The Tragedy of Mariam

Tragedy of Mariam, the Fair Queen of Jewry is a Jacobean closet drama by Elizabeth Tanfield Cary. First published in 1613, it was the first work by a woman to be published under her real name. Never performed during Cary''s lifetime, and apparently never intended for performance, the Senecan revenge tragedy tells the story of Mariam, the second wife of Herod. The play exposes and explores the themes of sex, divorce, betrayal, murder, and Jewish society under Herod''s tyrannous rule. The comprehensive, illustrated introduction discusses the play in the context of closet drama, female dramatists and in terms of the religious issues it explores, seeing Mariam as a martyr figure. The on-page commentary notes provide further close analysis and explanation, creating an ideal edition for study and teaching.>

About the author

Elizabeth Cary (1585-1639) was an English poet, translator and dramatist. She is best known today for The Tragedy of Mariam (1613), the first original play in English known to have been written by a woman. Over her lifetime, she married Sir Henry Cary, and had eleven children by him. Disinherited by her father for using her own income to defray household expenses, she was later abandoned by her husband when she converted to Catholicism. She would spend much of the rest of her life battling for custody of her sons and daughters.

Product details

• Authors: Elizabeth Cary
• Assisted by: Margaret Bartley (Editor), John Jowett (Editor), Gordon Mcmullan (Editor), Dr Ramona Wray (Editor), Ramona Wray (Editor)
• Publisher: Arden shakespeare
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 07.06.2012
• EAN: 9781904271598
• ISBN: 978-1-904271-59-8
• No. of pages: 256
• Dimensions: 128 mm x 196 mm x 14 mm
• Series: Arden Early Modern Drama; Arden Early Modern Drama
• Subjects: Fiction > Poetry, drama; Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; Vereinigtes Königreich, Großbritannien, Shakespeare, Drama, Theaterstücke, Drehbücher, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Media Studies, Plays / Drama, DRAMA / Shakespeare, DRAMA / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh