Who was Christopher Marlowe?
The record of the coroners inquest states that the victim was one Christopher Marlowe, poet and playwright. He was so identified when all were crowded into the small room to view the body, still lying on the floor. Christopher Marlowe, if he is known at all, is vaguely remembered as a playwright who wrote the immortal lines about Helen of Troy: Was this the face that launched a thousand ships, and burnt the topless towers of Ilium? Dr. Faustus These lines from Dr. Faustus are repeated by actors auditioning for roles in the film Shakespeare in Love, and serve as a clich for the soaring poetry of Elizabethan drama. Yet, Marlowe was more than a single immortal line of blank verse. He was the most popular and successful playwright before and during Shakespeares early years, having written five tremendously successful plays. It has been suggested that he collaborated with Shakespeare on the latters three parts of Henry VI. Portrait – Henry VI Like most of the playwrights of the era (except
