n 



MARLONVK 



noticeable i* the proud self-confidence displayed by 

 the young poet in the prologue i 



Tram jfetac * of rhririai oUwr-wItt, 

 Awl * ewwrtU as eJowMft kvp In ly. 

 W1I t**d TO* to UM (UUly U*t sr, 

 Wbrr- ro (tell kemr th Sevthlu TwiiburUlne 

 TkmuuiBC tb. world with h%k srtind>n urms. 



Earlier dramatisU bail employed blank verse, but 

 it had l-cn .tiff and ungainly : Marlowe was the 

 first to discover its strength and variety. The 

 popularity of TiimliHrlatHe was extraordinary. A 

 maicroiis line in the S-ythian conqueror's address 

 to the captive monarch* whom he lias harnessed to 

 his chariot -' Holla, ye pamiH-red jades of Asia !' 

 was constantly parodied for half a century. Doubt- 

 ICM the extravaganza of tb.- play contributed to its 

 MMH^na, The part of Tamburlaine was originally 

 taken by the famous actor, FMward Alleyn, who 

 afterwards personated Faustus and liarabaa. 



Tke Tragical Hidury of Jlr r'mittiu was probably 

 produced soon after Tamhurlaine. The MfttMl 

 edition i- dated 1004; in the edition of 1616 addi- 

 tional comic matter is inserted by an inferior hand, 

 bat it also ap|>ears to preserve some genuine pass- 

 age* that were dropped from the earlier edition. 

 Fautttu, as it has come down, is rather a series 

 of detached scene* than a finished drama ; and 

 some of these scenes are evidently not liy Marlowe. 

 One playwright after another was employed to 

 funii-h 'additions.' Hut the nobler scenes are 

 marvellously impressive : nowhere is Marlowe's 

 genial shown more vividly than in Kaustus's 

 glorious description of Helen's beauty and in the 

 terrible soliloquies that prepare us for the catas- 

 trophe. iiufu held the stage, and was revived 

 at the Restoration. Edward Phillips, Milton's 

 nephew, quaintly remarks that 'Of all that Mar- 

 lowe hath written to the stage his l)r FiKutta bath 

 made the greatest noise, with his devils and such 

 like tragical sport, 1 A (iernmn version was acted 

 by English players at CraU during the carnival in 

 1008, and at DrwUa in HfJii. Coethe expressed 

 bis admiration for Marlowe's work. 



Tke Jew of .Miilln, produced after Decemlier 

 1588, was first puhlUlied in 1033, with a prologue 

 by Thomas lirywood. It is a very unequal play. 

 The first two act* are conducted with masterly 

 kill and vigour; but the lost three are alisiirdly 

 extravagant, degenerating into vulgar caricature. 

 If Miil.iwr'* hand had not falten-d, if the later 

 part had hern equal to the earlier, Itarabos would 

 nave been worthy to *land alongside of Shylock. 



AVimr,/ II.,' produced about 1.590, is the 

 mature** -of Marlowe's play*. It has not the 

 magnificent poetry that we 'find in h',tn*tut and 

 in the firt two rt of Ttif .In,- ,,f M,i'l,i, but it 

 i I'lnnnrxl snd cxis-iited with more lirmnew and 

 solidity in a mote u-tn|MTatv and (Nitient spirit. 

 The various characters are skilfully di. iimin.it. si, 

 and the action i* never allowiil to flag. Many 

 critic* have preferred it to Hhakes|>arrV Richard 

 II. . it i certainly no whit inferior. Charles 

 Ijiiiib dnrlarl that Mho reluctant pang- of 

 abdicating royalty in Ivlwanl furnished bints 

 which Hbakrapeare searcp imp loved in his IMmnl 

 II : and the death. scene of Marlowe's king moves 

 pity and trrr l-\ond any scene, ancient or 

 odm. wiUi which I am acquaint^).' 



Tkt Miunert at I'aru is the weakest of Mar- 

 lowe'* play*, and has descended in a mutilated 

 UU*V It was written after the assaminat ion of 

 ll'-nry III. of France CM August I.Vflli. and was 

 proUbly one of the lalml plays. An early Ms., 

 a fragment of an original playhouse transcript, 

 preserves part of ncene xix. ; and a comparison 

 of the MS. text with the text of the printed copy 

 how* that the play was mangled in passing 

 thromgh UM preM. 



Tke Tragedy of Duio is stated on the title-page 

 of the first edition (1594) to have ln-en written liy 

 ChristopliiT Marlow and Thomas Nosh, (lent.' 

 IVobably it wax left ill a friigmeiitary htate liy 

 Marlowe and was linihlieil li\ Nash. It if- i.f 

 slight value ; but contains some fanciful poetry 

 (ami extraordinary Unnlia.-! I. There can lie little 

 doulit that Marlowe Imil a hand in the three parts 

 of llritry 17. ; ami it i prolmble that he was con- 

 cerned in the authurslii]) of Titus Anifrviiirui. \ 

 wild, shapeless tragedy, Lutt'x liniiiiiiiini, was iml>- 

 lihe<l in H>."i7 a the work of Marlowe. It deals 

 with historical events that hap|>ened after Mar- 

 lowe's death, but may nevertheless have been 

 adapted from one of Marlowe's lost plays. 



Tlie unfinished jtoem. Hero and J.rantfer, com- 

 posed in heroic couplets of consummate Iwauty, 

 wax first published in 1598; a second edition, with 

 Chapman s continuation, followed in the same year, 

 lien .lonsoii is re|H>rtel to have said (hat Miirlowe's 

 vei-es were examples litter for admiration than for 

 parallel. From a passage in the Third Sestiad it 

 appearx that Marlowe had enjoined upon t'lmpmim 

 tin- task of finishing the poem : hut neither Chap- 

 man nor any other poet could have taken up the 

 story with any ho|>e of success, lli-rn innl l.rtintlcr 

 passed through numerous editions, and won univer- 

 sal applause. Shakespeare quoted in An Ynu Like 

 It the line, 'Whoever loved that loved not at first 

 si^'ht?' and feelingly apostrophised the poet as 

 'Dead Shepherd. ' Nash, in Lenten Stuffe, speaks 

 of 'divine MUNI-US, and a diviner ]x>et than him, 

 Kit Marlowe.' The watermen sang couplets from 

 it as they plied their sculls on the Thames. Henry 

 Petowe, a |M>r versifier but enthusiastic admirer 

 of Marlowe, tells how 



Men wnuM liun their tlrcp In (till dark night 

 To mmliutfl upon hia golden lines. 



Marlowe's translations of Ovid's A mores and of 

 the first book of Lucan's P/iarsalia add nothing to 

 his fame. The juistoral ditty 'Come, live with me 

 and IKS my love, to w hieh Sir Walter Hiileigh wrote 

 an Answer, was imitated, hut not equalled, by 

 Herrick, I)onne, nnd others, l/aak Walton pro- 

 nounecd it t<i lie 'choicely good.' It was first 

 printed in The I'asinonate Pilgrim (1">!KI). without 

 the fourth and sixth stanzas. In l-'.iii/liiiiii'a ll'l<"ni 

 (I6UO) it appeared complete, with the author's 

 name, 'C. Marlowe,' Htiuscril>ed. Another anth- 

 ology. Allots KinjIiiHirs I'liriinssux (lti(H)), pre- 

 sei\es a fragment by Marlowe, liogimiing ' I walked 

 along a stream for pureness rare.' 



In Max l.V.i:), at the a^e of twenty-nine, Marlowe 

 met a violent death in a tjuarrcl ( aliont a courtesan, 

 it ix stAtml ) with one Francis Archer, a serving- 

 man. The burial-register of the parish chun-h of 

 St Nicholas. IVptfonl, has the entry : ' Christopher 

 Marlow, slain by tlnincis Archer [the name is not 

 <|iiite clear in Oie register], the 1 of June l;Vi:;.' 

 Highly coloured accounts of his death were givc-n 

 by Puritanical writers. Thomas Heard, in the 

 f/iniln ,,f <;<uf x.l mly, in, nt, declares that 'bee even 

 1 d ami bhisphi meil to his last gaspe, and to- 

 gether with his breath an oath Hew out of bis 

 mouth.' There can IKS no doubt that Marlowe lucd 

 led an irregular life. In Hnrleian MS. iis;>:t is 

 a not* 'contav ninge the opinion of one Cristofer 

 Mailye coneernyng his damnable opinions and 

 judgment of Itelygion and scorne of (HH|S worde,' 

 drawn up (shortly Ix'fore Marlowe s death) by a 

 <in Ilicliard Itaine, who was hanged at Tyburn, 

 6th December I.V.H. This scandalous document, 

 which in parts is quite unfit for publication, was 

 printed in full by Kit-on. Then' is evidence that 

 Sir Walter Kaleigh and Thomas Kyd the draina- 

 ti-t were accused of sharing Marlowe's views. 



Hal his life. IMH-II lengtheneil, Marlowe would 

 doubtless have written more perfect tragedies, but 



