24 pages • 48 minutes read
Christopher MarloweEdward II
Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1593A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Act IIIChapter Summaries & Analyses
Act III, Scene 1 Summary
Warwick enters and takes Gaveston away from Pembroke’s men. The men criticize Warwick for going against the king’s wishes and bringing dishonor on himself, but Warwick will not listen. He believes that his duty to his country is more important than his duty to the king, and leaves with Gaveston as his prisoner.
Act III, Scene 2 Summary
Edward is despondent without Gaveston. Spencer Junior tells him that unless he is harsher with the rebels, they are not going to able to end the conflict soon. Spencer Senior arrives. He has brought a contingent of soldiers to support the king. Edward quickly makes him the Earl of Wiltshire. Isabella arrives with Prince Edward and bad news: The King of France has Normandy’s English territories. Edward sends the queen and the prince to France to try and mitigate the situation.
The Earl of Arundel enters the scene. He tells Edward that the Earl of Warwick seized Gaveston from Pembroke’s men and that now Gaveston is dead. Edward again swears revenge against them all. He then decrees that Spencer Junior is now the Earl of Gloucester and also the Lord Chamberlain. Edward sends a messenger away to tell the lords that they must prepare themselves for war.
Act III, Scene 3 Summary
On the battlefield at Boroughbridge, Edward, Spencer Senior, and Spencer Junior rest during a lull in the conflict. The lords appear and chastise Edward for his vanity. They believe that if he had surrounded himself with wise men, rather than flatterers who appealed to his ego, the rebellion could have been avoided. Edward ignores them, stating that he will have the head of any traitor, and that he intends to fight to the death.
Act III, Scene 4 Summary
Edward has triumphed at the Battle of Boroughbridge. The lords and his brother Kent are his prisoners. He scorns them for their treason and for the murder of Gaveston. He sentences Lancaster and Warwick to death, and orders a lengthy imprisonment for Mortimer, then leaves.
Spencer Junior, Baldock, and Levune strategize together. It appears that the queen is negotiating a deal with her brother, the King of France. Her brother’s support would make Edward’s continued reign unlikely. Levune leaves for France in the hopes that he can prevent the deal from happening.
Act III Analysis
Act 3 is primarily concerned with the opening salvos between the two militaries as the conflict escalates into war. These scenes are a brilliant encapsulation of the madness gripping both sides. Edward has only to step back and show restraint when it comes to Gaveston. Yet his pride, desires, and position will not allow him to bend to the suggestions of the lords. For their part, if the lords were willing to talk reasonably with Edward, rather than scoffing and threatening, it is possible that they could find another way to reach him. But they also take the path of violence rather than that of diplomacy. The irony is that none of them act highborn or noble in any way, despite having all the power in the country.
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By Christopher Marlowe
