"Christopher Marlowe was born on the threshold of modern theater, before the words playwright and dramatist had entered the English language." David Riggs is interested not only in Marlowe and his work, but also the environment that produced and eventually killed him.

Although certainly William Shakespeare, who became well-known just a few years after Marlowe, is more famous, Marlowe's eight-year career produced the greatest English plays prior to Shakespeare's. Tamburlaine the Great, The Jew of Malta, and Dr. Faustus are still known and staged today.

The Elizabethan period was a complex and fascinating time. The class system was very much in place in England, but a few opportunities were available to the poor in Elizabeth's time. Marlowe benefited from those opportunities. His father was a shoemaker, not an exalted trade, and his son could probably not have advanced in the world without scholarship help.

Riggs' description of the challenges and restrictions a poor student faced is daunting. Even his "free time" was severely limited. Intellectual talent might be respected, but much more important and rewarded was an aristocratic birth. The wealthy could "get by" with almost anything, but young men like Marlowe had to be careful not to lose their place at school and university.

Riggs explains the powerful influence Greek and Latin writers and ideas had on the men of the Renaissance. His goal in writing this book, as the title states, is to give the reader a detailed picture of that world, as well as of Marlowe's life and work. Marlowe's development of iambic pentameter poetry came out of an atmosphere rich in oratory and poetry.

The political world was rife with intrigue and danger. Protestant Queen Elizabeth and her advisors were constantly worried about the dangers of a foreign Catholic uprising or invasion. "The mightiest Privy Councilors - Leicester, Burgley and Walsingham - all had their own private corps of informants." Marlowe became embroiled in some form of spying for the government.

Not a Catholic, Marlowe was probably an atheist, an equally dangerous viewpoint then in England and elsewhere. There are records of his encounters with the law, but his beliefs are surmised by his literary works and reports at the time, not always reliable. What we can know with certainty is how popular his plays were with the public. This was, of course, the time when the drama was flourishing, until the plague and politics began to shut down the London theaters.

Christopher Marlowe was murdered, in what was said to be a drunken brawl. He did indeed participate in gambling and drinking parties, but he also participated in shady work for the government. The experts do not agree about why he was killed, but the mystery continues to challenge the reader.

The World of Christopher Marlowe is available at the Mary Willis Library.