65 pages 2 hours read

Elizabeth Cary

The Tragedy of Mariam

Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1613

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Dedication-The Argument

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Dedication Summary

Cary dedicates her play to the moon goddess Diana, whom she describes as a lesser but compelling companion of the sun god Phoebus. She describes the sun as illuminating the opposite side of the world (the Antipodes) while the moon illuminates her own as she writes.

Cary ends the dedication by comparing the glories of the sun to the differing but equally important glories of the moon. While the sun shines on Italy, where Herod and other important men have gathered in Rome, the moon shines on Palestine, where the Jewish women are engaged in mourning, philosophizing, and plotting. She refers to “her first” as a commitment to Apollo, the highest and most beautiful god of the sun, and says she is now creating a “second to Diana” (Dedication 13, 14).

Dramatis Personae Summary

Cary lists 16 characters and a Chorus:

Herod, King of Judea
Doris, his first wife
Mariam, his second wife
Salome, his sister
Antipater, his son by Doris
Alexandra, Mariam’s mother
Silleus, Prince of Arabia
Constabarus, Salome’s husband
Pheroras, Herod’s brother
Graphina, Pheroras’s beloved
First Son of Babus
Second Son of Babus
Annanell, the High Priest
Sohemus, a counselor to Herod
Nuntio, a royal messenger
Butler
Chorus, a company of Jews