Playing with desire : Christopher Marlowe and the art of tantalization / Fred B. Tromly.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 211-231) and index.

Marlowe and the torment of Tantalus -- Translation as template: all of Ovid's Elegies -- Playing with the powerless: Dido Queen of Carthage -- The conquerer's and the playwright's games: Tamburlaine the Great, part one and part two -- Playing with avarice: The Jew of Malta -- The play of history and desire: Edward II -- Damnation as tantalization: Doctor Faustus -- Frustrating the story of desire: Hero and Leander.

"Playing with Desire takes a new approach to Christopher Marlowe's body of writing, replacing the view of Marlovian desire as heroic aspiration with a far less uplifting model. Fred B. Tromly shows that in Marlowe's writing desire is a response to calculated, teasing enticement, ultimately a sign not of power but of impotence. The author identifies this desire with the sadistic irony of the Tantalus myth rather than with the sublime tragedy exemplified by the familiar figure of Icarus. Thus, Marlowe's characteristic mis en scene is moved from the heavens to the netherworld. Tromly also demonstrates that the manipulations of desire among Marlowe's characters find close parallels in the strategies by which his works tantalize and frustrate their audiences."--Jacket

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