Edward II | Critical Overview

Edward II first opened in 1594, played by the Earl of Pembroke's Men. The next record of its performance indicates that it was played at the Red Bull in 1617 by Queen Elizabeth's acting troupe. The innovative blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter) of Edward II led Marlowe's contemporary George Peele to dub Marlowe the "Muse's darling.'' When Puritanism closed the theaters in 1642, Marlowe's plays were all but forgotten, although his reputation as a poet (for Hero and Leander) survived. Not even Marlowe's Dr. Faustus earned the attention of dramatists for two...

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