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Christopher Marlowe
The Life of Christopher Marlowe

Christopher Marlowe, a poet, a playwright, a fictionist. Marlow is famous for his brilliant writing, and his mysterious persona, Marlowe had one of the most interesting lives led as a writer full of excitement and secrecy Christopher Marlowe was born to shoemaker John Marlow and Katherine Marlowe, February of 1564 in Canterbury. At a young age Kit was awarded a scholarship to attend Kings School, this school would prepare him for university; Christopher was fifteen when he received this scholarship. After his education at King’s he was awarded another scholarship to attend Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. University where he would do what he loved to do most writes. Marlowe attended Cambridge in 1591, and finished with his Bachelor of Arts in 1584. After Marlowe completed his Bachelor of Arts he was recruited by the government for secret intelligence work. After Marlowe had completed his mission he wanted to go back to Cambridge to start his Masters degree but was not accepted due to his alleged Catholic sympathies. Marlow was offended that he could not continue on with his Masters, so he took off to London in 1588 where his occupation as a playwright began. Marlowe began writing plays in London. In 1589 Marlow was accused for the murder of Watson, but soon after was released from jail. In 1593 Christopher Marlowe was murdered in Deptford.

Marlowe and Shakespeare (The Marlovian Theory)

There are many theories that pertain to Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare. Is it said that Marlowe had faked his death and had written under the name of the famous playwright William Shakespeare. We know that Marlowe died in 1593 while writing plays in London, where Shakespeare was writing as well. There are a lot of similarities and differences that can make this accusation true, or make this accusation false. Suspiciously enough when Shakespeare finished writing he became a shoemaker in London; this is what Christopher Marlowe’s father did for a living. We can also see that they have a lot of similarities in their writing. Both wrote using the same literary style, pace and tempo. When comparing their writing we see the same vocabulary and the same average amount of words.

These similarities could all, also is a coincidence. “Marlowe and Shakespeare came from roughly the same social stratum and went to the same kind of grammar school; however, they differed so much in temperament and experience that, even if Marlowe were not the only major poet whose cause of death was certified by a coroner’s jury, it would still be difficult to believe though not all find it impossible that he survived to be the author of most of Shakespeare plays. (Ed Freedenreich, Gill, and Kuriyama 3)

Homosexuality and Atheism in the life of Christopher Marlow

A lot was made about how Christopher Marlow was homosexual and had no belief in god. Some suggest that this was in fact the reason for his death at the young age of 29. Marlowe was a person who cared about how he was perceived by the public and being gay and an atheist he was involved in a lot of controversy by his peers. David Riggs wrote a book on the life of Marlowe and knows details about both his sexuality and religious beliefs. “However, in the shadows of his own life and in Dido, Queen of Carthage and Edward II, Marlowe celebrated the progression of male friendship to homosexual love in a manner considered scandalous at the time. Riggs notes that the question of whether or not Marlowe was homosexual is misleading-in the Renaissance, the term denoted aspects of a crime, not personal identity.”(Lenker) Marlow would have been seen as a criminal for being gay and thus keep his personal life at secret so that no one would know whether he was in fact gay or not. Due to him being a writer frequently authors invoke their views into their stories as is the case with Marlowe as well: “Christopher Marlowe represents homoerotic situations and incidents in his plays and poems more frequently and more variously that any other major English Renaissance writer.”(glbtq.com). in his play Edward II a recurring theme is homosexuality. As for being an atheist Riggs suggests that it could have happened as a result of the education he received. “Similarly, the charge of atheism so often leveled at Marlowe may have roots in the Cambridge curriculum. Riggs explains that the claim that religion is often used to keep humans in awe, when attributed to Marlowe, in reality echoes the work of Marlowe's frequent subject, Ovid, and of other Latin texts. Renaissance scholars inherited the "Roman view" that philosophers and statesmen were entitled to a sphere of private unbelief, and Marlowe's offense may have been in circulating these liberal attitudes among the general public. (Lenker) Perhaps because Marlow was being taught in this was it influenced his views on the world and gave him a broader view of how he wanted to live his life his way to make himself happy. As you can see homosexuality and religion played a large role in Marlowe’s life and also affected the way he wrote his literature.

Elizabeth Theatre

By the mid fifteen hundreds, the professional theatre was already a well-established enterprise. There were also other theatres created during this time, all located in Shoreditch, a suburb north of the city. This location was convenient because it was close to the center of the population, so that people could easily access the theatres, but at the same time it wasn’t too close to the other shops in the center of the city. They didn’t want the theatre to be to close to the shop keepers because they disapproved of the theatre. Even though the shopkeepers disapproved, that didn’t stop Marlowe or other people from performing in plays and writing them. About thirteen percent of the population went to the playhouse each week; it was obvious that there was a rising interest for the theatre. The audience consisted mainly of a cross section of the English society; even Queen Elizabeth herself often came to watch the plays. The performances were very eccentric. When the means of props and costumes were available, they were even more elaborate then they were without them. The performers often went on tour, and when they did so, the traveling team often appeared on stage with a limited amount of costumes and props. It was hard to travel with a vast selection of props and costumes. However, when they were in London they went all out with their costumes. They knew the wealthy audience would appreciate it. They even went as far as to have lions on stage. There were two major adult companies; the Admiral’s Men and the Chamberlain’s Men, who performed in London every day except on Sunday’s and during Lent. The performers were very skilled and talented individuals. Any play that was performed a dozen times or more, usually received excellent feedback. However, no play was ever performed more than 32 times. Most of the plays that were performed during this time have been lost. There are no written documents of most of the plays. (Pinciss) Marlowe contributed a lot to the English theatre. Most of his plays were representations of morality and ethics. The play’s raised a lot of questions, and often left people searching for answers. His plays were mainly about conflict and struggles. Although his plays did raise questions, there were never answers to them.

Plays

The two most mature and famous works that are written by Marlowe are The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus and Edward II. In these plays we see the change that Marlowe has made over the course of being a writer. As Pinciss describes “The deliberate shaping of the plot and the unity of tone are further evidence of Marlowe’s progress as an artist…no longer troubled by the kind of episodic structure found in Tamburlaine the Great, with its flights of lyricism, or by the kind of inconsistent action found in The Jew of Malta.(Pinciss 92). In 1592 a very good friend of Marlow’s, by the name of Tom Watson died do to the effects of the plague. This affected Marlow in many ways and started him on his “final and most dramatic phase of his playwright’s life”. (Hilton 117). At this time the plague was almost inescapable for all around it and this influenced Marlow to write The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus. The play was first published in 1604; eleven years after the death of Marlowe, although it had been preformed many times between the years of 1594- 1597. It is a tale of a man who signs a contract with Lucifer, who for many years practices black magic and finally dies unredeemed. (Pincess 70) The central conflict that arises in this play is within the mind of Faustus. In this play Marlowe clearly states his Christianity views through his character Faustus. This is one of the most popular quotations in the play this is widely critiqued by many people: “The reward of sin is death? That's hard. Si peccasse negamus, fallimur, et nulla est in nobis veritas. If we say that we have no sin, We deceive ourselves, and there's no truth in us. Why then belike we must sin, And so consequently die. Ay, we must die an everlasting death. What doctrine call you this? Che sar, sar : What will be, shall be! Divinity, adieu! These metaphysics of magicians, And necromantic books are heavenly.”(1.40–50) This quotation indicates that if you sin you will go to hell, and that everyone sins, therefore everyone is going to hell. This is an indication that Christianity can only lead to death. The other of Marlowe’s most famous and mature plays is “Edward II” first acted in 1593 which was also years after he died. This play compresses thirty years into its structure and is mostly comprised from a volume of Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles. In this play unlike his others Marlow finds a way to bring his tone and mood together, unlike he was able to do before.

Death

Marlowe was the most amazing play writer that England had ever seen. On May 30th, 1593, Marlowe died from a wound that was above his eye. (Riggs) He was murdered in a pub, which was said to be over the issue of paying a bill for food and drinks. Many people did not believe that this was the reason in which he was murdered; people believed that there were other reasons why the murderer did what they did to Marlowe. Marlowe’s death raised a lot of questions among the people. People wondered whether we were guilty or innocent. They wanted to know whether he was he murdered in an act of power or whether he was murdered simple because of a brawl in the pub? (Riggs) Marlowe’s only real rival was William Shakespeare. However, there were obviously others who didn’t like him as well. During the months that led up to the death of Marlowe Robert Greene (a pamphleteer) publically announced that if Marlowe didn’t repent for what his work said, God would soon strike him down. (Riggs) This shows that there were people out there that resented what Marlowe’s work represented, and thought that he should be punished for it. Marlowe was young when he died, he was only 29, but he was a poet who lived for his art and didn’t back down on what he believed. Many people believed that Marlowe’s work represented violence and that he denied God in his writings. However, even though people believed what he wrote was wrong, he didn’t stop writing. It was obvious that his beliefs were based upon atheism. However, even though he went against Christian belief, Marlowe was an individual who put his own beliefs in his writings. Marlowe was one of the most amazing writers, yet he was punished for what he believed. He was seen as violence, when in reality he was merely speaking of atheism as a belief, not as something that everyone had to go by. He wrote what many would never dare write during this time. Although Marlowe died at a young age, his work is still speaking to people now, and continues to live on.

Works Cited

Friedenreich, Kenneth, Gill, Roma, and Kuriyama, Constance. A Poet and a Filthy Play-Maker. New York: AMS, 1988.

Hilton, Della. Who was Kit Marlowe.London:Willimer Brothers, 1977.

Lenker, Lagretta Tallent.: Review of Riggs, David. The World of Christopher Marlowe. College Literature. West Chester: Winter 2007. (34, 1) pg. 213-223 

Pinciss, Gerald. Christopher Marlowe. New York:Frederick Ungar Publishing Co, 1975.

Riggs, David. The World of Christopher Marlowe. London: Faber and Faber, 2004.