Christopher marlowe gay
February is LGBTQ history month here in the UK and for the first of hopefully a few posts to mark the occasion, I’m going to offer up some reading suggestions for Christopher Marlowe, everyone’s favourite suspiciously murdered, probable gay atheist spy playwright.
The title comes from the infamous ‘Baines note’, a document written by Richard Baines accusing Marlowe of saying ‘That all they that loue not Tobacco & Boies were fooles’ and also, amongst other things, ‘That St John the Evangelist was bedfellow to Christ and leaned alwaies in his bosome, that he vsed him as the sinners of Sodoma.’ Whether or not Marlowe did depart around shouting such proclamations in behind sixteenth century London (see Burgess’ novel A Dead Bloke in Deptford for the fictional image of him doing exactly that), his works show a fair deal of men loving men.
Marlowe is probably most famous (writing prudent, as he’s probably most famous in general for creature Shakespeare’s rival who was killed with a stab to the eye) for Doctor Faustus, his play on the Faust myth packed of dramatic speeches on predestination, playing pranks on the Pope, and a devil a minute too infatuated with Faustus, so I’m going to skip
It’s LGBTQ+ History Month in the UK, which means I’m thinking about Christopher Marlowe – again – even after spending half my earthly existence writing a novel about him. Despite having been a major influence on Shakespeare, an innovator of English poetic develop, a writer of numerous homoerotic verses, and the storyteller of the 1st English play to feature an explicitly homosexual relationship between men, Marlowe is often left off the Queer Historical Figures roundups that come out around this time of year. Which, y’know, really bugs me.
So what happened? Who was “Kit” Marlowe, and why is he still important?
Marlowe’s story is often likened to that of a tragic rockstar: the flame that burned bright, and much too fast. After sailing to the highest tier of English poets at just 24 years old, Marlowe’s being came to a violent end before he turned 30, in 1593. His murder continues to baffle historians, and is a gigantic topic all its own. But right now, I’d rather talk about the circumstances that led up to it, and what they mean for his legacy.
Scholars oppose as to exactly how much trouble Marlowe was in at the moment of his death, or what exactly put h
The King's School, 25 The Precincts, Canterbury CT1 2ES, Regno Unito
University of Cambridge, 4 Mill Ln, Cambridge CB2 1RZ
Norton Folgate, London EC2A, UK
St Nicholas, Deptford Green, London SE8 3DQ, Regno Unito
Westminster Abbey, 20 Deans Yd, Westminster, London SW1P 3PA, Regno Unito
Christopher Marlowe,[1][2] also known as Kit Marlowe (2 February 1564 - 30 May 1593), was an English playwright, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe was the foremost Elizabethan tragedian of his day.[3] He greatly influenced William Shakespeare, who was born in the same year as Marlowe and who rose to become the pre-eminent Elizabethan playwright after Marlowe's mysterious early death. Marlowe's plays are known for the use of blank verse and their overreaching protagonists. The fight in Romeo and Juliet among Mercutio, Tybalt and Romeo may have been based on that of Marlow, Bradley and Watson, and the character of Mercutio may be a portrait of Marlowe: impulsive, hot-tempered and passionate.
A warrant was issued for Marlowe's arrest on 18 May 1593. No reason was given for it, though it was thought to be connected to allegations of blasphem
First Published in the Sunday Express
Passionate Spy who Rivalled Shakespeare
Four hundred years after he was stabbed to death in Deptford, South London, Christopher Marlowe is still going strong. His plays are regularly performed. The Royal Shakespeare Company has had major successes with Dr Faustus, The Jew of Malta and Edward II. Antony Sher is to carry his acclaimed Tamburlaine to the RSC's Barbican Theatre. Derek Jarman's recent film of an alarmingly modern Edward II is already a classic.
And next Sunday (30 May 1993), the anniversary of Marlowe's death, I will unveil a memorial to him outside the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury, a gay actor saluting a possibly gay playwright.
For some, the personality of the man and his death are as fascinating as his plays and poems. On 30 May 1593, after a day of drinking with three friends, Marlowe was stabbed in the eye, with his own dagger. The magistrate recognized his killer's "self-defence" plea; but academics ever since have uncertain over that moment which closed the career of the most promising Elizabethan dramatist.
Shakespeare — exactly the same age as Marlowe —