![]() ![]() Perhaps the best way of understanding Edward, then, is as a man who values personal happiness and relationships over public life. ![]() At the very least, he occasionally expresses dissatisfaction with his position, saying he would happily give up his power if that meant he could be with Gaveston. To Edward's credit, however, he seems to know on some level that he is not especially suited to being king. He is also moodier than a ruler probably ought to be, often swinging between hopeless self-pity and vows of violent revenge. It's certainly true that Edward has little interest in war, and that he tends to blindly comply with the advice and wishes of his favorites. ![]() This is telling, since one of the primary complaints the English nobility lodge against the king is that he is weak. That said, Edward is often less compelling as a character than either his lover, Gaveston, or his enemy, Mortimer. Edward II: Edward is, of course, the play's title character, and the plot more or less corresponds to the course of his actual historical reign (though the play significantly compresses the events of his reign), beginning with his ascension to the throne and ending shortly after his death. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |