The Jew of Malta (Author Biography)

Author Biography

Many scholars believe that had Christopher Marlowe lived longer, he might have become a greater dramatist than William Shakespeare. Marlowe was born a few months before Shakespeare, in 1564, to John and Catherine Marlowe of Canterbury, where the senior Marlowe was a shoemaker. Marlowe attended Cambridge University, where he received a bachelor of arts degree. Marlowe continued on at Cambridge, using a clergyman’s scholarship to fund his studies. Scholars generally agree that Marlowe probably never had any intention of joining the clergy, but he was willing to say that he might be so inclined, in order to continue with his studies. When he was finally awarded his master’s degree in 1587, after a great deal of controversy and amid charges that he was secretly planning on becoming a Catholic priest (Catholics could not receive degrees from Cambridge during this time, and priests were widely suspected of plots to overthrow the queen), he was ranked 199 out of 231 students. After leaving Cambridge, Marlowe moved to London, where he is reported to have had frequent problems with the authorities. He was briefly jailed for murder, although later he was found to have acted in self-defense. He was also charged with atheism and blasphemy and was awaiting trial for these offenses when he was killed in a brawl, supposedly over an unpaid dinner bill, in 1593. Marlowe’s death, from a stab wound to his forehead, remains controversial, however, since some scholars argue that his death was not really the result of a dispute but was more likely an assassination of a disreputable public figure.

Marlowe’s first play to be produced was Tamburlaine, Part I (1587). Though it was produced shortly after he left Cambridge, scholars now think that Marlowe probably wrote Dido Queen of Carthage (first published in 1594) as early as 1586.

His first production was so popular with the public that Marlowe soon followed with a sequel, Tamburlaine, Part II, a year later. Marlowe was the first to use blank verse in a play; previously, the standard had been for rhyming verse, which Marlowe condemns in the prologue to Tamburlaine, Part I. Another play, The Jew of Malta, followed in about 1589-1590 (although it was not published until 1633), with The Massacre of Paris following in 1593. This last play was never published, and the only known copies are based on an undated and unreliable edition. Marlowe’s next play, Edward II (1592), is considered to be the first great English history play. However, most scholars consider Doctor Faustus to be Marlowe’s greatest work. This last play was not performed until after Marlowe’s death and was probably unfinished when the playwright died. Marlowe also wrote many poems during his short life, many of them inspiring later poets to match his talent and wit. Marlowe was a compelling dramatist on the scale of Shakespeare; however, Shakespeare would live another twenty-three productive years after Marlowe’s death. Shakespeare’s greatest works were composed after 1600, more than seven years after Marlowe died. Had he lived longer, Marlowe’s work might well have matched the work of the greatest playwright England ever produced.