Marlowe, Christopher

Marlowe, Christopher (1564–93), playwright of the English Renaissance and an important figure in the development of the Elizabethan stage, which he helped to liberate from the influence of medieval drama and the Tudor interlude. His first play, Tamburlaine the Great, Part I, was produced in about 1587 by the Admiral's Men with Edward Alleyn in the title-role. Part II was seen in the following year. Written in flamboyant blank verse of great poetic beauty, these two plays had an undoubted influence on Shakespeare, who must have seen them soon after his arrival in London. Tamburlaine was followed by The Tragical History of Dr Faustus, based on a German medieval legend (see FAUST). Though written and probably produced in 1589, this was not printed until 1604, and then only in a fragmentary condition, with comic scenes, featuring the Devil, interpolated by a later hand. As originally planned, it had much in common with the earlier morality play, and even in its mangled condition was extremely popular. Marlowe's other plays were The Massacre at Paris, of uncertain date, which survives only in a muchmutilated text; The Jew of Malta (c.1590), whose chief character, Barabas, may have contributed something to Shakespeare's Shylock in The Merchant of Venice; and Edward II (c.1592), which has affinities with Shakespeare's Richard II. Marlowe, who was often in danger of arrest for his outspoken and atheistical opinions, died young in a tavern brawl, probably assassinated because of his secret-service activities. The theory that he survived the brawl and was spirited away, to return later and write most of Shakespeare's plays, is now discredited.