Tamburlaine the Great, Part 1 and 2

Tamburlaine the Great (Part 1 and 2)

Tragedy Play by Christopher Marlowe

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Tamburlaine the Great, in two parts, is a tragic play written by the English playwright and poet Christopher Marlowe. More than any work of Marlowe, it was this play that determined the literary status of the Elizabethan drama. It was first performed in 1587.

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Part 1

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Part one shows Tamburlaine’s unstoppable rise through military conquest from his Scythian origins as a shepherd-robber to unrivalled power. Having helped Cosroe to overthrow his brother, the Persian king Mycetes, he then ousts Cosroe as king of Persia. He next conquers the forces of the Turkish Emperor Bajazet, by imprisoning and humiliating him until Bajazet and his Empress Zabina kill themselves by beating their heads against the bars of the cage in which Tamburlaine exhibits them. Indeed, a mean and hateful creature! The only sign of tenderness in this cruel conqueror is his affection for Zenocrate, at whose pleading he spares the life of the Soldan of Egypt, her father, when Tamburlaine captures Damascus. Tamburlaine and Zonocrate marry, and they become the Emperor and Empress of Persia.

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Part 2

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The second part continues the story of Tamburlaine’s despicable conquests. He grooms his sons to become conquerors like him. The peak is when he has his carriage drawn to Babylon by the captured kings of Trebizond and Soria, in relay with the kings of Anatolia and Jerusalem. The play also delves into Tamburlaine’s idea of fatherhood and masculinity, as shown in his cruel murder of Calyphas, his other son, whom he considers a coward for not wanting to fight hard like him. The death of his wife Zenocrate  precipitates his rage against mortality, whose victory over him ends. Ultimately, death conquers him too, Tamburlaine, the conqueror.

Abstract: “Tender is the Night” by F. Scott Fitzgerald

(My Abstract of F.S. Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night)  

Tender is the Night

By F. Scott Fitzgerald 

Tender is the Night is a novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, published in 1934. The novel is about a squandered creative opportunity. Dick Diver, a young American psychiatrist in the prime of his life, is studying in Zurich in 1917. He becomes interested in the case of Nicole Warren, a beautiful and wealthy American suffering from schizophrenia. As she recovers and becomes dependent on Dick, they also become more involved. Eventually they marry. However, the doctor-patient relationship becomes strained. Being a husband at the same time caring for Nicole as her psychiatrist, prevents Dick from pursuing his career further. The couple leads a leisurely life on the Riviera and hosts parties. They have two children. Their friends include a composer, Abe North, who has become an alcoholic. Like Dick, Abe failed to fulfil a carer of his creative passions. Abe’s dreams came to a complete halt when he is killed in a Paris bar.  

As the couple’s turbulent life continues,  [Read More...]

Review: The Bridge Across Forever by Richard Bach

The Bridge Across Forever is a beautiful love story, which is all the more special because it is an autobiography. Bestselling author Richard Bach, famous for Jonathan Livingston Seagull, offers us his extensive and winding journey of learning to love, and also as he shares himself completely with his soul mate in this book based on his real-life relationship with actor Leslie Parrish. The Bridge across Forever is a moving and inspiring account of his own self-discovery. Richard Bach had passively waited for years for the woman of his dreams, the one perfect woman to simply walk into his life. Read More…

Note:  Leslie Parrish was Bach’s second wife, whom he met during the shooting of the movie Jonathan Livingston Seagull in 1973. They married in 1981 and this book, The Bridge Across Forever, is based on their courtship. They divorced and he has since remarried.