The Cambridge Introduction to Christopher Marlowe

by Tom Rutter

• ISBN13: 9780521124300
• ISBN10: 0521124301
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-03-19
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Providing a comprehensive survey of Christopher Marlowe's literary career, this Introduction presents an approachable account of the life, works and influence of the groundbreaking Elizabethan dramatist and poet. It includes in-depth discussions of all of Marlowe's plays, stressing what was new and revolutionary about them as well as how they made use of existing dramatic models. Marlowe's poems and translations, sometimes marginalised in discussions of his work, are analysed to emphasise their literary importance and political resonances. The book presents a balanced discussion of Marlowe's turbulent life and considers his afterlives: the influence of his work on other writers and examples of how his plays have been performed. In addition to introducing the reader to the historical and religious contexts within which Marlowe wrote, the Introduction stresses the qualities that continue to make his work fascinating: intellectual range, radical irony and an awareness of the dangerously compelling power of theatre.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	p. vii
Preface	p. ix
Key dates	p. xi
Life and historical contexts	p. 1
Canterbury: birth and early education	p. 1
Cambridge and the translations of Ovid	p. 5
'Good service' and 'faithful dealing'	p. 7
London: the success of Tamburlaine	p. 11
Brushes with the law	p. 14
Marlowe and patronage	p. 16
Marlowe, atheism and the Baines note	p. 17
Tamburlaine, Parts One and Two	p. 22
1580s drama and its influence	p. 22
What's new about Tamburlaine?	p. 25
Mighty lines	p. 26
Words and power	p. 29
Tamburlaine, politics and religion	p. 31
Judging Tamburlaine	p. 35
Sequel-itis?	p. 37
Doctor Faustus	p. 41
The 'Faust Book'	p. 41
Renaissance magic and science	p. 42
The Protestant Reformation	p. 47
Focus on Scene 7: 'When I behold the heavens'	p. 50
Power and theatre	p. 54
Audience response and the two texts of Doctor Faustus	p. 57
The Jew of Malta and The Massacre at Paris	p. 61
Machiavel and Vice in The Jew of Malta	p. 62
The Machiavel in The Massacre at Paris	p. 67
Religion, race and nationality	p. 69
The place of the audience	p. 75
Chapters Edward II	p. 79
History	p. 79
Sexuality, gender and status	p. 86
Late Marlowe?	p. 93
Dido, Queen of Carthage and Marlowe's poetry	p. 99
Ovid	p. 99
Dido, Queen of Carthage	p. 102
Lucan	p. 107
'The Passionate Shepherd to His Love'	p. 110
Hero and Leander	p. 113
Marlowe's afterlives	p. 118
Marlowe in the early modern period	p. 118
Marlowe on stage: The Jew of Malta, Doctor Faustus, Tamburlaine and Dido	p. 124
Marlowe in other media: Edward II and A Dead Man in Deptford	p. 132
Bibliography	p. 138
Index	p. 142
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