

|
Loading... The Complete Playsby Christopher Marlowe
None. 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. no reviews | add a review
Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0140430377, Paperback)Blasphemy, perversion, defiance and transgression...in a series of compelling tragedies, Marlowe challenged every authority of heaven and earth. From the proud wrath of Tamburlaine, the tyrant of Asia, to the racked anguish of Edward II, himself in thrall to unspeakable desires; from God's own Machiavel, the Duke of Guise, to Barabas, the Jew of Malta, curse of Christianity: all are taboo-breakers, to be broken in their turn. And in the tragedy of Doctor Faustus we perhaps read Marlowe's own: a tale of brilliance and audacity - and of terrible, inexorable punishment.(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 03 Jan 2013 17:22:26 -0500) "Christopher Marlowe - a possible spy with a reputation for atheism who was murdered in mysterious circumstances - courted danger throughout his life. A sense of the dark forces operating in social and political relationships underlies his work. In Dr. Faustus, a man of great intellect and even greater ambition craves knowledge, and is prepared to sell his soul to the Devil to achieve it. Tamburlaine attempts to satisfy his desire for greatness through his domination over an ever-growing empire, while Edward II upsets the delicate balance of power in the land and plants the seed of his own murder. All the plays here show Marlowe's fascination with the tension between weak and strong, sacred and profane."--BOOK JACKET.… (more) |
Google Books — Loading...Popular coversRatingAverage: (4.04)
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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. (