ABSTRACT
The usual explanation for Greene's attack on Marlowe in Perimedes is that since Alphonsus was an obvious failure on the stageso much so that Greene did not bother to write the second part promised in the epilogue-he turned against Marlowe and expressed his jealousy and frustration in mockery of the better play. Why he should have again imitated Marlowe at least three years after the attack in Perimedes has never, to my knowledge, been explained. I .believe that we must consider these two imitations together and in the light of the vituperation in Perimedes; when we do so, a consistent and meaningful pattern begins to emerge.
