Literature MOOC - Developing our understanding of Renaissance Tragedy and the contexts surrounding this
Renaissance Tragedy is a crucial and much studied genre in English Literature.
The use of the tragic genre was redefined by Shakespeare, but also by a number of his contemporaries, who took the genre conventions and shaped and adapted them to reflect the concerns of their contemporary audience.
By studying Christopher Marlowe and his famous play 'Dr Faustus', you will develop a deeper understanding of this genre, its place in the tragic genre as a whole and the contextual factors influencing these writers.
WEEK ONE: Christopher Marlowe's biography
Your task for the first week is to research Marlowe, his background, his life and his work. Marlowe had an incredibly dramatic, rebellious and interesting life, so you should be able to find out a huge range of information. Try using these links as a starting point:
There are many more interesting sources of information online as well. It would be particularly effective to search on Google Scholar - this gives you a set of results that are more academically useful than 'normal' Google.
Marlowe was born in Canterbury in 1564, just two months before William Shakespeare. Marlowe would become one of the two most powerful dramatists in the Elizabethan era. Canterbury was seen as a very religious and sublime city up until a generation before Marlowe’s birth and then things changed. He was born during the bubonic plague and it was deemed a miracle that he survived – especially since he was born during the winter. Canterbury was in a state of economic, social and religious turmoil that lasted the whole of Marlowe’s life. However, John Marlowe’s (Christopher’s father) status did improve once his son was born.
ReplyDeleteBecause of the class divide, Marlowe saw beauty and squalor within Canterbury. With these two situations living side by side, Marlowe would be heavily influenced by the rifts in society – something I believe might come in to play in his writing.
By the age of six, Marlowe had two younger sisters, he spent a lot of his childhood being the only boy in the household. However, it is reported that he never lacked friends when he was at school. And it was at school that he showed his interest in religion and the love a man can have for another man. These directly link to his plays. Marlowe was a proud atheist – something highly unusual for the era as people were committed protestants. Many of his plays directly criticise religion, with Marlowe writing that he considers religion “a childish toy” and contemplating the spelling of God and dog. He often talked of the hypocrisy of religion which was seen as highly blasphemous.
It is speculated whether Marlowe held contempt for his father’s profession as a shoe maker as he never uses the words shoe, shoe maker, sew or sole in any of his works.
Marlowe moved the genre of tragedy into the age of the psychological thriller – something that Shakespeare was incredibly influenced by, causing him to write Henry VI. Marlowe responded by writing Edward II which is considered to hold themes of homosexuality, people now hypothesise that Marlowe himself was homosexual, although there is no evidence to support these statements. Marlowe was forward thinking for his time and considered a man loving another man as natural, something his peers did not always agree with. However, Shakespeare is viewed to pander to the Queen or parliament, keeping society content with his teachings. Marlowe and Shakespeare worked together and both helped to change the face of play writing. Their friendship allowed them to borrow ideas from each other as well as contribute to writing of their fellow.
In 2007, data about Sir Francis Walsingham’s secret service came to light and it showed Marlowe’s career as a part time government agent. However, there is not much more information about his role, so it is difficult to understand the part that Marlowe had to play in this under-cover work.
Marlowe’s death is still a mystery to this day. Allegedly a drunken brawl that ended with Marlowe retaining a stab wound above his right eye, however many suspect a politically motivated murder. This is with Sir Walter Raleigh being a prominent contributor as people believe that Raleigh was afraid that Marlowe would reveal his true atheism to members of high society.
Many people associate Marlowe’s ideas to the work of Nietzsche and Freud. The cynical view of society as well as his allusions to the ego and the id, allow Marlowe to align with the ideas of these men.
I expect to see a basis or religion and love in Marlowe’s works, as these seem to be two factors that motivate and define him. I also think that he will focus of criticising society, pointing attention to situations he was unhappy with because of his forward-thinking attitude.
Christopher Marlowe was born in Canterbury around February 26, 1564 (this was the day on which he was baptized). During this time there was extreme gaps in society. The poor were extremely poor and the rich extremely rich. Marlowe’s father was a shoe maker which was not a bad job for the time so he would have seen both the poor and the rich. Therefore, common theme in his writing may be society and the social hierarchy due to what he witnessed growing up. However, it was thought that Marlowe did not see his father’s job in a positive way so maybe a common theme of his writing will be revenge due to him leaving the family business. This differs to Shakespeare as a more common theme in his work is love and romance. He went to King's School and was awarded a scholarship that enabled him to study at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, from late 1580 until 1587. Due to both Marlowe and Shakespeare being educated I expect to see similarities in the themes of their work such as references to social classes as they will have a more educated view on the world.
ReplyDeleteIt had been predicted that Marlowe had become a secret agent working for Sir Francis Walsingham's intelligence service. This is due to lengthy periods of absence from Cambridge university and dining room accounts that show his buying lavish food which he wouldn’t have been able to afford otherwise. After gaining a Bachelor’s degree he moved to London to become a full time writer. What is thought to be his first play, Dido, Queen of Carthage, was not published until 1594.
He was arrested for the crime of Atheism in 1593 which I think may be a topic in his plays. At the time, it was considered to be a great offence to be Atheist therefore Marlowe may have used his plays as an outlet for his beliefs and to debate topics such as religion. Themes such as fate could be prominent which relates to the popular topic of love and relationships used at the time by other writers such as Shakespeare.
On May 30, however, Marlowe was killed by Ingram Frizer. Allegedly, after spending the day together with Marlowe in a lodging house, a fight broke out between Marlowe and Frizer over the bill, and Marlowe was stabbed in the forehead and killed. However, now new conspiracy theories have arisen stating that Marlowe’s death could have been due to his Atheist views and his spy activities.
Marlowe was baptized in Canterbury in 1564 and was reportedly stabbed above the eye, piercing his brain and Marlowe died instantly late May 1594. There are many conspiracy theories behind Marlowe’s death. Due to his atheist views people believe that this was an assentation ordered by Queen Elizabeth I, in the Elizabethan era religion played an enormous impact on society and dictated people lead their lives; the Queen disproved of his views and as Marlowe had a platform provided him with an audience whom he could project his views upon which made the Queen irritated which compelled her to take such drastic steps. Whereas others believed that Marlowe’s death was staged, and he continued to live the rest of his days undercover as a spy. Some argue that Marlow lived and when going undercover, gave his work to Shakespeare who then became famous and luxurious lifestyle thus taking away the attention from Marlowe’s absence from the industry.
ReplyDeleteMarlow was awarded a scholarship which allowed him to study in Corpus Christi collage, and went further to achieve an arts degree in university in 1584 this foundation allowed him to develop into a successful career and everlasting legacy. After Marlowe’s first few plays he was recruited by Walsingham as a spy and did much work with the government; the government was attracted to Marlowe due to his plays context of controversial views and atheism character. Shakespeare was Marlowe’s junior for the duration of two months and received lesson in the art stage of tragedy. I predict to see Marlowe’s views on religion surface within his plays. I think that there will be a lot of violence and social status within the context of the play. I think that his time working the government will inspire him in his work; therefore, it will be more action driven in comparison to Shakespeare work.
Christopher Marlowe was born in Canterbury in 1564.
ReplyDeleteChristopher and Shakespeare were the two greatest writers in the Elizabethan era, Christopher is only a few months older than Shakespeare. Marlowe and Shakespeare were known to be good friends they even helped each other out, therefore they both became so successful. It was even told the Marlowe was Shakespeare junior for two months to study the art of tragedy.
During the 1560’s the bubonic plague going on so it was a miracle that Christopher survived, as many others died.
Marlowe went to King's School and was awarded a scholarship this let him study at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, from 1580 to 1587
Christopher Marlowe was born in Canterbury this was a very religious place, yet Marlowe was a proud atheist. This would have made him an outsider, I predict that in his work he will show the divide between the religious and the atheist and the divide between rich and the poor. Marlowe was even arrested for the crime of Atheism in 1593. I think that Marlowe would show his strong views on religion in his plays.
I also think this because as Christopher’s father was a shoemaker they would have been classes as “poor”, even though his family was poor being a shoemaker wasn’t seen as a demining job his father and him would have seen and worked with many rich people. I think that Christopher will show us his views on the social divide in his plays as he would have seen and experienced it first hand on a day to day basis. Even though they weren’t rich their family would have still had some respect as they had a son. In the Elizabethan times this would have been something to be very proud of.
Marlowe was also briefly worked as a secret agent for the government, he worked in Sir Francis Walsingham's intelligence service. He spent most of his life as an undercover agent.
Marlowe has two younger sisters and being the eldest and only son he would have been expected to carry on the family business in not doing so he would have been as courageous, because if he would have failed in becoming a writer he would have destroyed their family as they would have had no other income of money.
On May 30 Marlowe died by being stabbed in the eye in a drunken brawl. Many people think that this is a cover up as Marlowe was a wanted man as he was an undercover spy for so many years and knew so much of the rich. They saw him as an atheist and not to be trusted.