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Edward II

O miserable and distressed queen!...

Overview

Gender
Female
Playing Age
Adult
Style
Dramatic
Act/Scene
Act One, Scene Four
Time & Place
A secluded chamber within the royal palace in London during the 1320s.
Length
Short
Time Period
Classical
Show Type
Play
Age Guidance
Thirteen Plus (PG-13)

Context

Text

O miserable and distressed queen!

Would, when I left sweet France, and was embarked,

That charming Circe, walking on the waves,

Had chang'd my shape! or at the marriage-day

The cup of Hymen had been full of poison!

Or with those arms, that twin'd about my neck,

I had been stifled, and not liv'd to see

The king my lord thus to abandon me!

Like frantic Juno, will I fill the earth

With ghastly murmur of my sighs and cries;

For never doted Jove on Ganymede

So much as he on cursed Gaveston:

But that will more exasperate his wrath;

I must entreat him, I must speak him fair,

And be a means to call home Gaveston:

And yet he'll ever dote on Gaveston;

And so am I forever miserable.

Christopher Marlowe, Edward II. http://elizabethandrama.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Edward-II-Annotated.pdf

Performance Tips

Emotional Beat Breakdown

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