The Misfortunes of Arthur

Thomas Hughes was an English dramatist, a native of Cheshire, who entered Queens' College, Cambridge, in 1571. He graduated and became a fellow of his college in 1576, and was afterwards a member of Gray's Inn. His best known play is The Misfortunes of Arthur, which was performed at Greenwich in Queen Elizabeth I's presence on the 28 February, 1588. The argument of the play, based on a story of incest and crime, was borrowed, in accordance with Senecan tradition, from mythical history, and the treatment is in close accordance with the model. The ghost of Gorlois, who was slain by Uther Pendragon, opens the play with a speech that reproduces passages spoken by the ghost of Tantalus in the Thyestes; the tragic events are announced by a messenger, and the chorus comments on the course of the action.