Christopher Marlowe, The Tragedy of Dido, Queen of Carthage

Chloe Kathleen Preedy (University of Exeter)

Ed. by Virginia Mason Vaughan, Clark University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.03: English Writing and Culture: Renaissance (Elizabethan and Jacobean periods) , 1485-1625.
Vol. editors: William M. Hamlin (Washington State University), J A Roe (University of York), Virginia Mason Vaughan (Clark University), Ema Vyroubalova (Trinity College Dublin)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1584

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Play
Tragedy

Resources

Save to Bookshelf

Recommended Reading

Dido Queen of Carthage

is heavily indebted to Books I and IV of Virgil’s

Aeneid

, an Augustan-era poem describing Rome’s foundation by the Trojan prince Aeneas following that city’s legendary fall. Marlowe supplements his engagement with this classical epic, which was widely read in sixteenth-century England, with material drawn from Virgil’s rival Ovid’s iconoclastic

Metamorphoses

Amores

, and

Heroides

. In fact,

Dido

is often said to be distinctly “Ovidian” in tone: a characterisation that emphasises the play’s overt eroticism, irreverent treatment of the gods, and playfully ironic approach. Furthermore, Marlowe’s dramatization of Aeneas’ love affair with the Carthaginian queen Dido introduces elements that are entirely his invention, including a subplot that depicts…

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

2287 words

Citation: Preedy, Chloe Kathleen. "The Tragedy of Dido, Queen of Carthage". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 August 2021 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7958, accessed 26 November 2024.]

View recommended reading for this article

Christopher Marlowe, The Tragedy of Dido, Queen of Carthage

Dates

Places

Genres and Modes

Resources

Save this article

Leave Feedback