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Article: Gismond of Salerne: an Elizabethan and Cupidean tragedy.(Critical essay)
- Article from:
- Yearbook of English Studies
- Article date:
- January 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Modern Humanities Research Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Gismond of Salerne, written by five gentlemen of the Inner Temple and performed before Elizabeth I at Greenwich in 1566-67, has received very little critical attention. This chapter argues for the play's engagement with the Elizabethan succession, maintaining that its Cupidean revenge plot warns against a monarch's mistreatment of his/her heirs. Moreover, its anatomization of the lovesick, female body potentially alludes to that of Elizabeth herself. Finally, Gismond will be seen to have invented 'Cupidean tragedy', a dramatic form that would exert a powerful influence upon the more familiar love tragedy.
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CUPID But now the world, not seing ...