Edward the Second
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- c. 1592
- Era
- Renaissance
- Form
- Drama
- Language
- English
- Length
- Short · 110 ppunder 120 pages
- Difficulty
- Demanding3 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendEdward the SecondManchester University Press, 1994The Revels Plays edition by Charles Forker, with full notes on the chronicle sources and the text of 1594.
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Marlowe's history play opens with the new king recalling his favourite Gaveston from exile. The barons, led by Mortimer and joined at last by the neglected Queen Isabella, force Gaveston out, bring him back, and then capture and kill him. Edward raises new favourites and briefly wins, executing his enemies, until Isabella and Mortimer return from France with an army, depose him and put his young son on the throne. Edward is moved from prison to prison, made to give up his crown, and murdered in a cellar at Killingworth by the assassin Lightborn. The boy king Edward the Third then turns on Mortimer and his mother.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns Edward the Second are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
