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How Did Christopher Marlowe Change During The Renaissance Time

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Branden Gamble Mrs. Krabill ENG LIT CP 12 6 October 2014 Christopher Marlowe, a writer of the Renaissance time period, was baptized February 26, 1564, his birthday preceding William Shakespeares by just months. Marlowe’s writings were very similar to Shakespeare’s probably due to the fact that they both were born during the Renaissance time period. Marlowe’s writings went along with the major changes that were to come with the Renaissance time period. From the years of 1485 to 1625 there were two major movements, the Renaissance and the Reformation. Renaissance meaning “rebirth”, was sparked by innovations in science, art, exploration, and a rediscovery of classical works. On the other spectrum, the Reformation brought about a series of …show more content…

During the Renaissance and Reformation period, the people did not keep a very good birth record. Marlowe was baptized on February 26, 1564. He later attended the King’s School which granted him a scholarship to Cambridge where he got him Bachelors degree in Art in 1584. When he went on to get his Masters degree in art in 1587, Cambridge was hesitant to grant him the degree because they believed that he had converted to Roman Catholicism. The privy counsel then intervened, stating that he was working "on matters touching the benefit of his country," (Christopher). After he was out of college he then went to London to write for the stage. His first play “Dido, Queen of Carthage” was written sometime while he was attending Cambridge but wasn’t published until 1594 (Christopher). His next play “Tamburlaine” was one of the first plays to successfully use blank verse in a theatrical manner. This was considered the beginning of the mature phase of the Elizabethan theater (Christopher). He then only wrote four more plays that we well known, however those four plays laid the groundwork to four of Shakespeare’s most famous plays. On May 30th, 1593, Marlowe got into a brawl at a tavern of sorts over a “bill”. Many believe that this was simply a cover and that his death was actually an assassination on behalf of the country. (Christopher) Marlowe was a great writer during the Renaissance time period and he left a huge impact of the rest of the writing world. As mentioned before, although he did not write very many plays, the plays that Marlowe did write were very influential to Shakespeare. The play that I focused on, A Passionate Shepherd to His Love, is a prime example to this change in writing during this time

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