Book description
Marlowe's seven plays dramatise the fatal lure of potent forces,
whether religious, occult or erotic. In the victories of Tamburlaine,
Faustus's encounters with the demonic, the irreverence of Barabas in THE
JEW OF MALTA, and the humiliation of Edward II in his fall from power
and influence, Marlowe explores the shifting balance between power and
helplessness, the sacred and its desecration.
Christopher Marlowe (1564-93) was educated at Cambridge and soon
established his reputation as a playwright. Away from the stage,
Marlowe was a man who courted danger as a homosexual, a spy, and an
outspoken atheist. He was murdered at the age of 29 in a tavern in Deptford.
Robert Lindsey is Associate Aditor of the journal Medieval and
Renaissance Drama in English. Frank Romany teaches English at St
John's College, Oxford.
