Book Description
Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593), a man of extreme passions and a playwright of immense talent, is the most important of Shakespeare's contempories. This edition offers his five major plays, which show the radicalism and vitality of his writing in the few years before his violent death. Tamburlaine Part One and Part Two deal with the rise to world prominence of the great Scythian shepherd-robber; The Jew of Malta is a drama of villainy and revenge; Edward II was to influence Shakespeare's Richard II. Doctor Faustus, perhaps the first drama taken from the medieval legend of a man who sells his soul to the devil, is here in both its A- and its B- text, showing the enormous and fascinating differences between the two. Under the General Editorship of Dr Michael Cordner of the University of York, the texts of the plays have been newly edited and are presented with modernized spelling and punctuation. In addition, there is a scholarly introduction and detailed annotation.
Customer Reviews:
WOW.......2005-10-06
HAVING BEING A SIXTH GRADE STUDENT WHO WAS ASSINGED TO DO A BOOK REPORT ABOUT A CLASSIC NOVEL OR SHORT STORY.I DECIDED TO CHOOSE AN UNCONVENTIONAL NOVEL .I CHOSE THIS ONE BECAUSE IT IS NOT ONLY DISTURBING BUT AMAZING AS WELL IT IS ONE OF THE BEST IF NOT THE BEST NOVEL EVER WRITTEN. MOVE OVER SHAKESPHERE MARLOWE IS COMING FOR YOR CROWN YOU MAY NO LONGER BE THE GREATEST WRITER WHO HAS EVER LIVED ONCE WORD OF THIS REVIEW GETS OUT.
Yes, the English Renaissance CAN be humorous!.......2000-08-28
Christopher Marlowe is a genius. This thorough, Oxfordiancompilation of his best known plays contains Tamburlaine the Great parts one and two, the Tragical History of Doctor Faustus in its original A-text and its later B-text, The Jew of Malta, and Edward II. The beauty of these dramas lies in the fact that they're short but powerful reading pieces. In five acts Marlowe was able to generate a story complete with action, classical allusions, and a bawdy humor one might not expect from otherwise generally classified stuffy English Renaissance drama. This book contains an exhaustive introduction that explains many details of the publication dates of the plays and the differences between versions (Faustus). It also contains a thorough section for notes that further explain the texts. Finally, it contains a glossary of the commonly used words from the texts. The bottom line? This book is a great read--it's funny (I can't begin to stress that enough), and you will appreciate Marlowe's wit and talent just as much as William Shakespeare did. Buy it today!
Book Description
“Riggs brings it all together brilliantly, assembling all evidence of Marlowe’s life and adding to that a wider and deeper focus . . . Superb.”—Los Angeles Times
The World of Christopher Marlowe is the story of the troubled genius, raised in the stench and poverty of Canterbury’s abbatoirs, who revolutionized English drama and poetry, challenging and scandalizing English society before he was murdered in his prime. David Riggs, a prizewinning Elizabethan scholar, evokes the atmosphere and texture of Marlowe’s life from his birth to his ties to the London underworld and his triumphs onstage.
It was a time when nothing was sacred, and no one was secure. Espousing sexual freedom and atheism, Marlowe proved too great a threat to the religious and political leaders of the time, who were struggling to maintain their tenuous grip on power. In the wake of his untimely death, Marlowe would leave behind a shadowed legacy of undeniable genius. This magisterial work of reconstruction illuminates his enigmatic, contradictory, and glorious life with immense richness.
“The book engrossingly narrates the circumstantial details of Marlowe’s life against a richly detailed backdrop. Riggs writes with scholarly yet conversational elegance . . . Enjoyably provides fresh insights into the life and work of this important poet and playwright.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“A worthy book . . . if you want an exhaustive account of the life and times, Riggs is your man.”—The New York Times Book Review
Customer Reviews:
Interesting book on the life and times of Marlowe.......2006-12-10
I enjoyed the history in this book, and not just about Marlowe's own past. Unlike other biographies I have read, this one sometimes gets off of Marlowe and looks at other factors which influence him, either directly or indirectly, and how they might have had an effect on his work as well as his life, right up to the end!
A Remarkable Book.......2005-10-27
Christopher Marlowe, the Elizabethan poet and playwright, was one of the most talented members of his generation. He helped pioneer the use of blank verse in dramatic poetry and used it to produce five masterpieces while William Shakespeare--who was only two months younger than Marlowe--was still finding his dramatic footing. Who can say how great he might have become if he were not cut down (possibly on orders of the Queen, herself) at the age of 29.
As a man, Marlowe was the "unShakespeare". Where Shakespeare was a prudent man who invested his money wisely and was careful not to offend authority, Marlowe was a risk-taker both in his personal life and in his plays. In an age where not toeing the official ine was punishable by death, Marlowe never met a line he was not tempted to cross. If this is what got him killed, it also makes him a fascinating person to read about.
David Riggs weaves Marlowe's personal tragedy into an exciting volume that I found as hard to put down as any thriller. It is a book I can heartily recomend.
great for english lit...but skim some.......2005-09-03
I agree with the reader who says the book is often abstruse. The chapter on double-agenting had my eyes rolling and I was constantly looking back pages to see who's who. Add to this the fact that these Brits (or their elite) can be referred to by a seemingly endless list of tiles each (and, then, their names, as well) and that the minor functionaries and offices of government aren't on everyone's tongue and one often feels mired in the mud. I think this could have been alleviated with chapter introductions or summaries or just a more prudent handling of the proper nouns. Anyway, when I get to that point in any book, I just try to make sure I'm getting the main point and head thru at a trot.... Life is short, and there's so much to read!
What I got that was positive from this book, and it was very positive indeed, was a sense of M's contribution to blank verse and the development of Elizabethan drama. I went to my shelves to look at some earlier stuff, and yeppir, there's Marlowe at the dividing line. This certainly gave me a whole new appreciation of him as a figure in English literature and has got me back to sampling some other Elizabethan writing, including his ,comparing and contrasting, which is a nice trip. Very interesting to see how these boy's classical education trained them to snap off large amounts of magnificent English poetry. (The last British governor of Chad remarked in the NYRB that he had zero training when assigned, but the underlying assumption of his superiors was that if you translate Latin poetry to Greek poetry ad lib you could surely run a country! I suppose history has dimmed that conceit, but as a liberal artser, I liked it anyway.)
The historical/political background was already well known to me and as far as who might have or could have done this or that, I like my speculation with the facts.
(The book is unfortunatly cheaply produced, though not more so than many, and and the illustrations are really muddy. A book can be handsomely done for $30. Check out, for instance, Who Murdered Chaucer - St. Martin's Press - for a sad contrast in book production, also a $30 dollar item.)
Astonishing.......2005-03-16
I'm not an Elizabethan scholar, I knew next to nothing about Marlowe or the times, and this isn't an area of particular interest to me. Nonetheless, I found this to be an incredible read. It's an absolutely fascinating sketch of an age. The first part of the book includes a rivting examination of Marlowe's education, complete with an in-depth analysis of current intellectual trends and their effects on English cultural and political life.
But this book is well titled: its chief object is the world around Marlowe, not Marlowe himself. As noted in another review, we are given very little information about Marlowe the man. While the thorough detail surrounding his life at each step is fascinating, I came away feeling like I knew next to nothing about the man. Perhaps this is simply honest, as we may not know much about him. But it was an odd feeling.
I also disagree with the reviewer who feels that this book seeks repeatedly to defame Marlowe. I found the book even-handed and uncritical of Marlowe. Perhaps that's because I don't know the "other" stories that were not included, but I don't feel that this is a brief for the prosecution.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who's intellectually curious.
The play's the thing.......2005-03-07
This is a very absorbing, sometimes astonishing, short bio of the playwright Christopher Marlowe, with a lot of detail of the time and place. The harshness of the times, the austere educational system that Marlowe survived all the way to an MA, his mysterious activities as a spy, all make for an exotic picture of a world that seems, for all its lingering barbarism, more attuned to poetry that our own. This has to be one of the most seminal eras of history, soon to produce the rarest of the rare periods of tragic drama. In that emerging sequence, Marlowe stands out for his bold embrace of the iambic pentameter, the at first poor cousin of the Latin hexameter, yet soon to shine in Shakesperean glory. Marlowe's short but brilliant career ends ambiguously, his murder more than what appears on the surface, perhaps a government assassination. The image of Faust.
Book Description
Rodney Bolt’s delightful life of Marlowe plays out a surprising solution to an enduring literary mystery, bringing the spirit of Shakespeare alive as we’ve never seen it before.
Rodney Bolt’s book is not an attempt to prove that, rather than dying at 29 in a tavern brawl, Christopher Marlowe staged his own death, fled to Europe, and went on to write the work attributed to Shakespeare. Instead, it takes that as the starting point for a playful and brilliantly written “fake biography” of Marlowe, which turns out to be a life of the Bard as well. Using real historical sources (as well as the occasional red herring) plus a generous dose of speculation, Bolt paints a rich and rollicking picture of Elizabethan life. As we accompany Marlowe into the halls of academia, the society of the popular English players traveling Europe, and the dangerous underworld of Elizabethan espionage, a fascinating and almost plausible life story emerges, along with a startlingly fresh look at the plays and poetry we know as Shakespeare’s. Tapping into centuries of speculation about the man behind the work, about whom so few facts are known for sure, Rodney Bolt slyly winds the lives of two beloved playwrights into one.
Customer Reviews:
Clever, witty, ENTERTAINING!.......2006-08-29
If you're a fan of Shakespeare, and want a way to experience the flavor of life in his times (Elizabethan England), there is no better book from the standpoint of entertainment and thought-provoking suppositions. Fiction? OF COURSE! And the author admits it. But what FUN! (This book has for me a lot of the exciting "you are there" of the film Shakespeare In Love: wildly informative and entertaining quasi-fantasy.)
Shakespeare Demeaned...........2005-10-27
This disturbing 'biography' is pure fiction and shows that anyone can write a book and get it published if you have connections. This is the silliest thing I have ever heard. The writer spent a lot of time making comparisons when there are none to be made.
Marlowe wrote only seven plays in his young life, 'Dr. Faustus' the best known, and his poem "Hero and Leander" the only poem to outlive him. Perhaps with his interest in the occult and Satanism, a rumor has run amok that he returned in the adult human form of a famous playwright and literary figure, the prolific William Shakespeare. It's the darnest thing I ever saw. The majority of the fiction is about Shakespeare and very little about the man himself.
Having been murdered at such a young age, there will always be speculation as to the cause. "Afterlife" -- I don't think so! It is all foolish hypothesis, and to dignify it at all in print is preposterous.
A well-imagined alternative history.......2005-10-26
If you've ever been bemused by the fuss about who wrote the Shakespeare plays, this book will set you straight. The foreword reprints Sam Clemens' (aka Mark Twain's) inventory of all the positively known facts about Shakespeare, and it's a scanty list. Most striking is the fact that Will's children were illiterate, that he left no literary bequest but carefully distributed physical goods down to old furniture in his will, and that we know more about his life as a trader and bean counter than we do about his acting.
Bolt takes as his premise that Shakespeare couldn't have written the plays attributed to him, and that he acted as a front for Christopher Marlowe who was writing from exile after narrowly escaping assassination; a stand-in died in his place in the infamous "tavern brawl". Bolt readily admits that this is a fiction, but argues that even supposedly reputable Shakespearean history is mostly invention, too. As he says in his Afterword: "Other writers have looked at the evidence and deduced a story; I have imagined a story, then supported it with the same sparse evidence."
The book weaves a persuasive and instructive tapestry of Elizabethan life. (Bolt does a good job of signaling what's his invention, and what's based on accepted sources.) It gave me with a good sense of the intrigue and insecurity at the heart of the regime, of the making and staging of plays in that time and of the constant flux as people and ideas flowed freely across war-torn Europe. There are frequent references to, and reinterpretations of, Shakespearian poetry and plays, and many witty asides. I sense that I missed many of the puns, anagrams, and in-jokes, but they were done with such a light touch that this didn't bother me.
My only quibble with the book is that Marlowe is a cardboard figure around whom the history turns. The peripheral characters are better drawn, from Shakespeare as a ambitious and venal minor talent, to Marlowe's friends and mentors in the spy world, to the puppetmasters like Sir Francis Walsingham and the slimy Sir Robert Cecil. This book is a history, as the title promises; it's not really a biography, even an imagined one.
Customer Reviews:
fascinating chapter in English history........2007-03-13
Other reviewers indicate this is a tedious book. I can't agree. It was a terribly complex time, and Charles Nicholl admirably puts that point across. We think of today as being an espionage era, but the Elizabethan times were even worse. Curiously the Queen is no where near the center of the puzzle. I found the unraveling of the puzzle to be of almost operatic proportions, and the difficulties in reading only made me pursue the read with more tenacity. I've read the book twice and find that, if I had trouble keeping the good people straight, I have to think those actually living and eking out a living back then did so, too.
Great Archival Work, Terrible Writing/Editing.......2006-03-14
There are only three reasons to read this prize-winning reconstruction of the events surrounding the death of Elizabethan playwright and poet Christopher Marlowe: (1) if you have some particular previous interest in Marlowe; (2) if you have a particular interest in Elizabethan politics, international relations, and espionage circa 1580-1600; (3) if you are interested in the use of archival materials to tell a story. I came to this book for none of these reasons, and so found it sporadically interesting, but overall rather tedious and agonizing to read. Nicholl's strategy is to examine the biographies of the other people in Marlowe's life (including those present at his killing/murder), and to try and connect them to the larger political context. It was a time of deep intrigue, with Elizabeth's court deeply concerned about a Franco-Spanish Catholic invasion and a Catholic fifth column inside England. Plots abounded and there was a correspondingly extensive murky world of informants, semi-official spies, dirty tricks, and many agents provocateur.
Nicholl attempts to position Marlowe within this world as a sometime government spy on the Catholics, and tries to demonstrate how many writers turned to such intelligence work in order to make a more comfortable living. As educated men with skills in foreign languages, writers were often forced to supplement their meager writing income by whatever means they could, and spycraft offered a fairly lucrative, if somewhat dangerous option. The problem was that it was all to easy to get caught up in some complex double- or triple-cross, and secure patronage was very hard to maintain. Nicholl provides examples of various agents who were arrested based on flimsy denunciations and paid for it with their lives. His ultimate, unprovable hypothesis is that Marlowe was a small fish who got in the way of court jockeying for position in relation to all this, and that the Earl of Essex ordered that he be dealt with. The book is full of speculation and leaps of conjecture that will have history buffs gnashing their teeth in annoyance, but he does establish some things rather persuasively. If nothing else, it should put to bed the notion that Marlowe died in some brawl over a tavern bar tab. The setting was actually the home of a respectable widow with high court connections, it was a private meeting between Marlowe and three others which started in the morning and lasted all day, and the three other men involved were all part of the demimonde of Elizabethan espionage.
While I admire Nicholl's extensive archival work in piecing together events from some 400 years ago from so many different obscure sources, the prose is so laden with extraneous details and tangents that it's hard to keep track of what is truly relevant. No figure is too trivial to merit inclusion -- for example, consider that a quick survey of the index shows some 364 different names listed, which works out to the reader having to absorb slightly more than one new person per page. This is especially irksome given that a little more than half of these individuals appear only once in the narrative! Moreover, spot checking ten pages turned up another seven names not in the index-so perhaps the book has a cast of some 500 people! A good example of how this plays out of the prose can be found on page 179: "Like Ingram Frizer at Deptford, Watson and Marlowe stood their ground. They were arrested by the constable of the precinct, Stephen Wyld, a tailor, and marched off to the nearest Justice. This was Sir Owen Hopton, Lieutenant of the Tower of London, whose home was at Norton Folgate. Later that day they were led to Newgate prison..." If one rewrote the above omitting the extraneous detail, it would read as follows: "Watson and Marlowe stood their ground and were arrested and taken to Newgate prison." This is just one example of how Nicholl's account would have benefited from a tighter focus and control over the material, as he appears overeager to share every last archival finding with the reader, at the expense of lucid prose. Ultimately, it's a book whose value depends largely on the reader's interest in the three areas mentioned above.
Actually 4 1/2 stars..........2005-03-06
Many of the other reviews have nailed it. Nicholl has done an extraordinary job of gathering the available evidence to present a seemingly strong case for Marlowe's espionage work and murder. What he hasn't really done is write a gripping story about Christopher Marlowe. The Marlowe chapters are good, and there are several other chapters that aren't about Marlowe but are still good, though I wonder what they're doing in here. It's like he didn't have quite enough material for a book-length manuscript on Marlowe's murder, so he threw in lots of other (admittedly very interesting) stuff. For instance, there's a lot about the Babington conspiracy, which does give one a good insight into the intelligence world of the times, but oops, sorry, has nothing to do with Marlowe per se. Still, I'm glad Nicholl got it published as a book rather than a scholarly article (which is more what it reads like), since this way there's a much greater chance more people will find it and read it.
Well-researched but sometimes tedious.......2004-02-25
For assiduous research into Marlowe's life and times, THE RECKONING deserves five stars. For pure entertainment value, I would give it only three. So I've split the difference.
It's impossible to deny the hard work and exhaustive research that went into this densely argued book. Nicholl discovered previously unknown tidbits of fact about Marlowe and other Elizabethan figures (and he is not shy about announcing his role in these discoveries). Unfortunately, the sheer number of digressions into the minutiae of Elizabethan spycraft began to wear on me after a while. At one point Nicholl himself admits that a certain story he is recounting is "wearyingly familiar," as indeed it is - we've read it all before, again and again, in the lives of various minor poets and sometime spies reconstructed throughout the book. Some of these folks are directly connected with Marlowe, some have only the most tangential relationship, and others are dragged in just for atmosphere. An examination of the events in Deptford that left Marlowe dead occupies the first and last sections of THE RECKONING, but the long middle portion is devoted to establishing the background of the killing - a background that seemingly incorporates every single fact Nicholl was able to dig up during months or years of poring through archival documents. It can be "wearying" indeed, not to mention mind-numbing. Still, there is important information here for those interested in the period. Just don't expect a quick or easy read.
nice little historical who dun it! utterly brilliant work.......2003-11-23
I love history and all the details. I also love riddles and mysteries. So, when someone combines both into a tale, as Charles Nicholl did, it's bound to please me. This book is the Winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography and the Crime Writers' Gold Dagger Awards for non-fiction thriller - both well earned!!
Marlowe was a very controversial poet and playwright. In 1593, he was stabbed to death in a lodging house in Deptford. To say the least, the manner and circumstances of death was up to question. There was a violent quarrel concerning Marlowe's bill and the official finding has been called dubious at best.
Nicholl brings to life this historical riddle with style and ingenuity weaving facts, supposition and fiction into one wonderful mix. He presents a very complex study of Marlowe's death, but it is also a marvellous study of the seedier side of Elizabethan society.
Nicholl walks the masterful tightrope between historical study on Marlowe's murder, a well-written 'who dun it' and portrays with rich detail the period that leaves one wondering if he is not reincarnated!!
So buy it for the history, writers need to read it if they write about the period for it is also a scholarly work, but most of all sit back and enjoy a real British Who do it.
Average customer rating:
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Christopher Marlowe (World dramatists)
Gerald Pinciss
Manufacturer: Ungar Pub Co
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ASIN: 0804426945 |
Book Description
New Mermaids are modernized and fully-annotated editions of classic English plays. Each volume includes:
• The playtext, in modern spelling, edited to the highest bibliographical and textual standards
• Textual notes recording significant changes to the copytext and variant readings
• Glossing notes explaining obscure words and word-play
• Critical, contextual and staging notes
• Photographs of productions where applicable
• A full introduction which provides a critical account of the play, the staging conventions of the time and recent stage history; discusses authorship, date, sources and the text; and gives guidance for further reading.
Edited and updated by leading scholars and printed in a clear, easy-to-use format, New Mermaids offer invaluable guidance for actor, student, and theatre-goer alike.
Customer Reviews:
Enjoyable and a must read!.......2007-07-26
By his untimely death at 29 Christopher Marlowe had written this and other plays (including The Jew of Malta) which inspired a beginning William Shakespeare to sharpen his craft.
Though the version we have was not recorded until about a decade after Marlowe's death (and therefore shows signs of later adulterations by other writers) you can still observe the genius of Marlowe at work.
The plot of this play is about a well-learnt man, Dr. Faustus, who believing that he has attained all the knowledge there is to learn (knowledge beyond the point of 'this far and no further'), turns to magic.
During one of his rituals he calls upon the underworld to aid him - Mephistopheles duly comes to Faustus' beckoning as any good demon would in their relentless search for souls; however Faustus, in his naive pride, believes that Mephistopheles is there as a result of his conjuring - demons are at his beck and call!
Mephistopheles plays it whatever way Faustus wants it, to ensure capturing his soul. They strike a pact - 24 glorious years of fame and fortune for Faustus, with Mephistopheles as his servant, after which his soul belongs to Lucifer. To make the contract binding Faustus writes out the pact and signs in blood. However, Mephistopheles is portrayed as a figure of sorrow and tries to warn Faustus about what he is getting himself into. But Faustus is unreceptive to the truth and ignores Mephistopheles' warning.
There is the good and bad angel that appear to Dr. Faustus several times. The good angel repeats over and over to Dr. Faustus that he can repent at any time and come back into good graces, while the bad angel keeps on telling him it's too late. The bad angel prevails.
A number of scenes are depicted - the main one being at the Vatican. Faustus is invisible and steals food and wine from under the Pope's nose, followed by putting to sleep a couple of Cardinals and stealing their clothes, and he frees Bruno who is to be put to death for impersonating the pope.
So the story develops - Faustus is the guest at the tables of the figureheads of Europe where he further increases his reputation by bringing to life such people as Helen of Troy. He is introduced to the Seven Deadly sins - Pride, Covetousness, Envy, Wrath, Gluttony, Sloth and Lechery.
After twenty four years of fame Faustus' time is drawing to a close and he cannot postpone the inevitable. Mephistopheles, Lucifer and Beelzebub appear to collect their payment - the soul of Faustus. At the midnight hour they open the gates of hell. Faustus tries to repent but it's too late and his implorations to God are halfhearted. The devils rip his body apart before casting it aside - it has no use for them - their only currency is the soul.
In the 3rd and 4th acts, Faustus seems to let go of his quest for knowledge (for the most part) and indulges in practical jokes of an evil nature. There are some who feel that the 3rd and 4th acts are way too silly and that they drag the play down.
The 5th act begins, and Faustus has one final chance to avoid his fate, but he resigns himself to damnation if he can 'enjoy' Helen of Troy. The devil always tempts us with sexual fantasies, mankind's ultimate weakness!
The final scene where Faustus realizes that it is too late and hell awaits, is a scene of pure terror almost unparalleled in literature. He moves from requests that cannot be granted to the most imaginative escapes. The play ends with an appropriate warning to stay behind the line of 'this far and no further.'
Christopher Marlow's life is a bit of a mystery. Some historians believe that he might have been a spy. Not surprisingly, one of the groups of people who Marlowe is rumored to have spied on were Catholics intent on overthrowing what they saw as England's Protestant government. The first thing Dr. Faustus does when he makes his famous bargain is to play a practical joke on the Pope.
Marlowe was killed in a bar fight over an unpaid bill, but it seems highly likely that he was murdered because he was a spy.
Read the man who inspired William Shakespeare.......2006-11-24
By his untimely death at 29 Christopher Marlowe had written this and other plays (including The Jew of Malta) which inspired a beginning William Shakespeare to sharpen his craft.
As regards this play, Marlowe was sort of the Pete Best of the era doing his version of the Hey Joe of the era. To continue musical metaphors he didn't invent but merely sampled the Faustus tale and in so doing gave it his own unique spin.
Though the version we have was not recorded until about a decade after Marlowe's death (and therefore shows signs of later adulterations by other writers) you can still observe the genuis of Marlowe at work. By likening his character to the Greek methological story of Dedalus, Marlowe imparts that sense of doom so connected with the potential arrogance of human ambition. As a reminder, Dedalus was affixed wings with wax by his father Icarus only to lose them and fall when Dedalus flew too high and had them melted by the light of the sun.
Similarly Faustus is -- in almost Christmas Carol type fashion -- visited by the personified seven deadly sins and Lucifer himself...itself then a unique device uniquely and effectively executed.
Throughout Marlowe makes us witness to Faustus' growing sense of doom at the irrevocability of his contract with Lucifer.
Sadly, to the modern reader much of the horror of his Faustian bargain is lost to us. For the most part, we moderns don't have the immediate fear of Lucifer that our forebears had. For us today, evil does not lurk in the shadows but is rather all too much before us as we proceed through our days and take note of current events.
Still the same the play was a landmark piece and an inspiration to Shakespeare who had before him an example of the genuis he had to compete with and the standard he had to maintain.
The Price of Fame...........2006-09-29
Tells the tale of the unfortunate Doctor John Faustus - who in return for 24 years of fame and fortune sells his soul to Lucifer. Faustus is a learned gentleman, his pride tells him that he can learn no more from books and the limit of knowledge that they contain. He needs to escape the bounds of the known world and so turns to the world of magic.
During one of his rituals he calls upon the underworld to aid him - Mephistopheles duly comes to Faustus' beckoning as any good demon would in their relentless search for souls (Europe happens to be Mephistopheles stomping ground); however Faustus, in his naive pride, believes that Mephistopheles is there as a result of his conjuering - demons are at his beck and call! Mephistopheles plays it whatever way Fautus wants it, to ensure capturing his soul. They strike a pact - 24 glorious years of fame and fortune for Faustus, with Mephisto as his servent, after which his soul belongs to Lucifer. To make the contract binding Faustus writes out the pact and signs in blood - Mephisto isn't taking any chances.
A number of scenes are depicted - the main one being at the Vatican. Faustus is invisible and steals food and wine from under the Pope's nose, followed by putting to sleep a couple of Cardinals and stealing their clothes, he frees Bruno who is to be put to death for impersonating the pope.
So the story develops - Faustus is the guest at the tables of the figureheads of Europe where he further increases his reputation by bringing to life such people as Helen of Troy. He is introduced to the Seven Deadly sins - Pride, Covetousness, Envy, Wrath, Gluttony, Sloth & Lechery.
After Twenty and Four years of fame Faustus' time is drawing to a close and he cannot postpone the inevitable. Mephisto, Lucifer and Belzebub appear to collect their payment - the soul of Faustus. At the midnight hour they crack back the gates of hell to reveal his destiny - bodies on endless treadmills, unfortunates being thrown around on pitch forks, souls damned for eternity. Faustus tries to repent but it's too late and his implorations to God are halfhearted. The devils rip his body apart before casting it aside - it has no use for them - their only currency is the soul.
Recommended
Marlowe's Masterpiece. .......2006-07-24
If you saw "Shakespeare In Love," you know this was the play of Marlowe's that was getting so much attention. (For that matter, I found this play better than "Romeo and Juliet," even though "Romeo and Juliet" was to become the big play at the climactic moment.) Moving on, we meet Dr. Faustus, and he decides that the legitimate knowledge of this world is not good enough. So, he decides to cross the line of 'this far and no further' by making an unholy deal. It is interesting that even Mephistophilis (the unholy agent of the devil) is drawn as a figure of sorrow and even tries to warn Faustus about what he is getting himself into. But Faustus is unreceptive to the truth and ignores Mephistophilis's warning. In a scene of shocking horror, Faustus even mocks Mephistophilis for trying to warn him of the dangers involved: "Learn thou of Faustus manly fortitude" (1.3.85). Faustus makes an unholy pact and sells his soul for books that will offer knowledge beyond the point of 'this far and no further,' as well as significant magical powers. It is interesting that even after Faustus makes the pact, he is presented with several opportunities to escape his fate. But he can not give up the fruits of the pact. (His powers, having Mephistophilis at his command, etc.) Later, we see meet the 7 deadly sins. And Faustus's delight at them shows us his degeneration. In the 3rd and 4th acts, Faustus seems to let go of his quest for knowledge (for the most part) and indulges in practical jokes of an evil nature. There are some who feel that the 3rd and 4th acts are way too silly and that they drag the play down. But, I don't think this is the case at all. I can not help but think that Marlowe was emphasizing how worthless the fruits of the pact really were. (Nothing we could ask the devil for could equal the soul which Christ gave us.) Furthermore, in my opinion, we shouldn't be so surprised at Faustus's degeneration. He has made a pact with evil, and evil is basically degeneration through the service of one's self, depite how amoral and sick that service may be. It is our good side that encourages us to better ourselves, hopefully at least in part for the sake of others. The 5th act begins, and Faustus has one final chance to avoid his fate, but he resigns himself to damnation if he can 'enjoy' Helen of Troy. If I were a betting man, I would bet that Marlowe is emphasizing that sex often overrides our rational thoughts. (How many romance plays seem to defy reason?) The final scene where Faustus realizes that it is too late and hell awaits, is a scene of pure terror almost unparalled in literature. He moves from requests that can not be granted to the most imaginative escapes. The play ends with an appropriate warning to stay behind the line of 'this far and no further.'
"This word damnation terrifies not him".......2006-01-31
Christopher Marlowe is awsone. What other Renaissance writer was a freakin' spy? I mean, I like Shakespeare's plays and all, but as a person he's boring unless he's being played by Joseph Fiennes. I often pit two historical figures against one another in my mind, and I wonder what would happen if these two fought. If Shakespeare and Marlowe fought, Marlowe would bust out his super secret digital watch-that's secretly a laser-and he'd slice Shakespeare in half. Maybe `Speare would have a deadly quill like the Joker had in Batman, but a deadly quill versus a laser? I think we know who would win. I know the digital watch/laser is a bit silly because they didn't have digital watches back then, but at the very least he'd have an hourglass with a secret laser.
Reading Dr. Faustus I realize what a shame it is Marlowe died so early. Marlowe's ability to combine drama and comedy was light years ahead of Shakespeare's. It wasn't until the second half of Shakespeare's career that he started writing dark comedies, but Marlowe was interjecting his humor with a dark twist right away with plays like Dr. Faustus and The Jew of Malta. If Marlowe hadn't dies so early (in a fight over who was going to pay the bill no less-freakin' cool!) then maybe there would have been two playwriting giants in London competing against one another. Just imagine the masterpieces that would have ensued. I bet they would have made King Lear look like A Comedy of Errors.
This is the second time I've read Dr. Faustus, and I had forgotten how anti-Catholic it is. The story takes place mostly in Wittenberg, Germany where Martin Luther wrote his famous 95 theses. The location already sets up the tenuous relationship between Protestants and Catholics. This relationship, obviously biased against Catholics, is further represented in the good angel and bad angel that appear to Dr. Faustus several times. The good angel repeats over and over to Dr. Faustus that he can repent at any time and come back into good graces, while the bad angel keeps on telling him it's too late. The obvious analogy is that the good angel represents the Protestant idea of justification by faith. Not surprisingly, one of the groups of people who Marlowe is rumored to have spied on were Catholics intent on overthrowing what they saw as England's Protestant government. Furthermore, the first thing Dr. Faustus does when he makes his famous bargain is to play a practical joke on the Pope.
Please, if you're Catholic don't let this turn you away from reading this beautifully written play. At times the mixture of slapstick comedy and high brow allusions are a bit uneven, but that was the nature of the beast back then. Marlowe had to play to the peasants as well as royalty.
The trick Marlowe plays on the audience is even greater than the trick played on Faustus. Marlowe actually gets us to care about Faustus by the end of the play. This is either a trick to show us how close every one of us is to making a Faustian bargain, or it's a trick to show us how unfair these religious traditions were. After all, what did Faustus do that was so wrong? He goes into the deal with plans for making himself a despot, and ends up using all of his power to fetch grapes for debutants and summon Helen of Troy so that others may see her beauty. (Dr. Faustus has "phenominal cosmic power," and all he can manage is playing a few practical jokes and impressing people with out of season fruits.) He's never punished for his bad acts, but rather because of who he pledged his allegiance to. Over the course of twenty-four years Faustus has actually become a somewhat better person if only because he recognizes his sins. His greatest crimes are nothing more than playing practical jokes on peasants. He's not perfect, but he's also not deserving of eternal damnation.
I see Dr. Faustus as a critique of religion. Others may find that it only reinforces their beliefs, and that's what makes the text so good. The Faustian bargain finds its way into literature time and again, but it means something different to each author; likewise, Dr. Faustus means something different to each reader.
Average customer rating:
- Edward II: how to snuff a candle under a table
- No dramatic art in this Massacre of Paris
- No one can save this Tamburlaine
- An unreedable antisemitic Jew
- Dramatic but untragic farce: Dr Faustus
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The Plays (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature) (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature)
Christopher Marlowe
Manufacturer: Wordsworth Editions Ltd
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Binding: Paperback
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Product Description
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.
Customer Reviews:
Edward II: how to snuff a candle under a table.......2004-03-07
This historical play is better than some other plays by Marlowe because the events it is based on are, by themselves, well built and full of suspense. But Marlowe insists on the negative side of things. He sees Edward as a perverted King who only revels in carnal pleasure with his minions. He wastes the money of the crown and irritates all the Barons and the Queen. This leads to his death. Marlowe then shows Mortimer, the Queen's lover, as a tyrant, a dictator, a criminal, an unpolitical figure, and that leads him to his fatal end. Marlowe likes gross events and bloody acts. He has all his « victims » executed on the stage and even Edward is killed in full sight of the audience in a most disgustful way in a dungeon that is the receptacle of all the rejects of Berkeley Castle, particularly from its toilets and its water closets. The only moment of epiphany is the sudden revelation of Edward III as a King of justice. But here again this new teenage King goes to some extremes and has his mother sent to the Tower of London, though, we know, she will survive thirty one years. Marlowe probably invented Elizabethan drama, but he could not - and did not have enough time to do so - bring it to the level it will reach only with Shakespeare. His language definitely is the « blank verse beast » that Bernard Shaw rejected. It flows marvellously and fluently but it has none of the poetry, beauty and embroidery that Shakespeare's will master and illustrate.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
No dramatic art in this Massacre of Paris.......2004-03-07
The situation considered in the play is great and promising. The shift from one king to a third via a second. The civil strife of some nobles against the kings in order to reinstate a noble line, the Bourbons, back on the throne with the Italian Queen Mother as an accomplice or manipulator of ill repute. The religious background of the war between the Catholics and the Huguenots, a war that is grossly excessive and absurd and that brought extreme horror in the hands of the Catholics. All that could have made a good plot and a good play. Unluckily it is as schematic as a journalese report on the situation in a people publication. There never is any depth in these men and Marlowe takes great pleasure in exhibiting all the crimes, murders, assassinations on the stage. Marlowe is the ancestor and creator of horror films. He is the model that will entrance and inspire so many in literature and the cinema. He was a success in his days because of his gross approach but he does not stand in the subsequent centuries for the same reason : the plays are shallow, the plots are simplistic, the language is bland and tasteless.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
No one can save this Tamburlaine.......2004-03-07
Marlowe will never equal Shakespeare. That's absolutely banal to say so. In this double play dealing with the historically asserted conqueror, Emperor and tyrant, Timur Lenk (1336-1405), a descendant of Gengis Khan, the character could give us a great play. A lot of battles against very different worlds and peoples from Asia to Africa and Europe. All kinds of religions mixing in these countries : christians, moslems, pagans, etc. An area that was at the time the center of philosophy, poetry and science. The bloodthirsty tyrant Marlowe depicts is a caricature of what he must have been. You do not conquer vast worlds without understanding their cultures and integrating them in you. You do not conquer vast worlds by destroying all their cities and exterminating their populations. You have to put them on your side if you want to get something out of it : it is the work of simple people that creates all riches, and to last long (two generations in this case) you definitely must bring them something that entices them into some acceptance. Marlowe only depicts the bloody tyrant and at times it becomes laughable in its excess. Even his love for his « conquered » queen is made rather trite and his queen does not have any deep pangs of conscience when her own father, the King of Egypt, is brought into slavery. His killing one of his three sons because this son refuses to be a warrior is treated as if it were a trite little event. Marlowe is, in other words, superficial, and his language has no poetry. He is the B series of Shakespeare's time.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
An unreedable antisemitic Jew.......2004-03-07
An unredeemable antisemite play. The Jew, Barabas mind you (why not Judas Iscariot ?), is the arch enemy of everyone. He is ready to do anything to amass fortunes or to defend his riches. Unjustly deprived of his fortune by the christian governor of Malta, he will become a criminal Machievel. He will kill and sacrifice everyone for his vengeance, even his own daughter. Some will try to denounce him. They will die. He will sell the city and island to the Turks and thus enslave the ex-governor with whom he will deal a strike against the Turks. Unluckily he is himself tricked by the ex-governor who then captures the Turkish heir in order to obtain reparations and independence for Malta. The whole play shows that no one is good, that all human life is nothing but criminal scheming of one section of society against all the others, of Christians against Jews and against Moslems in all possible combinations. Yet the Jew of Malta is by far the worst among these wolves and he is the only one of them to be really killed in some boiling cauldron of suffering. Marlowe was an absolute pessimist about humanity that could in no way produce anything good and the Gods of men are the inspirations of all possible crimes. Marlowe likes catastrophes and no redemption. He is even more pessimistic than Terminator, since in this case some machines can learn - at least about - human feelings.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
Dramatic but untragic farce: Dr Faustus.......2004-03-07
This drama never reaches the level of a tragedy. Faust only signs his pact with the devil to know evanescent pleasures and aimless pointless powers. He becomes a trickster who builds a horse with straw and gets fun from mocking the Pope and supporting the German Emperor Charles V against him. He gets a glimpse of Helen, the object of the Trojan war, but about nothing else, except grapes in december and wine from anywhere. Faust is the dupe of the deal because he gets nothing serious, not even real love, from this devil who in the end gets averything : the soul, the body, the flesh, the blood, the brain, and he can even tear every limb off the body of the foolish doctor. We could think it is a tale that supports the puritan fundamentalist vision of God and the devil, yet he laughs at the Pope, systematically creates havoc in Wittenberg, Luther's homeland, and he ridicules anything sacred in the world. Is Marlowe an iconoclast, or is he the precursor of Shakespeare who deals with these spirits as if they were dreams, nothing serious, just entertaining friendly beings, or even Purcell who reduces these witches to fairies who help humans in their matrimony ? Marlowe was a child in a way and he embodies both the total lack of respect of teenagers for anything adult, and the fears of children in front of the bad dark boogeyman in the cupboard or under the bed. This play has aged tremendously.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
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