The World of Christopher Marlowe

David Riggs

• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN: 9780805077551
• eBook ISBN: 9781466862340
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Historical Biographies
• Index: Literature

The definitive biography of the famous Elizabethan-era dramatist and poet—and an investigation into his murder.

Shakespeare's contemporary, Christopher Marlowe revolutionized English drama and poetry, transforming the Elizabethan stage into a place of astonishing creativity. The outline of Marlowe's life, work, and violent death are known, but few of the details that explain why his writing and ideas made him such a provocateur in the Elizabethan era have been available until now. In this absorbing consideration of Marlowe and his times, English professor David Riggs presents Marlowe as the language's first poetic dramatist whose desires proved his undoing.

In an age of tremendous cultural change in Europe when Cervantes wrote the first novel and Copernicus demonstrated a world subservient to other nonreligious forces, Catholics and Protestants battled for control of England and Elizabeth's crown was anything but secure. Into this whirlwind of change stepped Marlowe espousing sexual freedom and atheism. His beliefs proved too dangerous to those in power and he was condemned as a spy and later murdered. In The World of Christopher Marlowe, Riggs's exhaustive research digs deeply into the mystery of how and why Marlowe was killed.

"The best one-volume introduction to its subject's life and times. As his title suggests, Riggs supplements our paltry factual knowledge about Marlowe by describing his various milieux: Canterbury and Cambridge, the London theater scene, the world of religious and intellectual iconoclasm and, finally, the dark realm of terrorist plots and political assassination. It is a good and reliable book." — Washington Post

"Outstanding social history, detective work, literary analysis, and portrayal of a truly dangerous time and place—Elizabethan London." — Booklist (starred review)

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Notice
• Contents
• Dedication
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgements
• Prologue: Reinventing Marlowe
• 1. Citizen Marlowe
• 2. Lessons Learned in Childhood
• 3. Speaking like a Roman
• 4. Scholars and Gentlemen
• 5. Thinking like a Roman
• 6. The Teacher of Desire
• 7. Plots and Counter Plots
• 8. Proceeding in the Arts
• 9. In the Theatre of the Idols
• 10. Notoriety
• 11. ‘He is like Dr Faustus’
• 12. Double Agents
• 13. The Counterfeiters
• 14. Waiting for the End
• 15. In the Theatre of God’s Judgements
• Epilogue
• Notes
• Works Cited
• Picture Credits
• Index
• By the same author
• About the Author
• Copyright