Literature: Renaissance - Christopher Marlowe

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 4

Goals and planning

At the end of this lesson you know more about Christopher Marlowe and you can answer questions about 'Dr. Faustus'

• Who was Marlowe
• Introduction to Dr. Faustus
• Reading together
• Questions
• Discussion Time

Christopher Marlowe

1564-1593

University Degree

Spy?

Atheist?

Violent death

Blank verse: Iambic Pentametre

Dr Faustus

But thou, my babe! shalt wander like a breeze

By lakes and sandy shores, beneath the crags

Spy of Queen Elizabeth, more than vague rumours

Atheist - was arrested for this

Died in a row over a tavern bill - or was that staged and was he killed by secret agents?

Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)

• Thought to be a secret agent in the service of the Queen
• Had a turbulent life; accused of treason, atheism, homosexuality 
• Believed to have co-written some of Shakespeare's plays
• Stabbed in a dispute at a London tavern; murder probably linked to his shady activities

Christopher Marlowe 1564 - 1593

Born in 1564

Son of a shoemaker

University Education at Cambridge

Lived a wild and violent life

Deported from the Netherlands for trying to pass off forged coins

Stabbed to death at the age of 29

Best known works : The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus  and The Jew of Malta

Christopher Marlowe (1564 - 1593)

Shakespeare's contemporary

Scholars say Marlowe heavily influenced Shakespeare's plays (Marlovian themes)

Established dramatic blank verse (poetry that doesn't rhyme in iambic pentameter)

Dr Faustus

by Christopher Marlowe

typical Renaissance man

Faust-Buch

Mephistopheles

unlimited power 

vs 

soul

Lucifer

explore limits 

of knowledge

Faustus theme

Poetic justice