It was obviously written to exhibit the
character of Oswald, the villain. He is one of a band of outlaws,
and is jealous of the appointment of Marmaduke as chief. His
revenge is a determination to make Marmaduke as guilty as himself.
Marmaduke is in love with Idonea, and Oswald, partly by inventing
lies about her blind father, Herbert, and partly by dexterous
sophistry derived from Political Justice, endeavours to persuade
Marmaduke to kill him. Marmaduke hesitates, but is finally
overpowered. Although he cannot himself murder Herbert, he draws
him to a desolate moor and leaves him to perish. Oswald then
recounts his own story. When he was on a voyage to Syria he had
believed on false evidence, that some wrong had been done to him by
his captain, and accordingly contrived that he should be left to die
in agony on a barren island. Oswald discovered that he had been
deceived, but he declares exultantly to Marmaduke that, after being
somewhat stunned, he found himself emancipated:-
'Life stretched before me smooth as some broad way
Cleared for a monarch's progress.
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