Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)-‘that fine madness/Which rightly should possess a Poet’s braine’ (Drayton)- 7 plays and 800-lines poem- born of Canterbury shoemaker, BA in divinity at Cambridge- member of London ‘the little Academe’ or ‘Sir Walter Raleigh’s School of Atheism’ of free-thinkers – men able to perform miracles attributable to God’s will; atheism as a political crime; he dies in tavern brawl- a non-conformist read in classical literature – classical allusions, rules of rhetoric, unruly mind- intensity of style and accentuation – ‘desire is for the star’, ‘fit to write passions for the souls below/If any wretched souls in passion speak’ (George Peele)- representative of an age of ambitious, unscrupulous men, a typical Elizabethan symbol- The Tragedy of Dido, Queene of Carthage 1593 – female titan; imaginative ambition must confront its own limits- Tamburlaine the Great, published 1590 - born a shepherd, aspires to be lord; the aspirer seeks to hold ‘The Fates bound fast in iron chains/And with my hand turn Fortune’s wheel about’- naked military and political ambition is unchallenged – relish for the rolling rhythm of words, names, reiterations: ‘Is it not brave to be a king/And ride in triumph through Persepolis?

‘The thirst of reign and sweetness of a crown That caused the eldest son of elderly OpsTo thrust his doting father from his chair...Nature, that framed is of four elements Warring within our breast for regiment,Teaches us all to have aspiring minds;Our souls, whose faculties can comprehendThe wondrous architecture of the world And measure every wandering planet’s course,Still climbing after knowledge infinite, And always moving as the restless spheres, Will us to wear ourselves and never rest Until we reach the ripest fruit of all, That perfect bliss and sole felicity,The sweet fruition of an earthly crown.’ Act II

-Evokes the power of dreams only to deflate them; either hard-headed refusals to believe in dreams or to indulge in fantasies – subversive of pretensions to power- two parts of the play – conquering hero, breaker of moulds, and forger of new orders – both exposes and praises concepts of heroism; T is not so much unheroic as hollow – susceptible to the beauty and pleas of Zenocrate, defeated by time and death- limitless aspiration, but fulfilment is restricted by uncontrollable forces – a pattern - God mars those challenging his authority - some think Marlowe retreats from the consequences of freedom of thinking/action that the plays proclaim - unbending Promethean daring brings punishment - each over-reacher confronts his own self-indulgenceThe Jew of Malta – performed 1592, published 1633; the overreacher theme verges on black comedy; Barabas is glorious in cupidity, selfishness, ingenuity

- advancement in the face of enemies; illicit manipulation (Machiavel in the prologue) – importance of ‘policy’ of plotting one side against the other’: “Since by wrong thou got’st authority/Maintain it bravely by firm policy/At least unprofitably lose it not”- miscalculation of policy ruins him; outwitted by less spirited double-crosserThe Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, performed at the Rose in the early 90’s, published 1604- greater miscalculation - intellectual world – humanist new learning free of the straight-jacket of medieval science and divinity - a world of books and disciplines – knowledge is power, ‘climbig after knowledge infinite’ - sets himself against convention – arrogant self-justifying fantasy of invincibility - confuses opposites, blurs distinctions – necromantic books are ‘heavenly’ – signs his soul to Mephistopheles with ‘consumatum est’- fritters away large opportunities offered to him; Helen of Troy ‘Was this the face that launched a thousand ships/And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?/Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss!’- plays silly jokes on popes, innkeepers, dukes; corrupted his genius and ignored Christian redemption

‘Now hast thou but one bare hour to liveAnd then thou must be damned perpetually. Stand still, you ever-moving spheres of heaven, That time may cease and midnight never come; Fair Nature’s eye, rise, rise again and makeA year, a month, a week a natural day, That Faustus may reprent and save his soul.O lente, lente currite, noctis equi.The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike, The devil will come, and Faustus must be damned.Oh, I’ll leap up to my God – Who pulls me down? – See, see where Christ’s blood streams in the firmament One drop would save my soul, half a drop: Oh, My Christ - -his arrogance can’t admit true repentance or service to rejected GodEdward II, pub. 1592 – greater equilibrium between the central character and those around him- problem of moral conflict with established society - inheritance of royal government thrown away in favour of another mastery, that of a homosexual love – a king without command, a lover denied fulfilment, a lion as ‘a lamb encompassed by wolves’ reduced by enemies, wife, son, to depths of misery – M’s most conventionally tragic characters – most unconventional tragedy, different from the megalomaniac seeker after military, political or intellectual power