Dido, Queen of Carthage: by Christopher Marlowe (The Revels Plays)

There has been no comparable modern-spelling single-play edition of Dido, Queen of Carthage for some decades. This edition, complete with collation and commentary included on the relevant page, is a thoroughly annotated and complete edition. Marlowe's play, written in 1585 or thereabouts, was first printed in 1594. The major source is the story of Dido and Aeneas in Books 1, 2, and 4 of Virgil's epic poem, the Aeneid. Dido and Aeneas was one of the great legendary stories in elite and popular culture alike, and had been appropriated for uses as varied as court entertainment, didactic literature, pictorial representation, and bawdy ballads. Dido, Queen of Carthage had features which potentially gave it more entertainment value: eroticism, avoidance of moralising, and more narrative complications than most of its contemporaries. The critical introduction will include a survey and discussion of modern productions; the subsequent stage history of Dido begins after 1950. Lunney examines the distinctive achievements of Marlowe's treatment, with its glittering surfaces and unruly undercurrents, commenting on matters including narrative, ideas and issues, characters, humour and bawdry, and emotional engagement with the audience. This Revels edition includes source and parallel material, in part as a supplement to the introduction and annotations, but also to support readers without the background in classical culture assumed by some earlier editions. Appendices include an authorship glossary, with instances of attribution to Thomas Nashe, and a list of the contemporary plays and entertainments.

• | Author: Ruth Lunney
• | Publisher: Manchester University Press
• | Publication Date: Sep 26, 2023
• | Number of Pages: 328 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Hardcover
• | ISBN-10: 1784993980
• | ISBN-13: 9781784993986