Christopher Marlowe
Biography
Christopher Marlowe’s exact birthday is unknown but he was baptised on February 26, 1564, three years after his parents’ marriage, at the parish church of St George the Martyr in Canterbury. There isn’t much information about his early life until Christmas 1578 except a local lawsuit case mentioning a “boye called Christopher Marlowe” as the sole witness of a sexual assault case. In 1578 his name appears in a list of scholarship boys at the King’s School in Canterbury. Most of the information about Marlowe comes from William Urry’s Christopher Marlowe and Canterbury (1988).
After Marlowe left Canterbury for Cambridge University, he formally matriculated at Corpus Christi College in March 1581, on a scholarship recently founded by Archibshop Matthew Parker for scholars of the King’s School and he graduated in 1584. Records indicate that he continued to stay in Cambridge for three more years after his graduation. One of the interesting things about his life during that time is his lavish spending, which should have been beyond his means as a scholar.
Evidence suggests that he was employed by the government as some of his letters had been sanctioned by highest authorities. It is also possible that he was a foreign agent, as he regularly travelled to the continent on government business. While it is hard to be certain it is generally believed that Tamburlaine the Great was his first performed work, which was in 1587 in London, where Marlowe had moved to. He had written many poems and plays and his life was certainly eventful even when he was in London, such as joining street fights with his friends.
In 1592, he was also subjected to a restraining order along with Shakespeare and other famous artists of his time, which was likely due to his play Edward II. Marlowe’s crowning achievement was probably his final play; Dr. Faustus. It was staged repeatedly in the mid 1590s and first published in 1604. While Faustus was accepted as Marlowe’s final finished work, the final work he was working on was Hero and Leander, but he couldn’t finish it before his untimely death and it was completed to twice its length by George Chapman.
In May 1593 Marlowe was accused of racism against refugees from the Continental Wars and while his trial was pending and he was on temporary bail he was stabbed to death in Eleanor Bull’s tavern in Debtford.
Hero and Leander: begun by Christopher Marloe; and finished by George Chapman
It was published in London, printed by Felix Kingston in 1598. It appears that this copy of Hero and Leander was privately printed by Felix Kingston for Paule Linley. It also says that it is to be sold in Paule’s Church-yard. It appears that Paule is a man of Clergy and he is supposed to sell the book. While it is called a tragedy Hero and Leander doesn’t look like a play. There are no speaker names indicated and instead it has the appearance of an epic. Language used in Hero and Leander is old, but it is possible to understand most of it with knowledge of modern English. At the left side of the twenty-sixth image there is a side note but I cannot understand what it says. The note doesn’t seem to be written by hand.
One thing that took my notice about the text’s grammar is that the letter “V” was used in the place of “U” and double “V” is used in the place of “W” which is an easy to understand side of the language of the time. The play has six cantos, two were written by Marlowe and an additional four were written by Chapman. One thing to note is that instead of canto they are called sestyads. This was done by Chapman.
Ali
Links:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2011/jun/20/poem-of-the-week-christopher-marlow
https://search.proquest.com/lion/docview/2137914527?accountid=8623