The Tragedy of Mariam

Multiple women in the play—Mariam, Salome, Alexandra, Doris—clearly articulate their powerlessness in the face of male-led societies; however, each of these women reacted to this misogyny in a different way. Who was the most successful in achieving her aims?

The struggles Elizabeth Cary encountered in simply raising her family and living her life as she chose are remarkably similar to the struggles faced by many of the women depicted in The Tragedy of Mariam. This implies that not much about women’s status in Western society changed between Mariam’s time and Cary’s. Now, 400 years after Cary’s time, to what degree has the status of women in society changed? What remains unchanged?

Few passages in literature are as pointedly hostile and vitriolic toward one gender as Constabarus’s diatribe against women in Act IV, Scene 7. Why might Cary have included this speech in the play? To what extent does the play endorse Constabarus’s views?

Classical tragedies often revolve around the “tragic hubris” of the main character, who is always a leader or person of nobility. Is there evidence that Mariam’s destruction was the result of hubris—that is, arrogance or an overabundance of pride? What other characters in the play suffer as a result of their own inflated self-image?

While there was apparently ample evidence that Herod was behind the murders of Mariam’s grandfather and brother, two separate emperors—one who knew and liked him and one who detested him—found him innocent and returned him to Judea with greater power and land at his disposal. Why was Herod repeatedly acquitted of crimes of which he was obviously guilty, and how does this relate to the play’s depiction of power?

One thing that unites the play’s characters is their shared experience of heartache. Is romantic love a weakness for those in positions of power?

In the span of one day, Herod sentences five people to death. What sort of emotional impact do these swift death sentences have—particularly those handed down for characters the audience has come to know throughout the play?

Apart from occasional comments made by Alexandra and Herod, the only overtly religious individual in the play is Constabarus. Bearing the play’s own historical context in mind, why is there so little emphasis on Judaism as a religion in a play about Judea?