Christopher+Marlowe,+Raleigh

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=Christopher Marlowe=

Christopher Marlowe was born in on February 6th, 1564, in Canterbury and was then baptized on February 26 of the same year. He showed talent for writing at an early age, and because of this he was given a scholarship to study at the prestigious King's School. Here, Marlowe would undergo grueling 12 hour school days in which he would learn about music, religion, Latin, and Greek. At the age of sixteen, Marlowe received another scholarship to study at the Corpus Christi College in Cambridge by demonstrating his mastery of Latin by composing a verse and reading plain-song on site.

While attending Corpus Christi, Marlowe put all of his time into translating Latin literature in English verse. This helped him to hone his poetic skills and his first year at the university he wrote what is now believed to be his first play (now lost). The play was //The True History of George Scanderberg//. The tale was based on the life of Prince Castrioto of Albania. After his schooling was complete, Marlowe was recruited by Sir Francis Walsingham to serve as a secret-service agent. His main job as an agent was to discover and protect the Queen of England from any assassination attempts which were constantly made by the Protesants who disliked the Catholic Queen. While working in this position, Marlowe began some of the first serious writing of his career. This included his play //The Massacre in Paris,// which reflected on the turmoil in Paris at the time.

After working as an agent, Marlowe became more concerned with his ideas and writings. Marlowe entered "The School of Night," an underground club started by Henry Percy, the Earl of Northumberland, in which intellectuals of the time would come and discuss their ideas, some of which were illegal to speak of at the time. During this period, Marlowe began writing the bulk of the material of his career. This included his three most famous works; //Edward II//, //The Jew of Malta// and //Dr. Faustus//. These works are often considered as highly influentiall to other playwrights of the era, epsecailly Shakespeare, who was greatly inspired by //Edward II// when writing //Henry V//.

During the last year and a half of his life, Marlowe experienced a great amount trouble. He was thrown into prison in 1593 for his aethist beliefs, and when he was released he was often hassled by the public because of this. A year later, Marlowe found himself amidst a savage bar fight in which he met his demise. Although the exact cause of death is unknown, most people believe Marlowe was stabbed to death by an intoxicated bar patron.


 * Christopher Marlowe was born in 1564, and died in 1593. He was called the father of English tragedy and the creator of dramatic blank verse. Him and his father lived in Canterbury and his father was a shoemaker there. He attended Cambridge as an Archbishop's scholar, but went on to Benet (Corpus Christi) College to get his B.A. degree and then his M.A. degree. Marlowe and Raleigh were personal friends..

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Here is a list of his works: http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/marlobib.htm

Below is a link to //Massacre at Paris//: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1496/1496-h/1496-h.htm