LINES FROM EDWARD II
"My heart is as an anvil unto sorrow,
Which beats upon it like the Cyclops hammers,
And with the noise turns up my giddy brain.
And makes me frantic for my Gaveston. Ah!had some bloodless fury rose from hell
And with my kingly sceptre struck me dead,
When I was forced to leave my Gaveston."
In this passage king taken from Edward II written by Marlowe,king Edward II is speaking to himself which is called soliloquy in the drama.
When Edward II the king dismisses Gaveston's banishment from England and recalls him, the Lords,Nobles,Peers etc join together and resent the king's decision.They threaten to rise against the king and take up arms against him.They compel the king to rebanish Gaveston. So under their threat and compulsion,the king banishes Gaveston again. But the king does it with a heavy heart and deep sorrow. At the same time, the king banishes his wife, the queen Isabella also from his court. The king tells her that she can be allowed to appear at his court only when she succeeds in persuading the lords, nobles and peers to cancel Gaveston's second banishment and recalling Gaveston to England. The queen succeeds in it. But so long as Gaveston does not come back to England and be again the king's dear companion. The king is unhappy and unrestful.
So, expressing his grief and sorrow, the king says that his heart is beating with sorrow and feels as much restless with the noise of his heart as the noise of cyclops' hammers do on the anvil. Anvil is the block on which iron is hammered. Cyclops are mythological characters who are employed to work on an anvil and hammer, the iron to make thunderbolt for Jupiter. Jupiter is a god of the thunderbolts. According to Greek mythology: "When He is angry with anyone, He strikes him with His thunderbolt and kills him."
Thus,the comparision in between the noise of the beating of the king's heart with sorrow and grief for Gaveston and the noise of hammering upon by the cyclops on an anvil to make thunderbolts for Jupiter.
Expressing his grief further,the king says that his lords,nobles and peers are like the bloodless Fury. The Furies are the goddesses of revenge and punishment. They are cruel and pitiless. They punish people for their sins without any kindness and pity. Like the Furies the king's, lords,nobles and peers are punishing him for his weakness for Gaveston and have no pity for the sorrows and sufferings of the king.While the king is dying for the love and company of Gaveston, the lords, nobles and peers are celebrating happiness.
Thus, the passage presents the king's grief at his separation from Gaveston with the help of classical imagery drown from Greek mythology.
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