Marlowe introduces each character in a way so the audience develops and immediate sympathy or liking or disliking towards and then changes the character or develops them in such a way that the audience changes there original opinion of them. Marlowe does this in order to illustrate the sense of human nature and how it is impossible to be live up to a single label. By doing so Marlowe is able to depict realistic characters that as result do not possess either perfect heroism or completely wicked traits. Edward at first seems the most likely hero in the play as it is him the play is centred around and him it is named after.
Nevertheless Marlowe defies every cliche of the word 'hero' by portraying him as adulterous, homosexual, frivolous, hedonistic and irresponsible and therefore it is not appropriate to suggest he is a 'hero' yet nevertheless despite these flaws and initial hesitations the audience ends by accepting Edward as the hero of the play. Similarly Mortimer Junior could be described as the most fitting villain of the play as he is Edwards's foe throughout the play and opposes him in every aspect of his character.Additionally his willingness to kill others in order to succeed and his obsession with power make him immoral as opposed to Edward who's only obsession is his love for Gaveston. Nevertheless Mortimer's heroic quality relies in the fact that he is very concerned for his country, the soldiers and the people of the England.
In this sense, comparatively Edward lacks this sense of nationalism and so particularly through the eyes of 16th century Mortimer in these terms is much more heroic from first viewpoint nevertheless he ends as the villain of the play.Mortimer's main concern at the beginning of the play is to remove Gaveston from the realm as he believes to do so would be for the better welfare of England nevertheless Marlowe hints at Mortimer's additional reasons which include his xenophobia towards him as he describes him as '... sly inveigling Frenchman' and perhaps to an extent homophobia.
For 16th century audience perhaps when foreigners and homosexuals were not readily accepted such comments may not have seemed villainous and may have in fact seemed patriotic or masculine nevertheless this is not heroic behaviour to a modern day audience.As a result only a modern day audience is able to immediately identify Mortimer as villain who so far may have seemed uncertainly heroic to the 16th century audience. Nevertheless this goes against Marlowe's intentions of creating a characters and allowing the audience to like them only to reveal a hidden layer. As is seen in the case of Isabella who does not start as a heroin but is definitely admired by the audience for her tolerance in her marriage and the extent to which her devotion with Edward goes.So much so she insists of the repeal of Gaveston for the sake of her husbands happiness and it is this sacrifice which makes her seem heroic especially in comparison to Edward who at this point seems completely selfish.
Nevertheless because of Edwards brutal murder and that it is in fact because of Isabella she ends the play with no sympathy at all and is seen as the villainous besides Mortimer Junior. This is also because although the main reason for Isabella's behaviour is for the sake of her son.Nevertheless despite the extent with which her motherly love goes to allowing her to murder- all of this justification is lost when it is contradicted by the fact that Edward the 3rd him self decides to punish his mother. Unlike his mother and despite his love for her he is able to identify between right and wrong and make decisions which will benefit the realm and not just himself. In this sense he possesses the right sense of judgement and is able to make heroic and sacrificial decisions.
However the same could be said for Lancaster and Warwick who both sacrifice their own lives for what they believe is a better cause - the future of the realm and ultimately the future of England. Nevertheless the audience know that they are in fact extremely na ve for believing they can make a difference by doing so and are simply doing the nobles dirty work. Therefore despite their good intentions they do not end the play as 'heroic' but they are not completely villainous either.Similarly when Gaveston is killed he is not given a heroic death and is in fact given a very humiliating one and even though he is the crux of all problems it does not cause the audience to believe that such a death or any death is justified.
In this sense in comparison to Warwick and Lancaster who face death and seem to welcome it Gaveston who is much more cowardly seems much more heroic to the audience and Lancaster and Warwick on the other hand seem foolish.Kent is one of the only characters who seems to have good intentions right from the start and hopes to always do the right thing. Nevertheless he is always too late in his decision making so he is never able to give any true support to any one. This causes him to look foolish to the audience yet despite his constant mistakes and his lack of being able to do anything productive he seems heroic to the audience because he has absolutely no villainous traits and in fact is always torn to do the right thing and even betrays Edward for the sake of this.
The Nobles are a group in which no real individual apart from Mortimer Junior comes forward and because of this the audience can only seem them as being pathetic and un-heroic despite their claims that what they are doing is for England's sake. Despite this the audience is aware that all they have are bad intentions and therefore they are the ultimate villains in the play out to get Edward from the start and are spearheaded by Mortimer Junior. Nevertheless they are unable to support him when he is ordered to be executed because ultimately they lack any heroism and are cowards.Marlowe is able to involve his audience in such an intense way by consistently causing them to change their view of the characters involved. This allows the audience to experience the same feelings as though they were a part of the play itself.
This additionally allows Marlowe to express his point of the fleeting nature of man and how difficult it is to identify a person. Nevertheless ultimately Marlowe is able to show the audience that there is no such thing a hero.
