Sidney Lee, Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome

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MARLOWE, CHRISTOPHER (1564-1593)

dramatist; son of a Canterbury shoemaker; educated at King's School, Canterbury, and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge; M.A., 1587; attached himself to Earl of Nottingham's theatrical company, which produced most of his plays; acquainted with leading men of letters, including Raleigh; wrote, not later than 1587, ‘Tamburlaine’ (published, 1590), in which he gave new development to blank verse; wrote ‘The Tragedy of Dr. Faustus’ (first entered on ‘Stationers' Register,’ 1601, but not apparently published till 1604), which was well received; produced after 1588, ‘The Jew of Malta’ (first published, 1633), ‘Edward II,’ the best-constructed of his plays, 1593 (first published, 1594), and two inferior pieces, the ‘Massacre at Paris’ (probably published, 1600), and ‘Tragedy of Dido’ (joint work of Marlowe and Nash), published, 1594; pointed to as part author of Shakespeare's ‘Titus Andronicus,’ by internal evidence; wrote much of the second and third parts of ‘Henry VI,’ which Shakespeare revised and completed, and of ‘Edward III’; translated Ovid's ‘Amores’ (published with Sir John Davies's ‘Epigrammes and Elegies,’ c. 1597); paraphrased part of Musæus's ‘Hero and Leander’ (completed by George Chapman and published, 1598); translated ‘The First Book of Lucan[‘s Pharsalia]’ (published, 1600); wrote the song ‘Come live with me and be my love’ (published in ‘The Passionate Pilgrim,’ 1599, and in ‘England's Helicon’); held and propagated atheistical opinions, and a warrant issued [p. 842] for his arrest, 1593; killed in a drunken brawl at Deptford; probably not guilty of the blasphemy and gross immorality often ascribed to him; spoken of with affection by Edward Blount, Nashe, and Chapman; his ‘mighty line’ spoken of by Ben Jonson; quoted and apostrophised by Shakespeare in ‘As you like it.’ Marlowe excelled in portraying human ambition and exerted much influence over Shakespeare. His collected works were first published, 1826. [xxxvi. 180]

This text is based on the following book(s):
The Macmillan Company. London: Smith, Elder, & Co. 1903 .