This
course will consist of an introduction to
the life of Christopher Marlowe, followed by close readings of three of
his plays: Tamburlaine
Parts 1 and 2, and Doctor
Faustus. We will look
at the contemporary relevance of this sixteenth-century playwright's
works as well as the setting in his own time.
We
start with this: Christopher Marlowe was very smart and very well
educated, a fine poet and playwright in charge of his craft's most
important tool - language. He masterfully used subtle irony and blunt
sarcasm,
well mixed with memorable poetry and striking spectacle, to create only
a small number of plays. It may take a while to appreciate
what is
going on because there is so much going on, but Marlowe was in control
of those plays and we will benefit from the effort we invest.
I
lean most upon Christopher
Marlowe's Tamburlaine Part One and
Part Two - Text and Major Criticism, ed. Irving Ribner,
The Odyssey
Press, 1974, In order not to burden these notes with
distractions,
I will not use footnotes. I take responsibility for whatever opinions
of my own that may detract from these excellent sources.
Tamburlaine
Part
1:
Act
I
Act II
Act III
Act IV
Act V
Tamburlaine Part 2:
Act I
Act II
Act III
Act IV
Act V
Observations
I
rely upon two primary sources, Doctor Faustus,
A- and
B-texts (1604, 1616) ed. David Bevington and Eric
Rasmussen.
Manchester University Press, 1993, and Christopher Marlowe - Doctor
Faustus ed. D.S. Kastan, Norton Critical Edition, W.W.
Norton
&
Co., 2005. In order not to burden these notes with
distractions,
I will not use footnotes. I take responsibility for whatever opinions
of my own that may detract from these excellent sources.
Introduction
Act 1
Act 2
Act 3
Act 4
Act 5
Observations
Chapters
of the Faust Book
Updated 2014-03-20