BIOGRAPHY
Christopher Marlowe was born the son of a prosperous shoemaker in Canterbury, England, and was baptized on February 26, 1564, but his actual date of birth is unknown. He received his early education at the King's School in Canterbury and was later awarded a scholarship to study at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.
Scholars recognize Marlowe as the first English dramatist to reveal the full potential of blank verse poetry, and as one who made significant advances in the genre of English tragedy through keen examinations of Renaissance morality. Marlowe wrote during the Elizabethan period, a time of change and uncertainty. The spirit of the age was marked by both the Renaissance and the Reformation. This was a time when society had begun to free itself from medieval institutions and to celebrate the ascendancy of the individual. Marlowe witnessed these developments first-hand and began to explore the potential consequences of this newfound freedom. The dangers of excessive ambition and the apparent compulsion to strive for more than one already has, forms a major theme in Marlowe's plays.
Although his achievements have been generally overshadowed by his exact contemporary, William Shakespeare, many critics contend that had he not died young, Marlowe's reputation would certainly have rivaled that of the more famous playwright.
Excerpted from Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800. Ed. James E. Person. Vol. 22. Detroit: Gale Research, 1993. p325-402.
EDUCATION
Cambridge University
Upon completing his BA, Marlowe stayed on at Cambridge to pursue a graduate degree. His scholarship provided for three more years of study--essential for a career in the church, and nonetheless useful if he opted for a different career in the end. His course work now formally included geography, astronomy, and cosmography, and informally astrology and the occult.
As opposed to the restrictions placed on undergraduate scholarship students, Marlowe now had more freedom to travel. He also began to establish himself as a writer, first poetry and then plays.
Marlowe's humble background placed him at odds with richer classmates in early school, but his literary skill established him as a talented student, and he received scholarships first to the King's School and then to Corpus Christi College at Cambridge University.
At Cambridge his studies would have included Latin, logic and rhetoric, philosophy, and religion. As a divinity student he attended daily prayer as well as multiple lectures on Sundays. He read Ovid, Plato, and Aristotle. Daily classes and work developing dialectic skill were of particular value. He used this type of argument when creating dialogue for characters in his plays, and dialectic debates between Calvinism and other forms of Protestantism in the Anglican Church would become themes for future writing.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
The technical parts of Marlowe's education had a direct impact on how he writes his plays. And the atmosphere of his student life becomes part of the content.
Although astrology had no formal place in the university curriculum, MA candidates routinely studied it and kept notebooks of occult learning. Oxford MA candidates in the 1580s disputed over ‘Whether astrological divination is credible’, ‘Whether there is any power of enchantment’ and ‘Whether gold can be made from baser metals’. . . .Many scholars proceeded from astrology to magic.
-David Riggs, The World of Christopher Marlowe
SPIES LIKE US
For a notable period of time during graduate school, Marlowe was missing from Cambridge. But just at the point where he would not have been able to resume studies, he returned.
Along with an "excuse letter" from the Privy Council.
It implied that Marlowe had been working for Queen Elizabeth I as some sort of spy while away,
Two theories exist about what Marlow may have been doing:
-Working as a spy amidst Catholic students at Rheims in France, to acquire information on their plot to assassinate the Queen.
-Working in Antwerp as part of a network looking to dissuade Spain from invading England as retribution for the death of Mary Queen of Scots.
NOTE FROM THE PRIVY COUNCIL:
Whereas it was reported that Christopher Morley was determined to have gone beyond the seas to Rheims and there to remain, their Lordships thought good to certify that he had no such intent, but that in all actions he had behaved himself orderly and discreetly whereby he had done her Majesty good service, and deserved to be rewarded for his faithful dealing.
The Privy Council was the group of advisors who served Elizabeth I and issued official orders on her behalf dealing with both administrative and judicial matters. It still exists today.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Marlowe's work in Belgium would have exposed him to the original version of the Faustus tale at an earlier date. It also brought him much closer to the ideas of Arminianism, which were very prominent in the Netherlands.
Spy work, and the government vouching for it, also sets up a notable contrast to the end of Marlowe's life.
Europe in the time of Queen Elizabeth I
click to enlarge
BUT NOT LIKE US FOREVER
Marlowe's professional career as a writer lasted only six years, during which time his irreverence and his short temper caused multiple problems. Rumors abound that his secondary career as a spy may not have ended after he graduated.
As the RSC summarizes, "In 1593, Marlowe wrote a manuscript that pointed out (what he considered to be) inconsistencies in the Bible, and he fell under the suspicion of heresy. Another contemporary of Shakespeare's, and Marlowe's roommate, Thomas Kyd, was tortured into giving evidence against him. On Sunday 20 May, Marlowe was arrested for the crime of being an atheist – the penalty for which being burned at the stake. The Privy Council--the same body which had vouched for him as a graduate student--ordered him to appear before them. He died before he could.
The Irish Times calls Marlowe the "Elizabethan James Bond" and aptly recounts the strange circumstances of his death.
It was claimed that Marlowe had been drinking with three other men in the tavern and that he had gotten into an argument with one of the men – Ingram Frizer – about “the reckoning” or the bill. The argument had turned violent and Frizer stabbed Marlowe above the right eye, killing him instantly. An inquest held after Marlowe’s death concluded that Frizer had acted in self-defence, and he was pardoned. Marlowe was buried in an unmarked grave in the churchyard of St Nicholas in Deptford.
However, various conspiracy theories have grown around Marlowe’s death. As it turned out, the men hadn’t been in a tavern at all; they had been in a safe house for government agents and the other men were secret agents in the employ of Thomas Walsingham [Marlowe's possibly spy boss from years ago]. Given this fact, many doubt the veracity of the evidence given by the men at the inquest. Some disputed that the fight and the outcome as described were even possible, while others (including surgeons) insisted that such a wound could not have possibly resulted in instant death.
There are as many conspiracy theories about Marlowe’s death as there are about JFK’s. Because the men were secret agents, it’s suggested that his death was a government-sponsored assassination. It’s also suggested that his death may have been ordered by Raleigh and other members of the School of Night, who may have feared that, during torture, Marlowe might give up their secrets. Another theory is that members of the Privy Council were responsible because they feared that Marlowe might reveal them to be atheists. Queen Elizabeth herself has even been named as being behind the assassination.
More rumors followed his death--including the ideas that his death was faked so he could escape or that he lived on as a playwright creating many of the works we attribute to William Shakespeare.
MARLOWE'S BODY OF WORK
