In this corner: Edmund Ironside: Shakespeare's Lost Play, a c. 1590 play in five acts. And in this corner Alfgar the Dane or the Second Chronicle of Aescendune A Tale of the Days of Edmund Ironside, a Sir Walter Scott knockoff novella from the Victorian era.
If the play is a lost one, Shakespeare would undoubtedly prefer that it remain that way. It's not very good, as far as I can tell. Eadric is the villain, and by far the most interesting character. Canute is the antagonist, and gets the next most screen time. His characterization is all over the place - tender towards his young wife, barbaric towards his hostages, noble toward his foes, but also not too proud to win by deceit. Maybe it's supposed to be "deep and nuanced" but it comes across as more "random and scattered." Edmund is The Hero - we first meet him showing concern for his common troops - and... well, not much more than that. There are the required speeches about the indomitable English spirit, naturally.
The play ends with the Edmund/Canute duel (which is suggested by Eadric in this version, in a last-ditch effort to get Canute to win). Canute yields, they become besties, and... curtain, with Eadric swearing revenge. Or something. The tragic assassination and Eadric's comeuppance are nowhere to be found.
Eadric has a few soliloquies that aren't wretched, but he doesn't have much depth. Iago, at least, nursed a grudge, had a motive. Eadric's just a petty, petty man, climbing as high as he can over as many bodies as it takes. His reason for preferring Canute over Edmund seems pretty weak (Edmund's father elevated him from low birth to high position, so seeing Edmund reminds him of his poor birth? Really?).
The melodrama was much more fun. There are not one but two! secret passages in this small novella. Eadric is the moustache-twirling villain he's meant to be. Edmund accepts him back to court, not because Eadric is a devilishly smooth talker (to an extent that the author can't even really sell it) but because of political realities. Edmund doesn't trust him, and rightfully so. The titular "Alfgar the Dane" is the main viewpoint character, and he ends up as Edmund's right hand. He gets captured by the Danes, so we see Swein Forkbeard, Canute, and Eadric through his eyes. The author does a much better job setting up all sides as sympathetic (Swein's attacks are precipitated by Ethelred's massacre of Danes on St. Brice's Day). It also follows the action to it's actual conclusion, with the death of Edmund and the execution of Eadric. Edmund is still fairly Stock Hero Character, because melodrama.
There's an odd bit where a youth is Fridged (via martyrdom). I guess it's not really odd, it's just odd seeing it happen to a male character. Speaking of, THE POWER OF CHRISTIANITY is sort of a theme in the book - the author obviously seems to want to be writing Stories for the Improvement of Young Men, so there's a heavy moralizing component.
I will definitely be leaning more on the novella for any material I generate on this theme. The play is free to a good home.
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