Piers Gaveston, a “favourite” of King Edward II who had previously been exiled by his father, uses both hyperbole and allusion in responding to the news that his banishment from England has been lifted upon Edward’s succession to the throne. Gaveston says:
What greater bliss can hap to Gaveston
Than live and be the favourite of a king?
Sweet prince, I come; these, these thy amorous lines
Might have enforced me to have swum from France,
And like Leander gasped upon the sand,
So thou wouldst smile and take me in thy arms.
This dark and somber play begins on a light note, as Gaveston speaks excitedly of his love for King Edward and his excitement at being restored to the court. In his excitement, he hyperbolically claims that he would “have swum from France,” crossing the long English channel, to be at the King’s side.
Further, he alludes to the Greek myth of Hero and Leander by describing himself as being “like Leander” who “gasped upon the sand.” In the myth of Hero and Leander, Leander is a young man who lives in Abydos, a city on one side of the Hellespont, an oceanic strait. Every night, he swims across the Hellespont in order to be with his beloved, Hero, who lives in Sestos, on the other side of the strait. Gaveston, then, imagines his relationship with Edward through the lens of classical romance, alluding to a mythological story that Marlowe actually adapted into a poem several years after completing this play.
Mortimer uses hyperbole and a number of classical allusions in describing Gaveston’s wasteful and extravagant lifestyle in conversation with his uncle, Mortimer Senior:
Uncle, his wanton humour grieves not me,
But this I scorn, that one so basely born
Should by his sovereign’s favour grow so pert
And riot it with the treasure of the realm.
While soldiers mutiny for want of pay,
He wears a lord’s revenue on his back,
And Midas-like he jets it in the court
With base outlandish cullions at his heels,
Whose proud fantastic liveries make such show
As if that Proteus, god of shapes, appeared.
Here, Mortimer provides some important historical background: the English army is under-funded and many soldiers have begun to “mutiny for want of pay” while the King’s lover “wears a lord’s revenue on his back.” Here, Mortimer hyperbolically claims that the entire English treasury has been spent on Gaveston’s fine clothing. He describes Gaveston as “Midas-like,” suggesting that he is richly adorned in gold despite being “basely born,” or in other words, a commoner. In another classical allusion, he suggests that the embroidery and decorations on Gaveston’s clothing are so excessive that it is as if “Proteus, god of shapes” has appeared and created magical illusions. Mortimer’s speech accuses Gaveston and the King with misusing funds that would be better served elsewhere, such as supporting the army.
