Christopher Marlowe 1564 — 1593 ““

Christopher Marlowe 1564 —

““ Marlowe is the greatest discoverer, the most daring pioneer, in all our poetic literature. Before Marlowe there was no genuine blank verse and genuine tragedy in our language. After his arrival the way was prepared, the path made straight for Shakespeare” (The Age of Shakespeare, by Algernon Charles Swinburne , , Harper, 1908).

Christopher Marlowe, also known as Kit Marlowe, was an English playwright, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. He is considered the father of English tragedy. Marlowe’s plays are known for the use of blank verse and their outstanding protagonists. Marlowe was christened at St George’s Church, Canterbury, on the 26 th of February in 1564, two months before Shakespeare’s baptism at Stratford-upon-Avon. Marlowe attended The King’s School in Canterbury and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he studied on a scholarship and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1584 and Master of Arts in 1587.

Marlowe’s works Dido, Queen of Carthage (( cc. 1586) (possibly co-written with. Thomas Nashe) Tamburlaine, part 1 (( cc. 1587) Tamburlaine, part 2 (( cc. 1587– 1588) The Jew of Malta (( cc. 1589) Doctor Faustus (( cc. 1589, or, cc. 1593) Edward II (( cc. 1592) The Massacre at Paris (( cc. 1593)

Doctor Faustus, is an Elizabethan tragedy by Christopher Marlowe, based on German stories about the title character Faust, that was written sometime between 1588 and 1592. Two different versions of the play were published in the Jacobean era, several years later.

Structure of the play Doctor Faustus isbasedonanoldertale; itisbelievedtobe thefirstdramatizationofthe. Faustlegend. Theplayisinblankverseandproseinthirteenscenes(1604) ortwentyscenes(1616). Blankverseislargelyreservedforthemainsceneswhileprose isusedinthecomicscenes. Moderntextsdividetheplayinto fiveacts; act 5 beingtheshortest. Asinmany. Elizabethan plays, thereisachorus(whichfunctionsasanarrator), that doesnotinteractwiththeothercharactersbutratherprovides anintroductionandconclusiontotheplayand, atthe beginningofsome. Acts, introduceseventsthathaveunfolded.

The main character Faustusistheprotagonistandtragicheroof Marlowe’splay. Heisacontradictorycharacter, whosellshissoultothedevilinreturnfor twenty-fouryearsofpowerandpleasure. Herepresentsthespiritofthe. Renaissance, with itsrejectionofthemedieval, God-centered universe, anditsembraceofhumanpossibility. Faustus, atleastearlyoninhisacquisitionof magic, isthepersonificationofpossibility.

An excerpt from the play Had. Iasmanysoulsastherebestars, I’dgivethemallfor. Mephistophilis. Byhim. I’llbegreatemperoroftheworld, Andmakeabridgethoroughthemovingair, Topasstheoceanwithabandofmen; I’lljointhehillsthatbindthe. Africshore, Andmakethatcountrycontinentto. Spain, Andbothcontributorytomycrown: The. Emperorshallnotlivebutbymyleave, Noranypotentateof. Germany. Nowthat. Ihaveobtain’dwhat. Idesir’d, I’llliveinspeculationofthisart, Till. Mephistophilisreturnagain.

Marlowe and Shakespeare Many readers, critics, and biographers have remarked on close similarities between Marlowe’s works and Shakespeare’s poems and plays. Nowadays, Marlowe’s literary influence on Shakespeare has been universally accepted.

Manycharactersinthe. Marlovianand. Shakespearean worksarecutfromthesamedramaticcloth, including Tamburlaineand. Titus, Barabasand. Shylock, Abigail and. Jessica, the. Dukeof. Guiseand. Aaron, Edward. II and. Richard. II, and. Mortimerand. Hotspur. Accordingtoresearcher. John. Baker, Marlowe’s canonorganicallymaturesinto. Shakespeare’s, andhis Aeneas and Dido becomes Romeo and Juliet andand then Anthony and Cleopatra andand Troilus and Cressida. . Edward II maturesinto Richard II. . The Massacre at Paris evolvesinto Measure for Measure , , while The Jew of Malta metamorphosesinto The Jew of Venice oror The Merchant of Venice andand Dr. Faustus becomes Prospero from The Tempest.

Boththe. Marlovianand. Shakespeareanworks dealwithmagic, theoccult, andexplorethe relationbetweenthenaturalandsupernatural worlds. Hecate, thequeenofthe. Underworld in. Greekand. Romanmythology, andherfuries areinvokedin Dr. Faustus , , Dido Queen of Carthage , andhisotherworks. Hecatealso figuresprominentlyin Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear , andsheorherthreefuriesappearin abouttwo-thirdsofthe. Shakespeareanpoems andplays.

Inastudyoftheinfluenceof Dr. Faustus onon Hamlet , , somecritics foundthatthereisastrikingresemblance intheway. Faustusand. Hamletappearonstageand delivertheirlines. Bothcharactersspeak 38 percent ofthelinesintheirrespectiveplays, andtheaverage linelengthisalmostthesame: 3. 5 to 3. 2 linesper speech(see. Levin, The Overreacher : : A Study of Christopher Marlowe, Beacon. Press, 1952). In comparison, theprotagonistsintheother Shakespeareanplaysaverageabout 25 percent. Levin alsofoundthat. Shakespeareborrowedthebroad tripartitedramaticstructureofhisplays, withamain plot, overplot, andsubplot, from. Marlowe.

A theory has arisen centred on the notion that Marlowe may have faked his death and then continued to write under the assumed name of William Shakespeare. However, orthodox academic consensus rejects alternative candidates for authorship, including Marlowe.

The place and the value of Christopher Marlowe as a leader among English poets would be almost impossible for historical criticism to over-estimate. To none of them all, perhaps, have so many of the greatest among them been so deeply and so directly indebted. Nor was ever any great writer’s influence upon his fellows and contemporaries more utterly.