Marlowe: The Plays
ANALYSING TEXTS General Editor: Nicholas Marsh Published Chaucer: The Canterbury Tales Gail Ashton Webster: The Tragedies Kate Aughterson Shakespeare: The Comedies R. P. Draper Charlotte Brontë: The Novels Mike Edwards Shakespeare: The Tragedies Nicholas Marsh Jane Austen: The Novels Nicholas Marsh Emily Brontë: Wuthering Heights Nicholas Marsh Virginia Woolf: The Novels Nicholas Marsh D. H. Lawrence: The Novels Nicholas Marsh John Donne: The Poems Joe Nutt Thomas Hardy: The Novels Norman Page Marlowe: The Plays Stevie Simkin Analysing Texts Series Standing Order ISBN 978-0-333-73260-1 (outside North America only) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBN quoted above. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England
Marlowe: The Plays STEVIE SIMKIN
Stevie Simkin 2001 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 0LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2001 by PALGRAVE Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE is the new global academic imprint of St. Martin s Press LLC Scholarly and Reference Division and Palgrave Publishers Ltd (formerly Macmillan Press Ltd). ISBN 978-0-333-92241-5 hardback ISBN 978-0-333-92240-8 ISBN 978-1-4039-1921-2 (ebook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-4039-1921-2 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Simkin, Stevie. Marlowe : the plays / Stevie Simkin. p. cm. (Analysing Texts) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-333-92241-5 ISBN 978-0-333-92240-8 (pbk) 1. Marlowe, Christopher, 1564 1593 Criticism and interpretation. I. Title. II. Series. PR2674.S58 2001 822'.3 dc21 00-048338 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 01
For my parents
Contents General Editor s Preface A Note on Editions Introductory Guidance 1 PART 1: ANALYSING MARLOWE S PLAYS 1 Openings and Entrances 13 Tamburlaine I, Prologue and Tamburlaine II, Prologue 14 Doctor Faustus, Prologue 18 The Jew of Malta, Machiavel s Prologue 22 Tamburlaine I, I.i.1 80 27 Doctor Faustus, I.i.1 65 31 The Jew of Malta, I.i.1 48 37 Edward II, I.i.1 23, 50 72 40 Conclusions 44 Methods of Analysis 45 Suggested Work 46 2 Heroes and Anti-Heroes 48 Tamburlaine I, V.i.64 134 49 Doctor Faustus, I.iii.45 101 56 The Jew of Malta, II.iii.164 218 61 Edward II, IV.vii.37 98 67 Conclusions 73 Methods of Analysis 74 Suggested Work 75 3 Devils and Angels 77 Tamburlaine II, V.i.148 220 79 The Jew of Malta, IV.i.49 100 86 Doctor Faustus, II.i.1 82 91 Doctor Faustus, V.i.35 80 98 x xi vii
viii Contents Conclusions 102 Methods of Analysis 103 Suggested Work 104 4 Power and Politics 106 Tamburlaine I, II.v.50 105 106 The Jew of Malta, V.ii.26 46, 110 123 111 Edward II, I.ii.33 83 116 Edward II, V.ii.1 56 122 Conclusions 127 Methods of Analysis 128 Suggested Work 129 5 Gender and Sexuality 130 Tamburlaine I, III.iii.166 211 131 Doctor Faustus, V.i.81 118 137 Edward II, I.iv.74 143 142 Edward II, I.iv.144 88 148 Edward II, II.iv.15 69 152 Conclusions 157 Methods of Analysis 158 Suggested Work 159 6 Black Comedy and Black Humour 161 Doctor Faustus, I.iv.1 73 163 The Jew of Malta, I.ii.301 66 170 The Jew of Malta, III.vi.1 52 176 The Jew of Malta, IV.iv.26 80 181 Conclusions 187 Methods of Analysis 187 Suggested Work 188 7 Endings and Exits 190 Tamburlaine II, V.iii.199 253 190 The Jew of Malta, V.v.51 123 195 Doctor Faustus, V.ii.57 115 200 Edward II, V.v.38 120 205
Contents ix PART 2: Conclusions 212 Methods of Analysis 214 Suggested Work 214 THE CONTEXT AND THE CRITICS 8 Marlowe the Elizabethan 219 Introduction 219 Marlowe s Early Life 220 Protestantism and Catholicism 222 The London Theatre 225 The Theatre Profession 227 Marlowe s Career as a Playwright 231 Heresy and Atheism 233 Gender and Sexuality 237 Conclusion 240 9 A Sample of Critical Views 241 Harry Levin 242 Jonathan Dollimore 246 Stephen Greenblatt 251 Emily Bartels 253 Further Reading 257 Index 261
General Editor s Preface This series is dedicated to one clear belief: that we can all enjoy, understand and analyse literature for ourselves, provided we know how to do it. How can we build on close understanding of a short passage, and develop our insight into the whole work? What features do we expect to find in a text? Why do we study style in so much detail? In demystifying the study of literature, these are only some of the questions the Analysing Texts series addresses and answers. The books in this series will not do all the work for you, but will provide you with the tools, and show you how to use them. Here, you will find samples of close, detailed analysis, with an explanation of the analytical techniques utilised. At the end of each chapter there are useful suggestions for further work you can do to practise, develop and hone the skills demonstrated and build confidence in you own analytical ability. An author s individuality shows in the way they write: every work they produce bears the hallmark of that writer s personal style. In the main part of each book we concentrate therefore on analysing the particular flavour and concerns of one author s work, and explain the features of their writing in connection with major themes. In Part 2 there are chapters about the author s life and work, assessing their contribution to developments in literature; and a sample of critics views are summarised and discussed in comparison with each other. Some suggestions for further reading provide a bridge towards further critical research. Analysing Texts is designed to stimulate and encourage your critical and analytic faculty, to develop your personal insight into the author s work and individual style, and to provide you with the skills and techniques to enjoy at first hand the excitement of discovering the richness of the text. NICHOLAS MARSH x
A Note on Editions All quotations from Marlowe s plays are taken from the Oxford World s Classics version of the plays (Doctor Faustus and Other Plays), edited by David Bevington and Eric Rasmussen (Oxford University Press, 1995). The format is I.iii.45, where I indicates act number, iii is scene number, and 45 is line number. A reference to a stage direction is noted as s.d.. In the extracts, those stage directions in square brackets [ ] have been added by the editors; all other stage directions are from the original texts. Quotations from Shakespeare s plays are taken from The Norton Shakespeare, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, Walter Cohen, Jean E. Howard and Katherine Eisaman Maus (W.W. Norton & Company, 1997). In the Critical Views chapter, quotations from Harry Levin are taken from the extracts reprinted in the Doctor Faustus Casebook, edited by John Jump; quotations from Jonathan Dollimore are from the second edition of Radical Tragedy (Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1989); quotations from Stephen Greenblatt and Emily Bartels are taken from Christopher Marlowe: Longman Critical Reader, edited by Richard Wilson (Longman, 1999). xi