A potted and hopefully interesting biography of Marly Marly Marlowe (and fingers crossed not TOO informal, although it is fairly informal)

The Christopher Marlowe we are interested in is an English Dramatist, (not to be confused with the American sportcaster 'Chris Marlowe'. He is nowhere near as interesting or culturally/literarily? is that a word? exciting as our Marlowe). As Mr.Francis said to put links to other websites, I shall include a link to the wikipedia biography of Chris Marlowe, just for the curious folk and indeed the folk who should not be doing English Literature if you are more interested in him than our Marlowe. Here's the link nonetheless:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Marlowe

Anyway, back to our main man - Christopher Marlowe was baptised on the 26 February 1564 and died on the 30 May 1593 at the ripe old age of 29. He was an English Dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era, (i.e. a very long time ago and around the same time of our fave man Billy Shakespeare).

Alongside Willy himself, Marlowe was a famous Elizabethan tragedian and his work was actually much more popular than Shakespeare's at the time. The three things  Marlowe was most famously known for were: 1. his blank verse, 2. his overreaching protagonists, and 3. his mysterious death.

Other than the formalities of his age of death and job rahrahrah, Marlowe's biography should really focus on the other aspects of his person and life that makes him so interestingly unique.

Atheism - Marlowe was reputed to be an atheist, which, at that time, made him an 'enemy of God' and really made him a bit of a rebel, a bit of a 'queer'. (Though we'll come to that later.) However, Marlowe was also, supposedly, a government spy, and his atheism may just have been a cover up or something to aid his investigations. Everything we assume as 'true' about Marlowe can always be questioned by the fact that he was a government spy, and thus nothing we assume about him can ever be proven as fact, (apart from his birth, death and main job ofc. although writing the odd play and poem may not have been his only job, cheeky).

Sexuality - Marlowe is sometimes seen today as a homosexual, a bit like Willy Shakespeare, maybe they had a thing? Sorry this biography is getting much too informal now. There are hints of it in his work, "in his looks were all that men desire", and an interesting quote, "All they that love not Tobacco and Boys are fools". However the quote may not be reliable and, due to his untimely death and the suspicious circumstances surrounding it, it may just have been made up/a rumour after he died. More on Marlowe's sexuality: http://www.duke.edu/web/emt/student_projects/steinberger/marlowe.html

His death - There are various accounts of Marlowe's death, which makes it very confusing and indeed very suspicious. Some say he was "stabbed to death by a bawdy serving-man, a rival of his in his lewd love" as "punishment for his atheism". And some say that he was killed in a drunken fight. Or, it may have been connected to the state secret service and his job as a government spy, and there was an argument over 'The Reckoning' bill, in which Marlowe was stabbed above the right eye, killing him instantly. Whatever happened, Marlowe died in suspicious and highly abnormal circumstances, and at such a young age! Such a waste! CONSPIRACY THEORIES IN MORE DETAIL OOOH LALA: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A2577206

Aaaaand we will be studying one of his fab creations, 'Faustus'.

P.s. I must apologise that I can't get the pictures I have onto the blog for some reason which is highly disappointing and upsetting. I will try again later, not sure if it's my computer or my technical incompetence?