Christopher Marlowe Popular Books
Christopher Marlowe Biography & Facts
Christopher Marlowe, also known as Kit Marlowe (; baptised 26 February 1564 – 30 May 1593), was an English playwright, poet, and translator of the Elizabethan era. 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. 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. 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. Events in Marlowe's life were sometimes as extreme as those found in his plays. 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, and it did little to persuade all scholars that it told the whole story, nor did it eliminate the uncertainties present in his biography. Early life 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. 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). Marlowe's birth was likely to have been a few days before, making him about two months older than William Shakespeare, who was baptised on 26 April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon. By age 14, Marlowe was a pupil at The King's School, Canterbury on a scholarship 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. Instead, he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1584. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 launched his literary career in 1587. Adult life and legend 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, it is the usually circumspect J. B. Steane who remarked, "it seems absurd to dismiss all of these Elizabethan rumours and accusations as 'the Marlowe myth'". Much has been written on his brief adult life, including speculation of: his involvement in royally-sanctioned espionage; his vocal declaration as an atheist; his (possibly same-sex) sexual interests; and the puzzling circumstances surrounding his death. Spying Marlowe is alleged to have been a government spy. Park Honan and Charles Nicholl speculate that this was the case and suggest that Marlowe's recruitment took place when he was at Cambridge. 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". Surviving college records from the period also indicate that, in the academic year 1584–1585, Marlowe had 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. It has been speculated that Marlowe was the "Morley" who was tutor to Arbella Stuart in 1589. 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 a.... Discover the Christopher Marlowe popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Christopher Marlowe books.
Best Seller Christopher Marlowe Books of 2024
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The Golden Treasury
Francis Turner PalgraveThe Golden Treasury is one of the most loved anthologies of English poetry ever published. The book was meticulously compiled by poet and scholar Francis Turner Palgrave, in collab...
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Christopher Marlowe
Richard WilsonChristopher Marlowe has provoked some of the most radical criticism of recent years. There is an elective affinity, it seems, between this premodern dramatist and the postmodern cr...
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Shakespeare and Co.
Stanley WellsFrom the dean of Shakespeare studies comes a lively, entertaining work of biography that firmly locates Shakespeare within the hectic, exilarating world in which he lived and worke...
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The Intelligencer
Leslie SilbertOn May 30, 1593, London's most popular playwright was stabbed to death. The royal coroner ruled that Christopher Marlowe was killed in selfdefense, but historians have long suspect...
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Christopher Marlowe
Robert A. LoganIn uncovering the origin of the designation 'University Wits', Bob Logan examines the characteristics of the Wits and their influence on the course of Elizabethan drama. For the f...
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The Cambridge Companion to Christopher Marlowe
Patrick CheneyThe Cambridge Companion to Christopher Marlowe, first published in 2004, provides a full introduction to one of the great pioneers of both the Elizabethan stage and modern English ...
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Stars and Spies
Christopher Andrew & Julius GreenA vastly entertaining and unique history of the interaction between spying and showbiz, from the Elizabethan age to the Cold War and beyond.'A treasure trove of human ingenuity' Th...
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By Any Other Name
Erin Cotter“A highstakes, highdrama mystery…led by a plucky, determined hero I would have followed anywhere…[A] romantic, delightful romp!” Mackenzi Lee, New York Times bestselling author of ...
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Delphi Complete Works of Christopher Marlowe
Christopher MarloweMarlowe was an enigmatic character – part poet, scholar, soldier, spy and tavern brawler – and his legend continues to elude historians. This eBook provides readers with a new and ...
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Christopher Marlowe
William Lyon PhelpsThis volume collects many of Christopher Marlowe's major plays. It also includes a helpful introduction which discusses his life, work and influence.
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Christopher Marlowe
J. G. LewisThis volume offers a brief survey of Christopher Marlowe's life and works. Much of the discussion is based on his influence and relationship with William Shakespeare.
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Christopher Marlowe
Park HonanPark Honan's exciting new biography highlights Christopher Marlowe's dangerous career as a parttime spy, as well as his evolving relations, especially with Shakespeare. We ...
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The Marlowe Papers
Ros BarberWinner of the 2013 Desmond Elliott PrizeLonglisted for the 2013 Women's Prize for FictionYou're the author of the greatest plays of all time.But nobody knows.And if it gets out, yo...
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The Book of Forbidden Knowledge
Johnson SmithThis book is a collection of information on magical rituals and beliefs and tons of practical advice on how to use chips of magic in everyday lives. There, you can find advice on h...
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Eleventh Hour
M. J. TrowChristopher Marlowe plays the role of sleuth to discover who killed the queen’s spymaster in this “bawdy, witty . . . historically informed” Elizabethan mystery (Kir...
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Contested Will
James ShapiroFor more than two hundred years after William Shakespeare's death, no one doubted that he had written his plays. Since then, however, dozens of candidates have been proposed f...
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Empire of Silence
Christopher RuocchioHadrian Marlowe, a man revered as a hero and despised as a murderer, chronicles his tale in the galaxyspanning debut of the Sun Eater series, merging the best of space opera and ep...
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Tamburlaine the Great Parts 1 and 2
Christopher MarloweThis eBook features the unabridged text of ‘Tamburlaine the Great Parts 1 and 2 by Christopher Marlowe Delphi Classics (Illustrated)’ from the bestselling edition of ‘The Complete...
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Christopher Marlowe
Mrs Vivien Thomas, Vivien Thomas, Prof William Tydeman & William TydemanThis major work brings together, for the first time in a single volume, all the recognized sources of Marlowe's dramatic work. Many of the fortytwo texts presented here are of outs...
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The Hot Country
Robert Olen ButlerA US war correspondent is plunged into the Mexican civil war in “a whipsmart tale of intrigue and espionage” by the Pulitzer Prize winner (CNN.com). Undaunted by enemy terri...
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Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies
Elizabeth WinklerAn “extraordinarily brilliant” and “pleasurably naughty” (André Aciman) investigation into the Shakespeare authorship question, exploring how doubting that William Shakespeare wrot...
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Christopher Marlowe
Millar MacLureThis book begins with the malignant taunts of Robert Greene and the adulatory remarks of Christopher Marlowe's friends and literary associates, and ends with the abrasive comme...
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Doctor Faustus
Christopher MarloweFaustus's restless quest for knowledge and his insatiable desire for notoriety drive him to make a pact with the devil in return for the power to perform the black arts. The li...
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The World of Christopher Marlowe
David RiggsThe definitive biography: a masterly account of Marlowe's work and life and the world in which he livedShakespeare's contemporary, Christopher Marlowe revolutionized English drama ...
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The Collected Works of Christopher Marlowe
Christopher MarloweThe Collected Works of Christopher Marlowe is a collection of classic works by one of the most popular writers in history. The included works of Christopher Marlowe are Edward the ...
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The Star of Istanbul
Robert Olen ButlerAn intrepid reporter boards the Lusitania in a “vivid . . . ripping good” spy thriller from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author (The Wall Street Journal). It’s ...
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The Empire of Night
Robert Olen Butler“A cracking good spy thriller, with a cast of memorable characters and a terrifically suspenseful plot . . . Butler’s elegant writing elevates the book.” Tampa Bay T...
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Paris in the Dark
Robert Olen ButlerA novel of murder and espionage during the First World War: “Rich atmosphere and a propulsive plot...a satisfying, stylish thrill.”―The Tampa Bay Times Autumn 1915. World War I is ...
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A Fine Madness
Alan JuddA captivating espionage novel that explores the life of theatrical geniusand spyChristopher Marlowe, whose violent death remains one of the most fascinating mysteries of the E...