambroise Thomas, with a libretto by Michel Carré and Jules Barbier based on a French adaptation by Alexandre Dumas, père, and Paul Meurice of William Shakespeare's play Hamlet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mariamne I</span> Second wife of Herod the Great

Mariamne I, also called Mariamne the Hasmonean, was a Hasmonean princess and the second wife of Herod the Great. Her parents, Alexandra Maccabeus and Alexander of Judaea, were cousins who both descended from Alexander Jannaeus. She was known for her great beauty, as was her brother Aristobulus III. Herod's fear of his Hasmonean rivals led him to execute all of the prominent members of the family, including Mariamne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salome I</span> Herodian queen regnant

Salome I was the sister of Herod the Great and the mother of Berenice by her husband Costobarus, governor of Idumea. She was a nominal queen regnant of the toparchy of Iamnia, Azotus, Phasaelis from 4 BCE.

The Fair Penitent is Nicholas Rowe's stage adaptation of the tragedy The Fatal Dowry, the Philip Massinger and Nathan Field collaboration first published in 1632. Rowe's adaptation, premiered onstage in 1702 and first published in 1703, was a great popular success through much of the 18th century, and was praised by critics as demanding as Samuel Johnson.

Diane Purkiss is an Australian historian, and Fellow and Tutor of English at Keble College, Oxford. She specialises in Renaissance and women's literature, witchcraft and the English Civil War.

Richard Hawkins was a London publisher of the Jacobean and Caroline eras. He was a member of the syndicate that published the Second Folio collection of Shakespeare's plays in 1632. His bookshop was in Chancery Lane, near Sergeant's Inn.

This page lists cultural depictions of Herod the Great, grouped by order and arranged by date.

Susan Shore Browne Greene Baskervile, or Baskerville, was one of the most influential and significant women involved in English Renaissance theatre, as theatre investor, litigant, and wife, widow, and mother of actors.

Herod and Mariamne is a 1671 tragedy by the English writer Samuel Pordage. It was first performed by the Duke's Company at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre in London shortly before they moved to the Dorset Gardens Theatre. It was the company's attempt to respond to the great success of John Dryden's heroic drama The Conquest of Granada by the rival King's Company. It is inspired by the accounts of Josephus portraying the reign of Herod II.

References