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Gorbodoc (1562) – Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville

About the Author: Abirlal Mukherjee

Assistant Professor (Amity University), Digital Humanist
Ph.D in English (GITAM, India), M.A. and B.A. in English (B.C.C., B.K.U, India), P.G.D.E. -I by Research (B.C.U, UK), TESOL Prof. Certification (Arizona State University, USA)

Founder, Chair of the Secretaries of University Learner, India School on Internet Governance Fellow 2024, IIM-B, Member of Internet Society, Bangalore, Internal Complaints Committee Member, GITAM Deemed to be University, Bengaluru, Teach for India Fellow 2023 and Fellowship Recruitment Committee, Delhi

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  1. Other name: Frrex and Porrex
  2. Known as the first regular English tragedy.
  3. First stagged in 1562, two years before the birth of Shakespeare.
  4. The work became a model for the renaissance dramatists.
  5. A Senecan tragedy of revenge.
  6. Characters:
    1. Gorbodoc: The king of England.
    2. Ferrex: Gorbodoc’s elder son.
    3. Porrex: Gorbodoc’s younger son.
    4. Videna: The Queen
    5. The nobles
    6. The murderers of the king and the queen.
    7. The common people.
  7. Plot:
    1. After the king divides his kingdom between two sons, the latter begin to quarrel as a result of which Porrex kills Ferrex, the latter is so much loved by the queen that she killed Porrex. The people rise in revolt and kill the king and the queen, the nobles therefore kill the murderers of the royal couple. This leads to a bloody civil war, there begins a chaos and anarchy as the question of success remains unsolved.
  8. Senecan features of Gorbodoc:
    1. Division into five acts.
    2. Revenge as the chief motive.
    3. Lack of humour and any comic relief.
    4. Bloodshed
    5. A chain of murders, one causing another.
    6. A ghost as one of the characters.
    7. A plethora of rhetorical speeches by the characters.
    8. Appearance of the chorus at the end of each act.
  9. Use of blank Verse:
    1. The use of blank verse in a drama was for the first time made by Gorbodoc, after it was introduced in English by Surrey. Later Marlowe and Shakespeare mastered it.
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Posted in Drama in English, English Literature, NTA UGC NET English Literature

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