24 pages 48 minutes read

Christopher Marlowe

Edward II

Fiction | Play | Adult | Published in 1593

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Act IIIChapter Summaries & Analyses

Act III, Scene 1 Summary

Warwick enters and takes Gaveston away from Pembroke’s men. The men criticize Warwick for going against the king’s wishes and bringing dishonor on himself, but Warwick will not listen. He believes that his duty to his country is more important than his duty to the king, and leaves with Gaveston as his prisoner. 

Act III, Scene 2 Summary

Edward is despondent without Gaveston. Spencer Junior tells him that unless he is harsher with the rebels, they are not going to able to end the conflict soon. Spencer Senior arrives. He has brought a contingent of soldiers to support the king. Edward quickly makes him the Earl of Wiltshire. Isabella arrives with Prince Edward and bad news: The King of France has Normandy’s English territories. Edward sends the queen and the prince to France to try and mitigate the situation.

 

The Earl of Arundel enters the scene. He tells Edward that the Earl of Warwick seized Gaveston from Pembroke’s men and that now Gaveston is dead. Edward again swears revenge against them all. He then decrees that Spencer Junior is now the Earl of Gloucester and also the Lord Chamberlain. Edward sends a messenger away to tell the lords that they must prepare themselves for war.