Teaching The Tragedy of Mariam: To High School Students and Beyond

With relative adherence to the Senecan model of the closet drama and close adaptation to Thomas Lodge’s translation of Jewish history by Josephus, Elizabeth Cary, in constructing the plot of The Tragedy of Mariam, centres her version round questions of conformation and social behaviour. The playwright raises issues related to patriarchal power, gender roles and the threats of female utterance. In an age where teaching Shakespeare is the norm in high school classes, teaching other Renaissance plays entails a shift in direction away from the narrow horizon of teaching the cannon into the open terrain of pedagogical trials. This essay proposes thematic parallels and instructive methods in an effort to explore the pedagogical possibilities of teaching Cary’s play to high school students.