Example Of Christopher Marlowe Biography

After Marlowe left Cambridge for London in the year 1587, he worked as a playwright. One of his famous works includes Dido Queen of Carthage. Marlowe also worked on the translations of Lucan and Ovid . He was a part of a group of young intellectuals in London, including Sir Walter Raleigh. Marlowe was famous among the critics and the readers as a man of unruly personality based on his bouts with the law. As a poet, Marlowe dealt ironically with the tensions between humans and the divine, thereby challenging the hypocrisies of religious institutions. Marlowe was unique among the contemporary writers for he had a great concern for morality and religion, and suffering and evil. Confusing and similar artistic progeny makes problematic assumptions about what Marlowe wrote and when. For example, plays, such as Doctor Faustus, which exists in two different versions, came into existence after eleven years and twenty-three years of Marlowe’s death .
Marlowe worked as a spy for the Elizabethan secret service. He was an intelligence agent who worked for several influential court figures and lieutenants, which was not an easy role. Marlowe gathered information and his role extended from conveying gossip to engaging in serious espionage. However, for Marlowe, it was a casual occupation rather than a career. Various powerful peers at court, with their ambitions and rivalries paid a variety of people for information on plots to counter the external threats to England. Marlowe worked for Lord Burghley, Elizabeth’s chief minister during the 1590s. He grew up in an academic environment, which was highly orthodox in upholding the social and religious status quo. The educational model of Marlowe is visible in all of his writings, such as Faustus disputing with the devil and Tamburlaine extolling virtue that leads to an earthly crown . One of the dangerous plays written by Marlowe was the Massacre of Paris in which Marlowe portrayed Catholics as the killers of Protestants. Marlowe had the privilege of presenting his plays through the company of Lord Admiral, while his contemporaries had them performed by the church boys.
Some of the greatest personalities, such as Edward Alleyn watched Marlowe’s dramas, which was a remarkable incident for the poet. In 1592, Marlowe had to face an arrest at Flushing in the Netherlands for his role in the counterfeiting of coins, which was presumably the activity of the Catholics . The young poet achieved neither wealth nor power during his lifetime. The distinction between the reality and his dreams began to put a burden upon him. As Marlowe strived to achieve his dreams, he grew restless and petulant that even his closest friends lost patience with him. Marlowe was a part of an atheist group, nicknamed as “School of Night,” which also included great personalities, such as Thomas Hariot and Sir Walter Raleigh. As a member of the group, Marlowe challenged various religious beliefs and took part in certain experiments that involved alchemy and magic.
The year 1593 was the saddest year of Marlowe’s life as it was in this year that he left his breath. After Marlowe commented on the inconsistencies present in the Bible, he fell under the distrust of heresy. Marlowe’s roommate and closest friend, Thomas Kyd, faced terrible torture for not providing evidence against him. Although Marlowe was not behind the bars, he had to appear in the court every day. Before Marlowe could appear at the Privy Council, he left his last breath on May 30, 1593 at Dame Eleanore Bull's gin mill in Deptford, where he had dinner with his friends . As per the statement provided by the witnesses, Marlowe had a quarrel with another man over the bill in which he pulled his dagger onto another man. The other man pushed the dagger back into Marlowe’s eye, wounding him to death. However, there is still a misconception about Marlowe’s death as most of the people believe that Marlowe’s death was a murder intended to avoid his arrest.
If Marlowe had appeared before the Privy Council, he would have involved the men of great importance, such as Raleigh and several others. Though there is no evidence about the mystery, the death seemed as if it was a planned act. Moreover, after Marlowe’s death, Ingram Frizer, the person who attacked the poet faced no charges as the court declared that he killed Marlowe in self-defense . Although Frizer was in the prison for a few days, the immediately pardoned him stating the murder was not a crime. Thus, the contribution of Christopher Marlowe to drama was complete. He played a major role in setting a high standard for poetry and drama on the stage. Marlowe left the world a great number of characters, which are as passionate and fervent as their creator. The poet paved the path for a poet greater than himself, namely William Shakespeare . Thus, Marlowe became one of the influential and remarkable personalities in the field of poetry.

Works Cited

Bartels, Emily C. and Emma Smith. Christopher Marlowe in Context. Cambridge University Press, 2013 .
Bloom, Harold. Christopher Marlowe. Infobase Publishing, 2009.
Hopkins, Lisa. Christopher Marlowe: A Literary Life. Palgrave Macmillan, 2000.
Kozuka, Dr Takashi and Professor J R Mulryne. Shakespeare, Marlowe, Jonson: New Directions in Biography. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2013.
Kuriyama, Constance Brown. Christopher Marlowe: A Renaissance Life. Cornell University Press, 2010.
Riggs, David. The World of Christopher Marlowe. Henry Holt and Company, 2006.