Edward the Second: The Loyalty of the King

            King Edward is an aloof and stubborn man. He has tendencies to make the wrong choices for the betterment of himself and not necessarily for everyone that is affected by his decisions. Many of his courtiers find him impulsive, and despise his affections to a lesser man. The nobles are particularly observant to the way he treats Gaveston, his advisor, among the rest of them. This incites the nobles to turn against the King, causing great turmoil between the King and his greatest friend. Edward the Second’s loyalty is blinding to him and causes the King great suffering.

            Gaveston is forced to leave London under the pretense that Edward’s father banishes him. The King sorrowfully sets him off under his protection and money. While he is gone, the noble men notice that the King is deranged and forthcoming of his feelings towards Gaveston. He misses him greatly. Distraught, he fights with the noblemen for speaking so surly towards his friend. To the King, he doesn’t understand why they don’t see Gaveston’s greatness. The courtiers think of that man as everything the King should not be fraternizing with. Their distaste is eventually rendered useless as the King convinces them to allow his advisor’s safe return. They are not happy with this decision, particularly the Mortimers, even the Kings wife finds woe in the Kings virtue in Gaveston.

            The noblemen continue to hold harsh feelings towards the King’s favorite, upholding the banishment and seeing Edward as weak to his emotions. Young Mortimer is the most passionate about his hate, as King Edward proclaims to Gaveston and Queen Isabella: “The younger Mortimer is grown so brave, / That to my face he threatens Civil Wars” (Marlowe lines 26-7). The other noblemen follow him in his decision to revolt if Gaveston remains in England. Edmund, the King’s brother, will allow Gaveston in their home. Even as Edmund comes to his brother’s aid, he sees that he is not seeing clearly and his judgment is being impaired. His brother is not acting as a good King, and tries to convince him as such.

            Gaveston is overwhelmed with the revelation of overhearing the King talk so kindly of him. Gaveston displays the “… right amount of self-congratulation with disdain for the earls and those not fortunate enough to ‘be the favourite of a king,’…” (Anderson 107). Edward bestows titles upon his friend, the like of which Edmund comments that even his brother has outdone himself this time. But even as they are unable to be together, Edward shows his true feelings for Gaveston by even revolting against the Archbishop of Canterbury, who had been the one to banish Gaveston the first time. The Archbishop joins the plots crusades to rid of Edward who “…is accused of allowing his homoeroticism to take precedence over his political and social obligations…” (Stymeist 235).

            While Edward and Gaveston have their last moments together, Isabella, the King’s wife, tries to profess her love to her Lord, but he is unaccepting of her affections. She turns to the courtiers and agrees that Edward must be done away with, but she convinces them to not hurt him. The men retort that it will be impossible if the King draws his sword. If he shall, then they must draw blood.

            Edward is “… delighted in sodomy, the favourite to whom he was excessively attached.” (Horne 32). The earls attempt to show him that his affections are not worthy to be bestowed upon Gaveston, but their fear that Edward will be unapproachable is conceived. Edward is very stubborn, and when he finds out about their treason, he tries to overcome them. During the fight, they manage to seize Gaveston while Edward is yielding to the archbishop’s threat of enforcing his papal powers, Edward must stand by and watch his friend being taken away. Edward then tries in his blindness of his inability to save, to find some other accusation to help Gaveston. His accusation is of his cheating wife for mating with the young Mortimer. She denies this, Edward then attempts to get her to use her advantage to save Gaveston from whatever the noblemen plan to do with his friend. Her love wins out and she tries to convince the noblemen, but they are unhearing to her pleas. This allows the noble to go against her wishes, and hurt the King in ways she didn’t think possible. Edward is angry with his wife, because of her inability to save Gaveston, so he has her alienated. But she runs with Mortimer to France because she was forsaken her love of her King. Edward is even angrier to find that when Gaveston was taken away he was murdered by Warwick and Lancaster. In Gaveston’s last lines before death, he is untainted by his death because of his pure love: “I thank you all, my lords: then I perceive, / That heading is one, and hanging is the other, / And death is all” (Marlowe lines 30-2). The King has Warwick and Lancaster, the two who murdered Gaveston, executed for their treason. King Edward voices his grief:

                                    My swelling heart for very anger breaks:

                        How oft have I been baited by these peers,

                        And dare not be reveng’d, for their power is great!

                        Yet, shall the crowning of these cockerels

                        Affright a lion? Edward, unfold thy paws,

                        And let their lives’-blood slake thy fury’s hunger. (Marlowe lines 194-99)

            In Edward’s grief, he finds a new friend to reign his love upon, Spencer, as well as Spencer’s father. Spencer was a courtier and helps his King in any way he can. Since Isabella was unable to help Gaveston, Edward alienates her. She, in turn, takes Mortimer as her love and goes back to France with her son in search of allies. France denies her any aid, except for Sir John of Hainault. He provides an army that can help them take back the throne and have Edward executed if they win.

            During the battle of Bannockburn, Edward is easily defeated. Edward flees to Neath Abbey, in hiding by a mower, but is eventually betrayed. Both Spencers are executed. Edmund attempts to help Edward but realizes that Mortimer has gained power from being with Isabella, as well as with the help of Sir John. Edmund is taken to court for trying to help his brother and is executed. Mortimer is the one to kill, claiming Edmund is a threat to the throne.

            Mortimer and Isabella have Edward taken to Berkeley tower under the care of Lightborn, who is intended to kill him. Edward sees through the deception, and even as he asks for Lightborn to stay with him, Lightborn kills him. We find that Mortimer planned the death of Edward, and Edward’s son is on his way to enact his father’s revenge. The two other patrons of Edwards’s death, Maltravers and Gurney, are there to keep Lightborn silent. Gurney runs and Matlravers is forced to catch him, else Mortimer will be caught.

            It is too late, Edward III comes with attendants and other lords and has Mortimer taken away to be executed, and has his mother imprisoned for her betrayal of his father. In the end, Edward III takes the throne.

            The play is centered on a “…hollow victory and defeat…” (Robson 978). Loyalty is the main theme, and how others perceive those loyalties. Edward was easily distracted by his greatest friend and ally. In which Mortimer thinks “… of Gaveston as a night-gown mushroom…” (Wehling 245). The other earl’s opinions were quite similar, and as such, they were able to form a bond to fight with the King.

            Though the play itself was a “…vehicle for discussing Buckingham’s controversial career throughout the 1620’s.” (Perry 313), Marlowe was distinctly emphasizing the relationships that the King had. Edward the Second compromised his own crown with his relations that were highly unethical to his peers. Marlowe was convincing in which Edward pushed away all other words that his peers had, and even those who could easily ruin him Even in which they did, he was still loyal to his greatest friend and ally.

            Edward was angered when he found that Gaveston was murdered, and as such punished accordingly. He was not disturbed by his decisions, but it did incite actions by the others who were also part of Gaveston’s death. They sought to destroy Edward, for his cowardice and his wrongful anger. Mortimer is deceitful to Edward because he is remorseless. Mortimer can also be seen as loyal to Edward because he sees that Gaveston is nothing but a distraction.

            Edwards’s complete loyalty also drives away Isabella, who had been devoted as a wife. Mortimer takes on Isabella and they run to France, but they are unhelpful to them. However, they do manage to get some help and have an army good enough to take on Edward. Mortimer’s loyalty to his beliefs will eventually cause him his downfall. In the meantime, it seems that he will have what he wishes.

            Isabella has lost her loyalty to her husband and falls behind Mortimer who is very passionate about enacting revenge. Her revenge is to take over the kingdom with someone who will give her the attention that she craves. However, she is torn because her love for Edward was present even as she had allowed Gaveston to be taken away. Her defending goes unnoticed, and so she finds Mortimer to hold her interests at heart.

            The most loyal to the king, who is not only Gaveston, but Edward the Second’s son. Edward the Third is very loyal to his father, who plays a very little part in the story but ends it on a very high note. He’s never once betrayed his father, and in a way, he never did his mother unless there was a reason to. For his loyalty and his good intentions, he was able to obtain the throne after his father dies. He’s very loyal to his father, by also imprisoning his mother like his father had.

            The simple finality of his choices leads to his greater fortune and the demise of everyone else. Gaveston’s loyalty enabled him an easy death, as he died happily. Mortimer, Lancaster and Warwick had their loyalties questioned so were in the end executed for their misdeeds. Loyalty can be seen as an unquestionable part of friendships, and especially when ruling the land. The great falls of these characters were caused by the changing of loyalties.

Works Cited

Anderson, Randall Louis. Theatre Journal Vol. 45, No. 1. The Johns Hopkins University Press.    Print.

Perry, Curtis. The Review of English Studies Vol. 54, No. 215. Oxford University Press, Jun.,       2003. Print

Horne, Peter. History Workshop Journal No. 47. Oxford University Press, Spring, 1999. Print.

Marlowe, Christopher. Edward the Second. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, Dec., 2012. Print

Robson, Mark. The Modern Language Review Vol. 90, No 4. Modern Humanities Research          Association, Oct., 1995. Print.

Stymeist, David. Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 Vol. 44, No. 2. Rice University,           Spring, 2004. Print.

Wehling, Mary Mellen. Modern Language Notes Vol. 73, No. 4. The Johns Hopkins University   Press, Apr., 1958. Print.

Mount St. Helens: The Destructive Source of the North West Region of the United States

In the northern Pacific sits a vast system of volcanoes. The Ring of Fire is home to hundreds of behemoths that terrorize the lands surrounding them. Mount St. Helens are one of these beasts, wreaking havoc on Washington and being the most active in the last 10,000 years.

Located in Skamania County, Washington this composite (stratovolcano) is highly active, and has been an interest of scientists for years. According to the USGS, it was created by the submerging of the Juan de Fuca Plate under the North American plate around 40,000 years ago. It is part of the Cascade Mountain Range which includes nearly 20 volcanoes and 4,000 separate volcanic vents on the Cascade Volcanic Arc. At the base, its elevation is 4,400 feet, and everywhere else is approximately 4,000 feet, and is 5,000 feet tall. It has a diameter of six miles, with a volume of ~17.2 cubic miles.

Washington is very mountainous and covered in trees. It has “oddly hummocky terrain” and “is covered with a patchwork of vegetation and small ponds” (Perkins). There were about 4 miles of tree-line before the eruptions that wiped it away from the pyroclastic flow. The elevation is steep with a wide crater from the 1980 eruption. It is relatively young compared to the surrounding volcanoes, with the summit cone rising 2,200 years ago. The closest volcano to Mount St. Helens is 45 miles west, Mount Adams, which is regarded as the “brother/sister” volcanic mountain to Mount St. Helens.

The name derived from a British diplomat Lord St. Helens with George Vancouver who surveyed the mountain in the 18th century. It was later nicknamed “Fuji-San of America”. It’s most well-known for its ash explosions and pyroclastic flows. “Silicic volcanoes are famous for capricious behavior…” (Iverson, et al 439). The materials that come from this volcano range from lahars, avalanches of snow and rock, pyroclastic density, mows, ballistic projectiles and pulverized, recycled existing debris flows. In one eruption, the volume of rock that erupted was 25 cubic kilometers and deposited over 100 kilograms of tephra including; pumice, glass shards, crystals and different minerals and shattered igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rock. In none of the eruptions, however, were there any magma, but superheated groundwater which makes it a highly viscous volcano. This makes the volcano extremely explosive when it erupts. The stratigraphy of the volcano is around 50-60 miles away from it, with tephra layers deposited since it first started to erupt.

Below are rocks consisting of andesitic, deictic, and basaltic layers that can be aged around 50,000 years old. “[It] has been thoroughly mapped and characterized by previous workers” (Severs, et al 441). The minerals that are highly associated with this volcano are pyroxene crystals with iron and magnesium diffusion.

The last notable eruption of Mount St. Helens was in May 1980. It was the last eruption since the 1915 eruption of Lassen Peak in California and preceded by two-month series of earthquakes and steam venting episodes. On May 18th, the entire north face of the volcano slid away from an earthquake “expos[ing] a subsurface lava ‘cryptodome’” (Berlo, et al). It was caused by the injection of magma at shallow depth below that created a huge bulge and fracture system on the north face. This caused a hot mix of lava and pulverized older rock toward Spirit Lake so fast that it overtook the avalanching north face. The eruption column rose around 80,000 feet and deposited ash in 11 US states and five Canadian provinces. Snow, ice, and entire glaciers on the volcano melted, creating lahars, which later “heightened public awareness of inherent instability of high, snow-covered volcanoes, where even small eruptions can almost instantaneously melt large volumes of snow” (“Mount St. Helens”). These lahars reached Columbia River about 50 miles southwest of Mount St. Helens. This eruption killed game and 57 people and caused approximately 1 billion dollars in damage, which is around 2.88 billion dollars in today’s economy. It incited the NIOSH (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) “…to collect a number of settled dust samples from several areas within the State of Washington and determine the presence and quantity of respirable crystalline silica” (Dolberg, et al 53). This eruption was followed by less destructive eruptions later in the same year.

This volcano is well known for consistent dome building. The release of pressure caused steam and ash to emerge in 2004, which was accompanied by a 2.5 magnitude earthquake. In 2006, the “fin” or “slab” was being forced upward six feet per day and it began crumbling in frequent rock falls, even as it was still being extruded. Later in 2006, white plumes emerged, but this was caused by the constant lava extruding in the crater. In 2008, there was another small “eruption” that was comparable to the 2004 one, with some seismic activity. Later in 2008, Mount St. Helens went quiet, and after 6 months it was determined that the long eruption had finally ended.

Mount St. Helens is a behemoth that has been an interest for years. The volcano has given us more recent evidence of volcanic activity and the ability to record the behavior. The volcano has been highly eruptive in the past 10,000 years, more than any other volcano in the Cascade Mountain Range and Volcanic Arc. It is highly comparable to Mount Fuji, with many similar destructive characteristics. It is large, looming, and absolutely scary to see in action, but a beautiful masterpiece of earth’s creations.

Works Cited

Berlo, Kim, et al. "Geochemical precursors to volcanic activity at Mount St. Helens, USA.”             Science 306.5699 (2004): 1167+. <Journal Link>.

Dollberg, Donald D., Michele L. Bolyard, and David L. Smith. "Evaluation Of Physical Health    Effects Due To Volcanic Hazards: Crystalline Silica In Mount St. Helens Volcanic       Ash." American Journal Of Public Health 76. (1986): 53-58. <Article Link>.

Iverson, Richard M., Daniel Dzurisin, and Cynthia A. Gardner. "Dynamics Of Seismogenic         Volcanic Extrusion At Mount St Helens In 2004-05." Nature 444. (2006): 439-         443. <Article Link>.

"Mount St. Helens." Environmental Encyclopedia. Gale, 2011. <Reference Link>.

Perkins, Sid. "A Fresh Look At Mount St. Helens." Science News 177.9 (2010): 18-21.                             <Article Link>.

Severs, M.J., et al. “Investigation Of Long-Term Geochemical Variations and Magmatic Processes At Mount St. Helens.” Geofluids 13.4 (2013): 440-452. Print.

The Printing Industry

Print books are a source of great fortune and have been around for many centuries. The printing industry expands as the need for new books and new methods of printing expands. With the development of ebooks, and various technologies that could ultimately replace the printing industry, there’s a question that will need answering in the future: when the last generation to use print dies, will print books die too? Book printing will eventually have dual “print” types: ebooks and regular hard or soft bound books, but the need for hard and soft copies may soon dwindle as electronic sources will be much cheaper.


The written word has existed since Neanderthal times. Stories and tales were first oral traditions before they were recorded on paper. The oral tales were handwritten at first by scribes, which limited the availability of these first written documents. The method was tedious, and the books were expensive and were only provided for the wealthy and universities. The first machine printed word in Europe was in 1455, when Johannes Gutenberg used his newly invented printing press to print a bible (“Johannes Gutenberg”).The printing press made books less expensive and allowed them to be circulated not only to the rich but to commoners. This changed society by allowing that no tyrant could hold the truth that would set people free, and kings, emperors, and dictators could no longer keep people in ignorance and virtual slavery (Sumner 413). By the turn of the 16th century, more commoners of the general public could read. Reading was no longer left to the wealthy and religious or educated men.


Printing made more information available for the people. People were not limited to what others told them. Literacy, as well as access to books, opened a whole new world of understanding. “More ambitiously, readerships, past and present, have been reinterpreted as the accumulation of many unique readings and not simply as aggregates of types of reader” (Raven 269). The unique readings introduced a new wave of literature, and “freedom” to write. The printing press published these new books in the current vernacular of the time, and books became more available. Those who wrote these newspapers or “pamphlets” made a healthy living, but the content of these papers were factual reports, and there was no explanation or commentary nor was any context of what going on or prediction of likely outcomes (Pettegree 14-15). Even though the common people had the ability to read, there wasn’t any substance in what they were reading in the pamphlets until people started reading other forms of literature. When more people could read, and more people started asking questions, the content in the pamphlets changed.


In recent times the printed text has been widely used, especially for education and religious purposes, like bibles and textbooks. “For nearly two-thirds of this century, the industrial revolution, primarily through technological advancement, mechanization and specialization were pacemaker in output, profits and productivity” of books (McCormick 393). The printing industry increased in popularity, mostly in the 1900s, and productivity of books has been increasing as the need for new information became more demanding. The Technical Association of Pulp and Paper Industry brought together experts to share information and to discuss the concerns about productions and preservation of paper (Magnuson and DeCandido 181). Since currently documents are being transferred into digital formats and print copies are becoming less frequent, this organization is trying to save these print documents. Digital copies can be found on any Website online or in ebook format. Print books are no longer needed, and digital copies are even cheaper than the printed ones. The generations of the late 20th and early 21st centuries are used to having digital copies, and even older generations are slowly transitioning. Print books are still in existence, but new books will be more readily available and cheaper in digital form than print copies.


The real question is if these print books, and the printing of newspapers and other forms of information that generally use print, will continue to be made and used as the digital age rises. According to a study on library spending, libraries have been switching to the digital copies, spending four percent of their materials budgets on ebooks in 2010 and six percent by 2012, with a projected increase of eight percent by 2016 to be spent on ebooks (Planka 44). Librarians are interested in expanding book availability before libraries eventually will no longer be needed since most books are available online and access provided by other free services. “The survival of libraries will depend on their ability to take advantage of ebook technologies to deliver new kinds of value, even as competitions arise in the delivery of their traditional services" (Hellman 23). The traditional services provided by libraries don’t seem to be used as often as it may have been in the past, making it seem as if people have stopped reading, but it’s exactly the opposite; since books are available digitally and online, more people are reading.


The amount of time people spend reading has almost tripled since 1980. By 2008 more than a trillion web pages were added to the World Wide Web, and that total grows by several billion a day (Kelly). The availability of books is great for those who can’t make it to the library to read the book, nor pay for the printed book in stores. The benefits of print books are great, but “[p]rinted versions of [books] are dying as fast as music CDs once did” (Nesbit). The most notable changes from switching to digital format can be found in bookstores. Borders have closed many of its stores, and Books-A-Million has only been able to survive the digital age because of the introduction of the Nook – a digital reading device similar to the Kindle. This change has allowed stores to stay open for the printed word. Another change can be seen in schools, most importantly in colleges that are taking advantage of digital books, which are exponentially cheaper than the hardcover or even leaflet book editions, and ebooks hold a variety of options, from use in online courses to online in-text help and frequently asked questions.


Librarians will enjoy how former senior Kindle program manager at Amazon Jason Merkoski waxes poetic about how lovely books are and how valuable reading is to culture, but librarians may be surprised that a digital book manager spends more time talking about print books than it does e-books (Vnuk 4). This seems counterintuitive, but Merkoski could be trying to give the printed word more popularity by using his ebook franchise to his advantage. Even though the digital age is rising, there are methods that some companies, such as Books-A-Million, are taking to ensure that print books will continue to last. “What [George] Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What [Aldous] Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book” (Postman xix), which is a great fear indeed, and without the proper methods of preserving print copies, could prove the end of the printed book. It’s easy to see that books have lost popularity; even when Neil Postman’s social commentary Amusing Ourselves to Death was written in 1985, printed books were predicted to be gone by the 2000’s or lose popularity as the interest in TV engaged the world’s favor.


Books are a safe haven, an adventure, filled with information, but more importantly, the feel of having a book in the hands is a feeling that is unmatched. Holding a book has a weighted feel that is metaphorical, and those who were raised with books but are now exposed to the digital age feel the difference. The need to preserve books is becoming a priority at the same time authors, companies, and libraries are attempting to immerse themselves in the digital age so they have continued financial success. Some companies, such as Borders, have already closed because of their delayed response to this new age, while others have blossomed – such as Amazon. The future of print books doesn’t seem clear, but it could be assumed that eventually, the future production of printed material will decline significantly with current use or technology.

Works Cited

Hellman, Eric. “Libraries, Ebooks, and Competition.” Library Journal 135.13 (2010): 22-23. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 4 Feb. 2015

"Johannes Gutenberg and the Printing Press." Gutenberg & the Early History of Printing (2009): 1. History Reference Center. Web. 2 Feb. 2015.

Kelly, Kevin. "From Print to Pixel." Smithsonian 41.4 (2010): 122-128. History Reference Center. Web. 2 Feb. 2015.

Magnuson, Nancy, and GraceAnne A. DeCandido. “From Print to Pixels.” Library Journal 114.3 (1989): 181. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 4 Feb. 2015.

McCormick, Thomas F. "The Printing Industry." Vital Speeches of the Day 41.13 (1975): 392. History Reference Center. Web. 2 Feb. 2015.

Nesbit, Jeff. “Will the Printed Word Survive in the Age of the Internet?” LiveScience. Purch.com. 4 Sept. 2013. Web. 2 Feb. 2015. http://www.livescience.com/39427-will-printed-word-survive-on-web.html

Pettegree, Andrew. "Print, Politics & Prosperity." History Today 64.2 (2014): 11-17. History Reference Center. Web. 2 Feb. 2015.

Planka, Sue. “An Ebook Primer.” Library Journal 137.6 (2012): 42-44. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 4 Feb. 2015.

Postman, Neil. Amusing Ourselves To Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. New York: Penguin Books, 2006. Print.

Raven, James. "New Reading Histories, Print Culture and the Identification of Change: The Case of Eighteenth …" Social History 23.3 (1998): 268. History Reference Center. Web.   2 Feb. 2015.

Sumner, G. Lynn. "The Printing Press." Vital Speeches of the Day 6.13 (1940): 413. History Reference Center. Web. 2 Feb. 2015.

Vnuk, Rebecca. “Burning the Page: The Ebook Revolution and the Future of Reading.” Booklist 109.22 (2013): 4. Literary Reference Center Plus. Web. 4 Feb. 2015.