Christopher Marlowe: Four Plays: Tamburlaine, Parts One and Two, The Jew of Malta, Edward II and Dr Faustus

by Christopher Marlowe, Brian Gibbons

This New Mermaids anthology brings together the four most popular and widely studied of Christopher Marlowe's Tamburlaine, Parts 1 and 2, The Jew of Malta, Edward II and Dr Faustus . The new introduction by Brian Gibbons explores the plays in the context of early modern theatre, culture and politics, as well as examining their language, characters and themes. On-page commentary notes guide students to a better understanding and combine to make this an indispensable student edition ideal for study and classroom use from A Level upwards.

Genres: Plays, Drama, Classics, Renaissance, Collections

624 pages, Paperback

First published December 6, 2011

About the author

Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (baptised 26 February 1564) was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. The foremost Elizabethan tragedian next to William Shakespeare, he is known for his magnificent blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his own mysterious and untimely death.

The author's Wikipedia page.

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent edition of four powerful plays, well annotated introduced What would have Christopher Marlowe gone on to write if he had not been killed (murdered?) by a fellow spy. Remember seeing Edward II in 1991 film directed by Derek Jarman, but this was my first time to read it. Recommend listening to the vivid BBC dramatization available on Audible.

Started reading “Tamberlaine” (1587/8), the first play in the collection, but have read it and seen it staged in UK, likewise with The Jew of Malta and Doctor Faustus, so I am giving myself credit for this book now, as no 2 of my Reading Challenge for 2020.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

A disappointing collection of plays that reach but do not clear the clouds of their failings. Shakespeare makes monumental drama powerful symbolically, rhetorically and psychologically. Marlowe gets but a third the way there.

Brian Gibbons gives a brief summary of each of the four plays (five, with Tamburlaine parts 1 & 2) in his introduction to this compendium, identifying the tragic tenors of each, their similarities and essential differences. Some such similarities are the openings of the plays with individuals: the Prologue expounding great Tamburlaine, the Jew, Gaveston (which in itself pointedly marks Edward II as a weak king) and Doctor Faustus. Other similarities are the selfish greed exhibited by their tragic 'heroes' or counterparts; all end with dying exclamations of loss, and - Tamburlaine notably excepted - realisations of lives misspent. Thus the plays all share a Christian didactic, presenting an argument for the Lutheran doctrine of salvation by faith over the Calvinist doctrine of salvation for the elect (Introduction, p.xxii) - a conversation Marlowe drew from his time at Cambridge - for all are presented initially as the elect, and whose ends imply that adherence to faith in life might well have saved them from the impending tortures of Hell (Tamburlaine exempted).

Such polarities are not simplistic interpretation: Marlowe, through character, language and event, displays and develops his protagonists so, like shots of arrow, from positions of state and wealth, to their, at times literally, being claimed by their evil angels, as devils and dragons enter the stage from the 'Hell' below. With such overt effects, how does Marlowe avoid the pitfalls of melodrama? Gibbons, too, addresses this, demonstrating the different ways he uses speech and dialogue, from Ovidian ornament to forceful, direct, plain speech, via repetition and famous dictum ('the face that launched a thousand ships'), from dramatic irony to stage spectacle, from the divine right of kings to the machinations of devils, and men that think they are gods, with good and bad angels representing the travails of man's soul through corruption and moral realisation via psychological symbolism.

Putting these four (or five) plays together in one edition brings dimensions of colour and darkness that stream within and between them, not only giving the flavour of the different tragic 'heroes' by contrast (of character, of genre), but setting up correspondences between them that more widely contribute to the exploration of the metaphysical questions we are used to pondering in Shakespeare's tragedies and romances. But the plays are also about characters that glory in or readily partake of violence for their own ends. Marlowe himself died in a bar fight in 1593, aged only 29, possibly in a disagreement over money, possibly embroiled in espionage. Thus we are primed for something spectacular. But that promise is not fulfilled.

[Charlie Swan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read Dr Faustus - text A. Genuinely dont know how anyone could think Marlowe wrote Shakespeares plays after reading this. Very simple.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent edition, a few too many typos.

[Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a sadly tattered copy of this handsome volume containing the four best plays Marlowe ever wrote. Breaking the traditional folio layout, the text for TAMBOURLAINE 1 & 2, EDWARD II and DOCTOR FAUSTUS is infinitely easier to read and the experience is enhanced by the rough, stylized illustrations that nicely match Marlowe's direct, un-subtle style. For anyone unfamiliar with Shakespeare's literary little brother, Marlowe's work will come as either a slap in the face or a pleasant surprise as he fills his stage with intrigues, base behavior, violence, seduction and a general tawdriness rarely lightened by comedy (except, ironically, in FAUSTUS, where it seems most unnecessary) but often creating passionate, evocative characters that actors love to play and audiences love to watch. Marlowe's plays are sexy in a way that Shakespeare's aren't- which doesn't mean one can't love both, because I do. But this book will make you aware of how little Marlowe's plays are done- and how much they should be.

[Sophia Alexis Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a play person outside of Shakespeare. Dr Faustus was probably my favorite out of the bunch.

3 out of 5 stars