LITERATURE SURVEY 1 SS 2016 METTINGER SHARTMANN

Christopher Marlowe
Tamburlaine the Great

Two Plays/Parts with 5 acts each with each part having a prologue
1587-88 (year of Elizabeths victory over Spanish Armada)
performed at the Rose theatre
Second part released later due to popularity and demand

Structure:
- Prologue (of the first part):
it informs us about Tamburlaine, his victories but also his racial origin - namely a
Sythian shepherd, so typically Marlowian = modest hero, not royal descent.
BUT surprisingly Tamburlaine personifies military and extraordinary linguistic
excellence.
We as audience are invited to view his picture in this tragic glass (theatre stage) and
then applaud his fortunes of his victories. The whole play functions as a mirror. We
follow him along his path from very humble origins.
After the prologue 5 clearly marked stages (in part 1)
-

Act 1: Content:
Mycetes, King of Persia sends Theridamas to kill Tamburlaine. Cosroe, the Kings
brother, wants to be king. Tamburlaine captures the Egyptian princess Zenocrate,
falls in love with her. Theridamas has an army twice as large as Tamburlaines but
he joins him and so does Cosroe, who hopes to overthrow his brother.
Tamburlaine comes in when Mycetes tries to hide his crown, but instead of taking
it at this moment, Tamburlaine waits until Mycetes is really defeated which does
happen. Later Tamburlaine also overthrows Crosroe.
Contrast: Tamburlaines greatness in comparison to Persian Kings. Like
Tamburlaine, Marlowe was very ambitious coming from simple background.

Act 3:
Tamburlaine conquers Turkey, whos king is Bazajeth

Act 4:
After defeating Bazajeth and capturing him, Zenocrates father (who is the sultan
of Egypt remember) vows to stop Tamburlaine with the help of the Arabian King.

Act 5:
Tamburlaine conquers Damascus where he condemns the virgins to death (who
were send to deceive him).

Critic: Marlowes structure in this play is not weak but also not really sophisticated. Each act
is a step in his conquest, each step is a victory. Not properly balanced! But then again, this is
exactly how Marlowe is seen he doesnt care for traditional conventions.

Part 1 shows Tamburlaines rise to power by bloodshed, brutality, ambition and

manipulation, reaches the summit of his success.

LITERATURE SURVEY 1 SS 2016 METTINGER SHARTMANN

Interestingly, Marlowe introduces the hero Tamburlaine not right at the beginning, but delayed
entrance (which is later also adapted by Shakespeare) which creates suspense!
Setting:
Abroad, more than one country. Exotic places. (Shakespeare does this as well)
Parallel: Reminder of the voyages of discovery, all the explorations of the visits to the New
World. Another example of a mirror in this play: in real life, people from the west were
travelling to the east in order to cultivate/enlighten them. In this play, however, Tamburlaine
comes from the east and travels west. reversing the direction suddenly makes Europe
strange. Wherever Tamburlaine goes he is racially different which is a continuous theme in
the play.
Parallel: Historical figures
Tamburlaine is associated with Caesar and Aeneas (founder of Rome).
Tamburlaines roles:
Public: From shepherd King Death
Private: Bachelor Husband Widower
Critics have read the play in comparison to the British expansion of territory. Situated the
play very much to the travel reports (Raleigh for instance). Some critics also see it as an
Armada play due to the year of publication. Marlowe makes frequent use of geographical
references/maps.
Greenblatts analysis briefly:
New historicist analysis: uses this co-text:
The fourth of November we went on shore to a town of the Negroes, which we found to be but lately
built: it was of about two hundred houses, and walled about with mighty great trees, and stakes so thick,
that a rat could hardly get in or out. But as it chanced, we came directly upon a port which was not shut
up, where we entered with such fierceness, that the people fled all out of the town, which we found to
be finely built after their fashion, and the streets of it so intricate that it was difficult for us to find the way
out that we came in at. We found their houses and streets so finely and cleanly kept that it was an
admiration to us all, for that neither in the houses nor streets was so much dust to be found as would fill
an egg shell. We found little in their houses, except some mats, gourds, and some earthen pots. Our
men at their departure set the town on fire, and it was burnt (for the most part of it) in a quarter of an
hour, the houses being covered with reed and straw.
(M. John Sarracoll in Richard Hakluyt, ed. The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques & Discoveries
of the English Nations, qtd. in Stephen Greenblatt, Renaissance Self-Fashioning, 193)

English merchants report of the burning of a negroes town, authentic expedition that
really took place.
Negroes portrayed as strange/unfamiliar
Unexplained (unbegrndet) fierceness/brutality, burning of the town, cruelty
NO REASON for the burning- it is completely neglected not mentioned at all! which is
similar to what Tamburlaine does.
Greenblatt argues that there are distinct parallels between real voyages and the fictional
expansion of Tamburlaines conquest.
Tamburlaine does not show mercy or gives a reason for his violence
Rejects any other form of authority (doesnt care whether a King or a Sultan), he thinks
that he is God himself.

LITERATURE SURVEY 1 SS 2016 METTINGER SHARTMANN

Rejects traditional geographical authority, in the sense that he even invents new places
that he can conquer.
BUT, Tamburlaine also shows a sensitive side when he talks about his wifes beauty. He
admires beauty. How is this compatible? Torn between those two sides.
he resembles the typical success of the individual that the Renaissance focuses so much
on. Becomes the master of the world.

Part 2
The most striking difference:
In the first part there is victory after victory/ second part nearly everything falling apart!

Each of the scenes are a variation of the scenes in Part 1 BUT we begin to feel the
decline of Tamburlaine!
This decline is announced in the prologue:
o Death cuts off the progress of his we know already that he will die BUT
we dont know how. (Similarity to Romeo & Juliets prologue?)

In Part 2, there is a strong static element

we rather LISTEN to reports, whereas in Part 1 they were staged. We dont really
know WHERE Tamburlaine even is because so much is only reported.
Feeling of tiredness within the hero, lose of control.

Victories are still won BUT this time by OTHERS, not so much by Tamburlaine.
Things begin to go wrong his beloved wifes death / information that one of his sons
is not like him, etc.
Critics: Structurally speaking Part 2 is a tragedy (in the conservative sense) fall of
the hero (after the initial rise) and ultimately the hero dies.

Marlowe: was primarily interested in the theme of HEROIC WILL.

Simple ordinary man, like Marlowe himself, becomes the master of the world simply
by force of character.

Again, like in Part 1, we can observe two sides of Tamburlaine:

1) Sensitive: he is really saddened by the death of his wife
2) Brutal: Burns the whole freaking town and even kills his sons who has no interest
in war/ burns the Quran, etc.

Image of sun/fire:
- destruction, similar to Tamburlaines character portrayed as the sun active
Image of moon:
- portrayed by his wife passive
Together they represent the principles of life
Tamburlaines parents are not really mentioned, which is striking because in the
Elizabethan era it seems that family and heritage is really important again we can
see that Marlowe regularly breaks with the conventions of his time (pioneer)