The Plays

Front Cover
Wordsworth Editions, 2000 - Drama - 546 pages
Tamburlaine the Great - I and II, Dr Faustus (A Text and B Text) The Jew of Malta, Edward II, The Massacre at Paris, Dido Queen of Carthage. With Introductions by Emma Smith. If Shakespeare had died at the age Marlowe died, there would have been no question that Marlowe was the leading figure in English Renaissance drama. This edition of all his plays shows why. The plays give us a clear picture of Marlowe as a radical theatrical poet of great linguistic and dramatic daring, whose characters constantly strive to break out of the social, religious and rhetorical bonds within which they are confined. Accused during his lifetime of blasphemy and homosexuality, Marlowe still has the power to challenge our assumptions about conventional morality, through his innovative theatricality. By placing less-known plays such as The Massacre at Paris and Dido Queen of Carthage alongside the acknowledged masterpieces Edward II and Dr Faustus, this edition gives a full picture of Marlowe's distinctive and provocative talent.

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Contents

Chronology VII
20
MEANDER Not for so small a fault my sovereign lord
30
MEANDER Oft have I heard your majesty complain
40
COSROE It cannot choose because it comes from
60
THERID Before the moon renew her borrowd light
70
MYCETES Go stout Theridamas thy words are swords
80
COSROE Nay pray you let him stay a greater task
90
MYCETES Well here I swear by this my royal seat
100
COSROE Ah Menaphon I pass not for his threats
110
MENAPH This should entreat your highness to rejoice
130
CENEUS The warlike soldiers and the gentlemen
140
ORTYGIUS And in assurance of desird success
160
ALL Long live Cosroe mighty emperor
170
ORTYGIUS We knew my lord before we brought the crown
180
SCENE 2
225
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About the author (2000)

Christopher Marlowe was born in Canterbury, England on February 6, 1564. He received a B.A. in 1584 and an M.A. in 1587 from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. His original plans for a religious career were put aside when he decided to become a poet and playwright. His earliest work was translating Lucan and Ovid from Latin into English. He translated Vergil's Aeneid as a play. His plays included Tamburlaine the Great, Faustus, The Jew of Malta, and Dido, Queen of Carthage. His unfinished poem Hero and Leander was published in 1598. In 1589, he and a friend killed a man, but were acquitted on a plea of self-defense. His political views were unorthodox, and he was thought to be a government secret agent. He was arrested in May 1593 on a charge of atheism. He was killed in a brawl in a Deptford tavern on May 30, 1593.

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