Christopher Marlowe

You are going to embark on an adventure. During this adventure, you will discover
about Christopher Marlowe and the mysteries that are still attached to his name today.
ANYWHERE ON THE INTERNET
Always cross-
check your answers
- England’s sovereign between 1555-1603: ____________________________
and make sure that
- your sources are
Christopher Marlowe’s date of birth: ________________________________________________________
reliable.
- 26 February 1564 to him: ________________________________________________________

- Born April 23, 1564 - Baptised 26 April 1564 in Stratford-Upon-Avon: _______________________________________

- Christopher Marlowe’s nickname: ______________________________________________________________

- Place of Birth: __________________________________________________________________________

- Father’s job: ___________________________________________________________________________

- December 1580: _________________________________________________________________________

- Role of Archbishop Parker in his studies: ___________________________________________________________

- Matthew Parker’s theological thought: __________________________________________________________

- 1584: _______________________________________________________________________________
 British library, Andrew Dickson, 2017 Royal Shakespeare Company
Christopher WHO WAS CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE?
Marlowe: The man, the Spy? Brawler? Or heretic? As with other playwrights of the
myth and the mighty Elizabethan period, little is known about Christopher
line Marlowe, leading to much speculation about his life and
character.

First things first: The Guardian.com, Dalya Alberge, 2016

check that these
sources are reliable! Christopher Marlowe credited as
one of Shakespeare’s co-writers
- 1587: _____________________________
- Way he graduated anyhow: _________________________________________________________________
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- A secret agent: _________________________________________________________________________
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_________________________________________________________________________________________
- It’s also been suggested that he spent time infiltrating ___________ circles in __________ (more on this letter – plots
against Queen)
- Circa 1587: ___________________________________________________________________________
- Critics on the play: _______________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________

“In the theatre, the sheer force of this brawny blank verse, with its driving pentameter rhythm ('from jig-ging vei-ns of rhy-
ming moth-er wits’), must have left audiences’ ears ringing.”

blank verse: ______________________________________________________________________________

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iambic pentameter: __________________________________________________________________________

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iambic pentameter is the most common meter in English poetry.

- Marlowe’s early 20’s: ____________________________________________________________________

- Circa 1589: ___________________________________________________________________________
- 1592: _______________________________________________________________________________
- The Jew of Malta: - critics: _________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________
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 - Edward II - critics: ______________________________________________________________________
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- According to Andrew Dickson, both plays show Marlowe’s ______________________________________________
- 1588-1593: ______________________________________- 1592-93:______________________________
- 1593: _______________________________________________________________________________
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_________________________________________________________________________________________
- Sunday 20 May 1593: ____________________________________________________________________
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- May 1593: when arrested, Richard Baines, a double agent, had already claimed that Marlowe was an atheist and later accused
the playwright of having “poured scorn on the existence of God.”. As a consequence, ______________________________
- 30 May 1593: _________________________________________________________________________
There are a few theories about his death:
§ He was allegedly assassinated by ___________________, another government secret agent;
§ _____________________ had ordered his death;
§ He had a meeting with three commissioned __________ who had been paid to ________________;
§ He was a killed by a ________________;
§ He faked his death and fled the country, Later writing plays under the pseudonym ‘______________________________.’
- Was Christopher Marlowe William Shakespeare after all? _____________________________________________
- What is the Marlowe Myth? ________________________________________________________________
- What is he credited with now? _______________________________________________________________
- When did scholars start suspecting Marlowe’s contribution? ____________________________________________
- Since 1986, it has been made clear that William Shakespeare did a great amount of __________________________ work.

The findings shed _____________ on the supposed _____________ between Marlowe and Shakespeare […] “We can now be
confident that they didn’t just _____________ each other, but they worked with each other. Rivals sometimes _____________.”
[…] The researchers believe that computerised textual analysis is now so sophisticated that they can even distinguish between Shakespeare
_____________ under Marlowe’s influence and Marlowe writing alone. […]
In 1925, the scholar Leslie Hotson published the coroner’s _____________ in his book The Death of Christopher Marlowe. Witnesses
testified that he was stabbed in the eye during a fight over payment of a bill and died instantly. The document did not end ____________,
with some supporting the theory that Marlowe faked his death and continued to write as Shakespeare.