the sexual infidelity of the queen, with its potential to undermine the absolute reliance on patrilineal descent that is necessary to royal succession, can only be seen as a threat. While this issue never explicitly emerges in Edward II, it is impossible to believe that it would not have occurred to Marlowe or his audience. From this point of view, then, Mortimer poses a danger to the basis of the English monarchy in a way that Gaveston cannot.
