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''Midas'' is a verse drama in blank verse by the Romantic writers Mary Shelley and Percy Bysshe Shelley. Mary wrote the drama and Percy contributed two lyric poems to it. Written in 1820 while the Shelleys were living in Italy, Mary Shelley tried unsuccessfully to have the play published by children's magazines in England in the 1830s; however, it was not published until A. Koszul's 1922 scholarly edition. Whether or not the drama was ever meant to be staged is a point of debate among scholars. The play combines the stories of the musical contest between Apollo and Pan and that of King Midas and his ability to turn everything he touches to gold. Largely concerned with gender issues, ''Midas'' comments on the definitions of femininity and masculinity in the early nineteenth century and the developing ideology of separate spheres which encouraged women to restrict themselves to domestic affairs and men to political affairs. Part of the Romantic interest in rewriting classical myths, ''Midas'' focuses on challenging patriarchy and satirising the unbounded accumulation of wealth. The genre of ''Midas'' bears the marks of gender debates, as well, with Percy writing in the traditionally male-dominated form of the lyric and Mary focusing on the details of everyday life in her verse drama. Since the play's first publication in 1922, critics have paid more attention to Percy Shelley's lyrics than Mary Shelley's drama. However, in the last fifteen years or so, this trend has reversed itself as scholars explore works of Mary Shelley other than ''Frankenstein'' (1818). ==Background== By 1816, the Shelleys were living in Italy and in 1818 and 1819, two of their young children died, Clara and William. Mary entered into a deep depression and became alienated from Percy, who was not as deeply affected by the loss of their children.〔Seymour, 232-33.〕 Mary Shelley revived a bit with the birth of Percy Florence later in 1819.〔Pascoe, 183.〕 Despite the overwhelming grief caused by the death of her two children, Mary Shelley continued to study and read as she had throughout her life. Between 1818 and 1820, she exposed herself to quite a bit of drama. She read many of William Shakespeare's plays, some with Percy Shelley.〔 Percy believed that Mary had a talent for drama and convinced her to study the great English, French, Latin, and Italian plays as well as drama theory.〔 He even sought her advice regarding his play ''The Cenci''.〔Pascoe, 183-84.〕 Less glamorously, Mary transcribed the manuscript of Percy's drama ''Prometheus Unbound''.〔Richardson, 124.〕 The Shelleys also attended operas, ballets, and plays.〔 Mary Shelley's studies were broad during these years. She began to study Greek in 1820〔 and read widely on education. For example, she read Jean-Jacques Rousseau's philosophical work on education, ''Emile'', and his sentimental novel, ''La Nouvelle HéloÏse'' as well as Thomas Day's children's book ''The History of Sandford and Merton''.〔Purinton, 389.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Midas (Shelley play)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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