Salome and the Stage: Elizabeth Cary's The Tragedie of Miriam
Elizabeth Cary, England, 1668
In her 1668 “closet tragedy,” Elizabeth Cary explores the absence and return of a short-sighted king, the power of revenge, the blame placed on women, and a mysterious interpretation of fate. She tells the classic story of jealousy and revenge, but not without communicating underlying themes of political and social unrest in England. With themes of extreme revenge, race craft, and dissensus with the patriarchy, Cary emulates a Shakespearean drama, although the source of inspiration becomes fuzzy when both were writing around the same period. The overarching voice of the chorus stands out as an interesting, supposedly unbiased opinion, as it reiterates the sentiments of the characters and the lessons they should be learning, from an outside (male) perspective. Cary writes the chorus to chant, “Tis not enough for one that is a wife To keep her spotles from an act of ill: When to their Husbands they themselves do bind, Do they not wholly give themselves away? Or give them but their body not their mind… For in a wife it is no worse to finde, A common body, then a common minde” (Cary 3.3.117-119, 127-128). Their argument that Miriam in a way is wrong to question and reject her marriage highlights the irony in the transcendent voice. Assuming that women must “give away” every aspect of their lives seems a play at the fragility of autonomy in such a constricted, hierarchical society. Their bias toward the upper class is revealed as well as they use “common” in a derogatory way, to argue that if one’s wife has both a body and mind reflecting the commoner’s, they are unworthy of marriage to the upper class man, no matter what their actual place in the social hierarchy may be.
Miriam is a strong example of a literary woman painted into a certain box because of her gender and status. However, Salome remains most mysterious, as she manages to evade the almost comically stereotypical archetypes the other characters fit into. Although I felt Cary’s empathy for women in Miraim’s position, Salome and what she is able to accomplish especially intrigued me compared to the somewhat linear plotline that the rest of the characters follow to their graves. Why is it that, despite her cunning character, she does not have a final word written into the play before she exits the stage for the last time?
Herod’s speech about longing for Miriam, combined with his contradictory decision to have her killed for her supposed actions paints him as a surface level character, despite his power as overarching ruler. Salome is more complex, as the idea of her stands for much more than a woman using her own power for material, romantic, and personal gains. When all others find themselves in dire situations in the final act, Salome is nowhere to be found, and it can be assumed that she is not in a most negative situation, but rather has manipulated some, helped others, and disappeared. Although she is by no means lower class and illiterate, Salome embodies the underrepresented in the play. Ironically, or rather realistically, Salome is the underlying force behind much of the drama, but is not given a final voice to leave her explanations. This overall connects with the reality of many women at the time, unable to read and write, but not unable to see, hear, hurt, influence, and disappear from the background of history.
Source: Cary, Elizabeth. The Tragedie of Mariam, the Faire Queene of Jewry. A Celebration of Women
Writers, A Celebration of Women Writers , 1613, digital.library.upenn.edu/women/cary/mariam/mariam.html.
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