The Tragedy of Mariam

I, like a few others in the class, have already read this last year, but I seem to have forgotten most of it. Once the events unfolded I did remember reading it, but I could not, for the life of me, move past that point. Although now that I have read it a second time I really hope that I don’t lose it again because I liked it.

What I will focus on for this blog is: why is it that Mariam dies and Salome lives at the end? And what does this mean?

At first I found it a very hard question to wrap my mind around. Mariam, being presented as a good and chaste wife, is what society expects of her; while Salome is presented as this duplicitous and cunning woman, and is spared. I think that this is due to the fact, that when Herod returns Mariam stands up for herself, and no longer wants to be the good wife to Herod, and wishes to gain freedom from him. This is the really something that would need to be corrected in the society of the day, and as such she must die in the play. But Salome (upon looking deeply into her character) is smart in her rebellion against the male-ruled society. She assumes power over others and manipulates them in order to get what she wants. This attitude seems to be rewarded in the play. She reminds me, in many ways, of Alice (in the Arden of Faversham), but Alice is executed in the end, to right the wrongs that took place in the play, but here Salome is not. Perhaps Cary is giving a message that one needs to work the system (ie. be like a man) to benefit from it, but to simply object or stand up against it and the norms of society will get you killed.

** As a side note this play served a dual purpose for me since on Monday I have a test in one of my biblical studies classes. Hooray for killing two birds with one stone! (though I am apposed to the killing of birds).