Edward II - To What Extent Is Edward Responsible For His Own

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the kingdom with thy dearest friend.’

His father spent his life expanding and defending his young son’s future kingdom and in trying to educate his son in the art of war. The young prince however was totally uninterested in the art of war or in expanding or defending his kingdom, as is proved by the comments made to him when he is king,

‘Look for rebellion, look to be deposed:
Thy garrisons are beaten out of France,
And, lame and poor, lie groaning at the gates;
The wild O’Neill with swarms of Irish kerns,
Live uncontrolled within the English pale;
Unto the walls of York the Scots made road
And un-resisted, drave away rich spoils.’
‘The haughty Dane commands the narrow seas,
While in the harbour thy ride thy ships un-rigged.’

Edward completely neglects his duty as a king to look after the country before himself. There are many examples of this throughout the play and I will illustrate a few of them as I go through.

His only real interests being in the arts such ...

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executed himself by Edward the third. Edward III then places his head on Edward the seconds coffin as a warning to all thinking of attempting a similar act of treachery.

The reasons for Edwards’s downfall are complex and intricate, but I believe can be divided into three basic categories, Edwards relationship with those around him, his personality and the advantage to others such as Mortimer attained because of Edwards’s downfall. However short-lived they may have been.

As I have described briefly above, and in keeping with Aristotle’s definition of tragedy, certain flaws in Edwards Character were major contributors to the king’s downfall. A point I think should be made at this ...

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