When studying plays from the past it is often very difficult to interpret their finer details. This arises from two main problems:

1. English has changed significantly over the last 300 years;
2. The way we interpret and perceive theatre itself has also totally changed.

To address the first part of this two-pronged problem, I would suggest that the best course of action is a close reading. Before you read further, then, please check out this plot summary to avoid any unnecessary spoilers.

At the climax of Mary Pix’s tragedy, the play’s female heroine, Queen Catharine,  is madly mourning the death of her lover, Owen Tutor.  She is temporarily relieved from her ravings by the introduction of her children. In this moment, Lord Dacres convinces her to abandon the war and go to a monastery. Dacres proclaims that  ‘there you may live in peace’; and Catharine agrees to his suggestion.  This brief respite is, however, immediately undercut by the news  of the death of the Queens’ ward[1], Isabella. What follows constitutes Queen Catharine’s most important display of powerful emotions in this tragedy.

 

Analysis

Give order for our instant March; let her corps precede the dismal journey, and let us follow as those sad friends  their best beloved to the lest stage, the Grave.

To address the second part of the problem with interpreting plays of this period, it is important to remember that our conception of tragedy has changed very significantly over time.  When this play was first performed in the late 17th century, tragedy was not primarily about fatal flaws or mistakenly incestuous heroes; it was constructed so as to exhibit extreme emotion, namely ‘passions’. Blair Hoxby’s  2015 book What Was Tragedy? sets out to explore this very brand of forgotten theatre. Hoxby suggests that passions were ‘purely displays of pathos’[4] and were ‘the primary goal and justification of tragedy.’[5] Therefore, theatregoers in 1698 were not coming to see a unique interpretation of an authentic emotion, as we might today: they were coming to see the exhibition of emotion through the use of fine-tuned technique.

This completely changes the way we view this final scene. Catharine’s character is already exhibiting extreme pathos due to the death of her lover. When Esperanza enters to break the news of her ward’s death, Catharine’s fragile assertions  of her own strength in spite of her loss ultimately collapse. This second major death thus doubles the perceived pathos of Catharine’s condition, mounting more pressure on the actor’s technique to exhibit such an exponential passion.

What is key here, however, is that Catharine’s grief evolves as her speech goes on. Her passionate sadness becomes a passionate plea for safety,  as she once again adds the expression of her maternal instinct to the expression of her emotions.  The historical resonance of this ending would have been extremely apparent at the time. ( Check out this post to fully understand this point.) Catharine historically, is the sole royal link to the Tudor dynasty, which dominated English government from 1485-1603. Catharine’s decision to save herself and her children at the end of the play is therefore a highly significant one. It not only foregrounds the eventual victor of the War of the Roses, Catharine’s grandson Henry Tudor, but casts a significant light on the Royal seed of the Tudor family.  This is highlighted by Pix’s use of military imagery, such as when Catharine speaks as though she herself were soldier, one who must ‘march’ to safety. This technique recasts her decision to bring her children to safety into a military tactic. For, as the audience would have been aware, her ancestors would ultimately be the victors in the current conflict.

Catharine thus wins the war, by being a mother. This  maternal passion is therefore not only emotionally resonate, but is highly historically significant.  This performance is in line with Hoxby’s suggestion that in the late 17th century, tragedy was ‘performed and embodied art.’ Catharine’s performance in this scene functions as an artistic allusion. This extreme and layered resonance  is what defined a tragedy in the late 17th century. Catharine’s impassioned exit marks her position as the pathetic heart of Mary Pix’s tragedy.

[1] Ward: in this context, refers to a member of a noble house who has been taken in by another noble family to be raised.
[2] Billow: a large undulating mass of something, typically cloud, smoke, or steam.
[3] Ethereal: heavenly, delicate and light in a way that seems not to be of this world.
[4] Pathos: a quality that evokes pity or sadness.
[5] Blair Hoxby, What was Tragedy?:Theory and the Early Modern Canon (London: Oxford University Press, 2015), p.8.