Lecture 4 Literature of the 16th century. The Renaissance

Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) 
Christopher Marlowe was one of the greatest dramatists of his time. He was the 
first Elizabethan writer of tragedy. 
Marlowe was born in Canterbury and studied at Cambridge. Born in the same year 
as Shakespeare, he was killed in a brawl when he was only twenty-nine. If 
Shakespeare died at twenty-nine, his greatest plays would have remained unwritten, 
and we would scarcely know his name. Yet, Marlowe, by the time of his death had 
already established himself as a powerful dramatist, earning the title "father of 
English tragedy". He wrote the tragedies: "Dido, Queen of Carthage", "Tamburlaine 
the Great", "The Jew of Malta", "The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus", a chronicle 
history play "Edward II". 
Marlowe's literary activity lasted a few years, but he created an immortal place 
for himself in English drama and poetry. Marlowe established his theatrical 
reputation with "Tamburlaine the Great" written about 1587. In this tragedy 
Marlowe wrote about the great conqueror, Tamburlaine. 
In "Tamburlaine the Great" the author tells how a Scythian shepherd rises from 
his lowly birth, and by the power of his personality becomes conqueror of the world. 
Elizabethan spectators found a keen pleasure in watching a brave but ruthless hero 
struggle against titanic forces on his way to the success. The story of Tamburlaine 
seemed to them an idealization of the lives of adventurers. 

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As we know, an outstanding feature of Renaissance ideology was the belief in 
man, himself the master and creator of his destiny. Marlowe's tragedies portray 
heroes who passionately seek power - the power of absolute rule (Tamburlaine), the 
power of money (Barabbas, the Jew of Malta), the power of knowledge (Paustus). 
Marlowe delights in the might and the strong will of his heroes. 
Marlowe's major achievement lay in adapting blank verse to the stage. Ben Jonson 
expressed admiration when he referred to "Marlowe's mighty line". Marlowe's 
ability to compress thought, image and idea into superb lines of blank verse paved 
the way for Shakespeare and later practitioners of the art. 
In addition to his plays, Marlowe wrote one of the most famous of Elizabethan 
lyric poems, 'The Passionate Shepherd to His Love." This carpe diem poem is an 
invitation to the pastoral life, the happy peaceful life of country shepherds.