Tamburlaine's Zenocrate: The Images Of Light And Darkness

Images of light and darkness are repeatedly used to great poetic and dramatic effect in relation to Zenocrate. In Part I, she is surrounded by sparkling light-imagery. Tamburlaine pictures her in clear mountain air, jewel-spangled in the glitter of ice and snow. Zenocrate is exclusively associated with suggestions of brightness and purity. Such impressions are suggested in the jewel and star images, and in such phrases as that her looks can “clear the darkened sky. White and silver are associated with her: she is

“Brighter than is the silver Rhodope,

Fairer than whitest snow on Scythian hills.” (p.10)

Regarding her future equipage and attendants Tamburlaine tells her,

“With milk-white harts upon an ivory sled

Thou shalt be drawn amidst the frozen pools,

And scale the icy mountains’ lofty tops.” (p.10)

This association with light is used again when Zenocrate first appears in Part II:

“Now, bright Zenocrate, the world’s fair eye,

Whose beams illuminate the lamps of heaven,

Whose cheerful looks do clear the cloudy air,

And clothe it in a crystal livery,

Now rest thee here…” (p.75)

When she dies, there is a deliberative contrast:

“Black is the beauty of the brightest day,

The golden ball of heavens eternal fire,

That danced with glory on the silver waves:

Now wants the fewell that enflamed his beams

And all with faintnesse and for foule disgrace,

He bindes his temples with a frowning cloude,

Ready to darken earth with endlesse night.” (p.77)

Only in one or two