Moving beyond traditional studies of sources and influence, Shakespeare's Marlowe analyzes the uncommonly powerful aesthetic bond between Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare. Not only does this study take into account recent ideas about intertextuality, but it also shows how the process of tracking Marlowe's influence itself prompts questions and reflections that illuminate the dramatists' connections. Further, after questioning the commonly held view of Marlowe and Shakespeare as rivals, the individual chapters suggest new possible interrelationships in the formation of Shakespeare's works. Such examination of Shakespeare's Marlovian inheritance enhances our understanding of the dramaturgical strategies of each writer and illuminates the importance of such strategies as shaping forces on their works. Robert Logan here makes plain how Shakespeare incorporated into his own work the dramaturgical and literary devices that resulted in Marlowe's artistic and commercial success. Logan shows how Shakespeare's examination of the mechanics of his fellow dramatist's artistry led him to absorb and develop three especially powerful influences: Marlowe's remarkable verbal dexterity, his imaginative flexibility in reconfiguring standard notions of dramatic genres, and his astute use of ambivalence and ambiguity. This study therefore argues that Marlowe and Shakespeare regarded one another not chiefly as writers with great themes, but as practicing dramatists and poets-which is where, Logan contends, the influence begins and ends.

It is October 1592. Christopher Marlowe, the most accomplished playwright in London, has written The Massacre at Paris for his company, the Lord Admiral's Men. Bubonic plague has hit outlying parishes, forcing theaters to close and postponing the season. Ordinarily, the Rose Theatre would debut Marlowe's work, but its subject—the St. Bartholomew Day's Massacre—is unpleasant and might inflame hostilities against Catholics and their sympathizers, such as merchants on whom trade depends. A new company, the Lord Strange's Men, boasts a young writer, William Shakespeare, who is said to have several barnburners in the queue. A competition is called to decide which company will reopen the theaters. Who will most effectively represent the nation's ideals and energies, its humor and grandeur? One troupe will gain supremacy, primarily for literary but also for cultural, religious, and political reasons. Free supplementary materials for this textbook are available at the Reacting to the Past website. Visit https://reacting.barnard.edu/instructor-resources, click on the RTTP Game Library link, and create a free account to download what is available.

"Theorizes that the true author of the works attributed to Shakespeare was in fact poet and playwright Christopher Marlowe; that Marlowe, who was reportedly a spy in the Secret Service, actually faked his own death, with several top people in Queen Elizabeth's government involved, then continued writing for several years under the pseudonym of William Shakespeare"--Provided by publisher.

A remarkable resurgence of interest has taken place over recent years in a biographical approach to the work of early modern poets and dramatists, in particular to the plays and poems of Shakespeare, Marlowe and Jonson. The contributors to this volume approach the topic in a manner that is at once critically and historically alert. They acknowledge that the biographical evidence for all three authors is limited, thus throwing the emphasis acutely on interpretation. In addition to new scholarship, the essays are valuable for their awareness of the challenges posed by recent redirections of critical methodology. Scepticism and self-criticism are marked features of the writing gathered here.

On the morning of May 30, 1593, Christopher Marlowe met with three associates in the English intelligence network. Later that evening the Queen's coroner was summoned to their meeting place. A body lay on the floor. After an inquest, the dead man was taken to a nearby churchyard busy at the time receiving victims of the plague. According to the official report, England's foremost playwright was interred without fanfare or marker. Soon, plays attributed to William Shakespeare began to appear on the London stage, plays so undeniably similar to Marlowe's that noted scholars have since declared that Shakespeare wrote as if he had been Marlowe's apprentice. Marlowe's Ghost: The Blacklisting of the Man Who Was Shakespeare explores the possibility that persecution of a writer who dared to question authority may have led to the greatest literary cover-up of all time.

The Complete Works: Modern Critical Edition is part of the landmark New Oxford Shakespeare--an entirely new consideration of all of Shakespeare's works, edited afresh from all the surviving original versions of his work, and drawing on the latest literary, textual, and theatrical scholarship.This single illustrated volume is expertly edited to frame the surviving original versions of Shakespeare's plays, poems, and early musical scores around the latest literary, textual, and theatrical scholarship to date.

Who was William Shakespeare? Many scholars have speculated over the mystery of Shakespeare's identity. Was he really just a man--a poet, playwright, and favorite of the Queen? Was he a collective of writers creating the lasting works of art under this pen name? Or was he someone else entirely? The discussion of Shakespeare's true identity remains a topic of debate to this day, and scholars have claimed again and again that the famous bard was simply a pen name. But for whom? Author David Rhys Williams weighs in with his controversial book Shakespeare Thy Name is Marlowe. Rhys Williams summarizes the evidence and arguments that have led many contemporary scholars of the Elizabethan period to the conclusion that the man known as William Shakespeare was none other than Christopher Marlowe. One of the highlights of Rhys Williams's study is his explanation of how the charge of heresy that was leveled against Marlowe in 1593 probably led to his appropriation of the pseudonym "William Shakespeare" as a protective device--one which permitted him to escape death at the stake and to continue the writing of poems and plays. Williams consults multiple sources and Marlovian scholars on the subject, and comes to his shocking conclusion: that Shakespeare's friend and contemporary, the poet and dramatist Christopher Marlowe, may have written Shakespeare's tremendous and far more famous oeuvre. Discover the truth for yourself in this probing and thorough essay. David Rhys Williams, in addition to being a Marlovian scholar, was an American Congregational and Unitarian minister. He published widely on religion, theism, and nonviolence, including three books, World Religions and the Hope for Peace, Faith Beyond Humanism, and Shakespeare, Thy name is Marlowe.