Christopher Marlowe: life of the week

Hello and welcome to Life of the Week, where leading historians delve into the lives of some of history's most intriguing and significant figures, from ancient Egyptian pharaohs and medieval warriors to daring 20th century spies. From his possible espionage work for the Elizabethan state, To his open flirtations with atheism and subversive sexual themes, the brief life of playwright Christopher Marlowe tells us much about the dark edges of 16th century England. In this episode, Stephen Greenblatt, John Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University, takes us behind the curtain of Marlowe's short but seismic career and the radical ideas that influenced his staggering rise, but which also made him a target, culminating in his death in Deptford under suspicious circumstances at the age of 29.

I'm really excited to get into Christopher Marlowe's life, and I think it's fair to say that listeners might already have a lot of preconceptions about him as a figure. They may have heard about his untimely death, his murder, they may have heard about him as a rival to William Shakespeare. this great playwright in his own right. Where would you like to begin with Christopher's story? I think we could begin, Eleanor, at the beginning.

This is someone born just about the same time Shakespeare was born, same year, 1564, a few months earlier, in Canterbury, from a very modest background. And that already is unusual. in the sixteenth century, to be able to get out of the world that he was born into is already a surprise. This is a life full of surprises, but the surprises begin with someone who was born to a shoemaker, cobbler, not particularly successful, not a native of Canterbury, but someone from a small town outside, that normally didn't actually produce anyone who went to school let alone became a great writer.

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