For the modern reader, it’s difficult not to regard Edward II, which depicts the catastrophic effect that a king’s relationship with his male lover has both on the monarch and on the nation he governs, as a play centrally concerned with homosexuality. This impression is likely to be even stronger in the theatre, where the physical intimacy of Edward and Gaveston will be visually evident and where the potentially sexual overtones of the King’s gruesome death can be graphically conveyed (see Chapter 7). If the reader or theatregoer has some awareness of Marlowe’s own biography – for example, of the statement attributed to him by Richard Baines ‘That all they that love not tobacco and boys [are] fools’ – then the effect may be compounded further, and Edward II viewed as, perhaps, a plea for tolerance and understanding of homosexuality.

There are several problems with this view of the play, however. The first is that, as will be discussed later in this chapter, it is very questionable whether it is appropriate to talk in terms of ‘homosexuality’ in relation to Renaissance texts. The second is that, while Edward’s relationship with Gaveston is certainly central to his downfall, it can be argued that this is not because it is a homosexual relationship as such, but for other reasons (this, too, will be discussed in more detail later on). Finally, it needs to be emphasised that Edward II is a play about politics and public life as much as it is about private sexuality – indeed, it is about the disastrous intersection of the two. Its subject matter is drawn from chronicle accounts of English history, and therefore it may be helpful to begin by considering it alongside other forms of historical writing from the period, including drama.