Marlowe’s Edward II: Penetrating Language in Shakespeare’s Richard II

Summary

In an often-quoted judgement, Charles Lamb noted that Shakespeare’s Richard II took hints from, but ‘scarce improved’ on, ‘the reluctant pangs of abdicating Royalty’ in Marlowe’s Edward II. But was Shakespeare in fact trying to ‘improve’ on Marlowe when he created his own ‘weak king’ in Richard II? Or was he doing something else? This paper re-examines Shakespeare’s play as a more complicated response to Edward II that reveals dynamic tensions between the two playwrights. Bertolt Brecht’s modern response to Marlowe in his 1922 Edward II provides a useful introductory comparison. Brecht seems to have been drawn to Marlowe’s play not so much for its political as for its personal relevance, in particular for its portrayal of the doomed bond between Edward and Gaveston – the kind of bond Brecht had just written about in The Jungle. Brecht was indeed trying to improve on, or at least to outdo, Marlowe’s bleak play. With a ‘savage pessimism’, he rewrote Marlowe to create a world where, as his Edward says, ‘There is nothing in life besides the touch of men’s bodies, and even that is minimal and vain.’ What interests me about Brecht’s play however is that it is not only about the difficult closeness between two men but – as adaptation, collaboration, and partly cribbed translation – it is also the product of such closeness. Edward II was the first of the collaborative ventures that were to serve Brecht so effectively as catalysts for creativity throughout his career.