ABSTRACT
Christopher Marlowe holds a most important place in English literature through his brilliant poetic gift and also as Shakespeare’s exact contemporary (born in 1564) and his forerunner in the creation of poetic drama. He died a violent death, stabbed under curious circumstances, in 1593, a time when Shakespeare was beginning to emerge in his full stature. No study of Shakespeare can begin without some reference to Marlowe, the predecessor, and his mighty line. Hence the literature on Marlowe is enormous.
