Christopher Marlowe’s Life and Literary Achievements
This paper discusses the life of the foremost Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe, who paved the way for the later dramatists and literary figures including William Shakespeare to follow his steps. The style that Marlowe adopted was fresh and interesting for the generation in which he lived and also influenced the future generations greatly. He pioneered in the sector of both poems and plays. His drama which dominated the theatres of the Elizabethan England, are known for the use of blank verse and their overreaching protagonists (Sawyer p.7). In this era of renaissance, Marlowe introduced blank verse to be most perfect medium of poetic drama, wrote first English historic play and first English romantic tragedy.
The Renaissance or the golden age discovered movement of the fresh sources of art that explored new approach, new experiences, new forms and new subjects. One of the chief aspects of this new learning was, liberty from the tutelage of the ancient, arbitrary authority. It spoke for hope and self-containment which is the driving forces of knowledge and power. This ultimately led to discovery of man and his world (Felperin). This anthropocentric era of Renaissance is affected by the plays of Marlowe and his life as well as works were greatly influenced by the Elizabethan social norms and perspectives.
Christopher Marlowe was the pioneer who influenced the magical transformation of the dramatic matter on a magnificent scale which was followed for centuries by the next generation dramatists.
Christopher Marlowe (1564-93) was born to John Marlowe and Elizabeth Archer in the city of Canterbury. His father was a shoemaker and particularly an argumentative man. It was a characteristic that he shared with his son Marlowe, which is reflected in every aspect of his life and works. He was one of the ‘University Wits’ and a predecessor of Shakespeare. He was an enlightened English poet as well as dramatist and established himself as a creator of 158 blank verse that is a creative arrangement of dramatic expression (Smith). The biographical sketch of Christopher Marlow, his literary attainments and his unique dramatic elegance as well as technique, containing pertinent facts along with impressive evidence about the Renaissance period have been presented in this thesis.
The matter and manner of Marlowe’s drama was completely different from his predecessors. His works were not concerned about the manner or habit of men rather the needs of the human souls. It was not the connection among men themselves but their relationship with the God and the universe. He pioneered the age of literary experiments. The ardour as well as passion that had driven the dramatist to give utmost individuality to his characters, was the direct influence of the Renaissance conception of greatness (Tavares pp.77). All of his works were a great amalgamation of romance, humour, grandeur, patriotism and child of grand imagination.
Marlowe’s Unique Dramatic Style and Techniques
By 1592 one of his most controversial plays was performed on the stage that is the Edward II. It is a historical drama on one of the most contentious monarchs in the English history, who was notorious for disasters as a ruler as well as intimate relationship with his male favourite, Gaveston (Marlowe and Stephen). This particular play display Marlowe’s talent for going against the grain. Edward II offers what has been called ‘the first great depiction of same-sex love for the stage’, where king Edwards expresses his love in the letter to Gaveston by saying,
Gaveston. So thou would’st smile, and take me in thine arms.
The sight of London to my exil’d eyes
Is as Elysium to a new−come soul;
Not that I love the city, or the men,
But that it harbours him I hold so dear
The king, upon whose bosom let me die, (Marlowe 1.1. 9-14)
This drama portrays the doomed relationship and passion between Edward and his love Gaveston that surprised the Elizabethan audiences greatly (Logan pp.125). It captured human vulnerability. From the historical point of view, the drama presented the conflict between the king and his barons over his love affair. The drama reveals the layers of human mind. At first it captures the king to be a sensitive therefore suffering soul, then his wakening to gain victory over the barons and finally the reversal of his fortune.
The Passionate Shepherd To His Love, Hero and Leander, Ignoto and Lament For Zenocrate are among his most famous poems (Poetryfoundation.org). All of these are love poems rich with imagery, simile therefore, create scope for individual interpretation. Hero and Leander is an epyllion, a new version of a Greek myth but this version by Marlow has its lines full of love of humanity as well as wonder at the splendour of the world. It presents Leander’s feminine beauty, twice in this poem.
The white of Pelops’ shoulder: I could tell ye,
How smooth his breast was, and how white his belly; (Marlowe 64-65)
This description of male body is seen by some critics as evidence of Marlowe’s homosexuality. In the poem The Passionate Shepherd To His Love, the speaker begins with a request “come live with me, and be my love,” (Marlowe 1). He goes on promising to explore the objects of his likings and all the happy activities he wants do together with his love if his offer is accepted. Lament For Zenocrate is a part of Tamburlaine the Great where the poet depicts Zenocrate to be the universal beauty but the ‘damsel-in-distress’. The role of ‘beauty’ here causes war, jealously, insanity also death. This woman is powerful as God and is given whatever she desires.
Analysis of Marlowe’s Edward II
The Elizabethan era is termed to be the golden age that embodied the zenith of English Renaissance and records the flourishing of music and literature (Cheney). This age is famous for drama, as Marlowe and Shakespeare with many other famous dramatists composed productions that replaced the past style of theatre in England. this was a period of exploration as well as expansion abroad in one hand, while back at home on the other.
It was the age that recorded the end or separation of England from its royal union with the state of Scotland. The era of renaissance sharply contrasts its earlier as well as its following reigns. It was the most brief period of inner peace marking English Reformation as well as the religious battle between the Protestants and the Catholics (Bowers). In addition to this, the era saw the political battle between the English parliament with the monarchy which consumed the rest of the seventeenth century. These conflicts had affected the people which ultimately gave birth of the many historical tragedies of this time. However, the Protestant and Catholic conflict was settled, through the Elizabethan Religious Settlement but the parliament was not yet strong to challenge the royal absolutism.
These are the characteristics that differentiate Marlowe from his contemporary poets and dramatists and his works were followed by all the literary successors such as Shakespeare. The lives two men were closely entwined, both biographically, as well as in their works. This is the reason why many of the Shakespearean plays appear like the answers to the questions posed by Christopher Marlowe (Walsh pp.371). To the researchers, The Merchant of Venice seems to be a more sympathetic version of Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta, Richard II of Shakespeare deals on many of the same questions of legitimacy and power equation as the Edward II. Finally, Hamlet comes to life following the grand philosophical speculations inspected in The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus and As You Like It seems to be the echo of Marlowe’s Hero and Leander.
References:
Bowers, Fredson Thayer. Elizabethan revenge tragedy, 1587-1642. Princeton University Press, 2015.
Cheney, Patrick. English Authorship and the Early Modern Sublime: Fictions of Transport in Spenser, Marlowe, Jonson, and Shakespeare. Cambridge University Press, 2018.
Felperin, Howard. Shakespearean Representation: Mimesis and Modernity in Elizabethan Tragedy. Princeton University Press, 2015.
Logan, Robert A. “Edward II.” Christopher Marlowe at 450(2016): 125.
Marlowe, Christopher, and Stephen J. Lynch. Edward II: With Related Texts. Hackett Publishing, 2015.
Poetryfoundation.org. “Christopher Marlowe.” Poetry Foundation, 2018, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/christopher-marlowe.
Sawyer, Robert. “Introduction:“The Rivals of My Watch”.” Marlowe and Shakespeare. Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2017. 1-16.
Smith, Bruce R. Ancient Scripts and Modern Experience on the English Stage, 1500-1700. Princeton University Press, 2014.
Tavares, Elizabeth E. “Super Troupers; or, Supplemented Playing before 1594.” Shakespeare Studies 45 (2017): 77.
Walsh, Brian. “The History Play: Shakespeare and Beyond.” A New Companion to Renaissance Drama 98 (2017): 371.
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