Lecture Notes, Thursday, June 12: Hero and Leander

12 June 2008
English 3106 / The Age of Elizabeth I

Christopher Marlowe, Hero and Leander

Lecture Outline
*the problem of tone
*human behaviour?
*against chastity
*Hero’s struggles
*The story of the Fates
*The first meeting
*Separation
*Swimming the Hellespont
*Reunion

The problem of tone, Hero and Leander lines 1-90
Starring Dr. Melissa
And
Hot Victorian Babe as Hero
Christopher Marlowe and Leander
Crudely Drawn Sun as Apollo
Crudely Drawn Moon as Cynthia
Comical Bees as the Bees
Mr. William Shakespeare as Leander’s friend

Human behaviour? Lines 91-176
* the action of the crowd, 117-130
*the description of the temple of Venus, 142-167

Against chastity
*199-294
*the question of Hero’s oath, 294-310 – the argument that seals the deal

Hero’s struggles
*329-340 “These arguments he used, and many more / Wherewith she yielded, that was won before.”
*362-376 supernatural intervention

The story of the Fates, lines 178-484
*story of Mercury and the country maid, 386+
*428 “All women are ambitious naturally”
*Mercury kicked out of heaven for stealing the nectar of the gods, 439
*Cupid wounds the Fates so they love Mercury
*452 he asks them to overturn Jove
*455, a chance for a new Golden Age with the return of Saturn and Ops, with an end to “Murder, rape, war, lust, and treachery”
Their first meeting, 507-570
*betrothal without consummation
*messing about, 527-570 – Leander’s inexperience and Hero’s change of heart

Separation
*Leander returns to Abydos, 595-630

Swimming the Hellespont
*Encounter with Neptune, who mistakes him for Ganymede, 639-650
*Neptune toys with Leander, 665-675
* “You are deceived; I am no woman, I.” (676)
*Neptune’s disrupted story, 677-699
*Neptune lets Leander go while he tries to find gifts, 700-710

Reunion
*714 “seeing a naked man, she screeched for fear”
*745 Hero hides under the covers
*760-784 out of order??
*785 “And now she wished this night were never done”
*791+ Hero slides out of bed ungracefully
*Morning, and the end