Tamburlaine the Great of Marlowe As the Hero of Machiavelli

Vol.7(3), pp. 35-43, March 2016 DOI: 10.5897/IJEL2015.0785 Article Number: 01C75D157322 International Journal of English and ISSN 2141-2626 Copyright © 2016 Literature Author(s) retain the copyright of this article http://www.academicjournals.org/IJEL Full Length Research Paper Tamburlaine The Great of Marlowe as the hero of Machiavelli Mubasher Mehdi Government Emerson College, 20-Green Lane Anees Lodge, Jinnah Chowk, Zakariya Town, Bosan Road Multan, Multan-Pakistan. Received 16 April, 2014; Accepted 28 August, 2015 The subject of the tragic plays may be extremely tragic, like Trojan War, and other wars fought by people like Alexander and Tamburlaine but they have a moral purpose as well. There are certain tragedies which are centered around a single character like Faustus, and other have many characters like hamlet. One of the the purpose of writing these dramas is to gain monetary benefits. But the people who wrote about sufferings have untied themselves in these dramas as well and have also given at certain places their autobiographical note. Some dramatists have propagated their ideologies in these dramas and some have restricted themselves to social phenomena. Those who have discussed their ideologies, and that also against the norms and values of society, have become the subject of controversial debate like Marlowe. The work of a man reveals himself especially in arts; therefore people somehow try to find out those things manifested in his work compulsorily. In certain cased it is true as in case of Marlowe and his Tamburlaine. The climax in a play or a drama arises from intense conflict and if conflict is of gigantic nature, it is true of Tamburlaine. The warriors, and wars have been the issues in literature for centuries, but their relevance is still presence as we are in this globe, today facing a worst war. Key words: Catharsis, renaissance, war. INTRODUCTION Marlowe was one of the most controversial figures of his 1995; p.viii). The editors further point out “These and times. The Oxford Classics of Marlowe‟s plays opens with other testimonials need to be discounted for their these remarks of its editors, “Robert Greene a playwright, exaggeration and for their having been produced under thus speaks about him: of daring God out of heaven with legal circumstances we would regard as a witch-hunt”. that atheist Tamburlaine, and later repents the folly of (Marlowe et al., 1995, p. ix) having said in heart, like a certain “famous grocer of With this background in his contemporary world, tragedians” (that is, Marlowe) that “There is no God‟ [A Marlowe persuasively wrote four plays. “Tamburlaine The Groatsworth of Wit (1592)]. (Bevington and Rasmussen, Great” brought him immediate fame in 1587-88. The E-mail: [email protected]. Authors agree that this article remain permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License 36 Int. J. English Lit. Tamburlaine was written in two parts. It could be said that “Christopher Marlowe the playwright achieves quite fervor of Renaissance had compelled Marlowe to write different effects from Christopher Marlowe the poet. The such plays. In Elizabethan England, stage drama playwright explores ambition and power, but the poet is a prevailed not only to gain fame, but also to describe the younger man creating or translating a world of balance courtly manners. The dramatic performance of and proportion. The poems lack the exaggeration of Tamburlaine was done by Lord Admiral‟s Men. The language and action, the grandiloquence of the „mighty brilliance of Renaissance; as asserted in the realm of line‟”. (Michael, 1979, p. 113) Puttenham dispraised knowledge in many ways, to revive learning; people like Marlowe‟s hyperbolic dramatic style; the over reacher, Marlowe wrote not only to show their excellence in the otherwise called the loud liar; (Michael, 1979, p. 113) and field of literature, but also to bring forth in light the Nashe commented on the specioius volubility of a exuberance of thought, definitely attached with drumming decasillabon. And the poet further says, “the Renaissance. poems are not implicated in these strictures. They neither Marlowe has been called an over-reacher and truly all over reach nor drum. They are not voluble nor specious his plays have lofty themes. From Tamburlaine and but economical of language and serious in content even Faustus to Edward II, he has depicted the fall of over when the tone is light – hearted”. (Michael, 1979, p. 113). reacher. This is the sign of his tragical history and along In our daily life, even against an ordinary man if a with the tragical history of his dramatic heroes. All his controversy is fabricated that spreads throughout his life characters are cruel and skeptic like him, and also they and after his death but the person who has become part highlight his free thinking liberal attitude. of history in a controversial manner, he is despised Citing his this tendency Bevington writes in introduction somehow or the other by the successive generations. to his plays in Compendium of Oxford like this, “still, there There is a greater need to unveil that controversy that it can be little doubt that Marlowe explored and even should be evaluated from all sides. The historical person reveled in the intellectual skepticism articulated by the in question must not be hated on frivolous accounts and mathematician and astronomer Thomas Harriot, by speculations. It is true, contemporaries of an author; Giordano Bruno (who visited England in (1583-5), and by admit his contribution to his field of knowledge very others whom the age generally regarded as free thinkers assiduously. And it is very strange phenomenon, that the and atheists. No one at any rate seems to have doubted poets and writers of an age use satirical remarks on each that Marlowe was what Kyd had called him, “irreligious”, other, play puns and go so far as Thomas Kyd went to and “intemperate” and of a cruel heart. The reputation is pronounce blasphemy against Marlowe which led to his a reality, even if we cannot be certain of the exact degree murder. Every poet or a writer has a specific ideology and of Marlowe‟s non conformity”. (Bevington and Rasmussen that must be respected, but in case of Marlowe, as (ed), 1995, p. ix) Church directed and influenced the Queen Elizabeth and This makes clear about the personality of Marlowe and Elizabethan England, so Marlowe had to suffer. It is a selection of his themes. The Tamburlaine is solely question whether Pope Gregory is cited in history, reflection of what has been called “intemperate” and “cruel respectfully, or Marlowe is considered as one of the finest hearted”. men of Renaissance. History has given its verdict that As Marlowe‟s life ended in a tragic incident of a street Marlowe despite being accursed by the Pope is still alive brawl, his Tamburlaine, his Faustus, are captivated with and could be seen peeping through the lines of this kind of tragical episodes. Tamburlaine, Faustus and Jew of Malta. Professor Emile Legouis (Parisian) no less admirer of Writing about his poetic brilliance i.e. of Marlowe, Kyd, writes about Tamburlaine of Marlowe in a way, that Michael Schmidt briefly points out his biographical sketch the spirit of defiance and revolt are its basic themes. as follows: Marlowe was born in Canterbury in 1564. His (Legouis 1984, p. 124). He says that Marlowe had a little father was a shoemaker. Christopher became a scholar knowledge about the stage. Professor Legouis furthers at King‟s school, Canterbury, and afterwards at Corpus his point as such, “Not for him to set forth the horror of Christi College, Cambridge. He took his B.A in 1584 and crime and its punishment, but to claim admiration for the his MA in 1587, by that time he had probably completed most sanguinely of men and exalt him as a demi god”. Tamburlaine (Michael, 1979, p. 113). Legouis. 1984, p. 124). This shows the inner power of The statements mentioned above about Marlowe need Marlowe which was restless. He selected Tamburlaine as fresh critical analysis. It seems that Marlowe‟s skepticism his hero because he himself was like him; a man with his and his being prone towards atheism, has led since Kyd exalted image in his mind. and Greene to minor critic like Hardin Craig; Emile Did Marlowe has a negative tendency? This is the only Legouis and in modern times Anderew Sanders and debate in the history of English Literature about Marlowe Avaraham Oz, as an obsession. The above mentioned and or the recurrent one. critics are few, and there are many who repudiate Michael Schmidt writes about Marlowe the poet as, Marlowe for his alleged charge of blasphemy, as an Mehdi 37 unredeemed off act. It reflects that it has been the still guided the medieval mind amid thickets of its greatest anomaly seen in a Briton, like Marlowe. This theology; just as the Roman roads across the wasted obsession is plaguic among critics of Marlowe up to the lands where the eagles had yielded place to the raven extent of mania, spanned over the last four hundred and the crow. And as, even today, when we whirl along years and which is still unending. our highways, we still cannot go far without following or This shows the sordid and narrow vision of British crossing some undeviating vestige of the march of Rome, society which in its deep roots, is still feudal, as having a so beneath the lines ofmodern thought endure the Queen sitting at the throne since 1951 i.e. Queen foundations laid by the master of Alexander The Great.

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