Christopher Marlowe Biography and List of Works

Elizabethan poet, dramatist, and William Shakespeare's predecessor in English drama. Marlowe was killed on June 1, 1593, in a tavern broil by Ingram Frizer, and buried at St. Nicholas, Deptford. His dramatic career lasted only six years. And as we all know, English-born mystery writer Raymond Chandler lent Marlowe's name to his own hero Philip Marlowe.

Come live with me, and be my love;
And we will all the pleasures prove
That valleys, groves, hills and fields,
Woods or steepy mountain yields.
(from The Passionate Shepherd to His Love, c. 1589)

Marlowe was born in Canterbury as the son of a shoemaker. He attended the King's School and was awarded a scholarship from the foundation of Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury. Marlowe studied the Bible and the Reformation theologians as well as philosophy and history at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. In 1584 he gained his degree. Marlowe then left his studies to carry out work for the government. In 1587 he achieved his M.A. University authorities, believing he had been converted to Catholicism, were first unwilling to grant his degree. It did not help him either, that he had been away too much from his studies. When the Queen's Privy Council interceded on Marlowe's behalf, the dispute was settled.

Instead of taking holy orders, Marlowe went to London and became a dramatist. He made important friends, including Sir Walter Raleigh, who had started the first colony in Virginia. Most likely, Marlowe began writing plays on leaving Cambridge. Marlowe wrote his dramas in blank verse. It is assumed that the first part of his TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT was acted in London in 1587. In 1589 he was charged with the murder of William Bradley and sent to Newgate Prison, and acquitted after two weeks. It was not the last time that quick tempered Marlowe was arrested and jailed. In 1592 an injunction was brought against him as a result of a street fight, in which a man was killed. Marlowe was also deported from the Netherlands for counterfeiting gold coins.

Numerous plays have been assigned to Marlowe. His major plays were written between 1585 and 1593, among them Tamburlaine, Parts I and II, THE JEW OF MALTA, a tragedy and parody about statesmanship, telling a story of hypocrisy, revenge and betrayal, THE TRAGICAL HISTORY OF DOCTOR FAUSTUS, based on the medieval legend of the bargain with the Devil, EDWARD II, a historical tragedy in blank verse, QUEEN OF CARTHAGE and THE MASSACRE AT PARIS. Marlowe's plays were produced by the Earl of Nottingham's Company. He also wrote poetry, including HERO AND LEANDER, based on the Greek of Musaeus (5th century AD), THE PASSIONATE SHEPHERD, and translated Ovid's Amores.

Unfortunately, much of Marlowe's work must be judged from corrupt texts. He neglected to publish authoritative texts. His greatest contribution to the theatre of his time was stylistic. Marlowe used the blank verse with power and intensity and introduced a new character on the English stage, the villain-hero.

Marlowe's mysterious death in the tavern - nominally about who should pay the bill - may have had a political cause. Accusations of atheism, blasphemy, subversion and homosexuality, also burdened his public image. When he died, he was under a shadow of charges of atheism on the evidence of his former roommate and fellow dramatist, Thomas Kyd, who declared under torture that a document denying the divinity of Christ belonged to Marlowe. However, Marlowe's connections saved him from imprisonment. The author might have worked as a government's secret agent according to Anthony Burgess. Possibly while still at university, he became an agent of Sir Francis Walsingham in the secret service of Elisabeth I and a favourite of Walsingham's brother, Thomas.

Research suggests he was murdered by an agent of statesman and Puritan sympathizer Francis Walsingham (c. 1530-90), for reasons unknown. Scholars are still attempting to reconstruct the events. In the common version it is concluded, that after eating and drinking together in a tavern in Deptford, Marlowe and his friend Ingram Frizer began to wrangle over payment of the bill. Marlowe wrenched Frizer's dagger from its sheath, but in the struggle Frizer got the dagger and struck a blow in Marlowe's eye that was lethal. A week earlier a warrant had been issued for the author's arrest. Marlowe was buried two days later in a grave still unknown. His killer pleaded self-defence and was set free.

As a spy and a writer Marlowe is an early link in a long tradition through Ben Jonson and Daniel Defoe to modern day writers Graham Greene, John Le Carré, John Dickson Carr, Somerset Maugham, Alec Waugh and Ted Allbeury.

For further reading: Christopher Marlowe by Havelock Ellis (1948); Essays on Marlowe by T.S. Eliot in Selected Essays (1951); Marlowe and the Early Shakespeare by F.P. Wilson (1953); Essays on Marlowe, ed. by C. Leech (1965); The Dramatist and the Received Idea by W. Sanders (1968); Marlowe, Tamburlaine and Magic by J. Howe (1976); Christopher Marlowe: Poet for the Stage by Clifford Leech (1986); Christopher Marlowe by William Tydeman and Vivien Thomas (1989); Christopher Marlowe by Roger Sales (1991); Christopher Marlowe and the Renaissance Tragedy Douglas Cole (1995); Critical Essays on Christopher Marlowe, ed. by Emily Carroll Bartels (1996); The Alternative Trinity: Gnostic Heresy in Marlowe, Milton, and Blake by A.D. Nuttall (1998); Christopher Marlowe, ed. by Richard Wilson (1999) - Note: Marlowe's life have been the theme of the tragedies Death of Marlowe by Richard H. Horne (1837) and Kit Marlowe by W.L. Courtney (1890) - Note: In the Oscar winning film, Shakespeare in Love (1988), dir. by John Madden, Rupert Everett appeared as Marlowe. In the story Shakespeare believes that he has caused the death of Marlowe.

TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT I-II, (1590)
DIDO, QUEEN OF CARTHAGE, (1594)
EDWARD II, (1594)
THE MASSACRE AT PARIS, (1594)
HERO AND LEANDER, (1598)
DOCTOR FAUSTUS, (1604)
THE JEW OF MALTA, (1633)
COLLECTED WORKS, (1858)
COLLECTED WORKS, (1885)