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Zenocrate: Not Just Another “Fair Face”

Zenocrate: Not Just Another “Fair Face” September 2003 19 The title character of Christopher Marlowe’s intriguing drama Tamburlaine Part I (c. 1587) has a problem. Suffering from an overwhelming anxiety about his ignoble background, Tamburlaine is concerned both with proving the rightfulness of his claims to various thrones and with forcefully changing the minds of his opponents who dismiss him as nothing but an upstart shepherd. What he lacks, then, is confidence in the le­ gitimacy of his actions. By exercising the gift of persuasive speech throughout the play, Tamburlaine attempts to obfuscate the reality that what he is doing is not right. But he needs some help in justifying his violent course of action. The most logical approach to solving this problem of creat­ ing legitimacy is to marry someone in the desired socio-economic position, so that what Tamburlaine says more convincingly re­ sembles the truth. The answer to his dilemma is Zenocrate, sole heiress to Egypt, and thus an economically viable asset, power­ fully connected to a political and social establishment to which Tamburlaine has no other legitimate access. The purpose of this essay is to displace traditional characterizations of Zenocrate as merely a pretty face whose female guile charms Tamburlaine off the http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png English Language Notes Duke University Press

Zenocrate: Not Just Another “Fair Face”

Abate, Corinne S.
English Language Notes , Volume 41 (1) – Sep 1, 2003
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Copyright
Copyright © 2003 Regents of the University of Colorado
ISSN
0013-8282
eISSN
2573-3575
DOI
10.1215/00138282-41.1.19
Publisher site
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Abstract

September 2003 19 The title character of Christopher Marlowe’s intriguing drama Tamburlaine Part I (c. 1587) has a problem. Suffering from an overwhelming anxiety about his ignoble background, Tamburlaine is concerned both with proving the rightfulness of his claims to various thrones and with forcefully changing the minds of his opponents who dismiss him as nothing but an upstart shepherd. What he lacks, then, is confidence in the le­ gitimacy of his actions. By exercising the gift of persuasive speech throughout the play, Tamburlaine attempts to obfuscate the reality that what he is doing is not right. But he needs some help in justifying his violent course of action. The most logical approach to solving this problem of creat­ ing legitimacy is to marry someone in the desired socio-economic position, so that what Tamburlaine says more convincingly re­ sembles the truth. The answer to his dilemma is Zenocrate, sole heiress to Egypt, and thus an economically viable asset, power­ fully connected to a political and social establishment to which Tamburlaine has no other legitimate access. The purpose of this essay is to displace traditional characterizations of Zenocrate as merely a pretty face whose female guile charms Tamburlaine off the

Journal

English Language Notes – Duke University Press

Published: Sep 1, 2003

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