Playing with Desire takes a new approach to Christopher Marlowe's body of writing, replacing the view of Marlovian desire as heroic aspiration with a far less uplifting model. Fred B. Tromly shows that in Marlowe's writing desire is a response to calculated, teasing enticement, ultimately a sign not of power but of impotence. The author identifies this desire with the sadistic irony of the Tantalus myth rather than with the sublime tragedy exemplified by the familiar figure of Icarus. Thus, Marlowe's characteristic mis en scene is moved from the heavens to the netherworld. Tromly also demonstrates that the manipulations of desire among Marlowe's characters find close parallels in the strategies by which his works tantalize and frustrate their audiences.
Closely examining all the plays and the major poems, the author deploys a variety of resources - Renaissance mythography, the study of literary sources (especially Ovid), comparisons with contemporary writers, performance history, and social history - to demonstrate how central Tantalus and tantalizing are to Marlowe's imagination.
Authors
- Bibliography, etc. Note
- Includes bibliographical references and index
- Control Number Identifier
- CaOOCEL
- Dewey Decimal Classification Number
- 822/.3
- General Note
- Issued as part of the desLibris books collection
- ISBN
- 0802043550 9781442678545
- LCCN
- PR2677.D47
- LCCN Item number
- T76 1998eb
- Modifying agency
- CaBNVSL
- Original cataloging agency
- CaOTU
- Physical Description | Extent
- 1 electronic text (x, 238 p.)
- Published in
- Canada
- Publisher or Distributor Number
- CaOOCEL
- Rights
- Access restricted to authorized users and institutions
- System Control Number
- (CaBNVSL)thg00600555 (OCoLC)752473661 (CaOOCEL)417853
- System Details Note
- Mode of access: World Wide Web
- Transcribing agency
- CaOTU
Table of Contents
- CONTENTS 8
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 10
- A NOTE ON TEXTS 12
- INTRODUCTION 16
- 1 Marlowe and the Torment of Tantalus 22
- 2 Translation as Template: All Ovid's Elegies 41
- 3 Playing with the Powerless: Dido Queen of Carthage 59
- 4 The Conqueror's and the Playwright's Games: Tamburlaine the Great, Part One and Part Two 79
- 5 Playing with Avarice: The Jew of Malta 105
- 6 The Play of History and Desire: Edward II 126
- 7 Damnation as Tantalization: Doctor Faustus 146
- 8 Frustrating the Story of Desire: Hero and Leander 166
- AFTERWORD 187
- NOTES 190
- WORKS CITED 224
- INDEX 246
- A 246
- B 246
- C 246
- D 246
- E 247
- F 247
- G 247
- H 247
- I 247
- J 248
- K 248
- L 248
- M 248
- N 249
- O 250
- P 250
- R 250
- S 250
- T 250
- U 251
- V 251
- W 251
- Z 251
