Valentine's Day Massacre
It's Valentine's Day. I didn't plan on reading something fitting, but I accidentally did. I've just sat and read the play, Sir Thomas Wyatt, published 1607, by John Webster and Thomas Dekker.
It's about the brief crowning and downfall of Lady Jane Grey, as Mary I ascends to the throne following the death of Edward VI. The tragic romance comes in regard the dove-eyed relationship between Lady Jane Grey and her young spouse, Lord Guildford Dudley. The two innocents losing their heads together, thanks to the intrigues of their parents.
In fact, there's quite a Christian subtext to play. Along with the more overt Catholic/Protestant tensions. The love of these two young 'uns overcomes death, Christ-like, in a spiritual sense. Meanwhile, the servant of the Duke of Suffolk, who betrays his master for money, hangs himself, Judas-like, because of the guilt.
The central figure of the play, Thomas Wyatt, also finds a traitor's death. At first he supports Queen Mary's claim to the throne. Essentially out of principle. However, when he discovers that Mary is set to marry the future king of Spain, Philip II, he makes an about turn and rebels. Seeing in this marriage an effort to have England ruled by a foreign power. Though the wily Bishop of Winchester - the villain of the tale - protests otherwise.
"I doe not like this strange marriage," states Wyatt, "The Fox is suttle, and his head once in, The slender body easily will follow."
There wasn't really anything anachronistic in the play, but it was a nice little read.
Now I've ordered a copy of, If You Know Not Me, You Know Nobody. A play about Queen Elizabeth I from 1605. We'll see if there's anything interesting in that.
..and no, before you ask, I didn't get any cards. I have to live my love life vicariously through fiction.
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