Historical reductionism in Christopher Marlowe's "Edward II"

Marlowe's adaptation of chronicle history for the composition of Edward II entails a multi-leveled process in which the playwright reduces the political and patriotic strife of his source material into a fierce contention of personal will driven by greed, pride, and lust for personal gratification. In opposition to the providential control apparent in Elizabethan accounts of English history, and influenced by the social machinations of the English and Scottish courts in the 1590's, Marlowe boldly alters the chronology of historical events to achieve a reactionary effect that is not evident in his main source, Holinshed's Chronicles; the ages and backgrounds of many characters are also altered to create almost archetypal antagonists in order to illuminate the human forces at work in the play. Moreover, Marlowe manipulates the staging of military action, personal discord, and Edward II's murder itself to accentuate his reductionist treatment of source material.