The Complete Plays

Christopher Marlowe was an exact contemporary of William Shakespeare, born in the very same year and employed in the very same craft--chiefly as a dramatist, but also as a poet. Marlowe, however, never attained the renown of his more famous counterpart, partly because he died in a bar fight at the age of 29, and partly because he simply wasn't as good. But then again, no playright has ever been as good as Shakespeare, so take that as you will.

Marlowe's limited dramatic catalogue includes seven plays: "Dido, Queen of Carthage," "Tamburlaine the Great Part I," "Tamburlaine the Great Part II," "Doctor Faustus," "The Jew of Malta," "Edward II," and "The Massacre at Paris," all of which are included in this book. Of all of his plays, the Tamburlaine plays and Doctor Faustus on the best, with the Jew of Malta being a close runner up. And while Marlowe may not consistently blow your mind like Shakespeare, there are a sufficient number of spots of brilliance to keep you hooked and reading. ( )

Tamburlaine and Dr. Faustus are unquestionably great; Jew of Malta, though not PC, is fascinatingly grotesque. The rest, to me, are adequate ( )

The play that rises above all his contemporaries is The Jew of Malta. Such exquisite bad taste. Unlike The Merchant of Venice, this is no easy acceptance of the mores of the time. Savage and bleak, Marlowe shows we are all as bad. But somehow this is cheering. A sort of Sam Beckett play but about morality instead of 'our condition'. ( )

A comprehensive collection of Marlowe’s plays. Marlowe is a brilliant playwrite, often overlooked by syllabusus in favour of Shakespeare. Well worth dipping into. ( )