The World of Christopher Marlowe

by David Riggs

"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

Genres: Biography, History, Nonfiction, Drama, Shakespeare, Historical, Biography Memoir

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 5, 2005

About the author

There is more than one author with this name in the database.

Reviews

[Kalliope · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is strongly recommended for anyone interested in Elizabethan drama.

David Riggs, originally from Harvard but now Emeritus at Stanford University, offers us a fascinating account of the life, personality and times of the extraordinary Christopher Marlowe. He published this book in 2004.

The conflictive Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) has had a double reputation as a genius poet and as an amoral personality ever since he finished his studies. Before entering into the reconstruction of Marlow (Mw), Riggs traces in a brilliant introduction how these two poles were given different pre-eminence in Marlowe’s subsequent times. If the eighteen century focused with dismay at the poet’s atheism, the following century redeemed the figure covering it with a romantic cloth. These two poles will inevitably act as two axes on which Riggs graphs the poet and convict. As no direct testimonies from Marlowe himself have survived, Riggs has focused on his times as resourceful material with which he can shape Marlowe’s personality.


EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM

Riggs highlights Mw’s humble origins as son of a shoemaker to emphasize the significance of the first rate education he received thanks to the scholarships granted by the King’s School in Canterbury, his home town. The fact that he was the only boy with several sisters also accounts for his being free to go to school while the sisters took care of the family home.

His education was in Latin, but not the Latin of his times. It was the pristine Latin of Cicero and Virgil. And as many other factors of his life, this benediction carried its own curse. With his super-notch classical education he could become dangerously dismissive with the vulgar writing of La Vulgata, or the Scriptures, as it was proven to him later in his life.

Grammar school and new grants took him to Corpus Christi in Cambridge. And there he entered a discipline which I cannot imagine trying to impose even on my worst enemy. It entailed studying from 6:00 am till late in the evening six days a week. And all that time his mind would be directed to Grammar, Rhetoric, Moral and Natural Philosophy. Rigg’s account of what these subjects entailed is fascinating. Grammar included Poetry, while Rhetoric embedded Philosophy. There was a very strong focus on developing the art of argumentation. And these were to be practiced in a kind of mental gymnastics in which thoughts trained in the grid of Logic were flexed and exerted through Disputation, swiftly changing roles as Questioner or Defender – Attacking and.. counter-attacking.

Four years of this meant that Cambridge had prepared Mw solidly in his academic education, but for what? What role could one have in society with such an edification? The normal paths would have been either the Church or the Court, but as Riggs discusses, Mw felt no calling for the former, while the latter became during Elizabeth’s reign, and in contrast to that of her father, open only for noblemen in the likes of, for example, the sons of the Lord of Privey Seal, Lord Burghley. Riggs alleges that cases such as that of Cardinal Wolsey, the son of a butcher who became the second richest man in Henry’s kingdom, would not have been possible in the second half of the century. The Church of England, so concerned with its own foundation and formulation and survival, watched very closely what happened in the different social ranks, and preferred to maintain a well structured society. It was easier to control.

And this is the second thing that Mw learnt in Cambridge. Society was divided in two, the wealthy and the pauper. If in the school of his youth both rich and poor had the same life and were undistinguishable from their clothing, in Cambridge the difference was apparent in the divergent freedom of movement between the Scholars (ie: recipients of Scholarships) and the financially independent Gentlemen.


MORES AND MANNERS

There were other aspects in the Humanist upbringing that Mw received. Together with the social and economic practice generalized for the English population of sharing beds when going to sleep, Humanism, taking its roots on Plato and the like, chanted close male friendship. This combination of the practical and the spiritual made the borderline between sexual preferences more difficult to draw. And here Riggs is carefully punctilious in his evaluation of Mw’ sexual inclinations as surmised in his behaviour and as read in his writings. Even if Christian values would reprehend homosexuality, in practice this behaviour, for it was conceived as a deed and not part of one’s nature, was persecuted only when it was accompanying other activities considered more delinquent, such as atheism, counterfeiting or treason. Not in it and by itself.

Upon completion of his BA in 1584 Mw could stay for four more years and get his MA. Until he obtained this degree in 1587, he had been entitled to spend part of the time wandering outside Cambridge. This is precisely the time when, surfacing out to the forefront from his living context and emerging to the limelight, that obscurity also begins to cover the figure of Marlowe. During this period he pursued three activities: he continued with his Cambridge academic requirements and started two new ones. He engaged in the murky profession that became most determining for him, since it brought his death, and ventured into playwriting, the activity which has kept him alive for posterity.


SPYING CAREER

Riggs traces what can only be the convoluted path of someone who became a double agent. His secretive trips to the continent during this time were being tracked by the Government. Did he go to the Rheims Seminary, the bastion for the English Catholic resistance?, and if so, why or who sent him there? What was his objective in the Low Countries, apart from the fruitful and fortuitous encounter with the German Doktor Faustus script?

Consensus is that it was in Cambridge itself where Mw engaged in the secret service career, and this makes it the third thing he learnt there, the art of spying. We now know that this would not be the last time that Cambridge created a fruitful breeding ground for spies.

But it is in this context that Riggs presents a fascinating aspect of Elizabethan drama. He sees clear connections between the art of writing and acting, and the ability to simulate one’s actions for a political purpose. Language and patronage also made this link. The abilities to manipulate allusions and hyperbole as well as the need to have a patron were shared by both actors and spies. One of the most fertile periods of dramatic production flourished hand in hand with the establishment of a Government-sponsored Secret Service. Poem writing and dedications became the presentation cards in search of a patron - a patron for what exactly?

In addition to Mw’s plays, and as part of his two sided existence, we also have his criminal record. He was arrested in his mid twenties with some connection, a Defender?, to a street killing. He was discharged. Somewhat later he was again involved in another street brawl. This second time he was the Attacker but there were no fatalities. And a few years later he was again detained, in the Netherlands, where apart from encountering the German Faustus, he engaged in counterfeiting, another variant of simulation, which was then a capital offense. He was mysteriously acquitted again.

And the fatal and final Disputatio happened when he was a young man of 29. In 1593, as the Government undertook one of its most severe crack-down on its suspects, arresting and torturing amongst others, Thomas Kyd, the other playwright, they eventually also got hold of Mw and accused him of atheism. The jocular criticism of the poor language in the Scriptures, that he had manifested when younger, caught up with him. Before the prosecution could take place, alas, and during a stay in the country in which both the house and the three other companions were associated with the Queen’s Secret Service (read Burghley’s Men and not to be confused with a Theatre troupe) Mw was drawn into another brawl in which he was fatally injured. Ingram Frizer, the man who fought against him last, was soon acquitted by the Queen and somewhat later given a Lease on Government lands.


ON THE THEATRE CAREER

If we see that Mw was a player, and a victim, of the secret Elizabethan world, he is alive today thanks to his role in a more public section of his times and society, that of the theatre. As Riggs wonderfully elaborates, Queen Elizabeth elaborated a public image of her Crown based on the art of the spectacle, and to quote him: “Sovereigns can express themselves in dramatic performances and dramatists can create kings, and players can perform them to life”

And if the Crown benefited from theatrical conventions, the theatre also profited from its existence in the Royal orbit. These were the times of fervent activity in this world. There was the build up of playhouses such as The Theatre at Shoreditch, and the Rose theatre; the formation of several rival troupes, all carrying the name of their patron, the Admiral’s Men, Lord Pembroke’s Men, Lord Chamberlain’s Men, the Queen’s Men; the emergence also of a plethora of actors, with the two Burbages (father and son) and the two Alleyn (brothers) amongst the most famous; and the debut and development of a good array of writers, with Thomas Kyd, Philip Sidney, and William Shakespeare, again amongst others.

Riggs traces then Mw’s path as he enters the dramatic arena around the Thames, with the building of the theatres, the succession of patrons, the formation of troupes, the interplay between writers, actors and the guilds and some related professions such as carpentry or inn-ownership. Marlowe passed from Cambridge to this world in the capital thanks to his first work, Dido Queen of Cartage, the traditional theme in educational works played by child actors (Children of Her Majesty’s Chapel). Soon after, Mw wrote Tamburlaine, the play which unquestionably catapulted him to the centre stage of the dramatist professional circles in London. He did so by attaching himself to the Admiral’s Men at the Rose Theatre. When this troupe started having troubles, he moved on to Lord Strange’s Men where his Jew of Malta was staged. Lord Strange was of the Catholic faction.

Apart from being one of the major writers, in this arena, Mw, together with Thomas Kyd, are honoured with being the formulators of the Blank Verse. They elaborated the poetic capabilities of English at the time when it was shaping itself as a full flown language. As philologers of the classical traditions they found a formula for the vernacular version in which if no melody was to be created by rhyme, a rhythmic play with the syllables could create a harmonious flow without sounding monotonous.


ON WORKS

As I have chosen to read this book in preparation for reading Mw’s plays, I have been faced with a chicken-and-egg situation. My ability to follow Riggs’s discussion of Mw’s plays could only be limited.

The summary I take with me is that Mw tried and moved from one subgenre to another. With Dido he engaged in the educational genre, with Tamburlaine he sampled the Heroic tradition. His Doctor Faustus was his Moral play. His Jew of Malta deals with the Religious Dogmas and Debates. And finally his Edward II was his version of the History play while his Massacre of Paris had him covering the quasi contemporary political affairs.

But most significant about his plays is Mws consistent subversive treatment of the themes he chose to tackle. He turned some characters upside down. His Jupiter is a lecherous pederast, his Aeneas a cowardly figure, and his Tamburlaine is a Greco-roman hero. Faust seems to question his own Faustian tradition. His religious message is unclear as he debates strongly for and against all the various creeds that were so debated during those times. And rather than direct references to the activities of double agents, it is Marlowe’s magisterial handling of hyperbole in Tamburlaine and of Irony in The Jew of Malta, that constitute the linguistic marks of someone fit to be a spy.


CONCLUSION

This has been a very rewarding book to read given how very little I knew about Christopher Marlowe. The book is very erudite and is full of details on the world of the stage during Queen Elizabeth’s times. Riggs account also welds magnificently the works and the lives, which I have separated in my review, as I will have to explore some of the plays later. My plan is to read this Tamburlaine, his Doctor Faustus and may be his Jew of Malta, one of his most popular plays at the time.

In this study of Marlowe, Riggs succeeds brilliantly in portraying the richness of English Renaissance Literature. Had Christopher Marlowe not been so dangerous for the Crown and had he lived for three more decades, what would have been his additional contribution to Literature? Would have he chosen to devote himself entirely to this profession leaving aside the one that unfortunately prevented him from making this choice? And if so, how would we draw now the mapping of the best Elizabethan writers?

[Anisha Inkspill · Rating 4 out of 5]

A phenomenal, engrossing read. I like how David Riggs approaches Christopher Marlowe’s life as a detective to try and find the truth behind his death. He does this by taking a critical look at the charges that were bought against Marlowe, whilst giving an in-depth look at some of Marlowe’s work incl Dr Faustus.

However, with its detailed social context this book was more than a biography. By reading this I have gained an understanding of the education system (really exciting to see it in its early form), where David Riggs also looks at the syllabus (or why certain books were studied), and the expectations of study. I also liked how this section showed the corelation made between what was learnt and writing poetry. The other big subject covered alongside Marlowe’s life is the theatre world, which also looks at the social perception of the theatre and what was involved to put on a play.

By the end of this read I understood why Marlowe turned to writing and being a spy, I was also left with the sense that the charges that were bought against him were unreasonable and he was a victim of the social politics of that time.

When I got this kindle book, I was just looking for more insight into Marlowe’s life not expecting this book to do more than this.

[Aurélien Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) was one British literature's naughty child. A founding fathers of the golden age of English theatre, poet whose work was scandalous, controversial author, one of the big names of the Elizabethan period, Marlowe also experienced jail, got involved in fishy spying affairs for the State, and, ended up stabbed to death in a tavern.

David Riggs reveals here the life of this young genius, and whose troubled life, at the image of his characters, still remains wrapped in legends, trapped as it is in-between reality and myths.

Here was an unusual life, then, but that David Riggs puts in perspective with researched details of his work, The Elizabethan era revived under our eyes, hints to Latin tragedies, and the conflicts, both political and religious, which were crucial to understand who really was Christopher Marlowe. In other word: he pins the writer firmly into his time, to try and answer the usual yet challenging questions surrounding his persona -was he a spy? Was he atheist? Was he homosexual? Nothing is certain for sure, but, at least, we get a few glimpses of possible answers...

It's rich, detailed, going in all directions, relies on constant back-and-forth between the man, his work and the period he lived in, and, in the end, we cannot but feel a bit dizzy by such dense approach! There is so much information, in fact, that I personally found it impossible to assimilate it all. And indeed, if, of course, it will depends on your level of interest, if, like me, you just wanted an overview of a controversial author then there will definitely be whole passages that will fly over your head! (In my case, the multiple references to Ancient tragedies, since I know absolutely nothing about them...). As a biography, it's a great gold mine for sure... but it will requires an effort! Marlowe, though, is definitely an author to know...

[Kathe Koja · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the very best of the Marlowe biographies, it offers Marlowe's own trajectory viewed through the lens of the society surrounding him: in youth, at school, in the dark Service of the government, in the wild world of the theater, providing both portrait and background of his life. If you want to read a Marlowe bio, start here.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent though hardly groundbreaking biography, if it weren't for the fact that in addition to not really offering anything new, it somehow also manages the feat of rendering a subject as intensely fascinating as Christopher Marlowe terribly dull at times.

[E.A. Bucchianeri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inarguably, one of the most famous playwrights in the Elizabethan world after Shakespeare is his rival, Christopher Marlowe, who within a brief meteoric career wrote some of the most remarkable dramas for the English stage such as "Tamburlaine the Great", "Doctor Faustus", "The Jew of Malta", "Edward II and the "Massacre of Paris".

David Riggs declares in the prologue "This is a book about Marlowe's life, his works, and his world", however, the one element that strikes the reader is Riggs' graphic accounts of Marlowe's world, and therefore this book certainly lives up to its title in that respect. The information concerning his education, the influences of his childhood, the blood-curdling world of Elizabethan politics and religious tensions definitely keeps the reader turning the pages. For the record, Riggs supports the theory Marlowe's untimely end was part of an assassination plot hatched by the Elizabethan secret service: his argument is convincing. While Riggs does explore Marlowe's life, works and horrific death in depth, it is obvious the reader is expected to be familiar with the playwright's biography and works to a point already before certain sections can be understood in this book. Also, there are areas where the text tends to prove cumbersome and difficult to keep track of, such as Riggs' account of the cloak-and-dagger world of the Elizabethan secret service and those who became entangled within this sphere; however, I would not let this be a deterrent, if anything, this displays how tangled the webs of deception had become in that era. While it cannot be proven how far Marlowe had sunk in that quagmire in the domestic scene, we can fully appreciate the dangers he was courting if he was employed as one of their agents in the field, especially his escape from his counterfeiting escapade in the Dutch town of Flushing.

The book contains an extensive bibliography, index and references. The various woodcut illustrations and portraits are a nice touch. A great book for Marlowe devotees.

E.A. Bucchianeri, author of "Faust: My Soul be Damned for the World"

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this biography of Christopher Marlowe while reading Marlowe's complete plays. As the title promises, the book sets Marlowe in the context of his times. Riggs criticizes the plays in light of what biographical details we know (and we know quite a bit, as it turns out.) The World of Christopher Marlowe was as easy to read and as gripping as a novel.

One of the most interesting parts to me was the analogy Riggs makes (citing a remarkable bit of Elizabethan iconography) between sodomy and counterfeiting, both of which our hero appears to have indulged in. Can't wait to see what Riggs makes of Ben Jonson in his Ben Jonson: A Life, which I'm adding to my "to-read" list right now.

[Tatiana Sainati · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm still reading this book - but so far, I love it! Riggs brings the world of Elizabethan England to life. Through the combination of compelling literary analysis and a detailed description of what the world was like when Marlow lived, Marlowe the man takes shape.

And did you know, in order to win a scholarship to Cambridge, Marlowe had to compete in extemperanous compositions of virgilian and ovidian verse in Latin hexameter. Now that's impressive.

[Bhig · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too many details on 16-century education, too little gore and, well, life. Probably good academic reading, quotable etc., but dull as hell for a casual reader.

[John Fredrickson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an encyclopedic introduction to Marlowe's cultural world as well as to his works. It is a terrific orientation to the Elizabethan world for anyone interested in a better understanding of Shakespeare's universe.

The book explores the upbringing and education that Marlowe would have received as a grammar school student, as well as the further education he would have been exposed to through his scholarship. At times this coverage of Elizabethan education feels tedious, but it is certainly thorough.

Marlowe's plays of Tamburlaine, Edward II, and Dr Faustus are discussed in the context of the Elizabethan political dynamics, which were highly charged and generally dangerous.

Much of the book ultimately focuses on what we can determine (even now) of the labyrinthine concerns of religious order in a state in which the Pope had decreed that whoever would murder Queen Elizabeth would be forgiven with much appreciation. Elizabethan society was filled with recusant Catholics, complying Anglicans, and atheists. The world was full, not only with spies, but also double-agents, such that no one could be sure of whose side anyone was on. Marlowe's role in all of this is still uncertain, as were the circumstances of his death. Riggs argues that it is virtually certain that his death was an assassination.

The book poses some difficulties to the reader. Part of this is due to the comprehensive approach it takes to address all the pertinent people in Marlowe's universe. One gets introduced to a slew of names, but it is problematic (to everyone) to determine the exact role that these people play.

[Ubiquitousbastard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would really give this between 3 and 4 stars, but having to choose I will go with the lower value.

Overall, I think that this book gives a pretty good overview of Marlowe's life and the circumstances leading up to his death. I actually found it to be a better source than the very popular go-to for Marlowe The Reckoning: The Murder of Christopher Marlowe. There is an insane amount of detail, so it's obvious that the author has no problems with research. There might actually be TOO much detail. I know a tiny bit about poetry, and I was pretty much lost whenever there was a very exhaustive description of different poetic meters.

However, I think that sometimes the author saw that something was possible and then construed that to mean it was the only possibility. With how technical and almost nitpicky some of the book is, it's a little bit unforgivable for the author to just run with their own conclusions. I also picked up some pretty big biases (or the author just believing what others' have said) which always decreases how much I can actually enjoy reading nonfiction. Still, this is the best book for Marlowe that I've found so far.

[Elisabeth Bridges · Rating 4 out of 5]

In spite of not yet having read any of Marlowe's work, I found this biography easy to follow and highly engaging. Now I'm having to pause and think about whether "biography" is even the right genre... It's much more than that. It truly does focus on Marlowe's world, and what a tense and exciting place it was! Through discussions of social rank, scholarship, and the insecure underbelly of the Elizabethan spy network, Riggs was really able to show us where much of Marlowe's inspiration came from.

And, at least for this nerd, the shadow of Shakespeare was never far away. Although he was presumably much more removed from the political side of things, he clearly had his eyes open.

[Halli Villegas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very disappointing - a lot of disjointed facts that never coalesced into a narrative of any sort. It was hard to follow the twists and turns of the various factions and politics that were in play because none of the players was made interesting or brought to life. Marlowe is just one of many interchangeble people covered in this book. I understand it was to be scholarly, but even the scholarly elements get lost and become mind numbing when there is no cohesion or interest built into any of the player.

[Matt McCormick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Riggs provides an interesting history of late Elizabethan England. Without providing a traditionally biography he allows the reader to better understand Marlowe's writing as it relates to his times. The approach seems similar to the New Historicists such as Greenblatt. At times I become confused wading through the great detail of the many characters that populated Marlowe's world of spies, counter spies and spy-masters.

Marlowe, like Caravaggio, continues to intrigue me. Both troubled, inventive and courageously speaking to the common person.

[Oscar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have no idea, from an objective standpoint, whether this book is good or not because I enjoyed reading it so much from a non-academic standpoint. Marlowe is such a strange, wonderful person in history: I mean, how many other people wrote banger plays, called Jesus a homosexual, and then was killed by a bunch of government agents? Not many! This book is an excellent source for factoids and speculation about Marlowe's life that I will use to annoy my friends constantly.

[Alessio]

What a well-written and exhaustive biography of Christopher Marlowe/social history of Elizabethan England. Marlowe was contemporaries with Caravaggio, both street-fighting sodomites whose works were immensely popular in their time: for the former, Tamburlaine, for the latter, the Calling and Martyrdom of Saint Matthew in the Contarelli Chapel.

[Clare Moseley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incredibly dense biography on Christopher Marlowe, covering his life and his works. I think if you're not interested in Marlowe to start with, you might struggle with the book because of how much detail it goes into. But for those who are this book is an absolute boon, covering every aspect of his life in as much detail as can possibly be provided.

[Judith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very detailed biography of Marlowe and his work. I ended up skipping parts of it as it was just far too detailed, and what I wanted was just an insight into his life. One for the purists, not the casual reader.

[Charissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess Marlowe just doesn't interest me as much as I had expected when I started this book.

[Jon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Page after page of excrutiating detail about life as a university student in Tudor England. I gave up after several chapters.

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was super interesting as textual analysis of his work, as biography, as cultural history and context. I really enjoyed it.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a dense and well researched biography of Marlowe. I did think it took a bit long to get to his career as a playwright.

It seem clear that Marlowe worked for the Tudor intelligence system. And the author believes that was the cause of his death.
Indeed, given the tendency of the government to condemn their spies when they did things that were illegal, but required to gain the trust of the people they wanted to spy on, I find it hard to imagine why anyone agreed to work for them.

I would have preferred more on his career as a poet and playwright and less on the spying and conspiracies, but all in all it is a good biography.

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very in-depth exploration of the culture that Marlowe was raiseed in. The detailed attention to his educational cirriculum and the palcement of that education within the context of the religious and cultural changes that swept through England before and during Marlowe's era really helped me understand not only the nuances of Marlowe's works, but those of Shakespeare, Jonson, and others of the era as well.

[Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting construction of a biography in the face of few known facts about a life. You still get a vivid portrait of Marlowe and his times. The author sets his works in context and makes them relevant for contemporary readers. I saw the author speak at a Marlowe seminar held at The Shakespeare Theater in DC and he's a less interesting speaker than writer.

[Djrmel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Riggs uses the New Historical approach in this biography and critical analysis. That works extremely well for a literary figure like Marlowe, a man who's life (and death) story is told more often through legend than fact. Even if you're not interested in the mechanics of Marlowe's writing, the documented details about the time, place, and people that made up Marlowe's world are fascinating.

[Christine Best · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very informative book though probably not the easiest read. It is possible to get quite bogged down in some very detailed areas, though definitely a book worth having a copy of for reference. Marlowe lacks an all-encompassing biography and this one concentrates on his writing and religious/philosophical beliefs.

[M Nagle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommended for anyone interested in the master poets of the Elizabethan age. This book provides remarkable insights into their world and society, and also into their motivations and the foundations and implications of their intellectual and social achievements.

[Elissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the history (am an anglophile) of sixteenth/ seventeenth century England, and learning more about Marlowe. However, it turns out that he wasn't that nice of a guy. Does that matter if you can write? Don't know.

[Ceri · Rating 5 out of 5]

It took me a while to get through this because it was non-fiction but it was well worth it. Very detailed ... amazing what can be found out about someone who lived so long ago ... & a great insight into those times. (Elizabethan)

[Laura Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable, although I must admit to skimming over some of the sections of literary criticism. The chapters on Catholic plotting and spy networks were great, though, particularly Riggs' final assessment of Marlowe's death as an act of extra-judicial political murder.