The Tragedy of Mariam Literary Elements

Jacobean dramatic text

English

29BC in the court of King Herod, at a time when he is missing, presumed dead

The point of view is third person, each character presenting their own point of view with their dialogue.

Tense and threatening; Machiavellian with all of the characters seemingly plotting against each other

Mariam is the protagonist, Salome the antagonist

The entire play revolves around a selection of conflicts between the characters. One key one is between Salome and Mariam; Salome has never believed Mariam to be a suitable wife for her brother and is now trying to dispose of her for good in Herod's absence.

Herod returns thereby disproving the popular belief that he has been killed and also creating additional conflict as he returns to find that many of his wishes and orders have already been disobeyed.

Herod's discovery that Mariam has been having an affair foreshadows Mariam's execution

Salome is described as manipulative. This is a clear understatement. She is the most devious and murderous in character and seems to want everyone else imprisoned or dead.

Although this is not a play where allusion is much used, there are allusions to things that happened in Herod's court before the time of the play starting. On specific example of this is his being summoned to Italy which was amid much conflict, possibly why it was assumed that he would have met a violent end.

The imagery is war-like and creates an image of constant plotting. The audience is able to imagine the feeling of fear and distrust that was all-pervading in Herod's court, and the fear of the King himself that was also always present. The imagery here plays mostly to the emotion of the audience.

Mariam loves Herod, but she also hates him as well as he was the person responsible for the murders of several of her immediate family members.

There is a parallel between the way in which women in Herod's time were not allowed to instigate a divorce and the way that during the Jacobean period women were also unable to instigate divorce or be treated equally during the divorce process.

No examples in the play

There is considerable use of soliloquy and many acts consist almost solely of one character speaking. This is used in order to demonstrate to the audience or the reader how the character is feeling and how their feelings about certain situations moves the plot forwards.

The use of the chorus is also a device that serves to make up for the lack of physical action and movement on the stage. The chorus act as the voice of reason, pointing out the shortcomings in Mariam as a wife, and giving judgement on much of the behavior that has been seen in the previous act.