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2. Christopher Marlowe (1564-1595)
Life
 Marlowe was an Elizabethan poet and
dramatist. He wrote his works before William Shakespeare. Unfortunately,
when Marlowe was alive he was not as famous as William Shakespeare. He was
killed at the age of 29 in a tavern broil and buried at St. Nicholas,
Deptford. His dramatic career lasted only six years.
Christopher Marlowe was born in Canterbury
and he was the son of a shoemaker. He went to the King’s School and he
received a scholarship from the foundation of Matthew Parker, Archbishop of
Canterbury. Marlowe studied the Bible, the Reformation theologians,
philosophy and history at Cambridge. In 1584 he took a degree of B.A.
Instead of continuing in Cambridge, Marlowe left his studies and he carried
out a secret mission for the government. In 1587 he took the degree of M.A.
University authorities believed that he had been changed to Catholicism so
they were first unwilling to grant his degree. It did not help him to change
his belief at all, so that he had been away too much from his studies. When
the Queen's Privy Council helped to solve the problem for Marlowe, the
dispute was settled at last.
Instead of taking holy orders,
Marlowe went to London and became a dramatist. He made important friends,
including Sir Walter Raleigh, who had started the first colony in Virginia,
and who was contending with the Earl of Essex of Queen’s favors. Most likely
Marlowe began writing plays on leaving Cambridge. His first dramas were
composed in blank verse. It is assumed that the first part of his
Tambrulaine the Great was acted in London in 1587. In 1589 he was
charged with the murder of William Bradley and sent to
Newgate Prison, but
acquitted after two weeks. It was not the last time when the quick tempered
author was arrested and jailed. In 1592 an injunction was brought against
him because of a street fight, in which a man was killed. Marlowe was also
deported from Netherlands for counterfeiting gold coins.
Numerous plays have been assigned to
Marlowe. Unfortunately, Marlowe neglected to publish authoritative texts,
and his literary remnants consist much of incomplete works. However, his
blank verse, written with great intensity, and villain-heroes, a new type on
the English stage, influenced deeply the theatre of his time. The poet
Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909) observed of Marlowe that was “the
father of English tragedy and creator of English blank verse was therefore
also the teacher and the guide of Shakespeare”. Shakespeare and Marlowe both
wrote plays for Lord Strange's acting company and influenced each other's
work. The blank verse was also Shakespeare's instrument.
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