Book Reviews
"Living in the shadow of Shakespeare" by Daniel Cure.
It is almost something of an anomaly that the Elizabethan playwright and poet Christopher 'Kit' Marlowe is recognised as a predecessor to Shakespeare, as both men were in fact born in the same year, 1564. However, unlike his more widely renowned counterpart, Marlowe came from a line of reputable troublemakers a tendency that ultimately would lead to his untimely death.
A brilliant pupil, schooled on a diet of medieval romances, Marlowe was elected a Queen's Scholar and studied at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he was expected to aspire towards the church. It was during this time that his apparent and bizarre involvement in espionage first began to materialise, with his periods of absence now attributed by a number of historians and researchers to his capacity as a government spy. In 1587, on completion of his scholarship, Marlowe moved to London, where he spent his final six years writing plays and poetry whilst falling foul of the Elizabethan establishment. He was deemed to be both an atheist and homosexual, two ostensibly grave sins in such times, although with conflicting reports missing vital clues, it is unclear as to what Marlowe's true motives might have been.
Marlowe was no stranger to violence and conflict; indeed, it was almost as if he lived by the virtues of some of his characters. There were brawls, riots, fighting and stabbings . the young playwright being imprisoned on a number of different occasions in London's most notorious jails on charges of breaching the peace, including Newgate. During this period, Marlowe associated himself with writers of similar controversy, namely Thomas Kyd, whose predilection for chaos would ultimately lead to his untimely demise. In the spring of 1593, Marlowe's supposedly aesthetic beliefs finally caught up with him as he was arrested for 'denying the deity of Jesus Christ'. Whilst Kyd was led away to be tortured, Marlowe was given the more libral punishment of daily attendance in worship, although this apparent leniency was not sufficient to prevent his death. On May 30, 1593, during an evening meal with friends, Marlowe fell into a heated dispute, attacking Ingram Frizer in his passions. Perhaps the aggression with which he had led his life was a fitting way for him to die and in the struggle that followed he did just that, at the mere age of twenty-nine.
Although his life and career were relatively short, Marlowe's influence over other poets and dramatists was profound and still resonates throughout popular culture today. His 1587 masterpiece Tamburlaine contains all the typical features of high Elizabethan drama, with magnificent imagery, strong characters and powerful plot, whilst the Jew of Malta formed the influence for Shakespeare's subsequent Merchant of Venice. The controversial play Doctor Faustus was in part a prelude to the gothic styles of the nineteenth century, the author taking pleasure in its detailing of necromancy in amongst its inventive ambiguity; indeed rarely has one play ever divided such opinion. Further proof of Marlowe's influence upon Shakespeare can also be found in his penultimate play Edward II, which laid the basis for the history plays whilst focusing explicitly on the tragic King's much-maligned homosexuality.
It must be remembered that there is little substantiated evidence of Marlowe's true character and as many such cases, what we have come to accept as 'fact' is the work of modern fiction, rather than documented reality. The truth is that, regardless of his persona and controversies, Marlowe's brief literary output has been widely respected by writers as diverse as Michael Drayton, Ben Johnson and Thomas Nashe from the moment of his death to the present day.
By Daniel Cure, July 2009
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