The story of Herod and Mariam would have been obscure to most English audiences, which makes Cary's choice of inspiration a point of interest for many scholars.[4] The play received only marginal attention until the 1970s, when feminist scholars recognized the play's contribution to English literature. Since then the play has received much more scholarly attention.[16]
While some continue to argue that The Tragedy of Mariam was not written to be performed, and that because it was not intended for the stage, much of the action in the play is described through dialogue rather than shown,[2] others, such as Alison Findlay, have argued the play could have been staged at a great house associated with Cary’s family such as Burford Priory, Ditchley, or Berkhamstead.[17] Indeed Stephanie Wright, who has directed the play, argues that action is often important in the play, in particular
The presentation of the ‘poison’ cup to Herod, the sword fight between Constabarus and Silleus, and the physical vacillation of Herod’s soldiers, with Mariam as their prisoner, as they respond to Herod’s constantly changing orders, are actions which need physical representation.[18]
Elizabeth Schafer points out that the opening of 4.1., Herod’s first entrance, has the stage direction ‘Enter Herod and his attendants’ and that given that the attendants subsequently say nothing, this stage direction is primarily visual or physical, that is, evidence of a theatrical rather than a readerly imagination.[19]
Critics who believe that Mariam is a closet drama argue that this form allowed women to exercise a form of agency without disrupting the patriarchal social order, and that they were able to "use closet activity to participate directly in the theater"[20] since they were forbidden from participating in stage theatre. The close links between closet drama's and conduct literature were able to disguise potentially more transgressive ideas, such as the proto-feminist ideas of female liberation proposed by the play's antagonist, Salome.
Themes
Critics often address the theme of marriage in Cary's play, such as how Mariam's tumultuous marriage may have been written as a response by Cary to her own relationship with her husband. Mariam is caught between her duty as a wife and her own personal feelings, much as Cary might have been, as a Catholic-leaning woman married to a Protestant husband.[4]
The theme of female agency and divorce is another common topic for critics. For example, some critics focus on Salome, who divorces her husband of her own will in order to be with her lover, Silleus.[4] Though Mariam is the title character and the play's moral center, her part in the play amounts to only about 10% of the whole.[21]
Tyranny is another key theme. Cary uses a Chorus and a set of secondary characters to provide a multi-vocal portrayal of Herod's court and Jewish society under his tyranny.[22]
In addition, though the racialized aspects of this play are often overlooked by many critics, the theme of race, both as it pertains to feminine beauty standards and religious politics is another key theme in this tragedy.
