Christopher Marlowe and the Renaissance of Tragedy

by Douglas Cole

Overview

This work focuses on Marlowe's works as an index of the major transformation of Elizabethan theatrical practices. In the opening chapter, Cole reviews the unusually intriguing historical record of Marlowe's life outside the theatre. The body of the book addresses Marlowe's individual plays as experiments in extending and redefining the traditional concepts and techniques of tragic drama, and suggests how his contemporaries and followers made use of his innovations. Intended as an introduction to the subject, this book provides an insightful approach to Marlowe's work and the study of Elizabethan thought and theatre.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313275166
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	11/20/1995
Series:	Contributions in Drama and Theatre Studies: Lives of the Theatre , #63
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

DOUGLAS COLE is Professor of English at Northwestern University. He is author of Suffering and Evil in the Plays of Christopher Marlowe and editor of two volumes—Twentieth-Century Interpretations of Romeo and Juliet and Renaissance Drama XI: Tragedy.

Table of Contents

Series Foreword by Josh Beer, Christopher Innes, and Simon Williams
Prologue
Chronology
Matters of Life and Death
The World of the Theatre in the Reign of Elizabeth
Dido, Queen of Carthage: Tragedy in the Classical Tradition
Tamburlaine the Great: Tragical Discourse and Spectacle
Machiavellian Tragedy: The Massacre at Paris and The Jew of Malta
Edward II: Tragedy in the De Casibus Tradition
Doctor Faustus: Tragedy in the Allegorical Tradition
Marlowe's Legacy to Tragedy
Appendix A: Thomas Kyd's Accusations of Marlowe
Appendix B: Richard Baines' Note
Works Cited
Index

Editorial Reviews

Cole (English, Northwestern U.) examines how Marlowe (1564-93) received the major literary and dramatic traditions of tragic, and transformed them into plays that recast and redefined the genre's themes and modes. He provides a chronology and a brief review of the very few known facts about his short life, but avoids the speculation necessary for a full biography. He demonstrates the playwright's use of the classical, Machiavellian, De Casius, and allegorical traditions; discourse and spectacle; and his legacy. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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