The Tragedy of Miriam, Queen of Jewry

by Elizabeth Cary

First published in 1613, The Tragedy of Mariam, the Fair Queen of Jewry is probably the first play in English known to have been authored by a woman, and it has become increasingly popular in the study of early modern women's writing. The play, which Cary based on the story of Herod and Mariam, turns on a rumour of Herod's death, and unfolds around the actions taken by the patriarch's family and servants in his absence. In part a critique of male power, the play sets gender politics in sharp relief against a background of dynastic conflict and Roman imperialism.

Genres: Plays, Classics, Drama, School, Read For School, 17th Century, Fiction

Play

First published January 1, 1613

About the author

Elizabeth Cary, Lady Falkland, nee Tanfield, was an English poet, translator, and dramatist. Precocious and studious, she was known from a young age for her learning and knowledge of languages.

Works

The mirror of the world, a translation of Abraham Ortelius's Le mirroir du monde (1598)

The Tragedy of Mariam, the Fair Queen of Jewry (pub. 1613)

Reply of the most Illustrious Cardinal of Perron (1630)

The History of the Life, Reign and Death of Edward II, or The History of the most Unfortunate Prince, King Edward II (pub. 1680)

Reviews

[Madeline · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is believed to have been the first English play written by a woman that was actually published, which makes it Kind Of A Big Deal. Not that anyone should really feel obliged to read it unless they have to write a paper on it.

The problems I had with this play can be summed up into two main points, which I will illustrate here:
1 - A lot of the important action takes place before the play even starts. So Mariam is married to Herod, who's kind of a crazy bastard, and after he leaves his first wife for her he decides to kill Mariam's brother and grandfather. Then he has to go to Rome, and decrees that if he should happen to get killed while he's there Mariam should be killed too so nobody else can marry her.
All of that? We never get to see it. The play starts at what feels like the middle, when everyone's under the impression that Herod's dead but he's actually fine and it made very little sense.
2 - Speaking of things that make no sense: Herod comes back, everyone's like "oh shit, he's not dead!" and he decides, on the flimsiest of evidence, that Mariam is trying to poison him. (Blame that crazy bitch Salome) He orders her execution, and then like TWO SECONDS afterwards he's like, "wait, nevermind!" but Mariam's already dead and he's all "Woe is me, if only I hadn't been such an asshole!" and that's the end.

WHAT.

Read for: Women in Early British Literature

[Evoli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ouuu, I'm a fan of this, very innovative and progressive for that period (early 17th century)!
Also, congratulations to us, ladies, as this is the first original drama written by an English woman writer! <3

[autumn°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Elizabeth Cary never intended for this to be adapted and yeah it should've stayed that way.

[Veru · Rating 3 out of 5]

As part of my studies, I have read plays by a lot of early modern writers (such as Shakespeare, Marlowe, Jonson, Massinger, Heywood), but sadly my curriculum has not featured any female writers so far. This has now changed, as I am dipping in to early modern women writers for an essay.

The play centrally focuses on the perception of women and in a patriarchal kingdom has of them. This is made visible in men’s expectations towards women and women grappling with their selves and the way that they are portrayed or portray themselves. This both takes place on a visual level (women’s beauty in this play is constantly compared), on a moral one (chaste vs unchaste, pure vs impure) and to a slight extent also on the level of intelligence (wit specifically).

I have to admit that I don’t know what I expected, as it is my first time reading early modern closet drama. Apart from some moments or passages, this play could have been performed on stage just as well as any other. Cary’s language is just as artful and elaborate as the language of other contemporary plays and The Tragedy of Mariam features common and popular tropes from early modern drama, proving that she has either read widely or seen many of these plays.

I would very much like to see this performed on stage and hope that one day I will (or I’ll just produce it myself, who knows).

[Eilidh Fyfe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do not know how to feel.
Why do they refer to themselves in the third person? Doris stop saying what Doris wants.
3.5???
Will probably end up writing an essay on this so I shall continue with trying to come up with positivities.

[Rainbow · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just cuz it’s the first play written by a woman doesn’t mean it’s worth the read. Dull. Gimmie Middleton or Bill Shake.

[jules · Rating 3 out of 5]

salome did nothing wrong. prove me wrong. "getting mariam killed was pretty over the top." no it wasn't <3

[em!! · Rating 4 out of 5]

francis beaumont could never

[Eleanor · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

Literally broke my brain open trying to understand the plot of this one, and caused myself genuine concern that I managed to get two thirds through without knowing anything that was occurring. I think that this play has more interesting context and analysis than the actual plot itself, so I am glad I read this in an academic setting. I think that Cary's use of the private performance context in making meaning in this text is so clever, as so much of this text is about what is spoken, by whom, and where, and the metatheacricality of this play is what makes me enjoy it more. The actual story is so-so, but I will definitely enjoy analysing this.

[Briann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book for an English class. Definitely an interesting read. I wish my class could have explored the text more in-depth. It would be interesting to read this play in high school rather than Shakespeare.

I loved that this was written by a woman and had women at the forefront of the play. The play opens with Mariam speaking, which is rarely ever done in any of Shakespeare's plays. Salome acts as the play's agent and incites conflict. In this play, women don't just go insane and die. They yell, they fight, they go against social norms.

[Luke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Every so often, I run into someone my age or older who proclaims a desire to someday return to school in some form, whether it be a university course in medieval architecture or a workshop in artisanal bread baking. Me, I'd be perfectly content to never deal with lecture times, tests, and the administrations of educational institutions ever again, as when I wish to learn something, I track down a serviceable looking book (or watch the odd Netflix documentary) and proceed accordingly. Of course, risks are inherent with such autodidactism, as the wrong edition/author/reading date can make or break one's self sustained scholarly perusal depending on how onerous was the experience or how ill presented was the work. In this particular case, I was pleased enough to come across an edition of this, as it was one of those works that quite escaped my mind until the sight of the front cover niggled at my mind enough to make me look it up (via the GR app scan, aka the only reason I use the wretched thing) and realize that, yes, I had indeed been looking for this since 2014. However, the combination of fortuitous yet time sapping new circumstances and none too forgiving reading demands made for an engagement that was both too sludging and too intermittent for me to get a satisfying picture, so I know I'll be coming back to this, one way or another. After all, an edition that presents both "the first original play by a woman to be published in England" and the biography of said woman, aka the first biography of an English woman writer to ever be composed, is nothing to sneeze at, and the only way I'll be satisfied with putting my rather tawdry first perceptions down now and leaving it is the knowledge that I'll be returning under far more appropriate circumstances.

In this brave new post-Roe era, much as it was at the start of Covid, it has been morbidly interesting to watch millions across my country wake up to the fact that they, too, can be legally hunted for sport. Such is an inevitable side effect to the sort of Christian fundamentalism that associates with the KKK as a father does with a prodigal son, and when such things arise in contemporary times, I often like to take on something extremely aged in my reading, in hopes that the distance of years will allow for a respite from dwelling on one's living conditions. Alas, while this text travels back a good four centuries or more in its detailing of a play, a biography, and various source texts for both, the choices are the ur-texts for Christianity, a borderline hagiography in the Catholic tradition, and very little in between. Such was not good for my patience, especially when considering my tendency to plow through the end/footnotes then and there as interspersed through the texts, for the compilers of this edition did their best to teach an entire discipline of the study of English theatre in 50 or so pages of size six font, and tackling that during my weekend evenings of third and fourth weeks of my new position was hardly optimal reading conditions. I won't say that it would have been better had I found an edition that contained the text of the play and little to nothing else, but I do plan on a second read being conducted along similarly bare bone lines, as when it comes to plays of this level of disenfranchisement, who knows if there's any chance of seeing an actual production, notwithstanding the ongoing systematic alienation of the last few years of contemporary living.

I understand that I've given very little in the way of character analysis, specific historical contextualization, and the sort of answers that search engines trawl for in order to fill the bowels of Sparknotes and co. One saving grace is I doubt that the education required to sustain a worthwhile exploration of this, a play based off the juncture of history and a certain religious text known as the christian bible written by a woman living in the crossroads between the fall of Catholic England and the rise of Protestant imperialism, is ever going to be naturally promulgated enough to merit subjecting high school students to the read (although I have known both individual teachers and wider school standards who were fully capable of being egotistically misguided enough to make such a Sisyphean task a reality). In any case, if you know something about both the true and the pileup of historical hearsay surrounding such figures as Cleopatra, the various Herods, and Anne Boleyn, you have a question in the form of a powerful woman and an answer in the form of the patriarchy. The play demonstrates a partially rhymed version of the fallout, and when I'm not forcing myself through thickets of not always necessary contextual details and the run on of most run on sentences biopic, I'll better be able to appreciate that. For now, I'll take what I got from a rather overwrought and ill timed reading experience, and pledge to return under less straitened circumstances.

Or cannot women hate as well as men?

[tillie lefforge · Rating 4 out of 5]

BARS GIRL BARS

[ada ☽ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This play features some very interesting and ambiguous commentary on gender roles and female agency. Unfortunately parts of it were also a bit dull to me, with most of the action taking place off stage before the beginning and after the ending of the play. The play is more of a character study than anything else, which I did enjoy at times, but the way in which it was done created some detachment from the characters. Still a play worth the read and certainly worth a critical analysis.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic play, really explores the expectations of femininity and how fitting those expectations too honestly, or breaking them secretly, impacts your life. Or death. It starts out with Mariam saying the line: "How oft have I with public voice run on?" But rotates around her silence. She says too much, yet not enough. Salome, her counter, says a lot but privately. To Herod, to Constabarus. What is a "closet drama?" Cary was a trailblazer as a convert to Catholicism during the reign of Cromwell in England, and both her leading ladies are, Mariam "but to my death but the vaunt courier prove" ; Salome "I shall not be the last, full well I know." One dies for honesty, one lives for manipulation and lies. They loathe each other, but are simply trying to be heard in a society that restricts, and shapes, the scope of their voice.

[Julia Wolfson · Rating 4 out of 5]

first ever play published by an Englishwoman! there were parts that i loved and the commentary on gender is so so important and progressive for the time

[Sandro · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Tragedy of Mariam is a closet drama that is particularly concerned with the power dynamic between different genders and marital constellations. As would be expected, this early-modern play is in many ways difficult: there is up-front misogyny, xenophobia, and racial bias. Nevertheless, Cary manages to writes beautiful verse that complicates themes of beauty and virtue in light of the above-mentioned issues. The most interesting aspect about this play was that it reads like a poem due to the regularity of the rhyme pattern. This creates an interesting tension whether to read this as a lyrical form of philosophical exploration or as a performance piece practising the lived reality of the male-female power divide.

[Mariam · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read it only because my name is Mariam.

[Meg McCarthy · Rating 3 out of 5]

justice for the women who simply dont like their husbands!

[Mae · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was surprisingly funny. Shoutout to women.

[Fred · Rating 1 out of 5]

It’s interesting that publishing houses turn down manuscripts on the grounds that they “didn’t really grab me”, yet plays like this are prescribed as high literature worthy of study.

This was just painful. It is the most soul-destroyingly boring play I’ve read in a while. (I was loving reading this early modern stuff - and then this one and Tamburlaine dipped the quality.)

It borrows from Senecan drama, according to the introduction - which entailed “long, setentious speeches”, and the violence (ie. the exciting stuff) happening offstage. Interesting in its own right, but it means the play has aged terribly for a modern audience. My heart sank when I saw these huge chunks of text waiting for me - some acts are entirely made up of soliloquy! Remind me never to read anything by Seneca. Without an actor to bring it to life, it’s a dire experience (and that actor would have to do some heavy-lifting anyway because the plot’s not even that interesting).

And the plot was just terrible! In the same way that Tamburlaine’s message - whether intended by Marlowe or not - was that Timūr was a violent tyrant, this one says the same about Herod the Great. He demands that someone kill his wife if he dies in war so nobody else can have her, kills the servant when he fails to carry out this plan even though he comes back alive (!!) (and because he blabs), then sends his wife to execution on the flimsiest of evidence that she’s tried to poison him. (In reality, the “guiltless” Mariam has been framed by Salome, Herod’s sister.)

There are also a host of side characters who have been mistreated by Herod in various ways. Salome distracts Herod from these characters with the Mariam poison plot.

Herod kills her on this flimsy evidence and then instantly regrets it. Is he the tragic hero rather than Mariam? Tragic heroes aren’t usually “guiltless”, and he fits the criterium of a tragic error of judgement. But he also has very few - if any - redeeming qualities, so maybe not.

The introduction argues that Cary herself would have related to this story “because Mariam must [like Cary did] struggle with the strong sense of obligation imposed on her by the sacrament of marriage, even if she is married to a dangerously suspicious man.” (617) So the play could be read as a cautionary tale against the dangers of the marriage market to young women.

The part I did like is the opening: Mariam believes her awful husband is dead, and is shocked at herself for crying even though he is a tyrant. She struggles simultaneously between crying even though he was awful, and then guilt that she secretly feels relieved by his death. That was an apt observation of human nature. Sometimes we do mourn even for the most toxic people in our lives. (And you can feel her dread when he comes back to her. His remaining alive effectively signs her death warrant.)

[Mia Steadman · Rating 2 out of 5]

As this play is believed to be the first ever play to be written and published by a woman, I was interested in reading it. I suppose I can’t say I was disappointed as I didn’t have high expectations going into it, but I was still left dissatisfied.

There are lots of long monologues with hardly any action at all. It’s all pretty much just arguments between characters about marriage, divorce, and affairs. The complete events of the play were tedious until the last few scenes but even they weren’t brilliant. A lot of the good stuff was shown in the paratext before the play even starts. The ending was very odd with what seemed to be the dramatic finale instantly reversed and made lacklustre on the next few pages.

The characters also weren’t very interesting and I strongly disliked the use of the third person constantly. The only character I sort of liked was Salome but that was purely because she was there to create chaos and I love that. The role of women here was also interesting but at its root still boiled down to the same feminine stereotypes.

Overall didn’t enjoy this read but I understand its literary relevance and why it has been selected to be studied. Maybe a bit of close analysis might change my opinion.

[Abi · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great play!!! I loved exploring all characters and their arcs in depth, but I especially loved Salome, who consistently tries to initiate divorce even though Moses' Law made this impossible at the time.. and to think Salome was perceived as dangerous! She was definitely a powerful protofeminist force to be reckoned with❤️. Themes of control (mainly exerted by men towards their wives), blood (linked to marriage vows, vows of devotion etc..) and martyrdom (suffering amid Marian's impending death) really stood out for me. In general, apart from some shockingly blatant racism (especially when contrasting Mariam with Salome) and misogyny (literally whenever any man spoke about Marian or Salome), I really enjoyed this play so I'd rate it 5 stars for keeping me really invested!

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

A trudge of speeches without much action. If my complaint against The White Devil was too much plot and not enough character, this play is its flipside, with too much character and not enough plot. Everyone sits around waiting. Will Herod be killed by the Romans? Will he not? The wives and sister bicker. Herod comes back but Mariam, wife #2 has already died. Alas.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not an easy read (because of the language) but very interesting in the way it interrogates the male privilaage at that time (early 1600s) specifically in relationship to marriage (and divorce).

And particularly interesting in the way the women, disempowered by the men, turn against each other.

[Eva Hilzenrath · Rating 2 out of 5]

not to be like anti-feminist but that SUCKED

[rosabeck · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐️ actually got more into this in the second half of the play

[Mia · Rating 2 out of 5]

boring

[bente · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

do not let Herod find out about Frankenstein!

[Fatima · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just because it’s the first play published by a woman in England doesn’t mean it’s good

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Herod when I catch you, fuckass undecisive little boy