ABSTRACT
Marlowe's work announced the recasting of medieval representation in the structures of the commercial theatre and anticipated many of the changes that would follow. The commercial theatres recast representation into structurally closed and standardized units, requiring innovation as their market became saturated. Marlowe's plays anticipated many later developments, transitioning from the relatively “epic” and episodic structure of Tamburlaine and Dr Faustus to plays such as The Jew of Malta that began to articulate notions of plot and causal action. The emergence of such “Machiavellian” characters as Mortimer Jr, Barabas and Ithamore began to explicitly define causally linked sequences and prefigured later developments. Their development of plot anticipated the progression towards New Comedy and the scheming servants of Jonson's great plays and the eventual eclipse of tragedy lamented by Nietzsche.
