Christopher Marlowe

Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593), or Kit Marlowe, was a poet and playwright of the English Renaissance who wrote during the Elizabethan Era (1558-1603). His mastery of the blank verse – unrhymed iambic pentameter – transformed the way plays were written for Elizabethan theatre and influenced many other dramatists, including William Shakespeare (1564-1616). Marlowe's plays were known for their overambitious and morally ambiguous protagonists, realistic portrayals of emotion, and their use of crowd-pleasing violence; his most significant works include Tamburlaine the Great (circa 1587), Doctor Faustus (circa 1592), and Edward II (circa 1592), as well as the narrative poem Hero and Leander. His personal life was as dramatic as his work – an alleged atheist and homosexual man with ties to the queen's secret service, Marlowe was killed in a mysterious tavern brawl in May 1593.