Hubbry Logo
Christopher MarloweChristopher MarloweMain
Open search
Christopher Marlowe
Community hub
Christopher Marlowe
logo
8 pages, 0 posts
0 subscribers
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Contribute something
Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe
View on Wikipedia
from Wikipedia

Christopher Marlowe (/ˈmɑːrloʊ/ MAR-loh; baptised 26 February 1564 – 30 May 1593), also known as Kit Marlowe, was an English playwright, poet, and translator of the Elizabethan era.[a] Marlowe is among the most famous of the Elizabethan playwrights. Based upon the "many imitations" of his play Tamburlaine, modern scholars consider him to have been the foremost dramatist in London in the years just before his mysterious early death.[b] Some scholars also believe that he greatly influenced William Shakespeare, who was baptised in the same year as Marlowe and later succeeded him as the preeminent Elizabethan playwright.[c] Marlowe was the first to achieve critical reputation for his use of blank verse, which became the standard for the era. His plays are distinguished by their overreaching protagonists. Themes found within Marlowe's literary works have been noted as humanistic with realistic emotions, which some scholars find difficult to reconcile with Marlowe's "anti-intellectualism" and his catering to the prurient tastes of his Elizabethan audiences for generous displays of extreme physical violence, cruelty, and bloodshed.[4]

Key Information

Events in Marlowe's life were sometimes as extreme as those found in his plays.[d] Differing sensational reports of Marlowe's death in 1593 abounded after the event and are contested by scholars today owing to a lack of good documentation. There have been many conjectures as to the nature and reason for his death, including a vicious bar-room fight, blasphemous libel against the church, homosexual intrigue, betrayal by another playwright, and espionage from the highest level: the Privy Council of Elizabeth I. An official coroner's account of Marlowe's death was discovered only in 1925,[6] and it did little to persuade all scholars that it told the whole story, nor did it eliminate the uncertainties present in his biography.[7]

Early life

[edit]
Marlowe was christened at St George's Church, Canterbury. The tower, shown here, is all that survived destruction during the Baedeker air raids of 1942.

Christopher Marlowe, the second of nine children, and oldest child after the death of his sister Mary in 1568, was born to Canterbury shoemaker John Marlowe and his wife Katherine, daughter of William Arthur of Dover.[8] He was baptised at St George's Church, Canterbury, on 26 February 1564 (1563 in the old style dates in use at the time, which placed the new year on 25 March).[9] Marlowe's birth was likely to have been a few days before,[10][11][12] making him about two months older than William Shakespeare, who was baptised on 26 April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon.[13]

By age 14, Marlowe was a pupil at The King's School, Canterbury on a scholarship[e] and two years later a student at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he also studied through a scholarship with expectation that he would become an Anglican clergyman.[14] Instead, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1584.[8][15] Marlowe mastered Latin during his schooling, reading and translating the works of Ovid. In 1587, the university hesitated to award his Master of Arts degree because of a rumour that he intended to go to the English seminary at Rheims in northern France, presumably to prepare for ordination as a Roman Catholic priest.[8] If true, such an action on his part would have been a direct violation of royal edict issued by Queen Elizabeth I in 1585 criminalising any attempt by an English citizen to be ordained in the Roman Catholic Church.[16][17]

Large-scale violence between Protestants and Catholics on the European continent has been cited by scholars as the impetus for the Protestant English Queen's defensive anti-Catholic laws issued from 1581 until her death in 1603.[16] Despite the dire implications for Marlowe, his degree was awarded on schedule when the Privy Council intervened on his behalf, commending him for his "faithful dealing" and "good service" to the Queen.[18] The nature of Marlowe's service was not specified by the council, but its letter to the Cambridge authorities has provoked much speculation by modern scholars, notably the theory that Marlowe was operating as a secret agent for Privy Council member Sir Francis Walsingham.[19] The only surviving evidence of the Privy Council's correspondence is found in their minutes, the letter being lost. There is no mention of espionage in the minutes, but its summation of the lost Privy Council letter is vague in meaning, stating that "it was not Her Majesties pleasure" that persons employed as Marlowe had been "in matters touching the benefit of his country should be defamed by those who are ignorant in th'affaires he went about." Scholars agree the vague wording was typically used to protect government agents, but they continue to debate what the "matters touching the benefit of his country" actually were in Marlowe's case and how they affected the 23-year-old writer as he began his literary career in 1587.[8]

Adult life and legend

[edit]

Little is known about Marlowe's adult life. All available evidence, other than what can be deduced from his literary works, is found in legal records and other official documents. Writers of fiction and non-fiction have speculated about his professional activities, private life, and character. Marlowe has been described as a spy, a brawler, and a heretic, as well as a "magician", "duellist", "tobacco-user", "counterfeiter" and "rakehell". While J. A. Downie and Constance Kuriyama have argued against the more lurid speculations, J. B. Steane remarked, "it seems absurd to dismiss all of these Elizabethan rumours and accusations as 'the Marlowe myth'".[20][21][22] Much has been written on his brief adult life, including speculation of: his involvement in royally sanctioned espionage; his vocal declaration of atheism; his (possibly same-sex) sexual interests; and the puzzling circumstances surrounding his death.

Spying

[edit]
The corner of Old Court of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where Marlowe stayed while a Cambridge student and, possibly, during the time he was recruited as a spy

Marlowe is alleged to have been a government spy.[23] Park Honan and Charles Nicholl speculate that this was the case and suggest that Marlowe's recruitment took place when he was at Cambridge.[23][24] In 1587, when the Privy Council ordered the University of Cambridge to award Marlowe his degree as Master of Arts, it denied rumours that he intended to go to the English Catholic college in Rheims, saying instead that he had been engaged in unspecified "affaires" on "matters touching the benefit of his country".[25] Surviving college records from the period also indicate that, in the academic year 1584–1585, Marlowe had a series of unusually lengthy absences from the university which violated university regulations. Surviving college buttery accounts, which record student purchases for personal provisions, show that Marlowe began spending lavishly on food and drink during the periods he was in attendance; the amount was more than he could have afforded on his known scholarship income.[26][f]

Portrait of alleged "spymaster" Sir Francis Walsingham c. 1585; attributed to John de Critz

It has been speculated that Marlowe was the "Morley" who was tutor to Arbella Stuart in 1589.[g] This possibility was first raised in a Times Literary Supplement letter by E. St John Brooks in 1937; in a letter to Notes and Queries, John Baker has added that only Marlowe could have been Arbella's tutor owing to the absence of any other known "Morley" from the period with an MA and not otherwise occupied.[30] If Marlowe was Arbella's tutor, it might indicate that he was there as a spy, since Arbella, niece of Mary, Queen of Scots, and cousin of James VI of Scotland, later James I of England, was at the time a strong candidate for the succession to Elizabeth's throne.[31][32][33][34] Frederick S. Boas dismisses the possibility of this identification, based on surviving legal records which document Marlowe's "residence in London between September and December 1589". Marlowe had been party to a fatal quarrel involving his neighbours and the poet Thomas Watson in Norton Folgate and was held in Newgate Prison for a fortnight.[35] In fact, the quarrel and his arrest occurred on 18 September, he was released on bail on 1 October and he had to attend court, where he was acquitted on 3 December, but there is no record of where he was for the intervening two months.[36]

In 1592 Marlowe was arrested in the English garrison town of Flushing (Vlissingen) in the Netherlands, for alleged involvement in the counterfeiting of coins, presumably related to the activities of seditious Catholics. He was sent to the Lord Treasurer (Burghley), but no charge or imprisonment resulted.[37] This arrest may have disrupted another of Marlowe's spying missions, perhaps by giving the resulting coinage to the Catholic cause. He was to infiltrate the followers of the active Catholic plotter William Stanley and report back to Burghley.[38]

Philosophy

[edit]
Sir Walter Raleigh, shown here in 1588, was the alleged centre of the "School of Atheism" c. 1592.

Marlowe was reputed to be an atheist, which held the dangerous implication of being an enemy of God and, by association, the state.[39] With the rise of public fears concerning The School of Night, or "School of Atheism" in the late 16th century, accusations of atheism were closely associated with disloyalty to the Protestant monarchy of England.[40]

Some modern historians consider that Marlowe's professed atheism, as with his supposed Catholicism, may have been no more than a sham to further his work as a government spy.[41] Contemporary evidence comes from Marlowe's accuser in Flushing, an informer called Richard Baines. The governor of Flushing had reported that each of the men had "of malice" accused the other of instigating the counterfeiting and of intending to go over to the Catholic "enemy"; such an action was considered atheistic by the Church of England. Following Marlowe's arrest in 1593, Baines submitted to the authorities a "note containing the opinion of one Christopher Marly concerning his damnable judgment of religion, and scorn of God's word".[42] Baines attributes to Marlowe a total of eighteen items which "scoff at the pretensions of the Old and New Testament" such as, "Christ was a bastard and his mother dishonest [unchaste]", "the woman of Samaria and her sister were whores and that Christ knew them dishonestly", "St John the Evangelist was bedfellow to Christ and leaned always in his bosom" (cf. John 13:23–25) and "that he used him as the sinners of Sodom".[22] He also implied that Marlowe had Catholic sympathies. Other passages are merely sceptical in tone: "he persuades men to atheism, willing them not to be afraid of bugbears and hobgoblins". The final paragraph of Baines's document reads:

Portrait often claimed to be Thomas Harriot (1602), which hangs in Trinity College, Oxford

These thinges, with many other shall by good & honest witnes be approved to be his opinions and Comon Speeches, and that this Marlowe doth not only hould them himself, but almost into every Company he Cometh he persuades men to Atheism willing them not to be afeard of bugbeares and hobgoblins, and vtterly scorning both god and his ministers as I Richard Baines will Justify & approue both by mine oth and the testimony of many honest men, and almost al men with whome he hath Conversed any time will testify the same, and as I think all men in Cristianity ought to indevor that the mouth of so dangerous a member may be stopped, he saith likewise that he hath quoted a number of Contrarieties oute of the Scripture which he hath giuen to some great men who in Convenient time shalbe named. When these thinges shalbe Called in question the witnes shalbe produced.[43]

Similar examples of Marlowe's statements were given by Thomas Kyd after his imprisonment and possible torture (see above); Kyd and Baines connect Marlowe with mathematician Thomas Harriot's and Sir Walter Raleigh's circle.[44] Another document claimed about that time that "one Marlowe is able to show more sound reasons for Atheism than any divine in England is able to give to prove divinity, and that ... he hath read the Atheist lecture to Sir Walter Raleigh and others".[22][h]

Some critics believe that Marlowe sought to disseminate these views in his work and that he identified with his rebellious and iconoclastic protagonists.[46] Plays had to be approved by the Master of the Revels before they could be performed and the censorship of publications was under the control of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Presumably these authorities did not consider any of Marlowe's works to be unacceptable other than the Amores.

Sexuality

[edit]
Title page to 1598 edition of Marlowe's Hero and Leander

It has been claimed that Marlowe was homosexual. Some scholars argue that the identification of an Elizabethan as such in the modern sense is "anachronistic," saying that for the Elizabethans the terms were more likely to have been applied to homoerotic affections or sexual acts rather than to what we currently understand as a settled sexual orientation or personal role identity.[47] Other scholars argue that the evidence is inconclusive and that the reports of Marlowe's homosexuality may be rumours produced after his death. Richard Baines reported Marlowe as saying: "all they that love not Tobacco & Boies were fools". David Bevington and Eric C. Rasmussen describe Baines's evidence as "unreliable testimony" and "[t]hese and other testimonials need to be discounted for their exaggeration and for their having been produced under legal circumstances we would now regard as a witch-hunt".[48]

Literary scholar J. B. Steane considered there to be "no evidence for Marlowe's homosexuality at all".[22] Other scholars point to the frequency with which Marlowe explores homosexual themes in his writing: in Hero and Leander, Marlowe writes of the male youth Leander: "in his looks were all that men desire..."[49][50] Edward the Second contains the following passage enumerating homosexual relationships:

The mightiest kings have had their minions;
Great Alexander loved Hephaestion,
The conquering Hercules for Hylas wept;
And for Patroclus, stern Achilles drooped.
And not kings only, but the wisest men:
The Roman Tully loved Octavius,
Grave Socrates, wild Alcibiades.[51]

Marlowe wrote the only play about the life of Edward II up to his time, taking the humanist literary discussion of male sexuality much further than his contemporaries. The play was extremely bold, dealing with a star-crossed love story between Edward II and Piers Gaveston. Though it was a common practice at the time to reveal characters as homosexual to give audiences reason to suspect them as culprits in a crime, Christopher Marlowe's Edward II is portrayed as a sympathetic character.[52] The decision to start the play Dido, Queen of Carthage with a homoerotic scene between Jupiter and Ganymede that bears no connection to the subsequent plot has long puzzled scholars.[53]

Arrest and death

[edit]
Marlowe was buried in an unmarked grave in the churchyard of St Nicholas, Deptford. This modern plaque is on the east wall of the churchyard.

In early May 1593, several bills were posted about London threatening the Protestant refugees from France and the Netherlands who had settled in the city. One of these, the "Dutch church libel", written in rhymed iambic pentameter, contained allusions to several of Marlowe's plays and was signed, "Tamburlaine".[54] On 11 May 1593 the Privy Council ordered the arrest of those responsible for the libels. The next day, Marlowe's colleague Thomas Kyd was arrested and when his lodgings were searched, a three-page fragment of a heretical tract was found. On being charged with atheism and tortured, Kyd declared the document to be Marlowe's, and to have been shuffled together with his own papers when they were writing together in the same chamber two years previously.[55][44] In a second letter, Kyd said they had both been working for an aristocratic patron (probably Ferdinando Stanley), and he described Marlowe as blasphemous, disorderly, holding treasonous opinions, being an irreligious reprobate and "intemperate & of a cruel hart".[56] A warrant for Marlowe's arrest was issued on 18 May 1593, when the Privy Council apparently knew that he might be found staying with Thomas Walsingham, whose father was a first cousin of the late Sir Francis Walsingham, Elizabeth's principal secretary in the 1580s and a man more deeply involved in state espionage than any other member of the Privy Council.[57] Marlowe duly presented himself on 20 May 1593 but there apparently being no Privy Council meeting on that day, was instructed to "give his daily attendance on their Lordships, until he shall be licensed to the contrary".[58] On Wednesday, 30 May 1593, Marlowe was killed.

Title page to the 1598 edition of Palladis Tamia by Francis Meres, which contains one of the earliest descriptions of Marlowe's death

Various accounts of Marlowe's death were current over the next few years. In his Palladis Tamia, published in 1598, Francis Meres says Marlowe was "stabbed to death by a bawdy serving-man, a rival of his in his lewd love" as punishment for his "epicurism and atheism".[59] In 1917, in the Dictionary of National Biography, Sir Sidney Lee wrote, on slender evidence, that Marlowe was killed in a drunken fight. His claim was not much at variance with the official account, which came to light only in 1925, when the scholar Leslie Hotson discovered the coroner's report of the inquest on Marlowe's death, held two days later on Friday 1 June 1593, by the Coroner of the Queen's Household, William Danby.[6] Marlowe had spent all day in a house in Deptford, owned by the widow Eleanor Bull, with three men: Ingram Frizer, Nicholas Skeres and Robert Poley. All three had been employed by one or other of the Walsinghams. Skeres and Poley had helped snare the conspirators in the Babington plot, and Frizer was a servant[60] to Thomas Walsingham, probably acting as a financial or business agent, as he was for Walsingham's wife Audrey a few years later.[61][62] These witnesses testified that Frizer and Marlowe had argued over payment of the bill (now famously known as the "Reckoning"), exchanging "divers malicious words", while Frizer was sitting at a table between the other two and Marlowe was lying behind him on a couch. Marlowe snatched Frizer's dagger and wounded him on the head. According to the coroner's report, in the ensuing struggle Marlowe was stabbed above the right eye, killing him instantly. The jury concluded that Frizer acted in self-defence and within a month he was pardoned. Marlowe was buried in an unmarked grave in the churchyard of St. Nicholas, Deptford, immediately after the inquest, on 1 June 1593.[63]

The complete text of the inquest report was published by Leslie Hotson in his book, The Death of Christopher Marlowe,[64] in the introduction to which Professor George Lyman Kittredge wrote: "The mystery of Marlowe's death, heretofore involved in a cloud of contradictory gossip and irresponsible guess-work, is now cleared up for good and all on the authority of public records of complete authenticity and gratifying fullness". However, this confidence proved to be fairly short-lived. Hotson had considered the possibility that the witnesses had "concocted a lying account of Marlowe's behaviour, to which they swore at the inquest, and with which they deceived the jury", but decided against that scenario.[65] Others began to suspect that this theory was indeed the case. Writing to the Times Literary Supplement shortly after the book's publication, Eugénie de Kalb disputed that the struggle and outcome as described were even possible, and Samuel A. Tannenbaum insisted the following year that such a wound could not have possibly resulted in instant death, as had been claimed.[66][67] Even Marlowe's biographer John Bakeless acknowledged that "some scholars have been inclined to question the truthfulness of the coroner's report. There is something queer about the whole episode", and said that Hotson's discovery "raises almost as many questions as it answers".[68] It has also been discovered more recently that the apparent absence of a local county coroner to accompany the Coroner of the Queen's Household would, if noticed, have made the inquest null and void.[69]

One of the main reasons for doubting the truth of the inquest concerns the reliability of Marlowe's companions as witnesses.[70] As an agent provocateur for the late Sir Francis Walsingham, Robert Poley was a consummate liar, the "very genius of the Elizabethan underworld", and was on record as saying "I will swear and forswear myself, rather than I will accuse myself to do me any harm".[71][72] The other witness, Nicholas Skeres, had for many years acted as a confidence trickster, drawing young men into the clutches of people involved in the money-lending racket, including Marlowe's apparent killer, Ingram Frizer, with whom he was engaged in such a swindle.[73] Despite their being referred to as generosi (gentlemen) in the inquest report, the witnesses were professional liars. Some biographers, such as Kuriyama and Downie, take the inquest to be a true account of what occurred, but in trying to explain what really happened if the account was not true, others have come up with a variety of murder theories:[74][75]

  • Jealous of her husband Thomas's relationship with Marlowe, Audrey Walsingham arranged for the playwright to be murdered.[66]
  • Sir Walter Raleigh arranged the murder, fearing that under torture Marlowe might incriminate him.[76]
  • With Skeres the main player, the murder resulted from attempts by the Earl of Essex to use Marlowe to incriminate Sir Walter Raleigh.[77]
  • He was killed on the orders of father and son Lord Burghley and Sir Robert Cecil, who thought that his plays contained Catholic propaganda.[78]
  • He was accidentally killed while Frizer and Skeres were pressuring him to pay back money he owed them.[79]
  • Marlowe was murdered at the behest of several members of the Privy Council, who feared that he might reveal them to be atheists.[80]
  • The Queen ordered his assassination because of his subversive atheistic behaviour.[81]
  • Frizer murdered him because he envied Marlowe's close relationship with his master Thomas Walsingham and feared the effect that Marlowe's behaviour might have on Walsingham's reputation.[82]
  • Marlowe's death was faked to save him from trial and execution for subversive atheism.[i]

Since there are only written documents on which to base any conclusions, and since it is probable that the most crucial information about his death was never committed to paper, it is unlikely that the full circumstances of Marlowe's death will ever be known.

Reputation among contemporary writers

[edit]
Ben Jonson, leading satirist of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, was one of the first to acknowledge Marlowe for the power of his dramatic verse.
Ben Jonson, leading satirist of the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, was one of the first to acknowledge Marlowe for the power of his dramatic verse.

For his contemporaries in the literary world, Marlowe was above all an admired and influential artist. Within weeks of his death, George Peele remembered him as "Marley, the Muses' darling"; Michael Drayton noted that he "Had in him those brave translunary things / That the first poets had" and Ben Jonson even wrote of "Marlowe's mighty line".[84] Thomas Nashe wrote warmly of his friend, "poor deceased Kit Marlowe," as did the publisher Edward Blount in his dedication of Hero and Leander to Sir Thomas Walsingham. Among the few contemporary dramatists to say anything negative about Marlowe was the anonymous author of the Cambridge University play The Return from Parnassus (1598) who wrote, "Pity it is that wit so ill should dwell, / Wit lent from heaven, but vices sent from hell".

The most famous tribute to Marlowe was paid by Shakespeare in As You Like It, where he not only quotes a line from Hero and Leander ("Dead Shepherd, now I find thy saw of might, 'Who ever lov'd that lov'd not at first sight?'") but also gives to the clown Touchstone the words "When a man's verses cannot be understood, nor a man's good wit seconded with the forward child, understanding, it strikes a man more dead than a great reckoning in a little room."[85] This appears to be a reference to Marlowe's murder which involved a fight over the "reckoning," the bill, as well as to a line in Marlowe's Jew of Malta, "Infinite riches in a little room."

The influence of Marlowe upon William Shakespeare is evidenced by the Marlovian themes and other allusions to Marlowe found in Shakespeare's plays and sonnets.
The influence of Marlowe upon William Shakespeare is evidenced by the Marlovian themes and other allusions to Marlowe found in Shakespeare's plays and sonnets.

Shakespeare was much influenced by Marlowe in his work, as can be seen in the use of Marlovian themes in Antony and Cleopatra, The Merchant of Venice, Richard II and Macbeth (Dido, Jew of Malta, Edward II and Doctor Faustus, respectively). In Hamlet, after meeting with the travelling actors, Hamlet requests the Player perform a speech about the Trojan War, which at 2.2.429–432 has an echo of Marlowe's Dido, Queen of Carthage. In Love's Labour's Lost Shakespeare brings on a character "Marcade" (three syllables) in conscious acknowledgement of Marlowe's character "Mercury", also attending the King of Navarre, in Massacre at Paris. The significance, to those of Shakespeare's audience who were familiar with Hero and Leander, was Marlowe's identification of himself with the god Mercury.[86]

Shakespeare authorship theory

[edit]
Main articles: Marlovian theory of Shakespeare authorship and Shakespeare authorship question

An argument has arisen about the notion that Marlowe faked his death and then continued to write under the assumed name of William Shakespeare. Academic consensus rejects alternative candidates for authorship of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets, including Marlowe.[87]

Literary career

[edit]
Edward Alleyn, lead actor of Lord Strange's Men was possibly the first to play the title characters in Doctor Faustus, Tamburlaine, and The Jew of Malta.
Edward Alleyn, lead actor of Lord Strange's Men was possibly the first to play the title characters in Doctor Faustus, Tamburlaine, and The Jew of Malta.

Plays

[edit]

Six dramas have been attributed to the authorship of Christopher Marlowe either alone or in collaboration with other writers, with varying degrees of evidence. The writing sequence or chronology of these plays is mostly unknown and is offered here with any dates and evidence known. Among the little available information, Dido is believed to be the first Marlowe play performed, while Tamburlaine was first to be performed on a regular commercial stage in London in 1587. Believed by many scholars to be Marlowe's greatest success, Tamburlaine was the first English play written in blank verse and, with Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy, is generally considered the beginning of the mature phase of the Elizabethan theatre.[88]

The play Lust's Dominion was attributed to Marlowe upon its initial publication in 1657, though scholars and critics have almost unanimously rejected the attribution. He may also have written or co-written Arden of Faversham.

Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby, aka "Ferdinando, Lord Straunge," was patron of some of Marlowe's early plays as performed by Lord Strange's Men.
Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby, aka "Ferdinando, Lord Straunge," was patron of some of Marlowe's early plays as performed by Lord Strange's Men.

Poetry and translations

[edit]

Publication and responses to the poetry and translations credited to Marlowe primarily occurred posthumously, including:

Collaborations

[edit]

Modern scholars still look for evidence of collaborations between Marlowe and other writers. In 2016, one publisher was the first to endorse the scholarly claim of a collaboration between Marlowe and the playwright William Shakespeare:

  • Henry VI by William Shakespeare is now credited as a collaboration with Marlowe in the New Oxford Shakespeare series, published in 2016. Marlowe appears as co-author of the three Henry VI plays, though some scholars doubt any actual collaboration.[92][93][94][95][96]
Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham, Lord High Admiral, shown here c. 1601 in a procession for Elizabeth I of England, was patron of the Admiral's Men during Marlowe's lifetime.

Contemporary reception

[edit]

Marlowe's plays were enormously successful, possibly because of the imposing stage presence of his lead actor, Edward Alleyn. Alleyn was unusually tall for the time and the haughty roles of Tamburlaine, Faustus and Barabas were probably written for him. Marlowe's plays were the foundation of the repertoire of Alleyn's company, the Admiral's Men, throughout the 1590s. One of Marlowe's poetry translations did not fare as well. In 1599, Marlowe's translation of Ovid was banned and copies were publicly burned as part of Archbishop Whitgift's crackdown on offensive material.

Chronology of dramatic works

[edit]

(Patrick Cheney's 2004 Cambridge Companion to Christopher Marlowe presents an alternative timeline based upon printing dates.)[97]

Dido, Queen of Carthage (c. 1585–1587)

[edit]
Title page of the 1594 first edition of Dido, Queen of Carthage

First official record 1594

First published 1594; posthumously

First recorded performance between 1587 and 1593 by the Children of the Chapel, a company of boy actors in London.[98]

Significance This play is believed by many scholars to be the first play by Christopher Marlowe to be performed.

Attribution The title page attributes the play to Marlowe and Thomas Nashe, yet some scholars question how much of a contribution Nashe made to the play.[99][100]

Evidence No manuscripts by Marlowe exist for this play.[101]

Tamburlaine, Part I (c. 1587); Part II (c. 1587–1588)

[edit]
Title page of the earliest published edition of Tamburlaine (1590)

First official record 1587, Part I

First published 1590, Parts I and II in one octavo, London. No author named.[102]

First recorded performance 1587, Part I, by the Admiral's Men, London.[j]

Significance Tamburlaine is the first example of blank verse used in the dramatic literature of the Early Modern English theatre.

Attribution Author name is missing from first printing in 1590. Attribution of this work by scholars to Marlowe is based upon comparison to his other verified works. Passages and character development in Tamburlane are similar to many other Marlowe works.[104]

Evidence No manuscripts by Marlowe exist for this play.[105] Parts I and II were entered into the Stationers' Register on 14 August 1590. The two parts were published together by the London printer, Richard Jones, in 1590; a second edition in 1592, and a third in 1597. The 1597 edition of the two parts were published separately in quarto by Edward White; part I in 1605, and part II in 1606.[88][102]

The Jew of Malta (c. 1589–1590)

[edit]
The Jew of Malta title page from 1633 quarto

First official record 1592

First published 1592; earliest extant edition, 1633

First recorded performance 26 February 1592, by Lord Strange's acting company.[106]

Significance The performances of the play were a success and it remained popular for the next fifty years. This play helps to establish the strong theme of "anti-authoritarianism" that is found throughout Marlowe's works.

Evidence No manuscripts by Marlowe exist for this play.[105] The play was entered in the Stationers' Register on 17 May 1594 but the earliest surviving printed edition is from 1633.

Doctor Faustus (c. 1588–1592)

[edit]
Frontispiece to a 1631 printing of Doctor Faustus showing Faustus conjuring Mephistophilis

First official record 1594–1597[107]

First published 1601, no extant copy; first extant copy, 1604 (A text) quarto; 1616 (B text) quarto.[108]

First recorded performance 1594–1597; 24 revival performances occurred between these years by the Lord Admiral's Company, Rose Theatre, London; earlier performances probably occurred around 1589 by the same company.[107]

Significance This is the first dramatised version of the Faust legend of a scholar's dealing with the devil. Marlowe deviates from earlier versions of "The Devil's Pact" significantly: Marlowe's protagonist is unable to "burn his books" or repent to a merciful God to have his contract annulled at the end of the play; he is carried off by demons; and, in the 1616 quarto, his mangled corpse is found by the scholar characters.

Attribution The 'B text' was highly edited and censored, owing in part to the shifting theatre laws regarding religious words onstage during the seventeenth-century. Because it contains several additional scenes believed to be the additions of other playwrights, particularly Samuel Rowley and William Bird (alias Borne), a recent edition attributes the authorship of both versions to "Christopher Marlowe and his collaborator and revisers." This recent edition has tried to establish that the 'A text' was assembled from Marlowe's work and another writer, with the 'B text' as a later revision.[107][109]

Evidence No manuscripts by Marlowe exist for this play.[105] The two earliest-printed extant versions of the play, A and B, form a textual problem for scholars. Both were published after Marlowe's death and scholars disagree which text is more representative of Marlowe's original. Some editions are based on a combination of the two texts. Late-twentieth-century scholarly consensus identifies 'A text' as more representative because it contains irregular character names and idiosyncratic spelling, which are believed to reflect the author's handwritten manuscript or "foul papers". In comparison, 'B text' is highly edited with several additional scenes possibly written by other playwrights.[108]

Edward the Second (c. 1592)

[edit]
Title page of the earliest published text of Edward II (1594)

First official record 1593[110]

First published 1590; earliest extant edition 1594 octavo[110]

First recorded performance 1592, performed by the Earl of Pembroke's Men.[110]

Significance Considered by recent scholars as Marlowe's "most modern play" because of its probing treatment of the private life of a king and unflattering depiction of the power politics of the time.[111] The 1594 editions of Edward II and of Dido are the first published plays with Marlowe's name appearing as the author.[110]

Attribution Earliest extant edition of 1594.[110]

Evidence The play was entered into the Stationers' Register on 6 July 1593, five weeks after Marlowe's death.[110]

The Massacre at Paris (c. 1589–1593)

[edit]
Title page to a rare extant printed copy of The Massacre at Paris by Christopher Marlowe; undated.
Alleged foul sheet from Marlowe's writing of The Massacre at Paris (1593). Reproduced from Folger Shakespeare Library Ms.J.b.8. Recent scholars consider this manuscript part of a "reconstruction" by another hand.

First official record c. 1593, alleged foul sheet by Marlowe of "Scene 19"; although authorship by Marlowe is contested by recent scholars, the manuscript is believed written while the play was first performed and with an unknown purpose.

First published undated, c. 1594 or later, octavo, London;[112] while this is the most complete surviving text, it is near half the length of Marlowe's other works and possibly a reconstruction.[105] The printer and publisher credit, "E.A. for Edward White," also appears on the 1605/06 printing of Marlowe's Tamburlaine.[112]

First recorded performance 26 January 1593, by Lord Strange's Men, at Henslowe's Rose Theatre, London, under the title The Tragedy of the Guise;[112] 1594, in the repertory of the Admiral's Men.[105]

Significance The Massacre at Paris is considered Marlowe's most dangerous play, as agitators in London seized on its theme to advocate the murders of refugees from the low countries of the Spanish Netherlands, and it warns Elizabeth I of this possibility in its last scene.[113][114] It features the silent "English Agent", whom tradition has identified with Marlowe and his connexions to the secret service.[115] Highest grossing play for Lord Strange's Men in 1593.[116]

Attribution A 1593 loose manuscript sheet of the play, called a foul sheet, is alleged to be by Marlowe and has been claimed by some scholars as the only extant play manuscript by the author. It could also provide an approximate date of composition for the play. When compared with the extant printed text and his other work, other scholars reject the attribution to Marlowe. The only surviving printed text of this play is possibly a reconstruction from memory of Marlowe's original performance text. Current scholarship notes that there are only 1147 lines in the play, half the amount of a typical play of the 1590s. Other evidence that the extant published text is not Marlowe's original is the uneven style throughout, with two-dimensional characterisations, deteriorating verbal quality and repetitions of content.[117]

Evidence Never appeared in the Stationer's Register.[118]

Memorials

[edit]
The Muse of Poetry, part of the Marlowe Memorial in Canterbury
The Muse of Poetry, part of the Marlowe Memorial in Canterbury

The Muse of Poetry, a bronze sculpture by Edward Onslow Ford references Marlowe and his work. It was erected on Buttermarket, Canterbury in 1891, and now stands outside the Marlowe Theatre in the city.[119][120]

In July 2002, a memorial window to Marlowe was unveiled by the Marlowe Society at Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey.[121] Controversially, a question mark was added to his generally accepted date of death.[122] On 25 October 2011 a letter from Paul Edmondson and Stanley Wells was published by The Times newspaper, in which they called on the Dean and Chapter to remove the question mark on the grounds that it "flew in the face of a mass of unimpugnable evidence". In 2012, they renewed this call in their e-book Shakespeare Bites Back, adding that it "denies history" and again the following year in their book Shakespeare Beyond Doubt.[123][124]

The Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury, Kent, UK, was named for Marlowe in 1949.[120]

Marlowe in fiction

[edit]
Main article: Christopher Marlowe in fiction

Marlowe has been used as a character in books, theatre, film, television, games and radio.

Modern compendia

[edit]

Modern scholarly collected works of Marlowe include:

  • The Complete Works of Christopher Marlowe (edited by Roma Gill in 1986; Clarendon Press published in partnership with Oxford University Press)
  • The Complete Plays of Christopher Marlowe (edited by J. B. Steane in 1969; edited by Frank Romany and Robert Lindsey, Revised Edition, 2004, Penguin)

Works of Marlowe in performance

[edit]
Poster for the 1937, New York WPA Federal Theatre Project production of Doctor Faustus

Radio

[edit]
  • BBC Radio broadcast adaptations of Marlowe's six plays from May to October 1993.[125]

Royal Shakespeare Company

[edit]

Royal Shakespeare Company

Royal National Theatre

[edit]

Royal National Theatre

Shakespeare's Globe

[edit]

Shakespeare's Globe

  • Dido, Queen of Carthage, directed by Tim Carroll, with Rakie Ayola as Dido, 2003.[141]
  • Edward II, directed by Timothy Walker, with Liam Brennan as Edward, 2003.[142]

Malthouse Theatre

[edit]

The Marlowe Sessions[143][144]

Other stage

[edit]

Stage adaptations

[edit]

Film

[edit]

Notes

[edit]

References

[edit]

Further reading

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Christopher Marlowe

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
Christopher Marlowe (baptised 26 February 1564 – 30 May 1593) was an English , , and translator who advanced the use of in and authored seminal works including the two-part the Great, , Doctor Faustus, Edward II, and the posthumously published narrative poem . Born to a Canterbury shoemaker, Marlowe received a scholarship to the King's School and later studied at , where irregularities in his attendance prompted intervention from the , suggesting possible service to the crown. In from the late 1580s, he contributed to the burgeoning theater scene, collaborating with companies like the Admiral's Men and influencing contemporaries through his portrayal of overreaching protagonists and exploration of ambition, power, and damnation. Marlowe's career was marred by allegations of documented in the 1593 Baines note, though no conviction followed before his death in a rooming house, where, per the coroner's , he was fatally stabbed above the eye by Ingram Frizer in what was ruled a during an argument over unpaid expenses. persists regarding espionage ties to Francis Walsingham's network, but direct evidence is absent, with associations inferred from Cambridge absences and acquaintances rather than records of operations.

Early Life and Education

Birth and Family Background

Christopher Marlowe was baptized on 26 February 1564 at St. George's Church, , , , the son of John Marlowe, a shoemaker, and his wife Katherine (née ). The precise date of his birth is unrecorded, though it is estimated to have occurred in early February, consistent with baptismal practices of the period that typically followed birth by days or weeks. John Marlowe, originally from the village of Ospringe near in , relocated to around 1556 and became a freeman of the city by trade as a shoemaker; he married Katherine Arthur, daughter of William Arthur from Dover, on 22 May 1561 at St. George's Church. The couple resided in the parish of St. George the Martyr, where John engaged in local disputes documented in legal records from 1566, reflecting his involvement in community affairs despite his artisan status. Marlowe was the second child and eldest surviving son among nine siblings born to the family, though only five children outlived infancy, including sisters Mary, Ann, Jane, and brother . The family's modest circumstances as provincial tradespeople provided a background typical of the emerging middle strata in Elizabethan , with no evidence of noble or scholarly lineage prior to Christopher's own achievements.

Schooling and Early Influences

Marlowe matriculated at the King's School in Canterbury on January 14, 1579, as one of the twenty-four King's Scholars, receiving stipend payments that supported his studies until at least Michaelmas 1580. The school, refounded in 1541 following the dissolution of monastic institutions, functioned as a grammar school within the Canterbury Cathedral precincts, educating boys typically from ages nine to fifteen or sixteen through a progressive curriculum of five or six forms. At approximately fourteen years old upon entry, Marlowe would have advanced through lower forms emphasizing basic Latin grammar before engaging more intensively with rhetoric and classical texts in the higher forms. The curriculum at King's School embodied the humanist educational reforms of the , prioritizing proficiency in Latin as the foundation for moral and intellectual development, with instruction in , , and drawn from Roman authors such as , , , and . Pupils translated and imitated classical works, performed declamations, and occasionally staged Latin plays, fostering skills in verse composition and dramatic presentation that anticipated Marlowe's later literary output. Such training instilled a command of quantitative verse meters, evident in Marlowe's subsequent adaptations of Ovidian and Lucanian styles, while the rhetorical emphasis on persuasive eloquence and ethical argumentation shaped his dramatic portrayals of ambition and power. Little documentation survives of Marlowe's pre-1579 education, though as the son of a local shoemaker in a provincial city with established petty schools, he likely attended informal dame schools or basic reading instruction before qualifying for the competitive King's scholarship via examination. The school's cathedral affiliation exposed scholars to ecclesiastical routines and Reformation-era theological debates, potentially influencing Marlowe's skeptical undertones in works like Doctor Faustus, though direct causal links remain speculative absent personal records. Contemporaries noted Marlowe's precocity, with accounts suggesting he composed poetry and participated in school plays during this period, marking the genesis of his engagement with dramatic and verse forms.

University Years at Cambridge

Christopher Marlowe matriculated at , on 17 December 1580, entering as a before transitioning to a foundation scholar under the endowment established by former for promising pupils from Canterbury's King's School. This scholarship, funded by the , covered his tuition and living expenses, enabling Marlowe to pursue higher education in the arts amid the rigorous classical curriculum typical of Elizabethan , which emphasized logic, rhetoric, ethics, and ancient authors such as and . Marlowe resided in the college's historic Old Court, as noted in contemporary buttery records documenting student provisions and absences. He completed the requirements for his degree, which was conferred in 1584 after the standard four-year course involving disputations and examinations in the and . During this period, Marlowe likely engaged in the humanistic studies that would inform his later translations and dramatic verse, though specific academic records of his performance or tutors remain sparse beyond his progression to candidacy for the . In 1587, as Marlowe sought his degree, Corpus Christi authorities initially refused to grant it, citing persistent rumors that he had absented himself from to join the English College at Rheims, a Jesuit in notorious for training Catholic recusants and potential missionaries against the Protestant English state. These suspicions arose from reports of his irregular attendance and continental travels, potentially linked to counter-espionage activities, though unsubstantiated by direct evidence. On 29 June 1587, the Queen's intervened via a letter to the university, directing that Marlowe be awarded the degree without further impediment, as he had "been in for strange want of books" and was employed "in matters touching the benefit of his country," having rendered "good service to the Queen." This official endorsement, likely influenced by patrons such as Sir , resolved the impasse and affirmed Marlowe's loyalty, allowing his graduation that July despite the absence of formal completion of residence requirements. The episode underscores the era's religious tensions and state surveillance of scholars, with the Privy Council's vague reference to "service" fueling later speculations about Marlowe's early involvement in intelligence work.

Intelligence and Espionage Activities

Recruitment and Associations

The strongest evidence for Christopher Marlowe's recruitment into Elizabethan intelligence activities is the Privy Council's intervention on 29 June 1587 to authorize the to grant him a degree, despite concerns over his prolonged absences and rumors of Catholic sympathies. The Council's letter stated that Marlowe had "done her majesty good service" and been employed "in matters touching the benefit of his country," countering allegations that he intended to join the English Catholic at Rheims. These absences, recorded in college books from July to December 1584 and 1585, are often attributed to duties, with recruitment theorized to have occurred in the early 1580s during his years, possibly under William Cecil, Lord Burghley, who used the as a ground for enlisting agents against Catholic threats. Marlowe's associations placed him within Sir Francis Walsingham's extensive spy network, the principal secretary responsible for countering plots like the 1586 Babington conspiracy. He was linked to , Sir Francis's cousin and a patron who employed Marlowe and paid his companion Ingram Frizer, with Thomas potentially serving as a handler in intelligence matters. Further connections include Robert Poley, a documented government agent involved in the , who was present at Marlowe's fatal altercation on 30 May 1593. Informant Richard Baines, who exposed the , later accused Marlowe of in 1593, suggesting prior interactions within intelligence circles. While these ties and the 1587 letter form the basis for viewing Marlowe as an agent, the evidence remains circumstantial, with no direct records of payments or orders. Historians like Charles Nicholl interpret the endorsement as confirmation of spying, but critics such as John Bossy argue it may reflect non-espionage tasks, like diplomatic errands for figures such as Lord Buckhurst, emphasizing the absence of payroll evidence or explicit spy designations. Alternative explanations for absences include outbreaks like the 1585 plague, underscoring the speculative nature of recruitment claims.

Known Operations and Travels

Marlowe's documented activities are sparse and largely inferred from during his Cambridge years. Between 1580 and 1587, he exhibited prolonged absences from Corpus Christi College, exceeding those typical for students, which fueled suspicions of disloyalty among university officials. On 29 June 1587, the Privy Council issued a letter to Cambridge authorities vouching for Marlowe, stating that reports of his intent to join the English Catholic seminary at Rheims were unfounded, as he had instead been engaged "in matters touching the benefit of her Majesty's service" during his travels abroad and had behaved loyally. This intervention secured his Master of Arts degree, implying official sanction for secretive work likely under Sir Francis Walsingham's intelligence network, though specific tasks remain unrecorded. Scholars have proposed that one such operation involved a covert visit to Rheims, , circa 1585, where Marlowe may have posed as a Catholic sympathizer to infiltrate the headed by William Allen and monitor English exiles plotting against . However, no primary documents confirm this travel, and the Privy Council's assurance primarily counters defection rumors rather than detailing missions. Later, in 1592, Marlowe faced arrest alongside others for alleged coin counterfeiting in the English of the , an offense punishable by death; he was bound over but not prosecuted, suggesting possible mitigation through connections. This incident hints at potential undercover activities abroad, as counterfeiting could serve as a for gathering economic or political , yet direct links to sanctioned operations are absent. No further verified travels or specific assignments are attested in surviving records.

Evidence and Historical Context

The primary historical evidence for Christopher Marlowe's involvement in intelligence activities stems from a letter dated June 29, 1587, from the to the authorities. This document addressed concerns that Marlowe intended to leave for Rheims, a center for Catholic seminary training and suspected plotting against the English crown, noting that he had previously absented himself to Rheims and the household of "Master Paver" (likely , an English recusant) "for matters touching the benefit of his country," and affirming his orderly behavior during such service. In the Elizabethan context of pervasive Catholic conspiracies, including the recent (1583) and looming Spanish threats culminating in the Armada (1588), such interventions imply Marlowe's engagement in covert operations to monitor or infiltrate recusant networks, leveraging his scholarly profile for . Further arises from Marlowe's arrest on January 26, 1592, in Flushing (Vlissingen), , for alleged coining—counterfeiting coins, a capital offense often linked to destabilizing enemy economies. He was quickly bailed by English agents connected to the government, including William Cobham, lord warden of the , suggesting official protection amid ongoing Anglo-Dutch tensions and anti-Catholic surveillance in the . This incident aligns with broader espionage tactics under Sir Francis Walsingham's network, which employed university-educated agents for financial disruption against Catholic exiles, though direct payroll records naming Marlowe remain absent. Marlowe's documented associations, such as his patronage by (brother of the late spymaster ) from around 1591, provide additional context, as the Walsingham circle included known intelligencers amid post-Armada vigilance against Jesuit infiltration. However, while these elements—combined with untraced absences from (1585–1587)—support interpretations of state service, skeptics note the lack of explicit spy designations in surviving records, attributing the endorsement to general diplomatic utility rather than formalized . The evidentiary base thus rests on official interventions and patterns of covert travel, set against an era where England's survival hinged on preemptive intelligence against papal bulls and foreign alliances targeting .

Literary Career

Entry into Playwriting and Theater

Upon completing his degree at University in 1587, Christopher Marlowe relocated to , where he began his career as a professional . His entry into the theatrical world was marked by the performance of the Great, likely staged that same year by the Lord Admiral's Men, a prominent acting company led by , who is believed to have originated the title role. The play's debut introduced audiences to Marlowe's innovative use of , earning acclaim for its rhetorical power and establishing him as a transformative figure in . Prior to or concurrent with Tamburlaine, Marlowe may have contributed to , a collaboration with , which was performed by the Children of the Chapel, a troupe of boy actors attached to the royal chapel. This earlier work, drawing from Virgil's , reflects Marlowe's developing interest in classical themes and tragic narrative, though its exact dating remains uncertain, possibly originating during his student years at . Marlowe's rapid integration into London's theater scene positioned him among key figures like Philip Henslowe, the Admiral's Men impresario, and Alleyn, facilitating performances at venues such as the Rose Theatre. His plays' emphasis on ambitious protagonists and grandiose spectacle aligned with the era's growing demand for professional public theater, propelling him to prominence within a competitive landscape of emerging dramatists.

Major Plays

Christopher Marlowe's major plays, composed primarily between 1587 and 1593, revolutionized English drama through their use of , grandiose rhetoric, and protagonists embodying unchecked ambition and defiance of divine or social order. These works, often performed by leading troupes such as the Lord Admiral's Men and Lord Strange's Men with actors like in starring roles, drew from historical, classical, and contemporary sources to explore themes of power, revenge, and human limitation. Dido, Queen of Carthage, likely written around 1587–1593 and possibly in collaboration with , dramatizes episodes from Virgil's , centering on the Carthaginian queen's passionate love for the Trojan and her tragic upon his departure. First published in 1594 by the widow of Edward White, the play features Marlowe's early experimentation with dramatic structure and emotional intensity, though its authorship attribution remains debated due to stylistic variances. Tamburlaine the Great, in two parts, was composed in 1587, with Part I first performed that year by the Lord Admiral's Men. Loosely based on the 14th-century conqueror (Tamerlane), it portrays a Scythian shepherd's meteoric rise through military prowess and rhetorical dominance, culminating in vast empire-building followed by hubristic downfall in Part II. Published in 1590, the play's bombastic style and "mighty line" of established Marlowe's reputation for heroic tragedy, influencing subsequent Elizabethan drama. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, written circa 1589–1592, adapts the German legend of a scholar who sells his soul to for magical knowledge and worldly pleasures. Performed by the Lord Admiral's Men around 1594, with publication in 1604 (A-text) and 1616 (B-text), the play probes humanism's perils, ambition's cost, and , featuring iconic scenes of demonic and Faustus's final . Scholarly consensus attributes the core text to Marlowe, though later versions include additions. The Jew of Malta, composed around 1589–1590 and first recorded in performance on February 26, 1592, by Lord Strange's Men, centers on Barabas, a cunning Maltese Jewish merchant whose wealth is seized by Christian authorities, prompting vengeful machinations including poisoning and intrigue. Published in 1633, the play's Machiavellian and satirical portrayal of religious reflect Marlowe's engagement with contemporary anti-Semitism and power dynamics, predating Shakespeare's . Edward II, written circa 1592 and published in 1594, chronicles the 14th-century English king's favoritism toward Piers Gaveston, leading to baronial revolt, , and Edward's brutal deposition and murder. As one of the earliest English history plays in , it draws from chronicles like Holinshed's, emphasizing political instability and personal relationships without overt elements, marking a shift toward more realistic . The Massacre at Paris, likely Marlowe's final play from 1593, depicts the 1572 of French , with the as a tyrannical villain and as a heroic Protestant figure. Surviving in a reported "bad " published around 1594, its fragmentary state and propagandistic tone suggest hasty composition amid Marlowe's ties, focusing on and royal intrigue.

Poetry, Translations, and Collaborations

Marlowe's surviving non-dramatic poetry centers on the unfinished erotic narrative , a retelling in rhymed couplets of the Greek myth concerning the lovers separated by the Hellespont. Written prior to his death in 1593, the poem's first two sestiads were published posthumously in 1598 by Edward Blount. The work's sensual imagery and exploration of desire exemplify Marlowe's innovative verse style. George Chapman completed the poem with four additional sestiads, first appearing in the 1598 second edition, thus forming a posthumous that extended Marlowe's original vision while introducing Chapman's metaphysical elements. This extension preserved and popularized the piece, though scholars note divergences in tone between the contributors. In translations, Marlowe rendered the first three books of Ovid's Amores into English as All Ovids Elegies, a close verse emphasizing themes that mirrored Ovid's original wit and meter. Circulated in manuscript during his lifetime, it was printed around 1599 but swiftly suppressed by authorities due to its perceived immorality, linking it to the 1593 blasphemy charges against him. Marlowe also produced a line-for-line translation of the first book of Lucan's epic Pharsalia (De Bello Civili), published in 1600, showcasing his ability to convey the Roman poet's rhetorical intensity and historical drama in vigorous . These translations, alongside , highlight Marlowe's engagement with classical sources, influencing Elizabethan literary forms without direct contemporary collaborations beyond Chapman's completion.

Chronology and Dating of Works

The precise chronology of Christopher Marlowe's works remains uncertain due to the scarcity of contemporary records, with composition dates inferred from allusions, performance allusions in diaries like Philip Henslowe's, and internal stylistic evidence rather than direct documentation. Many plays circulated in among theater companies before , and posthumous publications often occurred decades later, complicating attribution of revisions. Scholars generally date Marlowe's earliest surviving works to his university years or shortly after, progressing through his theatrical career until his death in 1593. Poetry and translations likely preceded or paralleled his dramatic output, with plays forming the bulk of his canon from circa 1586 onward. The following table summarizes accepted dates for his attributed works, excluding disputed collaborations or lost pieces.
WorkEstimated CompositionPublication DateNotes
First Book of Lucan (translation)c. 15821600Fragmentary hexameter translation of Lucan's Pharsalia; early student work.
Ovid’s Amores (translation)c. 15821599 (suppressed)Erotic elegies; banned by Archbishop Whitgift for immorality.
Dido, Queen of Carthagec. 1585–15861594Co-authored with Thomas Nashe; performed by Children of the Chapel.
Tamburlaine the Great, Part 1c. 1586–15871590Performed autumn 1587 by Lord Admiral’s Men; introduced "mighty line" blank verse.
Tamburlaine the Great, Part 2c. 15871590Sequel performed with Part 1; published anonymously in single volume.
The Jew of Maltac. 1589–15901633Performed by Lord Admiral’s Men; bad quarto suggests memorial reconstruction.
Doctor Faustusc. 1589; revised c. 15921604 (A-text, pirated)Lord Admiral’s Men; B-text 1616 includes expansions; allusions date original to late 1580s.
Edward IIc. 15921594Performed by Earl of Pembroke’s Men; earliest English play on royal deposition.
The Massacre at Parisc. 1592–1593c. 1594 (undated quarto)Pirated "bad" quarto; addressed French Huguenot massacre.
Hero and Leanderc. 1593 (unfinished)1598Erotic narrative poem; completed posthumously by George Chapman.
These estimates reflect consensus among Marlovian scholars, though debates persist, particularly for Doctor Faustus and , where some argue for later revisions based on textual variants. No works bear Marlowe's name on initial title pages, with authorship inferred from performance contexts and stylistic hallmarks.

Philosophical and Personal Controversies

Accusations of Atheism and Blasphemy

In May 1593, during a investigation into "atheistical" libels posted against London's Dutch church, playwright was arrested on suspicion of . Under torture, Kyd confessed to possessing heretical documents and implicated his former roommate, Christopher Marlowe, asserting that "monstrous blasphemies" and "vile heretical conceits" denying Christ's divinity originated with Marlowe, who had reportedly mocked the as "filthily written" and questioned miracles as jugglery. Kyd's statements, extracted via —a standard Elizabethan interrogation method—prompted authorities to issue an arrest warrant for Marlowe on May 18, 1593, charging him with . Three days before Marlowe's death, on May 27, 1593, professional informant Richard Baines—previously involved in anti-Catholic espionage—deposed a note enumerating eighteen specific "damnable judgments" he attributed to Marlowe based on conversations among their shared circle. These included claims that Jesus was the bastard son of an adulteress and a Roman soldier, a figure of "juggling" rather than divinity; that Moses performed tricks via natural means like gunpowder; that the apostles were base men motivated by lust for women; and that the Old and New Testaments were fabricated for monetary gain, fit only for "pigs" and the ignorant, while the "gods" of poets like Ovid represented true antiquity. Baines further alleged Marlowe advocated rejecting scripture in favor of reason, viewing religion as a tool of political control by princes. Elizabethan law treated atheism as high treason, not mere irreligion, since denying God's providence eroded the divine-right monarchy and risked social anarchy amid Catholic-Protestant tensions. Punishments could include death by burning, as seen in the 1591 execution of John Storey for related heresies. Marlowe appeared before the Privy Council on May 20, posting bond for good behavior pending further inquiry, but no formal trial ensued due to his fatal stabbing on May 30. Scholarly assessments of the accusations' reliability remain divided, reflecting the informants' compromised positions. Kyd's claims, obtained under physical known to elicit false confessions, align with his efforts post-torture. Baines, a serial perjurer later tried for in 1594 and with documented rivalries in the intelligence network, likely stood to gain from implicating Marlowe, possibly fabricating or amplifying statements for favor or pay. While historian Paul Kocher contended the Baines note mirrored skeptical undercurrents in Marlowe's plays—such as Doctor Faustus's Faustus bargaining with a demonic over scriptural doubts—others, noting inconsistencies like anachronistic phrasing and Baines' history of anti-Catholic , dismiss it as opportunistic slander amid 1590s puritanical zeal against freethinkers. No independent corroboration exists, and the absence of prosecution suggests the —led by figures like Sir Francis Walsingham's successors—may have viewed the evidence as insufficient or politically expedient to suppress quietly.

Allegations of Immoral Conduct and Sexuality

In late May 1593, Richard Baines, a former associate and government informant who had lodged with Marlowe and worked alongside him in activities in the , submitted a document known as the Baines Note to English authorities. This note enumerated twenty alleged opinions voiced by Marlowe, many of which portrayed him as endorsing and illicit behaviors, including a dismissive attitude toward conventional morality in favor of personal indulgence. Among the charges relevant to immoral conduct, Baines claimed Marlowe asserted "he had as good right to coine as the Queen of ," reflecting a defiance of that aligned with Marlowe's prior in Flushing, , in early 1592 for involvement in counterfeiting coins from base metals like —a punishable by death, though Marlowe was deported without following intervention by English officials. Regarding sexuality, Baines accused Marlowe of promoting pederastic preferences, reporting his statement that "all they that loue not tobaco & boies were fooles," which in Elizabethan context implied sodomitical inclinations toward young males, a practice encompassed under the broad legal category of that carried the death penalty by , drawing, and quartering. Baines further alleged Marlowe mocked Christian figures by claiming Saint John the Evangelist was Christ's "Ganymede"—alluding to the classical myth of Zeus's homosexual love for the youth Ganymede—and that Christ loved John "with an affection, much aboue the loue to his mother," framing religious icons in terms of erotic male bonds. The Baines Note's reliability is compromised by the informant's self-interested motives; Baines, facing his own counterfeiting charges in Flushing where he and Marlowe mutually accused each other, confessed partial involvement to evade execution and later informed against Marlowe amid broader scrutiny of suspected atheists and subversives. No corroborating evidence or witnesses substantiated these sexual allegations, and Marlowe faced no prosecution for or related immorality during his lifetime, despite the era's severe penalties and his by state agents—indicating the claims may have functioned primarily as a tool for posthumous or preemptive discreditation rather than actionable testimony. In September 1589, Marlowe participated in a violent in Hog Lane, , , against William Bradley, the son of an innkeeper. Marlowe drew his first, inflicting a non-fatal to Bradley's arm, after which the poet Thomas Watson intervened; during the ensuing struggle, Watson stabbed Bradley through the chest, causing his death shortly thereafter. Both men were arrested: Watson faced charges of , while Marlowe was bound over to keep the peace as an accessory, though he was ultimately discharged without further penalty after providing sureties. In January 1592, Marlowe was arrested in Flushing (), an English garrison town in the , on suspicion of counterfeiting coins, specifically for possessing tools and materials intended to produce counterfeit Dutch shillings from . Local authorities detained him briefly before deporting him to without a full , where he was released, possibly through intervention by patrons connected to the Elizabethan intelligence network. This incident occurred amid Flushing's role as a hub for and illicit trade during the Anglo-Dutch conflicts with , though no conclusive evidence linked Marlowe's actions to state-sponsored operations.

Arrest, Death, and Surrounding Mysteries

The 1593 Arrest Warrant

On 18 May 1593, the issued a warrant directing Henry Maunder, a messenger of the Queen's Chamber, to apprehend Christopher Marlowe at the residence of in , and bring him before the Council for questioning. The warrant did not specify charges but arose from an ongoing investigation into circulating atheistic and heretical libels, prompted by the discovery of incriminating documents during a search of lodgings on 15 May 1593. Under and reported , Kyd implicated Marlowe, claiming the heretical papers—denying the of Christ and mocking religious doctrines—had been in Marlowe's possession during their earlier and shared lodgings two years prior. Marlowe surrendered voluntarily to the authorities on 20 May 1593 and appeared before the at the court in Greenwich, where he was not detained but released on surety bonds totaling £100, with orders to report daily for further examination. He was placed under the custody of , a prominent and patron known for his connections to intelligence networks, who posted bond for Marlowe's good behavior. The Council's leniency toward Marlowe, despite the severity of heresy charges punishable by burning, has been attributed to his possible service as an agent in Walsingham's employ, though primary evidence for this remains circumstantial and debated among historians. Related to the warrant's context, informant Richard Baines submitted a detailed note on 27 May 1593 enumerating 20 articles of Marlowe's alleged blasphemous opinions, including claims that Christ was a homosexual, the a fable, and preferable to sacraments. Baines, a former associate of Marlowe with a history of criminal accusations including counterfeiting, likely drew from personal interactions during their time together in the , but the note's timing suggests it supplemented rather than initiated the arrest proceedings. These documents reflect the Elizabethan regime's heightened scrutiny of intellectual circles suspected of undermining religious orthodoxy, amid broader fears of following Dutch Church libels printed in . Kyd died shortly after in , while Marlowe's obligations under the warrant persisted until his on 30 May 1593.

The Deptford Incident

On 30 May 1593, Christopher Marlowe spent the day at the house of Eleanor Bull, a widow, located on Deptford Strand near the River Thames. He was accompanied by Ingram Frizer, a businessman with ties to the Walsingham family; Nicholas Skeres, a con artist and associate of Frizer; and Robert Poley, a government messenger and informant. The group arrived around 10 a.m., dined together, walked in the garden, and later supped before retiring to a private room. A dispute arose over le recknynge, the bill for food and drink. Marlowe, reclining on a in the room, reached for Frizer's —Frizer sat with his back to Marlowe, positioned between the and the door—and struck Frizer twice on the , inflicting wounds about two inches long and a quarter-inch deep. In the struggle, with Skeres and Poley seated nearby, Frizer wrested the weapon from Marlowe and, to defend himself, thrust it once over Marlowe's right eye, penetrating two inches deep and one inch wide into the brain, causing instantaneous death around 6 p.m. or later. The 's inquest, convened on 1 June 1593 by William Danby, of the Queen's Household, with a of fifteen men, examined Marlowe's body in Churchyard and heard consistent testimony from Skeres and Poley. It determined that Frizer committed the act in during vi et armis (by force and arms) but without , classifying it as a rather than . Frizer was briefly detained but received a royal pardon from Queen Elizabeth I on 28 June 1593; Skeres and Poley were bound over to the next session but faced no further charges. Marlowe's body was buried that same day, 1 June, in the churchyard of St. Nicholas, .

Coroner's Inquest and Official Verdict

The coroner's into Christopher Marlowe's death was conducted on June 1, 1593, by William Danby, the Coroner of the Queen's Household, at Strand in , within the jurisdictional verge of the royal court. The proceedings involved a of sixteen local men, including Draper, Wolstan Randall, and Henry Dabyns, who were sworn to determine the based on testimonies from the three surviving witnesses present at the scene: Ingram Frizer, Skeres, and Robert Poley. The report detailed the events of , 1593, at the house of widow Eleanor Bull, where Marlowe, Frizer, Skeres, and Poley had gathered, dined, walked in the garden, and later supped together. A dispute arose over "le recknynge," or the of the bill, during which Marlowe, reportedly lying on a in the room, suddenly seized Frizer's from his belt and inflicted wounds on Frizer's head. With his back turned to Marlowe and unable to escape due to the positioning of Skeres and Poley, Frizer struggled with Marlowe, wrested the away, and struck a single mortal blow over Marlowe's right eye, measuring two inches deep and one inch wide, causing instantaneous death around 6 to 8 p.m. The jury unanimously accepted the witnesses' consistent accounts, recording that Frizer had acted "in defence of his life" against Marlowe's unprovoked . The official thus classified Marlowe's death as , absolving Frizer of ; he was bound over on pending further review and received a full royal pardon from Queen Elizabeth I on June 15, 1593. This primary document, preserved in the and rediscovered in 1925, remains the sole contemporaneous official record of the incident.

Alternative Theories and Lack of Conclusive Evidence

The theory posits that Marlowe staged his death at to escape impending trial and execution for and , allegedly with assistance from patrons like , allowing him to continue writing anonymously thereafter. Proponents, often termed Marlovians, argue this based on claimed irregularities, including the dagger wound's position—described as entering the eye and penetrating the from behind—which they deem implausible in a face-to-face brawl over a bill, and the improbably swift pardon of Frizer on June 15, 1593, just 15 days later. They further highlight the involvement of known government informants like Robert Poley and Skeres, suggesting a facilitated by intelligence networks, and point to post-1593 works with Marlovian stylistic traits as indirect proof of his . However, these interpretations lack empirical substantiation and overlook the inquest's primary-source status, a detailed Latin from June 1, 1593, sworn by 15 jurors who examined the body and heard consistent testimonies from Frizer, Poley, and Skeres. The wound's mechanics align with forensic possibilities of close-quarters struggle, and Frizer's pardon followed standard Elizabethan precedent for claims against a felon, as Marlowe was under . No contemporary records or eyewitness accounts postdate May 30, 1593, contradicting survival; alleged "Marlowe" signatures or sightings in later decades fail or contextual verification. Stylometric studies, employing computational authorship attribution, consistently differentiate Marlowe's pre-1593 corpus from subsequent Elizabethan dramas, refuting covert continuation. Assassination hypotheses alternatively claim state-orchestrated murder to eliminate Marlowe as a liability from or heretical writings, implicating figures like Sir Francis Walsingham's successors amid anti-Catholic plots. Yet, such theories depend on unproven motives and ignore the inquest's unanimous finding, with no archival evidence of orders or beyond Marlowe's documented ties, which were common among writers. The hasty, unmarked burial in St. Nicholas Churchyard aligns with plague-era norms rather than conspiracy. These alternatives, while fueled by the era's intrigue and Marlowe's enigmatic life, remain speculative without corroborative documents, artifacts, or independent witnesses, yielding no conclusive challenge to the official verdict of manslaughter. Scholarly consensus, grounded in the 1925 rediscovery of the inquest by J. Leslie Hotson from the Public Record Office, upholds the death as factual, attributing persistent theories to romanticized gaps rather than causal proof.

Legacy and Reception

Contemporary Views from Peers

Contemporary playwrights and poets praised Marlowe's contributions to and verse shortly after his death on May 30, 1593. , in his celebratory poem composed for the installation of the on July 6, 1593, honored Marlowe as "the Muses' darling" for his verse, emphasizing his poetic talent amid tributes to other deceased figures. Thomas Nashe, a collaborator and friend who co-authored Dido, Queen of Carthage and facilitated its posthumous quarto publication in 1594, expressed personal affection in Christ's Tears over Jerusalem (1593), referring to "poor deceased Kit Marlowe" alongside other recently departed writers like John Lyly. Ben Jonson, emerging as a dramatist in the late 1590s, later recognized Marlowe's influence on blank verse in his 1623 eulogy "To the Memory of My Beloved, The Author Mr. William Shakespeare," stating that Shakespeare surpassed "Marlowe's mighty line," thereby affirming the vigor and innovation of Marlowe's iambic pentameter style. Francis Meres, in Palladis Tamia (1598), listed Marlowe among England's premier tragedians, equating him with Shakespeare as "one of our best for Tragedie" and noting his for its tragic poetic merit, though also recounting rumors of his death as stabbing by a rival in "lewd love." Not all views were unqualified praise; Robert Greene, in Groats-worth of Wit (1592), implicitly criticized the hyperbolic ambition in Marlowe's Tamburlaine plays, warning peers like Marlowe, Nashe, and Peele against writers whose "wings [are] candles to the sun," decrying overreaching rhetorical excess.

Posthumous Publications and Influence

Marlowe's unfinished narrative poem appeared in print in 1598, five years after his death, issued by Edward Blount in a edition containing solely the 818 lines composed by Marlowe. later supplied the remaining 1,182 lines, with the complete version published that same year in a second edition. The poem's erotic and mythological content, drawn from and Musaeus, exemplifies Marlowe's mastery of heroic couplets and sensual imagery, achieving immediate popularity evidenced by multiple reprints through the early 17th century. Several plays attributed to Marlowe saw their first quarto publications posthumously, including Edward II in 1594, The Massacre at Paris in 1594, and The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus in 1604. The Jew of Malta followed much later in 1633, while Dido, Queen of Carthage, co-authored with Thomas Nashe, emerged in 1594. These editions, often memorial reconstructions or prompted by theatrical demand, preserved Marlowe's dramatic innovations, such as the use of blank verse for grand, rhetorical speeches that elevated tragedy beyond medieval morality plays. Marlowe's posthumous works exerted profound influence on Elizabethan and Jacobean drama, particularly through his pioneering "mighty line" of iambic pentameter, which imparted a majestic rhythm suited to heroic and ambitious characters. This stylistic breakthrough is credited with transforming English stage verse, enabling more fluid and expressive dialogue that subsequent playwrights emulated. His thematic explorations of overreaching protagonists, as in Doctor Faustus and Tamburlaine, prefigured the psychological depth in later tragedies, with parallels noted in Shakespeare's early histories and Hamlet, including shared motifs of ambition, power, and moral downfall. Scholars observe direct allusions to Marlovian phrasing and structure in Shakespeare's plays, underscoring Marlowe's role in shifting drama toward secular humanism and individualism.

Impact on Shakespeare and Elizabethan Drama

Marlowe's pioneering use of in plays such as Tamburlaine the Great (published 1590), which featured the rhythmic "mighty line" of , established a flexible yet majestic poetic form that supplanted rhyme and transformed Elizabethan . This allowed for more natural speech patterns while maintaining grandeur, directly influencing subsequent dramatists by demonstrating blank verse's dramatic potential beyond earlier rigid applications. Scholars note that Marlowe's emphasis on overreaching protagonists, as in Doctor Faustus (c. 1592), introduced themes of hubristic ambition and moral downfall that echoed through the era's works, elevating the from simplistic morality tales to complex figures driven by . Shakespeare's early career, beginning around 1590, shows clear assimilation of Marlovian techniques, with textual parallels in phrasing and structure. For instance, the soliloquy "Hung be the heavens with black" in Henry VI, Part 3 (c. 1591) recalls Marlowe's "set black streamers in the firmament" from Tamburlaine, Part 2 (c. 1588), indicating stylistic borrowing in evoking cosmic despair. Computational stylometric analysis in the 2016 New Oxford Shakespeare edition attributed portions of the Henry VI trilogy to Marlowe as co-author, based on rare word frequencies and n-gram patterns matching his canon more closely than Shakespeare's mature style, suggesting direct collaboration or heavy emulation in the early 1590s. These attributions align with historical records of overlapping theater companies, such as Lord Strange's Men, where both playwrights' works were performed. Beyond Shakespeare, Marlowe's model spurred a wave of ambitious tragedies and histories, as seen in the emulation of his bombastic rhetoric and exotic settings by contemporaries like in The Spanish Tragedy (1592). His focus on individual agency over shifted dramatic causality toward psychological and political realism, influencing the genre's evolution from medieval plays to sophisticated explorations of power dynamics. This causal framework, rooted in Marlowe's portrayal of protagonists like whose conquests stem from willful defiance rather than fate, provided Elizabethan drama with a template for character-driven narratives that Shakespeare expanded into multifaceted psychologies in works like Richard III (c. 1593) and Macbeth (1606). While Shakespeare surpassed Marlowe in psychological depth and comic integration, the foundational elements of rhetorical power and thematic ambition trace verifiably to Marlowe's pre-1593 output.

Modern Reassessments and Recent Scholarship

In the twenty-first century, scholars have reassessed Christopher Marlowe's oeuvre through rigorous textual analysis and historical contextualization, emphasizing his mastery of and dramatic structure as foundational to Elizabethan tragedy, rather than mere precursors to Shakespearean innovation. The Cambridge Companion to Christopher Marlowe (2004) highlights this shift, with contributors arguing that Marlowe's plays, such as Tamburlaine the Great, exemplify a deliberate craftsmanship in blending classical with subversive themes of power and ambition, supported by examinations of manuscript variants and performance records. Recent editions, including the collection Christopher Marlowe the Craftsman (2019), further this view by compiling essays on his stage techniques, such as the use of soliloquies to probe human agency, drawing on archival evidence from Henslowe's Diary to demonstrate his practical influence on London's theater companies. Biographical scholarship has pivoted toward empirical reconstruction of Marlowe's life amid Elizabethan surveillance and religious strife, as in Stephen Greenblatt's Dark (2025), which utilizes coroner's inquests, intelligence dispatches, and university records to depict him as a state informant whose charges—stemming from 1593 depositions by Richard Baines—reflected genuine intellectual provocations rather than fabricated pretexts for elimination. Greenblatt contends that Marlowe's fatal stabbing on May 30, 1593, by Ingram Frizer aligned with the official verdict, attributing it to a mundane brawl exacerbated by his precarious double life, while dismissing faked-death theories for lack of corroborative documents beyond the inquest's 14 witnesses. This approach contrasts with earlier romantic speculations, prioritizing causal links between Marlowe's under Sir and the political risks of his era. Studies of Marlowe's religious nonconformity have gained nuance, with 2024 analyses tracing accusations of to his of Ovidian and Lucanian , as explored in Marlowe Studies journal articles that parse Baines's note of 30 "damnable opinions," including claims that "Christ was a ," as hyperbolic extrapolations from classical texts rather than personal . These reassessments, informed by cross-referencing with Cambridge University libels from 1589–1593, underscore systemic biases in Elizabethan informers' reports, yet affirm Marlowe's works' empirical challenge to providential orthodoxy through characters like Faustus, whose invites causal downfall without divine intervention. Annual overviews, such as The Year's Work in Marlowe Studies: 2022, document this trend toward interdisciplinary methods, integrating paleography and network analysis to verify attributions and refute unsubstantiated claims of collaboration beyond documented plays.

Authorship Theories and Debates

Marlovian Theory of Shakespeare

The Marlovian theory posits that Christopher Marlowe authored the majority or entirety of the works attributed to William Shakespeare, having staged his death on May 30, 1593, to escape capital charges of atheism, heresy, and possible treason amid political intrigue as a government informant. Proponents contend this allowed Marlowe to continue writing under the front of the minimally educated Stratford actor William Shakespeare, selected for his unremarkable background that would deflect scrutiny from the true author's controversial life. The theory emerged in the early 19th century, with an anonymous suggestion in an 1819 Monthly Review article linking the styles of Marlowe and Shakespeare, and was elaborated by Wilbur G. Zeigler in his 1888 novel It Was Marlowe, framing it as a deliberate pseudonym to evade persecution. It gained wider attention through Calvin Hoffman's 1955 book The Man Who Was Shakespeare, which argued for Marlowe's survival based on inconsistencies in the Deptford inquest and parallels in the authors' outputs. Central to the theory is the biographical mismatch between Shakespeare and the canon’s demands: Marlowe’s Cambridge education, mastery of Latin, Greek, and reportedly other languages, European travels, and immersion in espionage circles aligned with the plays’ depictions of classical allusions, Italian locales, legal arcana, naval tactics, and courtly machinations—knowledge exceeding the documented scope of Shakespeare’s life as a Stratford glover’s son with grammar-school training and no evidence of university or foreign experience. Advocates highlight Marlowe’s social range, from humble origins to royal service under figures like Sir Francis Walsingham, as mirroring the canon’s spectrum of characters and themes like exile and disguise, while Shakespeare left no manuscripts, letters, or literary artifacts despite his supposed productivity. The timeline reinforces this: no undisputed Shakespeare publications predate Marlowe’s disappearance, with Venus and Adonis—registered anonymously on April 18, 1593, and pseudonymously on June 12—exhibiting Marlovian echoes in its mythological eroticism and dedication to the Earl of Southampton, a suspected Marlowe patron. Early history plays such as Henry VI and Titus Andronicus, initially linked to Marlowe by contemporaries, are seen as transitional works post-"death." Stylometric comparisons form a key pillar, with proponents citing computational tests where Marlowe’s metrics—rare words, function word frequencies, and syntactic patterns—closely align with Shakespeare’s, outperforming other candidates in distinguishing early canon entries. Internal "clues" include Shakespeare’s sonnets referencing a concealed identity, premature death, and rivalry (e.g., Sonnet 74’s "The earth can yield me nothing to my mind" and Sonnet 66’s despair), interpreted as Marlowe’s veiled autobiography of survival in exile under Walsingham’s protection. Plays like The Tempest and As You Like It contain purported anagrams, acrostics, and motifs of faked demise (e.g., Deptford-like stabbings), while the 1623 First Folio’s Stratford monument—depicting a man without tools—allegedly symbolizes the pseudonymous ruse. The Deptford event itself is portrayed as a scripted escape, with bribed witnesses (all government affiliates) and a coroner’s report rushed by Queen’s official William Danby, void under common law for lacking a jury of locals. Though lacking direct documentary proof, advocates maintain the theory resolves anomalies in the orthodox narrative through Marlowe’s documented genius and the era’s espionage precedents.

Criticisms and Empirical Counterarguments

The Marlovian theory, positing that Christopher Marlowe authored the Shakespeare canon after faking his death in 1593, encounters substantial empirical challenges from historical records and linguistic analysis. Primary among these is the absence of verifiable evidence supporting Marlowe's survival beyond that date, contrasted with extensive documentation affirming William Shakespeare's active involvement in London's theatrical scene from the late 1580s through the early 1610s. Shakespeare's baptism in on April 26, 1564, his marriage to in 1582, property transactions including shares in the by 1599, and his will probated in 1616 place him squarely in the milieu of playwriting and performance during the period of the disputed works' composition and staging. No comparable records link Marlowe to any post-1593 activities, and claims of his continued existence rely on circumstantial interpretations of allusions or cryptographic patterns in texts, which lack independent corroboration. The official account of Marlowe's death, detailed in the coroner's inquest conducted by William Danby on May 30, 1593, describes him being fatally stabbed above the right eye by Ingram Frizer during an altercation over a bill at Eleanor Bull's house in Deptford, with three witnesses—Nicholas Skeres, Robert Poley, and Frizer himself—present and attesting to Frizer acting in self-defense. Frizer received a royal pardon on June 15, 1593, consistent with procedures for justifiable homicide rather than a cover-up. Proponents of faked death cite procedural irregularities, such as the inquest's jurisdiction under the Queen's Household coroner without a county counterpart, but these do not negate the eyewitness testimonies or the physical examination of the body, and no contemporary sources impugned the verdict's authenticity. Staging such an event would require complicity from multiple parties, including potential rivals in intelligence networks, yet yields no documentary trace, rendering the hypothesis causally implausible absent motive beyond evasion of atheism charges, which Marlowe's prior summons on May 18, 1593, suggests were not immediately lethal. Stylometric analyses further delineate distinct authorial fingerprints between Marlowe's seven extant plays and Shakespeare's corpus. A 2012 computational study employing generative language models and vocabulary profiling achieved 93.5% accuracy in classifying works among five early modern authors, with Marlowe and Shakespeare clustering separately in analyses; misclassifications occurred primarily due to Shakespeare's larger corpus skewing , but early Shakespearean works showed no affinity to Marlowe's style when segmented temporally. Marlowe's verse adheres to a more rigid "mighty line" of with grandiose and limited , as in Tamburlaine (published 1590), whereas Shakespeare's later output incorporates varied rhythms, extensive dialogue, psychological depth in characters, and evolving metrics reflective of theatrical collaboration, evident in post-1593 plays like Hamlet (c. 1600). Such divergences align with Shakespeare's documented career progression, including co-authorship credits in quartos like Henry VI, Part Three (1595), and contradict the theory's implication of stylistic continuity under pseudonym. The theory's logistical demands—Marlowe, aged 29 at his reported death, secretly producing 36-38 plays and poems over two decades while evading detection, attributing them to an with a provincial grammar-school —defy practical realism without intermediaries or financial trails, none of which surface in Stationers' Register entries or Globe records naming Shakespeare as proprietor and . Contemporary attestations, such as Ben Jonson's 1623 Folio praise of Shakespeare as "not of an age, but for all time" and Francis Meres's 1598 listing of Shakespeare alongside Marlowe as living poets, reinforce the distinction without hinting at substitution. Scholarly consensus, as articulated by biographers like Charles Nicholl, deems the Marlovian scenario speculative eccentricity, prioritizing the convergence of biographical, bibliographical, and forensic linguistic evidence for Shakespeare's authorship over unfalsifiable conspiratorial narratives.

Performances and Adaptations

Historical Stage Productions

Christopher Marlowe's plays achieved significant success on the Elizabethan stage, primarily through performances by professional adult companies such as the Lord Admiral's Men at Philip Henslowe's Rose Theatre on Bankside. Tamburlaine the Great, Marlowe's breakthrough work, premiered around 1587 and was staged multiple times, establishing blank verse tragedy and attracting large audiences with its spectacle of conquest and rhetoric. The play's quarto edition of 1590 notes it was "sundry times shewed" by the Lord Admiral's servants, indicating repeated public performances that contributed to Marlowe's early fame. Subsequent plays like Doctor Faustus and followed in the late 1580s to early 1590s, also mounted by the Admiral's Men with lead actor portraying the titular roles of Faustus and Barabas, respectively. Doctor Faustus, likely first performed around 1592, drew on popular Faust legends and featured demonic spectacles that captivated audiences, as evidenced by Henslowe's diary records of payments for play-related effects. The Jew of Malta, performed circa 1592-1594, showcased Machiavellian intrigue and was popular enough to influence contemporary views on and , though exact performance counts remain sparse beyond Henslowe's allusions to "the Jewe" in his accounts. Edward II, composed around 1592 and premiered posthumously in 1592-1593, shifted to domestic history and was likely staged by Pembroke's Men, marking Marlowe's innovation in chronicle drama with its focus on political downfall and same-sex favoritism. The Massacre at Paris, a shorter work on the St. Bartholomew's Day events, received limited performances around 1593 by the Admiral's Men, but its textual corruption suggests hasty or abbreviated staging. , co-authored with , may have been performed earlier by the Children of the , though evidence is indirect via its 1594 publication. After Marlowe's death in 1593, his plays continued in repertory into the early , but interest waned by the mid-17th century amid theater closures and shifting tastes favoring Shakespeare. Revivals were infrequent; Edward II and garnered 18th-century scholarly notice but few stage mountings, while Doctor Faustus saw sporadic adaptations tied to Goethe's Faust in the , reflecting renewed Romantic interest in overreaching protagonists rather than faithful Elizabethan reconstructions. Henslowe's records confirm the Admiral's Men's reliance on Marlowe's works for commercial viability, with costumes and props recycled across productions, underscoring their role in shaping public theater economics.

Modern Theater Revivals

Interest in staging Marlowe's plays waned after the early 17th century but revived in the 20th century, with professional productions emphasizing his blank verse, thematic ambition, and proto-modern sensibilities. The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) led this resurgence, mounting The Jew of Malta in 1987 directed by Barry Kyle, which explored themes of revenge and Machiavellianism through a stylized lens. This was followed by Edward II in 1990 under Ian Judge, highlighting the king's relationship with Gaveston amid political intrigue, drawing parallels to contemporary power dynamics. The RSC's 1993 Tamburlaine the Great, directed by Terry Hands and combining both parts, featured Antony Sher in the title role and underscored the conqueror's ruthless ascent with epic spectacle, marking a rare full staging since the Elizabethan era. Into the 21st century, the RSC continued with in 2015, directed by Justin Audibert in a gender-flipped casting approach that reexamined Barabas's villainy, and Doctor Faustus in 2016 under Maria Aberg, which integrated physical theater and to depict Faustus's pact as a for unchecked ambition. Off-West End and international venues also contributed; Theatre for a New Audience in New York presented Parts I and II in 2014–2015, starring as the Scythian warlord, praised for its visceral violence, effects, and three-hour runtime that captured the play's imperial scale without abridgment. Edward II has enjoyed particular frequency in modern repertory due to its frank depiction of same-sex desire and monarchical downfall, with notable stagings including the Prospect Theatre Company's 1969 production featuring as Edward, which toured internationally and influenced later interpretations. A 2020 Rhode Island production by the Sandra Feinstein Gamm Theatre updated the script with contemporary dialogue to accentuate Edward's favoritism and civil unrest, receiving acclaim for its accessibility while preserving Marlowe's rhetorical intensity. Doctor Faustus saw a 2015 revival by , adapted by Andrei Belgrader, focusing on Faustus's intellectual hubris amid minimalist staging. These productions, often adapting texts for contemporary resonance—such as linking Faustus's bargain to scientific overreach or Tamburlaine's conquests to modern —have affirmed Marlowe's dramatic vitality, though challenges like archaic language and episodic structures persist in attracting broad audiences.

Film, Radio, and Other Media

The 1967 film Doctor Faustus, directed by Richard Burton and Nevill Coghill, represents the first cinematic adaptation of a play by Marlowe, featuring Burton in the title role alongside an ensemble of Oxford University students and Elizabeth Taylor in cameo appearances as Helen of Troy. This production, based on the 1604 text of The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, emphasized visual spectacle with over 1,000 costumes and integrated operatic elements from the score. Derek Jarman's 1991 film Edward II updates Marlowe's The Troublesome Reign and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England to a modern setting, portraying the king's relationship with Piers Gaveston amid themes of power and sexuality, with as Edward and as Gaveston. The adaptation relocates the narrative to contemporary Britain, incorporating elements like gay rights activism to highlight the play's homoerotic undertones. In 2024, The Marlowe Sessions released filmed versions of all seven of Marlowe's surviving plays, captured during script-in-hand readings in with a cast including , marking the playwright's 460th birthday and providing access via 2D, VR, and audio formats for educational purposes. These productions, developed by the Marlowe Estate and partners, include stereo and audio dramas to broaden global reach. BBC Radio has broadcast adaptations of Marlowe's works, including a 2007 production of Doctor Faustus and a full collection of his six plays alongside a documentary drama on his death, available through archival releases. A 1970 BBC Television studio recording of Edward II, directed by Toby Robertson, featured and preserved an early color-era performance.

Cultural Depictions

Marlowe in Fiction and Biography

Biographical accounts of Christopher Marlowe have proliferated since the twentieth century, drawing on sparse Elizabethan records to reconstruct his life as a playwright, translator, and possible government informant. Park Honan's Christopher Marlowe: Poet & Spy (2005) utilizes newly examined archives from England and Europe to depict Marlowe's university years, literary output, and entanglement in intelligence networks under Sir Francis Walsingham, portraying his 1593 death as potentially linked to espionage debts rather than a mere brawl. Charles Nicholl's The Reckoning: The Murder of Christopher Marlowe (1992) focuses on the inquest into Marlowe's fatal stabbing on May 30, 1593, at Widow Bull's house in Deptford, arguing through coroner's reports and contemporary testimonies that the incident stemmed from political intrigue involving informants and religious tensions, dismissing the official "reckoning" over a bill as implausible cover. More recently, Stephen Greenblatt's Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Christopher Marlowe's World (2025) contextualizes Marlowe's rise from a Canterbury shoemaker's son—born February 6, 1564—to subversive dramatist amid Reformation-era perils, emphasizing his atheistic leanings documented in 1592 arrest warrants and influences from classical texts during his Corpus Christi College tenure from 1580 to 1587. Fictional treatments often amplify Marlowe's enigmatic end and rumored spy role, blending historical fragments with invention. Anthony Burgess's A Dead Man in Deptford (1993) narrates Marlowe's career through a semi-fictional lens, culminating in his Deptford demise as orchestrated retribution for heretical writings and covert operations, incorporating period idioms to evoke his blank verse innovations in plays like Tamburlaine the Great (performed circa 1587). Ros Barber's The Marlowe Papers (2012), a novel in blank and rhymed verse, imagines Marlowe surviving his reported death by fleeing abroad, attributing Shakespeare's canon to him while exploring patronage struggles under figures like Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby; it won the Desmond Elliott Prize for its stylistic mimicry of Marlovian metrics. Other portrayals, such as David Grimm's play Kit Marlowe (2000), stage Marlowe as a brawling, bisexual provocateur navigating London's theater scene and atheism accusations, reflecting archival hints of his 1580s travels in Rheims and possible Catholic recusancy probes. These works prioritize dramatic license over empirical restraint, often hypothesizing unverified survival theories despite coroner evidence of a single dagger wound above the eye inflicted by Ingram Frizer.

Memorials and Commemorations

The principal memorial to Christopher Marlowe is the Marlowe Memorial statue in Canterbury, Kent, erected in 1891 to honor the playwright born in the city. Sculpted by Edward Onslow Ford, the bronze figure represents the Muse of Poetry and was unveiled by actor Henry Irving on October 17, 1891, in the city's Buttermarket. The pedestal features four statuettes depicting characters from Marlowe's works: Tamburlaine, Barabas from The Jew of Malta, Edward II, and Doctor Faustus. Locally nicknamed "Kitty Marlowe" due to the figure's topless depiction, the memorial was relocated after World War I to King Street when the original site was repurposed, and in 1993 it was moved to its current position outside the Marlowe Theatre. In , , where Marlowe died on May 30, 1593, a marks the approximate site of his unmarked burial in the churchyard of St Nicholas Church. Installed by the London Municipal Society, the inscription reads: "Near this spot lie the mortal remains of Christopher Marlowe, who met his untimely death in on May 30th 1593." The exact grave location remains unknown, but the plaque serves as a focal point for annual commemorations, including tributes left by visitors. Westminster Abbey honors Marlowe with a stained-glass memorial panel in , unveiled on July 11, 2002, by actor Sir . Commissioned by and designed by artist Graham Jones, the panel includes a beside the 1593 date to reflect ongoing scholarly debate about the circumstances of his demise. This addition integrates Marlowe among other Elizabethan poets in the abbey, recognizing his contributions to English literature. The , founded to promote Marlowe's legacy, has organized various commemorative events, including a year-long in 2014 marking the 450th anniversary of his birth, featuring performances of his . Efforts continue for additional tributes, such as a proposed new in by the Christopher Marlowe Statue Committee, formed in 2017, though its completion status as of 2025 requires verification from primary announcements.

References

  1. https://www.marlowe-society.org/christopher-marlowe/life/
  2. https://www.marlowe-society.org/christopher-marlowe/life/marlowes-birth/
  3. https://www.marlowe-society.org/christopher-marlowe/life/death-in-deptford/
  4. https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/christopher-marlowe
  5. https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/Christopher-Marlowe/
  6. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/014107689909200116
  7. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v28/n24/john-bossy/trust-the-coroner
  8. https://trevorfisherhistorian.com/was-marlowe-a-spy/
  9. https://www.kitmarlowe1564.co.uk/life/childhood/parents.html
  10. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/february-26/christopher-marlowe-is-baptized
  11. https://crossref-it.info/textguide/doctor-faustus/14/marlowe-christopher/45
  12. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Marlowe-451
  13. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v10/n22/charles-nicholl/canterbury-tale
  14. https://kitmarlowe1564.co.uk/life/education/grammar.html
  15. https://marloweshakespeare.info/Bio_Part_1.html
  16. https://www.kitmarlowe1564.co.uk/life/education/schooling.html
  17. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/christopher-marlowe-in-context/education-the-university-and-marlowe/BE39206C9E32E5EADB9BCF503A5D530A
  18. https://www.marlowe-society.org/christopher-marlowe/life/marlowes-education/
  19. https://www.corpus.cam.ac.uk/about/college-history
  20. https://marloweshakespeare.info/farey/biog.html
  21. https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/b2384d0f-dc7a-422f-ae94-3f89f2fb3b6f/content
  22. https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Christopher_Marlowe
  23. https://www.cam.ac.uk/news/marlowe-at-cambridge
  24. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/muchado/fine/bios.html
  25. https://www.worldhistory.org/Christopher_Marlowe/
  26. https://www.marlowe-society.org/christopher-marlowe/life/government-agent/
  27. https://trevorfisherhistorian.com/was-marlowe-a-spy/?print=print
  28. https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1995/10/05/the-marlowe-murder-case/
  29. https://kitmarlowe.org/christopher-marlowe-and-espionage/6527/
  30. https://thetudorenthusiast.weebly.com/blog/exploring-the-life-of-christopher-marlowe
  31. http://www.marloweshakespeare.info/farey/pc_cert.html
  32. https://anglotopia.net/site-news/featured/great-britons-christopher-marlowe/
  33. https://headstuff.org/culture/history/christopher-marlowe-playwright-and-spy/
  34. https://marloweshakespeare.info/farey/pc_cert.html
  35. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v24/n21/charles-nicholl/scribblers-and-assassins
  36. http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Bios/ChristopherMarlowe.htm
  37. https://exploring-london.com/tag/tamburlaine-the-great/
  38. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-guide-to-the-worlds-of-shakespeare/edward-alleyn-and-philip-henslowe/BE72433C2EB70590AA6022E674D2E263
  39. https://www.rsc.org.uk/tamburlaine/about-the-play/dates-and-sources
  40. https://kitmarlowe.org/dido-queen-of-carthage/
  41. https://www.marlowe-society.org/christopher-marlowe/plays-poems/
  42. https://oll.libertyfund.org/pages/marlowe-the-playwright
  43. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/christopher-marlowe-in-context/chronology-of-marlowes-life-and-works/F5C40812CA2E9952A29A6BCF2ADD67DB
  44. https://emed.folger.edu/1tam
  45. https://referenceworks.brill.com/display/entries/CMR2/COM-26115.xml
  46. https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/doctorfaustus/context/
  47. https://www.litcharts.com/lit/the-jew-of-malta
  48. http://hensloweasablog.blogspot.com/2016/02/26-february-1592-jew-of-malta.html
  49. https://www.litcharts.com/lit/edward-ii
  50. https://christopher.marlowe.at/edward-ii/
  51. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/18781/18781-h/18781-h.htm
  52. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44674/hero-and-leander
  53. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/christopher-marlowe-in-context/marlowes-translations/5CEFD9E0DC464FD9A65AD2C8F24B55A3
  54. https://www.academia.edu/3631254/Marlowes_Translations_of_Ovid_and_Lucan
  55. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/21262/21262-h/21262-h.htm
  56. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315571959-10/translations-ovid-lucan-stapleton
  57. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/may-18/playwright-thomas-kyds-accusations-lead-to-an-arrest-warrant-for-christopher-marlowe
  58. https://marloweshakespeare.info/farey/texts.html
  59. https://spartacus-educational.com/Thomas_Kyd.htm
  60. https://marloweshakespeare.info/Documents.html
  61. https://christopher.marlowe.at/baines-note/
  62. https://heritage.humanists.uk/baines-note/
  63. https://heritage.humanists.uk/the-school-of-night/
  64. https://spartacus-educational.com/Atheism.htm
  65. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1124928
  66. https://scholarship.richmond.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1251&context=jepson-faculty-publications
  67. https://journals.shu.ac.uk/index.php/Marlstud/article/download/274/152/1411
  68. https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/swindle-fraud/miscellany/christopher-marlowe-counterfeiter
  69. https://christopher.marlowe.at/richard-baines/
  70. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43469689
  71. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3716154
  72. https://oldsite.marlowe-society.org/christopher-marlowe/links-readings-etc/marlowe-biographies
  73. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/mqr/act2080.0042.306/--marlowe-s-lives?rgn=main%3Bview=fulltext
  74. http://writersinspire.org/content/who-killed-christopher-marlowe-why
  75. http://marlowe-shakespeare.blogspot.com/2011/05/marlowe-and-privy-council.html
  76. https://www.oxfordscholarlyeditions.com/newsitem/54/material-witnesses
  77. https://research.gold.ac.uk/3722/2/Final_Marlowe_essay.pdf
  78. https://stanfordmag.org/contents/a-royal-mystery
  79. https://www.worldhistory.org/article/2702/the-violent-and-mysterious-death-of-christopher-ma/
  80. https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/mar/31/christopher-marlowe-spy-baines-note-gay-christ-british-library-online
  81. https://kitmarlowe.org/baines-richard/261/
  82. https://www.actorsshakespeareproject.org/christopher-marlowe-the-man-the-myth-the-mystery/
  83. https://www.historyhit.com/the-reckoning-in-deptford-unmasking-christopher-marlowes-killer/
  84. https://kitmarlowe.org/death-conspiracies/faked/
  85. https://marloweshakespeare.info/files/Playing_Dead_2011.pdf
  86. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/muchado/fine/killing.html
  87. https://electricliterature.com/digging-up-christopher-marlowe/
  88. https://www.marlowe-society.org/christopher-marlowe/
  89. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/261764/summary
  90. https://www.marlowe-society.org/marlowe/
  91. http://www.oxford-shakespeare.com/Nashe/Christs_Tears_2.pdf
  92. https://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/jonson/benshake.htm
  93. http://www.anonymous-shakespeare.com/cms/index.346.0.1.html
  94. https://www.marlowe-society.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/jl06_03_pinksen_upstartcrowalleyn.pdf
  95. https://artsci.washu.edu/ampersand/upstart-crow-shakespeares-feud-robert-greene
  96. https://clarklibrary.ucla.edu/collections/tudor/chrzanowski/title-list/1629m/
  97. https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=4770
  98. https://www.academia.edu/43902388/MARLOWES_CONTRIBUTION_TO_ELIZABETHAN_DRAMA
  99. https://marloweshakespeare.info/Marlowe_Scholarship.html
  100. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41556327
  101. https://guides.nyu.edu/shakespeare-studies/christopher-marlowe
  102. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/christopher-marlowe-in-context/marlowes-literary-influence/4FBC4D6B643C0DDCE09DEA31A0B38209
  103. https://www.folger.edu/blogs/shakespeare-and-beyond/imagining-shakespeare-and-marlowe-as-collaborators/
  104. https://ericsams.org/index.php/shakespeare-archive/essays-and-reviews-unpubl/276-the-influence-of-marlowe-on-shakespeare
  105. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/what-know-shakespeares-newly-credited-collaborator-chistopher-marlowe-180960902/
  106. https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/oct/23/christopher-marlowe-credited-as-one-of-shakespeares-co-writers
  107. https://www.folger.edu/podcasts/shakespeare-unlimited/christopher-marlowe-attribution-henry-vi/
  108. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-companion-to-christopher-marlowe/62A6A003BE73B3B6CD3B896E881F5618
  109. https://www.routledge.com/Christopher-Marlowe-the-Craftsman-Lives-Stage-and-Page/Scott-Stapleton/p/book/9781138382794
  110. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/12/books/review/dark-renaissance-stephen-greenblatt.html
  111. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/09/15/dark-renaissance-the-dangerous-times-and-fatal-genius-of-shakespeares-greatest-rival-stephen-greenblatt-book-review
  112. https://www.greenblattrenaissance.com/dark-renaissance
  113. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/379174468_Scorning_both_god_and_his_ministers_At_the_Origins_of_Marlowe%27s_Atheism
  114. https://journals.shu.ac.uk/index.php/Marlstud/article/view/388
  115. https://shakespeareanauthorshiptrust.org/marlowe
  116. https://shakespeareanauthorshiptrust.org/marlowe-history
  117. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13647014-the-murder-of-the-man-who-was-shakespeare
  118. https://www.bard.org/news/the-controversy-of-shakespeare-and-marlowe/
  119. https://www.bardweb.net/content/ac/simple_case.html
  120. https://cs.brown.edu/research/pubs/theses/masters/2012/ehmoda.pdf
  121. https://www.shakespeare.org.uk/explore-shakespeare/podcasts/60-minutes-shakespeare/marlowe-and-shakespeares-authorship/
  122. http://elizabethandrama.org/the-playwrights/christopher-marlowe/tamburlaine-part-one-by-christopher-marlowe/
  123. http://www.earlymodernenglishdrama.folger.edu/drfaust
  124. https://www.kitmarlowe1564.co.uk/works/works_overview.html
  125. http://www.online-literature.com/marlowe/edward-the-second/
  126. http://elizabethandrama.org/the-playwrights/christopher-marlowe/edward-ii-by-christopher-marlowe/
  127. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-companion-to-christopher-marlowe/marlowe-in-theatre-and-film/D74FDDB5D58DD3606EDEA932A0BE5622
  128. https://dramadaily.wordpress.com/2009/05/21/dr-faustus-day-4/
  129. https://www.rsc.org.uk/tamburlaine/past-productions
  130. https://tfana.org/productions/tamburlaine-the-great-2015
  131. https://www.americantheatre.org/2014/11/04/john-douglas-thompson-talks-reviving-christopher-marlowes-tamburlaine/
  132. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv3jnBCxCiw
  133. https://www.providencejournal.com/story/entertainment/theater/2020/01/27/theater-review-welcome-modern-twist-to-classic-edward-ii/1822998007/
  134. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/14/theater/doctor-faustus-and-christopher-marlowe-return-to-new-york.html
  135. https://www.the-tls.com/arts/theatre/highways-to-hell
  136. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062898/
  137. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101798/
  138. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cglkdljyy5yo
  139. https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/2024/films-of-the-complete-theatrical-works-of-christopher-marlowe-to-be-released-to-mark-460th-birthday
  140. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VN4nKbn26ik
  141. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065684/
  142. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/christopher-marlowe-9780198186953
  143. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/oct/12/classics.history
  144. https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/446587/dark-renaissance-by-greenblatt-stephen/9781847927132
  145. https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/11/30/home/burgess-deptford.html
  146. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250044808/themarlowepapers
  147. https://christopher.marlowe.at/christopher-marlowe-in-literature/
  148. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18531.The_Reckoning
  149. https://www.marlowe-society.org/christopher-marlowe/memorial/
  150. http://wyehistoricalsociety.org.uk/lectures/2013-12-04_Marlowe_Memorial.html
  151. https://www.londonremembers.com/memorials/christopher-marlowe
  152. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8017/christopher-marlowe
  153. https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/commemorations/christopher-marlowe/
  154. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2124844.stm
  155. https://www.marlowe-society.org/
Add your contribution
Related Hubs
Contribute something
User Avatar
No comments yet.