Chapman, George - Jane Melbourne Craig (essay date spring 1982)
Jane Melbourne Craig (essay date spring 1982)
SOURCE: Craig, Jane Melbourne. “Chapman's Two Byrons.” Studies in English Literature 1500-1900 22, no. 2 (spring 1982): 271-83.
[In the following essay, Craig maintains that Chapman intentionally depicted Byron as a divided character who presents a constantly shifting perspective between the concepts of Platonism and Christianity.]
The protagonist of George Chapman's The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles Duke of Byron (1608) is an arrogant, imperceptive military leader who conspires with the enemies of his good king to renew a disastrous civil war, yet delivers brilliant speeches that proclaim the dignity of man. It is unfruitful to compare him to other military heroes such as Coriolanus or Othello, who like him are manipulated by lesser men, because contradictions in their natures, revealed by the dramatic action, are nevertheless believable as aspects of character, whereas the...
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