Marlowe's Edward II: from page to screen

Abstract

Minorites have, during the last decades, manifested their dissatisfaction towards unequal civil rights all over the world. Homosexuals inparticular, both gay and lesbian, constitute groups that have fewer privileges than the heterosexual majority in society. Thus, homosexuals have pursued their civil rights and struggled, above all, for freedom of expression. Some out homosexuals participate in political activism as they pursue legal rights, and such is the case of Derek Jarman (1942-1994), an artist who used film as a medium to ideologically reflect upon the condition of gay males. Jarman appropriated Christopher Marlowe´s play Edward II and produced the screenplay Queer Edward II. The main point of this thesis is that Jarman´s choices imply a different cinematic perspective, namely, that of gays in contemporary society. Thus, what I have defined as queer aesthetics emerges if the visual effects of the film are considered. Nevertheless, Jarman´s Edward II does not actually offer a new form of social system, where gays might achieve power by being accepeted competitively in society. Jarman´s version ultimately restates the same prejudiced behaviour we find in Marlowe´s play, as he replaces the homophobic order by a heterophobic one. Moreover, Jarman ignores thart the formation of desire is a result of the social, historical, political and cultural variables. He appears to be ´trapped´ in the conventional dichotomic view of the genders which establishes difference so as to create social strratification where heterosexual white men are superior and women and gays are inferior. So, although Jarman´s Edward II shows the homosexuals´ strife for equal civil rights, it re-esrtablishes the prevailing socio-political system which in Jarman´s view should oppress heterosexuals.