6y'[The Orator] is in a maner the emperour of mens minds & affections, and next to the omnipotent God in the power of perswasion, by grace, & divine assistance.' (HENRY PEACHAM, 1593) In the light of this quotation, explore the uses of rhetoric in any work or works of the period. In the prologue to Tamburlaine, Part One the audience are invited to "hear the Scythian Tamburlaine / Threat'ning the world with high astounding terms / And scourging kingdoms with his conquering sword." Thus, rather than his ability as a soldier, Marlowe immediately sets up the idea that it is Tamburlaine's words, before his deeds, that will make him great. Particularly potent is the zeugma of this sentence - the audience will "hear", rather than see Tamburlaine, highlighting the importance of his speech. In this essay I will begin by discussing how playwrights used "the power of perswasion" in their characters' rhetoric, both in persuading other characters and self- persuasion. I then go on to speak about how oratory is used by both Marlowe and Kyd to persuade the audience. Finally, I conclude by discussing the times in all three plays where rhetoric fails, and how, ultimately, though Peacham claims the orator is "next to [ ... ] God", Marlowe shows that all human beings - whether skilled rhetoricians or not - have no power over God. Despite the prologue, Marlowe does not begin his play with the "thund'ring speech" of Tamburlaine, but with Mycetes. From the beginning, Mycetes complains of his inability to express himself: Brother Cosroe, I find my selfe agreeu'd, 1 -
Yet insufficient to expresse the same: For it requires a great and thundering speech: Good brother tell the cause vnto my Lords, 1 -
I know you haue a better wit then I. (1Tam I. i. 9-13) Leech1 argues that Mycetes' weak speech is simply humour on the part of Marlowe, defining Tamburlaine as a "mongrel tragi-comedy" that Sidney so objected to. However, it is more than this; Mycetes' insufficiency is the direct antithesis to Tamburlaine's fullness. In introducing Cosroe as "better" than Mycetes, but still insufficient, Marlowe sets up a hierarchy of which Tamburlaine is ultimately at the peak. Further, Menaphon's phrase "threaten like himself" is particularly cutting because it operates as a simile, separating Mycetes from the kingly figure he resembles (at certain times), but never actually is. Mycetes' rhetoric is full of "mights" and "mays", conditional verb constructions and questions for his courtiers, rather than assertive statements. For instance, full of doubt and insecurity, he asks his courtiers: "How like you this, my honourable lords?/ Is it not a kingly resolution?" (1Tam. I. i. 54-5). In doing so, he absolutely invites Cosroe's ironic and cutting reply, "It cannot choose, because it comes from you" (1Tam. I. i. 56). Tamburlaine, on the other hand, enters full of confidence. Unlike Mycetes, he embodies the orator Peacham describes and fully makes use of the "power of perswasion". With his words alone, he wins Theridamas to