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Learn about the life and works of Christopher Marlowe, an influential Elizabethan playwright, poet, and translator. Explore his biography, controversies, and legacy in this comprehensive article.
- Overview
- Early years
- Last years and literary career.
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Christopher Marlowe was an Elizabethan poet and William Shakespeare’s most important predecessor in English drama. He is noted especially for his establishment of dramatic blank verse. In a playwriting career that spanned little more than six years, Marlowe’s achievements were diverse and splendid.
Where was Christopher Marlowe educated?
On January 14, 1579, Christopher Marlowe entered the King’s School, Canterbury, as a scholar. A year later he went to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Marlowe obtained both a bachelor’s degree (1584) and a master’s degree (1587) at Cambridge. During this time he is also thought to have been employed in Elizabeth I’s secret service.
What did Christopher Marlowe write?
Christopher Marlowe’s most famous play is The Tragicall History of D. Faustus. His other plays are Tamburlaine the Great; Dido, Queen of Carthage; Edward II; The Massacre at Paris; and The Jew of Malta. Marlowe translated Ovid’s Amores (The Loves) and Book I of Lucan’s Pharsalia from Latin and wrote the poem Hero and Leander.
How did Christopher Marlowe die?
Marlowe was the second child and eldest son of John Marlowe, a Canterbury shoemaker. Nothing is known of his first schooling, but on Jan. 14, 1579, he entered the King’s School, Canterbury, as a scholar. A year later he went to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Obtaining his bachelor of arts degree in 1584, he continued in residence at Cambridge—w...
After 1587 Marlowe was in London, writing for the theatres, occasionally getting into trouble with the authorities because of his violent and disreputable behaviour, and probably also engaging himself from time to time in government service. Marlowe won a dangerous reputation for “atheism,” but this could, in Elizabeth I’s time, indicate merely unorthodox religious opinions. In Robert Greene’s deathbed tract, Greenes groats-worth of witte, Marlowe is referred to as a “famous gracer of Tragedians” and is reproved for having said, like Greene himself, “There is no god” and for having studied “pestilent Machiuilian pollicie.” There is further evidence of his unorthodoxy, notably in the denunciation of him written by the spy Richard Baines and in the letter of Thomas Kyd to the lord keeper in 1593 after Marlowe’s death. Kyd alleged that certain papers “denying the deity of Jesus Christ” that were found in his room belonged to Marlowe, who had shared the room two years before. Both Baines and Kyd suggested on Marlowe’s part atheism in the stricter sense and a persistent delight in blasphemy. Whatever the case may be, on May 18, 1593, the Privy Council issued an order for Marlowe’s arrest; two days later the poet was ordered to give daily attendance on their lordships “until he shall be licensed to the contrary.” On May 30, however, Marlowe was killed by Ingram Frizer, in the dubious company of Nicholas Skeres and Robert Poley, at a lodging house in Deptford, where they had spent most of the day and where, it was alleged, a fight broke out between them over the bill.
In a playwriting career that spanned little more than six years, Marlowe’s achievements were diverse and splendid. Perhaps before leaving Cambridge he had already written Tamburlaine the Great (in two parts, both performed by the end of 1587; published 1590). Almost certainly during his later Cambridge years, Marlowe had translated Ovid’s Amores (The Loves) and the first book of Lucan’s Pharsalia from the Latin. About this time he also wrote the play Dido, Queen of Carthage (published in 1594 as the joint work of Marlowe and Thomas Nashe). With the production of Tamburlaine he received recognition and acclaim, and playwriting became his major concern in the few years that lay ahead. Both parts of Tamburlaine were published anonymously in 1590, and the publisher omitted certain passages that he found incongruous with the play’s serious concern with history; even so, the extant Tamburlaine text can be regarded as substantially Marlowe’s. No other of his plays or poems or translations was published during his life. His unfinished but splendid poem Hero and Leander—which is almost certainly the finest nondramatic Elizabethan poem apart from those produced by Edmund Spenser—appeared in 1598.
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The Literary World
Learn about the life and achievements of Christopher Marlowe, an Elizabethan poet and playwright who influenced Shakespeare and established dramatic blank verse. Explore his controversial religious views, his tragic death, and his notable works such as Tamburlaine, Faustus, and Hero and Leander.
- Clifford Leech
Aug 16, 2023 · Christopher Marlowe was a poet and playwright at the forefront of the 16th-century dramatic renaissance.
Learn about the life and achievements of Christopher Marlowe, a poet and dramatist who influenced William Shakespeare and other 16th-century writers. Explore his plays, poems, controversies, and mysterious death.
Learn about the life and works of Christopher Marlowe, a contemporary and rival of Shakespeare. Discover his suspected roles as a secret agent, a heretic and a fighter, and the mystery of his death.
Learn about the life and achievements of Christopher Marlowe, a renowned Elizabethan playwright, poet, and translator. Explore his controversial themes, his influence on Shakespeare, and his mysterious death.
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Learn about the life and times of Christopher Marlowe, a brilliant writer and secret agent who disappeared in 1593. Explore his biography, literary works, and the mystery of his death through image links.
