Book 42

This is a revised reprint of the Malone Society's edition of "The Tragedy of Mariam", a play published in quarto in 1613. "Mariam" is the earliest surviving original play in English to have been written by a woman. The centrality of the heroine's role, and the eloquence with which she confronts a hostile patriarchal order, has recently attracted much attention among feminist critics and scholars. The play's structure and style offer insights into the ways in which women were writing in the early modern period.