Decoding Christopher Marlowe's Plays

Marlowe's short but blazing dramatic career introduced the world to that shadowy area of the Elizabethan life, which till then, was hardly disclosed by any author. In fact, Marlowe's scathing attacks against the existing social order, took the Elizabethans by storm. Hence, many among the elites, found him rather difficult to digest. Added to it, his notorious personal life gave them material to stamp him as a person of dubious character. But with rising popularity of his plays on the English stage, they conceded his works and allowed him to thrive as a dramatist. It was only with the arrival of Shakespeare; Marlowe's works were slightly overshadowed. Nevertheless, the indelible mark that he left behind in all his seven plays, fueled the artistry of most of the future dramatists, including Shakespeare.The present collection of critical essays, intends to introduce the readers to the wide gamut of Marlovian art. It deals with five major plays of Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great Part One, Tamburlaine the Great Part Two, The Jew of Malta, Doctor Faustus, and Edward the Second. Apart from the introduction the work includes a brief survey of Renaissance drama without which Marlowe's position in the history of English plays cannot really be ascertained. As we all know, English drama first found its expression in the religious preaching's of the churches. It then traversed a long way from the Middle Ages to reach its five-act structured form, in the Elizabethan age. Contribution of very many authors helped it to evolve in the fashion it did. The study centers round this evolution. The basic target of this volume is to provide students and scholars alike a comprehensive and over all view of Christopher Marlowe's artistic skill and also his contribution in developing English drama. As we all know, before the advent of the University Wits, structurally English drama was in a nebulous or rather experimental state. The five act structure, an acquired form from classical plays, was firmly rooted to the English stage by the seven stalwart playwrights of whom Marlowe was the brightest and most promising one. So our endeavour in the present volume has been to generate this regard and admiration for this blazing genius of the yester years. As with other writers of the period, little is known about Marlowe's personal life. Only a few legal records and official documents provide glimpses of the wildness of the man. Yet, this has not stopped writers of both fiction and non-fiction from speculating about his activities and character. The common attributes of the man has often been - a spy, a brawler, a heretic, a homosexual, as well as a "magician", "duellist", "tobacco-user", "counterfeiter" and "rakehell". J. A. Downie and Constance Kuriyama have argued against the more lurid speculation, but J.B. Steane maintains, "It seems absurd to dismiss all of these Elizabethan rumours and accusations as 'the Marlowe myth'". Marlowe's lineage however, as per documental evidences, seemed to have been above all speculation. Marlowe was the son of a prosperous shoemaker, who finally became the Mayor of Canterbury. Born in 1564 (the same year as Shakespeare) Marlowe took up scholarships first at King's School, Canterbury, and then at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1584, but in 1587 the university hesitated in granting him his master's degree. Its doubts (perhaps arising from his frequent absences, or speculation that he had converted to Roman Catholicism and would soon attend college elsewhere) were set to rest, or at least dismissed, when the Privy Council sent a letter declaring that he was now working on matters dealing with the interests of his country. Consequently, he was awarded his master's degree on schedule. The nature of Marlowe's service to England however, was not specified by the council, but the letter when sent to Cambridge provoked abundant speculation.