CHRISTOPHER MARLOW, A DRAMATIST

MARLOVIAN TRAGEDY
Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593) was an English dramatist, poet
and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe was the foremost
Elizabethan tragedian of his day who belonged to the group of university-
educated practitioners of literature known collectively as the ‘University Wits’.
He greatly influenced William Shakespeare, who was born in the same year as
Marlowe and who rose to become the pre-eminent Elizabethan playwright
after Marlowe's mysterious early death.

He is famous for his dramas-Tamburlaine, Doctor Faustus, Jew of

Malta and Edward II.

Marlow’s tragedy is significant due to its newness, renaissance

influence, Machiavellian morality, powerful and passionate expressions,
element of tragic inner conflict, overreaching protagonists, popular literary
style, high seriousness, bombastic language and blank verse. Swinburne
remarks: ‘Before him, there was neither genuine blank verse nor genuine
tragedy in our language. After his arrival the way was prepared and the paths
were made straight for Shakespeare.’

Marlow’s contribution to English tragedy is very vital and manifold. He

has rightly been called the ‘Morning Star’ of the great Elizabethan drama.
Following are the salient features of his tragedies.

TRAGEDY BEFORE MARLOW

It was in the fifteenth century that tragedy came into English dramatic
field. And this was due to the influence of the Revival of Learning and the
translation of great Italian tragedies of Seneca. And the first English tragedy
was Gorboduc by Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville. In the style and
treatment of theme Seneca was very much their model. Although this tragedy
showed some innovation, yet most of the Senecan characteristics—long
sententious speeches, lack of action, talkative ghosts and horrible scenes of
murder were very much there. The credit goes to Marlow to free the
Elizabethan drama from the worst features of the Senecan tragedy. We can
discuss various characteristics of his tragedy to point out how he formulated
the English drama, specially the tragedy which was improved upon and
perfected by a genius like Shakespeare.

Marlow’s Tragic Heroes

Marlow put forward a new kind of tragic hero. The medieval concept of
tragedy was the fall of a great man, kings or royal personalities. But it was
left to Marlow to create the real tragic hero. Almost all the heroes of Marlow—
Tamburlaine, Faustus or Jew of Malta—are of humble parentage, but they are
endowed with great heroic qualities and they are really great men.

His tragedy is, in fact, the tragedy of the hero. All other characters of
Marlovian drama look insignificant besides the towering personality of the
tragic hero.

Tragic Flaw In His Heroes

Marlow revived the Aristotelian conception of tragic hero in so far as he

introduced a certain flaw or flaws in his character. His heroes are men fired
with indomitable passion and inordinate ambition. His Tamburlaine is in full-
flooded pursuit of military and political power, his Faustus sells his soul to the
devil to attain ultimate power through knowledge and his Jew of Malta
discards all human values in order to gain maximum wealth. But they perish
by the forces beyond their control.

Inner Conflict
Another great achievement of Marlow was to introduce the element of
conflict, especially inner struggle in two of his great tragedies—Doctor
Faustus and Edward II. And this inner conflict reveals the real significance of
character as the main-stay of a great tragedy.
 High Seriousness / Absence Of Female Characters
Another notable characteristic of Marlow’s tragedies is its high
seriousness and hence there is complete lack of humour. According to many a
critic, the scenes of clownishness in Doctor Faustus are nothing but later
interpolations. His often neglects female characters.

Poetic Excellence / Blank Verse

Marlow’s poetic excellence was highly appreciated even by his
contemporaries. Swinburne pays his tribute: ‘The first great English poet was
the father of English tragedy and the creator of English blank verse.’

All of Marlow’s heroes, Faustus is the most poetic, as he is a prototype

of Marlow himself with his passionate love of beauty and yearning for
sensuous pleasures.
Was this the face that launched a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?
Sweet Helen make me immortal with a kiss.

A new spirit of poetry was breathed into the artificial and monotonous
verse of old plays. He made blank verse a great dramatic medium
acknowledged by all his successors as the metre indispensable for any serious
drama.

Plot Construction
As for as plot construction is concerned all Marlow’s great plays, with
the exception of Edward II to some extent, suffer from great technical
defects. There are no sub plots in his dramas.

Influence On Shakespeare
Shakespeare was heavily influenced by Marlowe in his work, as can be
seen in the re-using of Marlovian themes in Antony and Cleopatra, The
Merchant of Venice, Richard II, and Macbeth (Dido, Jew of Malta, Edward
II and Dr. Faustus respectively). In Hamlet, after meeting with the travelling
actors, Hamlet requests the Player perform a speech about the Trojan War,
which at has an echo of Marlowe's Dido, Queen of Carthage. In ‘Love's
Labour's Lost’ Shakespeare brings on a character "Marcade" in conscious
acknowledgement of Marlowe's character "Mercury", in ‘The Massacre at
Paris’.
We may conclude by the illuminating remarks of Schelling:
‘Marlow gave the drama passion and poetry and poetry was his most
precious gift. Shakespeare would not have been Shakespeare had Marlow
never written or lived. He might not have been altogether the Shakespeare
we know.’

shuaib6727.blogspot.com SHUAIB ASGHAR

shuaib6727.wordpress.com DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
GOVT. RAZVIA ISLAMIA COLLEGE
HAROONABAD