The Tragedy of Mariam

History remembers Mariam as a beautiful martyr who died trying to confront the wrongs perpetrated by her husband; however, Herod killed many of her family members after her execution. Was her principled stance worth the risks and the outcome?

Multiple women in the play—Mariam, Salome, Alexandra, Doris—clearly articulate their powerlessness in the face of male-led societies; however, each of these women reacted to this misogyny in a different way. Who was the most successful in achieving her aims?

The struggles Elizabeth Cary encountered in simply raising her family and living her life as she chose are remarkably similar to the struggles faced by many of the women depicted in The Tragedy of Mariam. This implies that not much about women’s status in Western society changed between Mariam’s time and Cary’s. Now, 400 years after Cary’s time, to what degree has the status of women in society changed? What remains unchanged?