ISSN (Online): 2455-3662 EPRA International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research (IJMR) - Peer Reviewed Journal Volume: 6 | Issue: 8 | August 2020 || Journal DOI: 10.36713/epra2013 || SJIF Impact Factor: 7.032 ||ISI Value: 1.188
THE IMAGE OF AMIR TIMUR AND THE IDEAS OF HUMANISM IN THE DRAMA OF CRISTOPHER MARLOWE “TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT”
Yakubov Muzaffar Kamildjanovich Research fellow Urgench State University, Uzbekistan
ANNOTATION It is known that the first information about Amir Timur reached Western Europe through Venetian and Genoese traders operating in the Black Sea ports. The first written information about Sahibkiran and his kingdom, and in particular his military potential, began to appear at the same time, during the lifetime of Amir Timur. The annihilation of the Ottoman Turks by Timur the Great troops in the Battle of Ankara intensified the interest in his personality in Western Europe. Among numerous works about Timur, here, we speak about one of them – Tamburlaine the Great by Christopher Marlowe. This article is devoted to the analysis of this work of the English poet and dramatist, his tragedy "Tamburlaine the Great"; the image of Timur the Great and ideas of humanism are investigated and given the points of the author and views of different other researchers. KEY WORDS: Tamburlaine, hero, tragedy, image, humanism, representative, ruler, power.
DISCUSSION They have mastered most of the features of The main theme of our scientific research is medieval theater, intended for a large audience; in – The personality of Amir Timur in English-speaking this theater the participation of many characters was literature. The given article is a review article, which natural, there was freedom of time and space, serious gives some kind of report about the second part of and funny events complemented each other in one our investigation being done (Yakubov, 2020) performance. Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) is one of It was during that period when Marlowe's the brightest representatives among other English first ten-act tragedy, Tamburlaine the Great, took the playwrights. English poet dramatist and translator, stage. Before starting his career as a playwright, it is one of the greatest writers who created before said that Marlowe was an actor, but was forced to Shakespeare. Studying the biographies of known give up acting because of a broken leg. The first part representatives of that period, we came into of this tragedy may have been written by Marlowe, at conclusion, that, there is no tragic figure like that time, when he was studying at the University of Marlowe, among his contemporaries, who gave the Cambridge. "Tamburlaine the Great" which caused a world such great legends about Timur and Faust, and great sensation and continued success, gave Marlowe became a legend himself after his death. the highest place among contemporary English Born on February 26, 1564, in Canterbury, playwrights. Marlowe received his first education in Canterbury The power of Tamburlaine to influence his and at the age of 16 entered the University of contemporaries and, above all, the audience - the Cambridge. After graduating from university in 1583, power of the dream - to achieve a fairy-tale he got a bachelor's degree and moved to London, greatness, in which only confidence in destiny and where he began his literary career. At that time, he hatred of worldly and heavenly geniuses. became a member of the "University wits" circle, as Various books have been written about well as other poets, such as J. Lyly, T. Nashe, R. Marlowe’s life and work and scientific researches Greene, T. Lodge. It was these playwrights known as have been done on attitudes and views. But, anyway, the "university wits," who had a profound influence we want to give our and other scientist’comments, on the development of 16th-century English theater. thoughts and information on the given title.
2020 EPRA IJMR | www.eprajournals.com | Journal DOI URL: https://doi.org/10.36713/epra2013 486 ISSN (Online): 2455-3662 EPRA International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research (IJMR) - Peer Reviewed Journal Volume: 6 | Issue: 8 | August 2020 || Journal DOI: 10.36713/epra2013 || SJIF Impact Factor: 7.032 ||ISI Value: 1.188
“Marlowe “ the first great dramatist,” who “Christopher Marlowe can be considered a had “no precedents… to follow as a professional figure of Renaissance for having provided works playwright”. In this sense, Marlowe opened up a new with the simple and artistic use of the English way for the development of English drama ” says language... In the Middle Ages, the English language Hilton Della (Hilton, 1997). was not a medium for the literary field, and works In the drama prologue, the author’s intention were produced in Latin; however, as many people to introduce new styles into the art of drama is became literate in Renaissance, works began to be evident, i.e. to draw the viewer’s attention to the produced in English which made it possible for the details of historical events, scenes of the devastation average reader to understand and enjoy a book. of kingdoms and peoples. Marlowe also wrote his poems and plays in English. William Long Della (William, 2003) also Hilton mentions that, “English-speaking theatre … confirms our opinion in his book on English and began with Marlowe”. American literature, saying that: Marlowe's heroes evoke both fear and pride "He appeared in London sometime before at the same time. Christopher not only opposes the 1587, when his first drama Tamburlaine took the city medieval people's habit of obeying the laws of nature by storm." to their principles of reasoning, but he argues that Marlowe made great changes in English religion is a tool of this policy, invented by the drama, abandoning scenes of previously popular monks to exploit the common people. bloody battles, clowns and crude jokes, trying to Marlowe died on May 30, 1593, at the age form a sequence of events and a holistic of 29, from murder. The author wrote a number of psychological direction in the drama. It is in the tragedies, including: "Dido, Queen of Carthage" prologue, that Marlowe hints at the abandonment of (approximately 1583), "Tamburlaine the Great" traditional clown scenes and the creation of a new (1587-1588), "Doctor Faustus"(1588-1589),“ The genre of great tragedy: Jew of Malta” (1589), “ Edward II ”(1592),“ The From jigging veins of rhyming mother-wits, Massacre at Paris ”(1593) and the poems “The And such conceits as clownage keeps in pay, Passionate Shepherd to His Love” (1590) and “Hero lead you to the stately tent of war, and Leander” (1593). The genre of “mighty tragedy” Where you shall hear the Scythian that Marlowe had just begun and founded did not Tamburlaine (Marlowe, 1980). disappear after his death, but was continued by the A similar view is put forward by Fletcher: greatest of the playwrights - Shakespeare. “The Prolog to 'Tamburlaine' makes Continuing this idea, we quote the views pretentious announcement that the author will discard expressed in the doctoral dissertation of the Russian the usual buffoonery of the popular stage and will set scientist A. Parfyonov: a new standard of tragic majesty” (Fletcher, 2002). “Being at the same age as Shakespeare, Abandoning the poetic form of drama, Marlowe before him acted as a playwright; he was Marlowe introduced the style of “ blank verse”. the first to introduce humanistic ideological and Literary critic William Long also says that he puts an aesthetic concepts into plays intended for end to the meaningless forms of verses (William, performance in a public theater, created the type of 2003): titan hero and developed the poetic side of the "For the doggerel is substituted blank verse," English tragedy (all this was learned by Shakespeare Marlowe's mighty line "as it has ever been called, and other playwrights of the late 16th- and early 17th since he was the first to use it with power;" century). ... The injustice of the world in relation to a Robert Fletcher says :"The distinction gifted person, the injustice of a situation when wealth between the two sorts of drama was still further and power are in the hands of unworthy ones, is a broken down in the work of Christopher Marlowe, a constant theme of Marlowe’s tragedies, especially poet of real genius, decidedly the chief dramatist sharply sounded in the play that brought him fame, in among Shakspere's early contemporaries, and the one Tamburlaine the Great (Parfenov, 1964).” from whom Shakspere learned the most (Fletcher, In the tragedy Sahibkiran, according to the 2002)." needs of the English humanistic literature of the XVI Here we find it necessary to dwell on century, is described as a symbol of the dreams and another aspect of Christopher Marlowe, that is also hopes of the Renaissance. very important. In the Middle Ages, Latin was used Many works about Timur appeared in the in the field of literature for the most part, not English. XV-XVI centuries, not only because of the victory And Christopher Marlowe was one of the first to over the Turks, but also because Timur in the write his work in English. Literary scholar Ayshe imagination of Europeans corresponded to the Piril's thesis also commented on this (Eryilmaz, favorite ideals of the Renaissance. The main idea of 2007): the Renaissance period is that human value is in his actions and "courage", not in his lineage or in his
2020 EPRA IJMR | www.eprajournals.com | Journal DOI URL: https://doi.org/10.36713/epra2013 487 ISSN (Online): 2455-3662 EPRA International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research (IJMR) - Peer Reviewed Journal Volume: 6 | Issue: 8 | August 2020 || Journal DOI: 10.36713/epra2013 || SJIF Impact Factor: 7.032 ||ISI Value: 1.188
wealth. Until the 16th century, it was widely believed According to Ribner, Timur as a man of that Timur came from a poor family with no destiny ascended to the top, with his unique ability to genealogy (shepherd or ordinary soldier, farmer, conquer the wheel of fortune and eventually build ordinary worker), and that the reason for the results great empires: he achieved was himself. A great general, a founder “Tamburlaine is exalted as the man of of a great empire and a statesman who never lost a destiny, the conqueror who, by his own unique battle, dies when he reaches the peak of his fame, abilities, can master fortune long enough to ... create which served as a clear reason to show that man has empires” (Irving, 2007). unlimited potential. Continuing his thought, Ribner says that the The legend of Amir Timur is reflected in hero in history is a person who can control this happy Marlowe's play "Tamburlaine the Great" as a vivid destiny and submit his desires to it. This hero is depiction of the Renaissance. It should not be Timur, who is always victorious: forgotten that this play is not a single work. In this “Moreover, “the hero of history is he who two-part and ten-act drama, the experiences of the can master Fortune and bend her to his will” (p. 355). English poet and the legend of Amir Timur are This “hero” is Tamburlaine, who is always allowed presented in a holistic way. to succeed ...” In his skillfully structured speech, Timur Timur's personality, his character is based on says that he has a great and cosmic position: Jupiter, a strong will. Note that although there are several who drove his father from the throne of heaven, the battle scenes in the drama, no battle scenes are laws of nature and psyche are cited as the main depicted, but only with the magical effect of Timur's reasons: will, it was as if a magical light was radiating from Nature, that fram'd us of four elements him. A clear example of this is his first battle, in Warring within our breasts for regiment, which Timur wins without shedding a drop of blood, Doth teach us all to have aspiring minds: with his magic power of persuasion: Our souls, whose faculties can comprehend In thee, thou valiant man of Persia, The wondrous architecture of the world, I see the folly of thy emperor. And measure every wandering planet's Art thou but captain of a thousand horse, course, That by characters graven in thy brows, Still climbing after knowledge infinite, And by thy martial face and stout aspect, And always moving as the restless spheres, Deserv'st to have the leading of an host? Will us to wear ourselves, and never rest, Forsake thy king, and do but join with me, Until we reach the ripest fruit of all, And we will triumph over all the world: That perfect bliss and sole felicity, I hold the Fates bound fast in iron chains, The sweet fruition of an earthly crown. And with my hand turn Fortune's wheel (Christopher Marlowe. Two Tragedies. Moscow. about; 1980. P.27. the next examples from this source ). And sooner shall the sun fall from his sphere Ahmad Shirkhani, a researcher of Shiraz Than Tamburlaine be slain or overcome. University, says (Shirkhani, 2002) the main style is Draw forth thy sword, thou mighty man-at- that the protagonist pursues supernatural goals that arms, are strange to humanity. They say that titanium Intending but to raze my charmed skin, individuals struggle with incomparable desires with And Jove himself will stretch his hand from every event of life: heaven “The principal pattern in Marlowe’s plays is To ward the blow, and shield me safe from the gigantic lust of the central character for harm. something strange and alien to the human experience. See, how he rains down heaps of gold in They are “towering figures who insatiably desire to showers, wrestle with every experience.” As if he meant to give my soldiers pay! Khosrow says with amazement: And, as a sure and grounded argument The strangest man that ever nature made! (P. That I shall be the monarch of the East, 27) He sends this Soldan's daughter rich and Hinting that a world has never seen such people. brave, There is nothing supernatural in Timur's To be my queen and portly emperess words. His arguments reflected the ideas of the The genealogy of the hero is clear from the intellectuals of the Renaissance, that is, the idea of name of the drama: “Tamburlaine the Great. Who, "courage" and the great chain of Being. Timur from Scythian Shepheard, by his rare and wonderfull expresses his "aspiration" to the power of the king on Conquestes, became a moft puissant and mightie the basis of the organic unity of man, society and Mornarch …” Timur says about himself: nature. I am a lord, for so my deeds shall prove;
2020 EPRA IJMR | www.eprajournals.com | Journal DOI URL: https://doi.org/10.36713/epra2013 488 ISSN (Online): 2455-3662 EPRA International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research (IJMR) - Peer Reviewed Journal Volume: 6 | Issue: 8 | August 2020 || Journal DOI: 10.36713/epra2013 || SJIF Impact Factor: 7.032 ||ISI Value: 1.188
And yet a shepherd by my parentage (P. 10). cannot, certainly, be inappropriate (Battenhouse, The hero himself is proud not only of the 1941).” courage of the shepherd's son, but also of his In the person of Amir Timur, Marlo companions Techelles and Usumcasane : represents the legendary man of the Renaissance and ... these that seem but silly country acts in accordance with European traditions - swains Sahibkiran is seen as a symbol of humanistic ideas. May have the leading of so great an host In the artistic structure of the drama, the medieval As with their weight shall make the landscape is clearly visible. The playwright portrays mountains quake, (P.11) the protagonist as a hero. Timur’s appearance is Why does Marlowe place so much emphasis described on the basis of humanistic ideas - on the fact that Timur with his companions and according to humanistic theory, the perfection of the soldiers are of shepherd descent? In addition to being human body should reflect the beauty of the earth - dependent on Renaissance ideas, there is another His power and splendor are reminiscent of the Greek reason why, it is the struggle against social injustice hero Achilles; even his hair is golden curly: i.e. the hero’s revenge on society because this society Of stature tall, and straightly fashioned, hates their estate and poverty. At the end of the first Like his desire, lift upwards and divine; part, Temur says with pleasure: So large of limbs, his joints so strongly knit, Emperors and kings lie breathless at my feet; Such breadth of shoulders as might mainly (P.62). bear These words show both the joy of victory of Old Atlas' burden; 'twixt his manly pitch, the free titanic person and the wrath of the Creator A pearl more worth than all the world is and the idea of revenge against the pagan kingdoms. plac'd, Marlowe says that human value is Wherein by curious sovereignty of art determined not by his origin, but by his Are fix'd his piercing instruments of sight, actions: Tamburlaine: Whose fiery circles bear encompassed For virtue is the fount whence honour A heaven of heavenly bodies in their springs, spheres, And they are worthy she investeth kings. That guides his steps and actions to the Those around him know that Timur is from throne the lower class and determine his inner and outer Where honour sits invested royally; glory: Pale of complexion, wrought in him with A Scythian shepherd so embellished passion, With nature's pride and richest Thirsting with sovereignty and love of arms; furniture! ( P. 13) His lofty brows in folds do figure death, “... for thought the pastoral mode was one of the And in their smoothness amity and life; great literary conventions of the Renaissance, About them hangs a knot of amber hair, Tamburlaine is here choosing, just as every writer Wrapped in curls, as fierce Achilles' was, and every man had to choose, between this version of On which the breath of heaven delights to the good life and another which was equally play, important to Renaissance humanism: the heroic. ” Making it dance with wanton majesty; says Harper, the image of a shepherd, a great literary His arms and fingers long and sinewy, discovery of the Renaissance, and here Timur was Betokening valour and excess of strength;-- chosen to demonstrate this interpretation (Marlowe, In every part proportion'd like the man 1971). Should make the world subdu'd to It means that it is natural for Amir Timur to Tamburlaine. be recognized as a real hero and to be rightfully (P 16-17). worthy of the ideas, views and demands of the Timur is not deprived of the feature of glory humanists and to appear in literature as an artistic in the playwright's image. Marlowe adorns him with figure. the qualities of a handsome, intelligent, genuinely Commenting on Marlowe's work, especially loving, loyal friend. In his thirst for power, Timur on the tragedy of Tamburlaine the Great, Battenhouse sees a spark of divine fire, just like Jupiter, who argues that the depiction of the lives and activities of overthrew his father Saturn. Timur's lofty monologue great figures should be valued in the same way as seems to have come from the mouth of the Michelangelo's art: propagandist of Awakening humanism about the “Since Marlowe’s art in its attention to infinite possibilities of man. Even if he is an ordinary colossal figures bears obvious likeness to shepherd, he will reach unparalleled heights, and no Michelangelo’s, a somewhat similar approach one can beat him. It is not difficult to imagine how impressed this drama the common people, who made
2020 EPRA IJMR | www.eprajournals.com | Journal DOI URL: https://doi.org/10.36713/epra2013 489 ISSN (Online): 2455-3662 EPRA International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research (IJMR) - Peer Reviewed Journal Volume: 6 | Issue: 8 | August 2020 || Journal DOI: 10.36713/epra2013 || SJIF Impact Factor: 7.032 ||ISI Value: 1.188
up the majority of the theatrical spectators, the 3. William J. Long. (2003) Outlines of English and laughter of the nobles who knew Timur's inferiority, American Literature. The Elizabethan Age. pp.55. and the resulting scenes of Timur's victory over the 4. Christopher Marlowe.(1980) Two tragedies. nobility. Timur fully believes that man's courage is Moscow. Vyssaja Skola. pp. 5. the source of his original nobility. 5. Robert Huntington Fletcher (2002). A History of English Literature.pp. 56. Kings of Argier, Morocco, and of Fez, 6. Ayse Piril Eryilmaz. (2007) Features of You that have march'd with happy Renaissance individualism and references to Tamburlaine Machiavellian politics in Christopher Marlowe’s As far as from the frozen plage of heaven The Jew of Malta, The Tragical History of doctor Unto the watery Morning's ruddy bower, Faustus and Tamburlaine the Great. And thence by land unto the torrid zone, Thesis.METU. pp.74. Deserve these titles I endow you with 7. Parfenov A.T. Christopher Marlowe. M., (1964). By valour and by magnanimity. Younger contemporaries of Shakespeare. Your births shall be no blemish to your 8. Ahmad Shirkhani (2002). Colonialist discourse in fame; Marlowe’s Tamburlaine and the Jew Malta.Thesis. Shiraz University, Shiraz, For virtue is the fount whence honour Iran.pp.1. springs, 9. Ribner, Irving. (2007) “Marlowe and And they are worthy she investeth kings. Machiavelli.” Comparative Literature 6.4. (P.50). (1954): pp.348-356.
REFERENCES 1. Yakubov M. (2020) Substantiation report on the scientific research “The personality of Amir Timur in English-speaking literature” // Dynamics of the development of world science. Abstracts of the 9th International scientific and practical conference. Perfect Publishing. Vancouver, Canada. pp. 247-251. URL: http://sci-conf.com.ua. 2. Hilton. D. (1997) Second Unto None Marlowe and Early Drama. USA:Durham Academic Press, pp18.
2020 EPRA IJMR | www.eprajournals.com | Journal DOI URL: https://doi.org/10.36713/epra2013 490