Product Description
This book gathers all seven of the dramas of Christopher Marlowe, in which the lure of dark forces drives the shifting balances between weak and strong, sacred and profane. Supported by textual notes and featuring modern punctuation and spelling, they include:
- Dido, Queen of Carthage
- Tamburlaine the Great, Part One
- Tamburlaine the Great, Part Two
- The Jew of Malta
- Doctor Faustus
- Edward the Second
- The Massacre at Paris

With a critical introduction, a chronology of Marlowe’s life, extensive commentary, and a glossary, this will remain the authoritative anthology of Marlowe’s plays for years to come. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Excellent
I just had a brief comment. I don't consider myself an expert on Elizabethan era literature, but I've read a fair amount of Shakespeare and a number of the other authors of the period, and I have to say I was quite impressed with Marlowe. He certainly deserves to be better appreciated than he is. One of the lines from Edward II has stuck with me. I think I have it more or less correct, which was: "...and as for the multitude, they are like sparks--caught up in the embers of their poverty." You have to like an author who can write like that, but unfortunately he's been so overshadowed by the great Will that he doesn't get as much attention as he should. Anyway, by way of doing what I can, however, modest, to increase Marlowe's popularity, I'd like to say he's a damn good playwright, and that I have no qualms about throwing my own not inconsiderable bulk behind his reputation.

Not quite Shakespeare, but good--great Compliation
The Complete Plays includes all of Marlowe's plays (well, obviously.)As a bonus it includes the rather fragmentory Massacre at Paris (which many critics theorize is a corupt, unfinished, or damaged text) in a scene division only format and both editions of Doctor Faustus.

Marlowe's plays, while not on the same level as Shakespeare's best, are far and away superior to any other Renaisance era dramatist (See also, Thomas Kyd, Ben Johnson, or Richard Wharfinger--if you can find him hehe.)

The best thing about Marlowe's plays is the level of respect for the audience.Judgement of the characters is (for the most part) left to the reader.Tamburlaine can be viewed as hero and/or villian.

And, it being Renaisance drama, there are some spectacular death scenes--Edward II's anal cruxifiction, Brabas's boiling alive, Faustus's dismemberment, and the Admiral's hanging/shooting to name a few.

One complaint, and this is really more of a preference, but the textual notes are in endnote format, rather than footnote format, and they're not numbered notes--all of which makes finding latin translations a little more time consuming.
But, for fans of the genre, this is the way to go.

Not quite Shakespeare, but good--great Compliation
The Complete Plays includes all of Marlowe's plays (well, obviously.)As a bonus it includes the rather fragmentory Massacre at Paris (which many critics theorize is a corupt, unfinished, or damaged text) in a scene division only format and both editions of Doctor Faustus.

Marlowe's plays, while not on the same level as Shakespeare's best, are far and away superior to any other Renaisance era dramatist (See also, Thomas Kyd, Ben Johnson, or Richard Wharfinger--if you can find him hehe.)

The best thing about Marlowe's plays is the level of respect for the audience.Judgement of the characters is (for the most part) left to the reader.Tamburlaine can be viewed as hero and/or villian.

And, it being Renaisance drama, there are some spectacular death scenes--Edward II's anal cruxifiction, Brabas's boiling alive, Faustus's dismemberment, and the Admiral's hanging/shooting to name a few.

One complaint, and this is really more of a preference, but the textual notes are in endnote format, rather than footnote format, and they're not numbered notes--all of which makes finding latin translations a little more time consuming.
But, for fans of the genre, this is the way to go.

Good accessible edition
This is a generally good and easily available, inexpensive edition of Marlowe's plays. My only reservation about it is Steane's edition of Dr. Faustus. He makes the worst of both major texts, taking the general outline from the 1616 text but throwing in a lot of corrupt scraps from the 1604 edition for the clown scenes. I would advise anyone who wants to read Dr. Faustus to look elsewhere. I'm convinced that the 1604 version is on the whole a corrupt and truncated version of the play, but if you prefer it you might look into the Folger Library edition. If on the other hand you would rather read the play more or less as I think Marlowe wrote it, try the Signet edition edited by Sylvan Barnet.

The other plays present no major textual problems (except for The Massacre at Paris, which is pretty hopeless) and this is a fine place to meet them.

NON-ACADEMIC'S TAKE ON MARLOWE
This book is a treat.Very reasonably priced, and it's all there.The plays sweep you along (I always envision darkening Puccini-like chords in the background) images and crackling dialogue abounds.My problem is: 1) I have never seen the plays produced.This is *such* a handicap.I actually yawned through Shakepeare's "Tempest" until I saw a fine production.Now it is hands-down my favorite play and 2)I have to get in the swing of reading Elizabethan English for every reading.Therefore, I do not recommend reading in short snippets if you are also dialect challenged.

Do keep in mind Marlowe (as Shakespeare) was trying to make a living, not write for the ages.He's trying to entice you to buy a ticket and be charmed.He succeeds admirably. There is something for everyone: action, derring do, comedy, and sharp insights.

Marlowe is your mysterious, wild, sometimes trecherous friend; brilliant, but can you trust him?Probably not.If he was a vintage southern American, he might say "I didn't take you to raise."Would he lie to you? mislead you? Of course. But in everything I have read of Marlowe's I hear his voice; he is *there.*With Shakespeare, I do not have that certainty.

Recommend reading "The Reckoning" by Charles Nicholl for an excellent biography on Marlowe. It reads like an excellent mystery, which he was. ... Read more

Product Description
One of the great playwrights of his age, second only to Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe was also a secret agent as well as the central figure in a murder mystery. Now, Park Honan offers the most thoroughly researched and detailed biography of Marlowe to appear in over fifty years.
Honan, the acclaimed biographer of Shakespeare, takes us from Marlowe's childhood in Canterbury to his mysterious death in Deptford, shedding much light on this shadowy individual. The book features new information on Marlowe's six-and-a-half years at Cambridge, his shocking blasphemy and his street fights, his methods of preparing himself for writing, and his alleged atheism. The book includes new facts about Marlowe's adventures on the continent, where he was caught with a counterfeit coin, a hanging offense, but talked his way out of the noose and was returned to England in irons. In addition, there is a more exact account of the circumstances that led to his murder, and a fresh description of his evolving relationship with Shakespeare.
Researched in archives in England, Europe, and the United States, this superb biography paints an unforgettable portrait of one of the most remarkable figures in English literature.

"No stone is left unturned.... Mr. Honan offers an almost hour-by-hour account of Marlowe's final day, an intriguing theory about the killer's motives and an inquiry into the fatal wound worthy of 'CSI.'"
--William Grimes, New York Times

"A sumptuously detailed picture of Marlowe's world.... The rich, complex vision of Elizabethan life that 'Christopher Marlowe' supplies can make his poetic gift for cutting to the passionate core of that life seem even more astonishing."
--Michael Feingold, The New York Times Book Review ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Good research but not too engaging
I give the book high marks for the research that apparently went into the book. There were a number of references cited in the book that were new to me. Maybe that was enough to earn it 4 stars, but like another reviewer I found the presentation to be a bit disjointed and uneven.

Mr. Honan previously wrote a biography on Shakespeare, so it appears he was careful to avoid discrediting Stratfordian doctrine, or contradicitng what was prevously written, which may account for some of the inconsistency. I feel the book would have been much more effective if the focus remained on Marlowe, and had not attempted to explore a possible relationship between the two men.

Involved, heavily researched and meticulously presented true-life story.
Park Honan (Emeritus Professor at the School of English, University of Leeds) presents Christopher Marlowe: Poet & Spy, an in-depth biography of the famous literary figure. Chapters cover Marlowe's childhood, his street fighting, his alleged atheism, a thorough examination of the circumstances that led to Marlowe's murder, and much more. A handful of black-and-white illustrations intersperse this involved, heavily researched and meticulously presented true-life story. Also highly recommended are Honan's previous biographies, most notably the acclaimed "Shakespeare, A Life".

A Muse For The Royals.
'The Tragic History of the Life and Death of Dr. Faustus' was perhaps Christopher Marlowe's masterpiece.The hero endeavors to save his soul and trick the devil; his devil, Methostophilis, was no match for Faust who had been tormented with 10,000 hells -- after he had seen "the face of God and tasted the eternal joys of heaven."If we find succor in hate, "neglect reconciliation," 'we shall always carry hell about with us.'Faust had boasted that "a sound magician is a mighty god."

Marlowe was no atheist as believed during his short life, but he did believe in Merlin's magic.His patron, Tom Walsingham, was a former spy who dabbled with magical spirits, (not alcohol, though he did have a brewery.'Dido (Queen of Carthage)' was the play in which Dido's love is like Petrarch's, which Marlowe is said to have inherited.It is limitless; Marlowe portrays the intensity of her desires and playfulness,In his poetic treatise, she expressed herself with "a valid new logic" as she extolls the virtues of the winds and the seas.Marlowe, nicknamed Kit Marloe at Cambridge, was not a romantic, but a "questing realist."Personally, he was excitable, vulnerable and inconsistent.

'Tamburlaine' was written in blank verse using Marlowe's 'pathos' and much hyperbole.His views on history, society and social violence began to evolve as he showed the feelings, attitudes, motivation and behavior of humans from a religious aspect.He evokes four or five different religions in this play.In it, his hero was compared to Christ."In dramatizing faith, desire, and our other attributes in their ambiguity, Marlowe belongs to us."For six months in 1594, the year after he was murdered, revivals of these two parts were played out before audiences as large as two thousand.Every foreign locale in his plays had a relation to England.

He had just completed 'Hero and Leander' in 1593 before he was arrested as a spy and met his untimely death.He had portrayed the "gap between his well-disciplined life of art and thought and the loose and easy exuberance of his talk."His mentor was partial to speaking Latin, which he called 'the music of the spheres.'Born in February, 1564, he was only twenty-nine when he died in May, 1593.His memory lingers on.

Uneven & frustrating
This book seems to have been written mainly for an audience of professional Marlowe scholars. General readers will find it frustrating and confusing. His writing often wanders all over the place. For example, in reference to Marlowe's activities as spy, Honan writes, "He involved himself in some duplicity, if not in faithlessness and treachery, with regard to fellow scholars at Cambridge" (109), suggesting that Marlowe may have betrayed some of his fellow students with Catholic sympathies. But the point is frustratingly dropped until some 44 pages later, when Honan observes that "we cannot be certain that he betrayed Corpus [i.e. Cambridge University] men, or lured them as a provocateur" (153), seemingly contradicting his earlier point. Because his writing tends to wander, the story of Marlowe's life is hard to follow in Honan's account. Important contexts, such as espionage under Queen Elizabeth, and patronage, are not well-explained. Honan assumes that readers already have a detailed knowledge of these subjects.

An account like this necessarily involves substantial speculation, since the documentary evidence is quite spotty. Readers need to know exactly what the historical evidence is, and where speculation begins. Honan's discussion of the documentary evidence is quite uneven. In some places he gives a detailed account, but in many other places, he simply leaves this essential information out. As a result, the reader is often wondering about the historical basis for Honan's account. He often fails to distinguish fact from speculation.

One useful feature is an appendix which reproduces some important historical documents including the so-called Baines libel and coroner's inquest of Marlowe's death.

PoeticLicense on Kit
A book best for people with some prior understanding of Marlowe's works and the era in which he lived. In regard to the spying done, most casual readers will be lost in the confusing cross currents of British politics, heavily influenced by religious factors, of the late 1500s. And the fact is much of Marlowe's life is lost to documented history. In a pleasing style, Professor Park Honan fills the lacunae with his informed guesses and conjectures. ... Read more

Product Description
In 1593 the brilliant but controversial young playwright Christopher Marlowe was stabbed to death in a Deptford lodging house. The circumstances were shady. Nicholls penetrates four centuries of obscurity to reveal a complex story of entrapment and betrayal. Winner of the Crime Writer's Gold Dagger Award for a nonfiction thriller. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Why is this unrevised version still in print in the U.S.?
I read this book shortly after the American edition came out in 1995.In 2002, however, Nicholl published a significantly revised version, altering some of his previous speculations and conclusions, particularly on the crucial topic of who may have inspired or engineered Marlowe's murder.The 1995 version, therefore, is to that extent invalid and should be replaced with the extensive 2002 revision.For some reason, only the old version is still available in the U.S.I had to order the revised version from the UK.For that reason I cannot give this book more than three stars, and probably should have given it fewer.

fascinating chapter in English history.
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
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...
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
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. ... Read more

Product Description
The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus: From the Quarto of 1616 is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Christopher Marlowe is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Christopher Marlowe then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Whither Faustus?
A common problem with these public domain works, transcribed for the Kindle by volunteers, is missing text. It would be difficult to find a free book in the Kindle collection that is missing more text than this one, however. The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus is nowhere to be found. The text moves straight from a brief description of the play, into page upon page of footnotes, and then -- fin!

Still, it's free, and I suppose someone might have some use for these footnotes. Just don't download this with any unrealistic expectations that it contains the Tragical History of Doctor Faustus. ... Read more

Product Description
Contributions to this volume explore the idea of Marlowe as a working artist, in keeping with John Addington Symonds' characterization of him as a 'sculptor-poet'. Throughout the body of his work-including not only the poems and plays, but also his forays into translation and imitation - a distinguished company of established and emerging literary scholars traces how Marlowe conceives an idea, shapes and refines it, then remakes and remodels it, only to refashion it further in his writing process. These essays necessarily overlap with one another in the categories of lives, stage, and page, which signals their interdependent nature regarding questions of authorship, theater and performance history, as well as interpretive issues within the works themselves. The contributors interpret and analyze the disputed facts of Marlowe's life, the textual difficulties that emerge from the staging of his plays, the critical investigations arising from analyses of individual works, and their relationship to those of his contemporaries. The collection engages in new ways the controversies and complexities of its subject's life and art.It reflects the flourishing state of Marlowe studies as it shapes the twenty-first century conception of the poet and playwright as master craftsman. ... Read more

Product Description
This unique anthology offers a more comprehensive look at the poems of Christopher Marlowe, England's first great poet and playwright, than any other volume currently in print. Bringing together the complete body of Marlowe's poetry--including Ovid's Elegies, "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love," Lucan's First Book, Hero and Leander, and a Latin epitaph on the jurist Sir Roger Manwood--the book also incorporates related works by other writers. These ancillary selections include Sir John Davies's Epigrams, Renaissance response poems to "The Passionate Shepherd," and continuations of Hero and Leander by George Chapman and Henry Petowe. By presenting Marlowe's works in the collaborative literary context of Renaissance England, the editors reveal his considerable influence on the literature of that period and on future writings. Patrick Cheney, a leading authority on Marlowe's work, provides a clear, informed, and in-depth introduction that is firmly grounded in modern criticism and current scholarship, while classical and Renaissance scholar Brian J. Striar offers a helpful exploration of the practice of verse translation in Marlowe's work. Extensive annotations throughout give readers background on both the individual poems and on the cultural context in which they were produced. Ideal for courses in Renaissance poetry, The Collected Poems of Christopher Marlowe is an essential resource for students and other readers striving to understand Marlowe's role as a pioneering poet-playwright. ... Read more

Product Description
The classic Elizabethan play, with new material

From the Elizabethan period's second-biggest dramatist comes the story of Faustus, a brilliant scholar who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for limitless knowledge and powerful black magic. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (36)

Dr Faustus by Christopher Marlowe
Thank goodness for Amazon.com, I was able to get this item, as well as all of the others before my Degree course began. The item arrived in plenty of time and in the condition I was expecting, many thanks to the seller AND to Amazon.com.

A deal with the devil? Well, no just a good read.
This book brings us a slightly different take on Dr. Faustus. The tale deals with a professor who offers his soul to Lucifer in exchange for fame, wealth, and knowledge. He enjoys the benefits of making the deal, but all the while wonders whether his soul can be saved. Some try to convince him that it can be saved, but he fails to act, and in the end, his soul is taken by Lucifer. Marlowe's take on this story is a very good one, but one that has underwent some obvious editing. So get it, but be forewarned that somethings may be hard to get through at spots.

The New Mermaid edition of Dr. Faustus
This is a more than adequate text for exploring Marlowe's Text A, with the Text B portions in the back and a fairly thorough introduction.

Good quality. Ok Delivery
The book quality is very good, but the delivery process is kinda slow. I got it a week after my purchase.

Great book
I had to buy it for a class and I loved the book so much I kept it. ... Read more

Product Description
The essential lyric works of the great Elizabethan playwright—newly revised and updated

Though best known for his plays—and for courting danger as a homosexual, a spy, and an outspoken atheist—Christopher Marlowe was also an accomplished and celebrated poet. This long-awaited updated and revised edition of his poems and translations contains his complete lyric works—from his translations of Ovidian elegies to his most famous poem, "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love," to the impressive epic mythological poem "Hero and Leander." ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (7)

Depends on what you're looking for
If you think there's any value in the authorship question, this book isn't likely to help you.Apparently, not only characters but the sources of the most interesting information are transparently fabricated, as I learned when I tried to track down the Zelle source and learned it was only Mata Hari's real surname.So I suppose the book amounts to a parody of other authorship writing.Post-modern cool? So that's why the Brooklyn Public Library (from which or from one of whose borrowers the copy I bought online from Better Book Worlds was apparently stolen--no "DISCARD" stamp) had indeed shelved it under FICT.

Taken In
I was taken in, not by the book, but by the library that shelved this book in the biography section instead of in fiction. The library was probably taken in by the end-of-book notes, although a cursory glance at said notes gives away the fictional character of the work. In the endnotes, there's a lot of "I embellished the facts here to improve the story" and "I invented this character." Every single footnote is made up. The index, on the other hand, is real, as is the bibliography.

I'm one of those who believe Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare's plays, but in this book, Shakespeare hardly gets credit for living. I'm not sure I can finish this book. I was looking for a life of Marlowe, and this ain't it.

Well, I did finish the book, but I was frustrated throughout. One of the totally made-up characters is named Oliver Laurens. Don't I remember a fellow named Laurence Olivier, who had some little influence on the drama a few centuries after Marlowe lived? Then there's a reference to a made-up writer named Bernard Rosine. Odd that Rosine Bernard was the real name of Sarah Bernhardt. And here's another pseudo-writer, Julius Marx. Shades of Julius "Groucho" Marx. It was all too confusing for me.

The very title of the book, HISTORY PLAY, is two-edged. Half history and half play (as in games and puzzles, not drama).

Very clever
The footnotes alone are worth the price of the book - very, very funny!

Really gets you thinking about how scholars write Shakespeare biographies from very skimpy evidence.

Marlowe's genius and absolutely fascinating life wonderfully captured by Bolt.Fun, educational, irreverent.

fiction, but what fun
Farfetched, but lots of fun to read.Very imaginative and I, for one, would be happy if it were true that poor Kit was not murdered, but lived on to create.

I enjoyed the descriptions of the politics and personalities of the time, especially my favorite villain, Sir Robert Cecil.

Clever, witty, ENTERTAINING!
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.) ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (5)

A very interesting read
Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (1564¯1593) has faded into the background over the centuries, little remembered by the common man, unlike his contemporary William Shakespeare. But, in his own time, Marlowe was known as one of the greatest of playwrights.

This play tells the story of King Edward II, who ruled England from 1307 to 1327. Edward shocked medieval England with his openly bi-sexual relationship with Piers Gaveston, and his barons rose up against him in a series of wars, finally culminating in Edward's death. (Rumor having it that he was horribly murdered by having a red-hot iron thrust up through his rectum!)

Now, this play is not entirely historically accurate. The theatre of the day did not specialize in accurate historical portrayal, but strove to entertain. However, that said, this play does do an excellent job of telling the story of Edward and his reign, in an entertaining and informative manner in a mere 25 scenes.

Overall, I found this to be a very interesting read, and I couldn't help but wonder why I have not heard of it being played today. It is still very entertaining, and you would think that modern play producers would want to put it on. This is an interesting play, one that I do not hesitate to recommend.

(By the way, just in case you didn't realize, this Edward was the effeminate son of Edward I, Longshanks, in Mel Gibson's movie Braveheart. That portrayal of Edward was well done by actor Peter Hanly, but was even less accurate than this play. I suspect that the character Phillip was based on Piers Gaveston. Longshanks did indeed hate Gaveston, but certainly never threw him out of a window!)

A History Play that Rivals Shakespeare's History Plays!!!
+++++

(Note that this review is for Dover Classics "Edward II" published by Theatre Communications Group in 1999.)

This play in five acts or twenty-five scenes, written by Christopher Marlowe (1564 to 1593, born the same year as Shakespeare) is a history play that chronicles the reign of Edward the Second.The actual name that Marlowe gave his play was "The troublesome reign and lamentable death of Edward, the second King of England, with the tragical fall of Mortimer."(Mortimer is Edward's nemesis in the play.)

The precise date of this play is not accurately known, but it is generally thought to have been written circa 1590.

Marlowe condenses, omits, elaborates, and rearranges actual historical events in order to gain dramatic effectiveness, and to bring out Edward's character and the results of his weakness.So the action in the play covers a historical period of just over twenty years (near the end of the fourteenth century) even though such a period of time is not suggested by the play itself.

Marlowe effectively succeeds in giving a true, as well as a powerful picture of the character and fate of Edward the Second.This play masterfully shows the delineation of character, the construction of plot, and the freedom and variety of the mostly blank verse.

Readers of Shakespeare's plays (especially "Henry the Eighth" and "Richard the Second") should find it quite easy to read this relatively succinct play.Even those not familiar with Shakespeare's plays or even Elizabethan drama should have little difficulty with this play.Footnotes are minimal.

Unfortunately, this play has been labeled a "Gay Play."This is not quite accurate.Edward was bisexual because he had a queen who he had a son with (the future Edward the Third) and, as well, had a male partner (named Piers Gaveston).Gaveston too was bisexual since he was not only attracted to Edward but also to Edward's niece!Edward's queen is heterosexual because she is later attracted to Mortimer after Edward starts ignoring her.

Sexual orientation is actually a small part of this play. The play is about a king who loses control of his kingdom.Edward's brother says this early on to Edward: "My Lord, I see your love to Gaveston / Will be the ruin of the realm and you."

Finally, the last scene of the play is truly magnificent as Edward's son, now King, gets revenge for his father's murder.

In conclusion, this is a great play that can be enjoyed by those who are heterosexual (like myself), bisexual, or homosexual.Also, in my opinion, this history play closely rivals Shakespeare's history plays.

(this book first published 1999; play written circa 1590; 95 pages)

+++++

The troublesome reign and Lamentable death of Edward
The edition of Edward II I read was the New Mermaid Series one, which had a very good and informative introduction, and has the spelling modernized. The spelling modernization extends to place names as well as general terms.I am not sure how I feel about spelling modernization, as it is nice to seehow the work was originally spelled, but it made the work very easy toread. The play itself is amazing, very engaging even though it is ahistory, and is mostly based on things that actually happened. The languageis not as flowery as Shakespeare, but is lovely nonetheless.Some of thecharacters of the play are very fickle, and seem to suddenly change as youread the text of the play. (Queen Isabella goes from devoted andself-sacrificing wife to cunning adulteress.) It makes more sense on stage,and after seeing this play, it was easier to see how good it is.

Marlowe outdoes himself!
Marlowe's final play is also his masterpiece. To be sure, the dramatic events in this play really did happen, but Marlowe shows himself at hisbest when he paints the picture. At first, Marlowe masterfully allows us todetest Edward for undoing all the fine work of his father EdwardLongshanks. We also are able to feel sorry for Mortimer and Isabella. (theeventual villains). Isabella feels neglected and Mortimer can not stand tosee the fine work of Edward Longshanks undone.Later, we come to have somerespect for Edward II when he shows himself to have some of his father'sfine qualities and he crushes the first rebellion against him with courageand intelligence. When the second uprising successful, we no longer arelead into any feelings of admiration for Mortimer and Isabella. Once theyhave power they are more vile and disgusting than Edward II ever was. ByAct 5.1, Marlowe gives Edward II moving soliloquies and does not allow ournew won pity to slack for a moment. The final scene of this play whenEdward II's 17 year old son Edward III flips the tables,crushes hiscorrupt mother, has Mortimer put to death, and offers prayers to hismurdered father is a scene that is almost unsurpassed in literature. To besure, this did actually happen, but Marlowe not only tells us whathappened, but colors it with his superb mastery of the language.

Shakespeare? Who? Marlowe was far better!
Edward the second, or to give it its full title, 'The troublesome reign and Lamentable death of Edward, the second king of England, with the tragical fall of proud Mortimer', is famous for being an Elizabethan 'Gayplay', but this is only one of the subjects contained within the play.Politics, cruelty and the Feudal System are all important themes in this,one of the great masterstrokes of Elizabethan literature. The play itselfis a history play, set in the 14th century featuring Edward and hispreviously basished lover, Gaveston, who returns after the death ofEdward's father. This return enrages the barons, who were sworn to Edward'sfather that Gaveston would never return. This is the catalyst for a plotthat races around like a cheetah on speed, culminating in one of the mostexcruciating deaths ever portrayed on stage. "Shakespeare? Who?Marlowe was far better!" ... Read more

Product Description
An authoritative text of Marlowe's classic play, with notes and a substantial introduction giving historical background, dramatic context, and performance history, including cinematic history. Interviews with Ralph Alan Cohen of Shenandoah Shakespeare and Andreas Teuber (Mephistopheles in the Richard Burton production) discuss issues of performance. Illustrations, a useful timeline, a list of topics designed to promote discussion, and a up-to-date bibliography. This text is based on the authoritative edition by Irving Ribner, updated, with much additional material on performance, by James H. Lake.

Features of the text

Outstanding authorship: Irving Ribner; revised by James H. LakeStudent sized. Inviting layout.

Notes on the page highlighted for emphasis [p 68-69]

Interviews on performance issues [p 85-99]

Illustrations of theater, movie stills [cover, p 9]

Emphasis on the work in performance [p 9-19]

Full up-to-date bibliography [p 93]

Discussion questions [p. 89-91]

Interview with Ralph Alan Cohen on Performance of Doctor Faustus

Interview with Andreas Teuber on being Mephistopheles in Burton's Faustus

Special section on performance. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (9)

A biography not to be missed
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"

Scholarly Read about Marlowe's Era
This is a scholarly book about the life and times of playwright Christopher Marlowe. It is not an entertaining easy read. I read about 20% of the book before giving up. It's erudite, but still comprehensible. It just wasn't that interesting to me.

In the first 82 pages, I found maybe two pages worth of information about Marlowe as a person. In contrast, there are maybe 10 pages about the town he was born in and at least 40 pages about the educational system he grew up with.

I would not recommend this book for those who read biographies for just for fun. Nor would I recommend it for someone who wants to read about famous gay people. The author concludes that he probably had little contact with women, so he was either celibate or had homosexual sex.

I've read and enjoyed detailed biographies like this, when I have had a greater interest in the culture and times. For those readers, this is probably a great book.

Marlowe was not a spy
Apart from some very interesting and thoughtfull exegesis of Marlowe's works, it's no surprise that readers find David Riggs's account of the poet's life "abstruse" and confusing.This is unfortunate, because of all the poets of the English Literary Renaissance, we have more real information about Marlowe than any other.Yet, sadly, a story which should be as clear as glass in its implications for all the writers of the time has been so successfully muddled, first, purposely, by the government that brought him down and then by later biographers who, for some unknown reason, have consistently chosen to believe the government'sdisinformation campaign rather than their own common sense.Most at fault in this is Charles Nicholl, who, while providing the most important information on Marlowe's life and death in his book The Reckoning (1992), also ensured its misinterpretation due to his refusal to see (or at least to convey)the truth of what his own research so clearly revealed.

Despite Nicholl's maunderings on how easily poets can become spies--a piece of nonsense that Riggs, who should know better, cheerfully supports--the fact is that there isn't a scintilla of evidence that Christopher Marlowe (or any great poet then or later) was ever a government spy.Was spying the only possible "service to her Majesty" that a budding poet might perform?Is there any objective evidence that Marlowe was in Flushing for purposes of spying?And why, when it comes down to a "he said--she said" on the subject of Marlowe's allegience, do the biographers choose to believe, not the great freethinking poet whose words have lived for centuries, but the reprehensible turncoat who was fingering him? Riggs may choose to throw in a question mark here and there, but the result is a colossal crazy quilt made up of scraps of truth, old lies, and centuries of misinterpretation, such that no ordinary reader could possibly sort out without help.

Despite the obfuscation, the fact remains: Marlowe's only proven relationship with the three government agents who saw to his removal was as the victim of an elaborate sting, one conjured up by Robert Cecil as his entry into his father's world of Machiavellian politics .To see this, all that's needed is to know a little about history (both the history of the period and History in general), read the four plays that we can be certain were actually written by Marlowe, and consider what governments have always done to writers who were driven to tell it like it is, writers like Ovid, Cicero, Voltaire, Solzinitzen, Vaclav Hamel. The fundamental truth about Marlowe was expressed shortly after his death by his fellow writer, Tom Nashe: "His life he contemned in comparison of the liberty of free speech"--a simple truth simply told by someone who did know what he was talking about.

Interesting book on the life and times of Marlowe
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
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. ... Read more

Product Description

Indulge Yourself with the best classic literature on Your PDA. Navigate easily to any novel from Table of Contents or search for the words or phrases.

Customer Reviews (1)

This ebook is a treat!
Works of Christopher Marlowe. Edward the Second, Doctor Faustus, Hero and Leander, The Jew of Malta, Massacre at Paris, Tamburlaine the Great, The Tragedy ... more. Published by MobileReference (mobi).

This is an excellent Kindle edition of Marlowe's plays. Very reasonably priced.
The best thing about Marlowe's plays is the level of respect for the audience. Judgement of the characters is (for the most part) left to the reader. ... Read more

Product Description
This book is the final volume of the Oxford English Texts edition of The Complete Works of Christopher Marlowe. Volume four contains the two parts of Tamburlaine the Great, edited by David Fuller, and The Massacre at Paris, edited by Edward J. Esche. It is the first time that either text has been presented in an old-spelling edition with textual annotation and a full critical commentary. Readers will find a detailed discussion of the plays' subject matter, context, textual history, interpretation, stage action, and language. ... Read more

Product Description
The first full critical edition of Marlowe's highly controversial Edward II for twenty-five years, Richard Rowland's scholarly edition presents an old-spelling text which adheres more closely to the first quarto than any prior edition. A full commentary and introduction contextualize the play and give an entirely original account of the relationship between the play, Marlowe's own age, and events which immediately followed it. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

As good as it could get
well i thought that the book was good, and even though it was introduced to me in high school, i think that maybe it is for the more mature crowd. if you can get passed the text then you will really enjoy the book. it isbest to read the book along with its footnotes.not only is it a littleeasier on the reader, but it is also more enjoyable when you can actuallyunderstand what it is you are reading.but over all the book wasexcellent.i think of it as one of marlowe's greatest works. ... Read more

Product Description
The Tragedy of Dido Queene of Carthage is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Christopher Marlowe is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Christopher Marlowe then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Product Description
This Kindle book includes: Dido, Doctor Faustus, Edward the Second, The Jew of Malta, Massacre at Paris, Tamburlaine the Great Part 1, and Tamburlaine the Great Part 2.According to Wikipedia: "Christopher "Kit" Marlowe (baptised 26 February 1564 – 30 May 1593) 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."

Responding to customer feedback, I improved the formatting on 7/3/2009.If you bought a copy before then, you should be able to download the new version at no additional cost. Feedback always welcome. seltzer@samizdat.com ... Read more

Product Description
The Cambridge Companion to Christopher Marlowe provides a full introduction to one of the great pioneers of both the Elizabethan stage and modern English poetry. It recalls that Marlowe was an inventor of the English history play (Edward II) and of Ovidian narrative verse (Hero and Leander), as well as being author of such masterpieces of tragedy and lyric as Doctor Faustus and 'The Passionate Shepherd to His Love'. Sixteen leading scholars provide accessible and authoritative chapters on Marlowe's life, texts, style, politics, religion, and classicism. The volume also considers his literary and patronage relationships and his representations of sexuality and gender and of geography and identity; his presence in modern film and theatre; and finally his influence on subsequent writers. The Companion includes a chronology of Marlowe's life, a note on reference works, and a reading list for each chapter. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A comprehensive academic overview of Marlowe's work and times
This book is exactly as the title suggests, a companion book for Marlovian students, however, you do not have to be an academic to enjoy this work.Comprised of sixteen different essays, seventeen if you count the introduction, written by the most respected Marlowe scholars of our times, this book is accessible to the general reader.I highly recommend it for anyone who is generally familiar with the playwright and who desires to progress to the next level in the academic field.It is an excellent book displaying a cross-section of the latest trends in Marlovian research.

The titles of the various chapters are self explanatory:
`Introduction: Marlowe in the twenty-first century', `Marlowe's life', `Marlovian texts and authorship', `Marlowe and style', `Marlowe and the politics of religion', `Marlowe and the English literary sense', `Marlowe's poems and classicism', `Tamburlaine the Great, Parts One and Two', `The Jew of Malta', `Edward II', `Doctor Faustus', `Dido, Queen of Carthage and The Massacre of Paris', `Tragedy, patronage and power', `Geography and identity in Marlowe', `Marlowe's men and women: gender and sexuality', `Marlowe in theatre and film', `Marlowe's reception and influence'.

The book also features a chronology of Marlowe's life, several illustrations, suggested reading lists, an index, and a nifty listing of other Cambridge Companions that are available.

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

Cambridge companion to Christopjer Marlowe
This is a highly intellectual study of the life, times and works of Christopher Marlowe and well done as the Cambridge companions usually are.I highly recommend it to the student who wishes to learn in depth of Marlowe. ... Read more