Model
Digital Document
Publisher
Florida Atlantic University
Description
While the text of Tamburlaine I and II contains the classic
pattern of act and scene divisions, the organic structure
of the play is governed by the twelve signs and houses of
the zodiac. The play's metaphorical patterns are consciously
formulated to correspond to the zodiacal year, and consequently
represent a circular pattern. The play's well-known
rising and falling movement (Parts I and II) is analogous to
both solar day and solar year. As hero, Tamburlaine's role
is that of Sol, the central planet in the Ptolemaic system,
ascending with the vernal equinox in Part I and descending
with the autumnal equinox in Part II. The imagery traverses,
in sequential fashion, the signs and houses, with one
radical adjustment: Pisces is removed from the end of the
cycle and placed at the beginning of Act I, an alteration
which probably has concealed the metaphorical pattern heretofore.
pattern of act and scene divisions, the organic structure
of the play is governed by the twelve signs and houses of
the zodiac. The play's metaphorical patterns are consciously
formulated to correspond to the zodiacal year, and consequently
represent a circular pattern. The play's well-known
rising and falling movement (Parts I and II) is analogous to
both solar day and solar year. As hero, Tamburlaine's role
is that of Sol, the central planet in the Ptolemaic system,
ascending with the vernal equinox in Part I and descending
with the autumnal equinox in Part II. The imagery traverses,
in sequential fashion, the signs and houses, with one
radical adjustment: Pisces is removed from the end of the
cycle and placed at the beginning of Act I, an alteration
which probably has concealed the metaphorical pattern heretofore.
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