Edward II - Activity 3.Extension activity
Introduction:Following on from Activity 3 Fuel to the fire activity, you are now going to analyse the dramatic impact of the motivational lines and consider whether they match the dramatic impact of the violent language they inspire.
Student guidance:
- Use the tables that you filled in for Activity 3.
- Add three rows beneath ROW 3 ‘Motivation’, like in the exemplar table below.
- And then in the final row, add to the paragraph you’ve written, considering if the motivational lines are as dramatic as the line they motivate, and what the dramatic effect of this is. You could consider the following questions when you are developing your argument in the final row:
- Does the dramatic impact of the motivational lines make the play more credible?
- Does the dramatic impact of the motivational lines add to the impact of the lines they motivate?
- Do they bring balance and cohesion to the play?
- Do they add to the overall tension within the play?
Version 11© OCR 2016
Christopher Marlowe: Edward II
Example of violent language / ‘And at the court-gate hang the peasant up,/Who, swoll’n with venom of ambitious pride,/Will be the ruin of the realm and us.’ (Mortimer. 2:30)Literary techniques that create dramatic impact / Alliteration: ruin, realm adds impact / Imagery: hanging Gaveston from the gate is a violent image
Contextual factors that create dramatic impact / Cultural context: Venom alludes to the serpent in the garden of Eden. Ambitious pride alludes to Lucifer’s fall. Also a nod to the idea that the King’s role was to bring the Kingdom of God to earth (AKA The Kingdom of Man). Gaveston is a threat to this.
Motivation / Xenophobia: ‘That sly inveigling Frenchman we’ll exile’ (Mortimer 2:57) / Class bias: ‘base peasant’ / Homophobia: ‘Is it not strange that he is thus bewitched?’ (Mortimer Senior. 2:55)
‘Diablo! What passions call you these?’ (Lancaster 4:318)
Literary techniques that create dramatic impact / Repetition of adjectives suggests fierce hatred / Phonetics: two plosives follow each other, allowing actor to convey their anger/hatred of Gaveston
Contextual factors that create dramatic impact
Is the dramatic impact of this line as powerful as the violent language it motivates? / This line is dramatic because Marlowe uses a Christian cultural context to equate Gaveston with Satan/the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Marlowe may have been an atheist, but his audience wasn’t so this would have been shocking. The concept of the divine right of monarchs was current and would gain even greater sway under Elizabeth I’s successor James I. The idea of Gaveston as Lucifer in the garden of Eden wouldn’t be seen as hyperbole by the audience. According to the divine right concept the monarch’s job was to bring the Kingdom of God to the Kingdom of Man (IE: earth), providing an example of how to live according to God’s law on earth. Gaveston posing a threat to the Kingdom of God on earth would have been a credible, and thus dramatic one. The literary techniques (such as alliteration) and the imagery of Gaveston hanging are, therefore, not where the line’s power lies. The anger behind the line is amply justified in the play, and there is enough explicit and implicit motivation in the line to add to the line’s credibility for a contemporary audience, less affected by the concept of the divine right of monarchs.
Developing your point: Additionally, the lines that could be said to fuel this line are also filled with ‘venom’, adding, arguably, to the overall impact of the line.
Version 11© OCR 2016
Christopher Marlowe: Edward II