Marlovian tragedy is significant due to its newness,renaissance influence,Machaivellian

morality,powerfull and passionate expression,element of tragic inner conflict,tragic hero,popular

literary style, high seriousness,bombastic language and blank verse.

Marlowe is famous for four dramas- The jew of Malta,Doctor Faustus, Tamburlaine,Edward II.
A careful study of The Jew of Malta provides us that the society of Malta is full of social,political,religious

evils like-greeds,corruption,hypocrisy,prejudice,expoitation religious fantacism and selfishness.The play is a satirical

exposition of the Machaivellian politicians,hypocrite and lusty priests,ruthless jewws and so-called Christians who

have forgotten the fundamenatal principals of their religion.This is a fascinating play about the life and death of a

jewish marchant on the island of Malta.The hero-villain is a jew named Barabas.This is a play which open wide the

wounds of the Christian and jewish father in conflict in the middle ages when we see the daughter of jewish marchant

falls in love with a Christian and his father decides to kill her considering the matter as a great sin. Marlowe strikes the

key-note of the play when he introduces the first scene to us.Although the Maltese Christians—particularly Ferneze

and the two priests—present themselves as agents of morality, Marlowe makes it clear that these men are frauds and

hypocrites. This complicates Barabas's role within the play, for it challenges his status as the obvious villain. There is

no clear struggle between good and evil, although the Maltese demonize Barabas. Instead, the major characters are

presented as strategists who maneuver themselves into positions of strength or weakness depending on their ability

to deceive. Even the Catholic priests turn their backs on religious morals when it suits them, shown in their attempts

to outmaneuver each other to win Barabas's money.This is an overarching theme that ties in with many others within

the play, particularly religious hypocrisy. Instead of religion and the power of Divine Providence, many characters

place their trust in schemes and strategies. Marlowe treats this subject ambiguously. Although the Prologue satirizes

Machiavellian scheming, the rest of the play suggests that statesmen must manipulate to protect their own interests.

Marlowe ultimately leaves us wondering whether or not he believes in Machiavellian tactics. The play's heavily ironic

tone could support the view that man is driven by his own motives. Alternatively, it might suggest that our ability to

control events always comes second to God's will—which would make political scheming redundant.

Faustus, the second play is one of the best of Marlowe’s work. Marlowe's hero, Dr. Faustus, is the quintessential

Renaissance man; a lover of knowledge, beauty, and power, operating in a society that had not yet released its grip on

the medieval contempt for the world. The 15th century's obsession with death, fear of devils and damnation are

played out in Marlowe's tragedy, revealing the underlying misgivings of an excessive and immoderate age.Doctor

Faustus is an early English tragedy, one of several by Christopher Marlowe, which lives on today as a great morality

play from 16th century Europe. The story is about a Machiavellian theologian, John Faustus, who  turns to black magic

in his pursuit of power. Despite Faustus' lofty declarations of the great deeds he will do with such power, he ultimately
abuses it and does nothing good at all. Faustus is given numerous warnings and hints that he is going down the wrong

path, but he fails to recognize the obvious time and time again. First, a fundamental theme of Doctor Faustus concerns

power and how it can corrupt individuals. "O what a world of profit and delight, / Of power, of honor, of omnipotence /

Is promised to the studious artisan!" In the first scene of the play, Faustus makes reference to his desire of obtaining

power even if it comes through necromancy. "What god can hurt thee, Faustus? Though art safe"The superciliousness

Faustus has due to his newfound power is so great he is willing to go against the very thing he dedicated his life to as a

theologian. Doctor Faustus displays another principal theme involving the duality of man. Throughout the play,

Faustus is visited by the two angels and he makes the mistake of repeatedly siding with the evil one. Doctor Faustus

reflects upon Christian elements as a main theme of the story as well. Sin is a prominent motif in Doctor Faustus and

Faustus essentially carries out the ultimate sin of selling his soul to the devil. "My heart's so hardened I cannot

repent! / Scarce can I name salvation, faith, or heaven Repentance and the nature of salvation is another Christian

element significantly displayed in Doctor Faustus, and it is something Faustus just can't accept for himself. Damnation

is one more Christian concept which is repeated in Doctor Faustus, and Faustus comes to understand there will be no

escaping it due to his actions. Doctor Faustus makes constant use of these references and others to impart a very

Christian themed story upon the reader.So the central motive in Doctor Faustus is to show the lust for the unattainable

power that deserves nothing but a tragic end.

Among most successful plays of the Elizabethan era, the two parts of Tamburlaine the Great
captivated audiences with their eloquent rhetoric and powerful verse. On the surface, Tamburlaine
the Great is a play about war and conquest, that is concerned with ambition, domination, and power
in the public sphere, while private conflicts and domestic life are neither glorious nor important.
Actions in the play take on epic proportions, and Tamburlaine places his life on the scale of the
gods, whom he frequently challenges and to whom he often compares himself. Although Marlowe is
concerned with ambition, power, and violence, his principle interest is in the origin of these themes
in Tamburlaine's internal psychology. One of the most important pieces of evidence that
Tamburlaine the Great is a psychological drama lies in its treatment of Tamburlaine's relationship
with Zenocrate. Zenocrate is entirely Marlowe's own addition to the narrative; she does not appear
in any historical documents about Tamerlane the conqueror and there is no evidence that
Tamerlane fell passionately in love with anyone. Nevertheless, Marlowe sees Tamburlaine as a
signal of the potential inherent in every human psyche, which has such shockingly powerful and
violent desires that it is capable of almost anything the motive Marlowe intends by stressing that
one can capture almost any passion and conquer almost any impediment to one's deepest desire if
one is willing to disregard convention and carry out acts of ruthless violence. Marlowe is pointing
out the fact that the world is not, as was commonly believed, a series of strictly orthodox moral
hoops through which a person must jump in order to lead a happy existence, but a brutal arena in
which the most violent, ambitious, and unappeasable desires and egos will rule. Tamburlaine shows
that a basic aspect of the human psyche—its appetite for power—has a limitless potential and
allows for the greatest of human achievements.

Marlowe’s another play is Edward II,a tragic study of a king’s weakness and misery.Edward II
was a historical tragedy in blank verse and Marlowe's last play.In point of style and dramatic
consruction,it is by far the best of Marlowe’s plays and is a worthy predecessors of Shakespeare’s
historical drama. Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II depicts the troublesome reign and lamentable
end of Edward the Second, King of England narrates the dramatic and ultimately catastrophic
events of the reign of Edward II based.As is typical to Marlowe’s plays Edward II deals with the
concept of transgression followed by retribution in which Edward II is delineated as a very weak
king. A good ruler is supposed to lead his country and keep his kingdom united but Edward II
prefers to waste time and enjoy himself with his flatterers. Edward II is a homosexual king who is
more interested in his lovers than in his kingship responsibilities. Edward II is introduced to the
audience as a “pliant king”, a pleasure seeker who prefers to divide his kingdom than have his lover
Gaveston exiled from the kingdom.In the first act of the play a confrontation takes place at court
where the nobles and the Archbishop of Canterbury threaten civil war unless Gaveston is exiled. In
order to preserve his reign and allow Gaveston to stay Edward II seeks a compromise by offering to
divide his kingdom among the nobles: “Make several kingdoms of this monarchy/And share it
equally among you all/So I may have some nook or corner left/To frolic with my dearest
Gaveston”.From the very beginning his shortcomings as a king are evident. The first duty of a king
was to unite the nation. Here, however Edward II prefers to offer the nobles several kingdoms as
long as he can have the pleasure of his lover, Gaveston. Edward does not possess the strength or
power to oppose the nobles and the only way he can think of to defend his lover is by dividing his
kingdom. Edward II is ultimately the tragedy and downfall of the pleasure seeking king who divided
his kingdom. His orders are disregarded by the nobles and a civil war within the kingdom of
England ensues. Betrayal and treachery follow and his lover Gaveston is murdered. By the end of
the play we see the king at his most tragic, having lost everything including his friends, his lover
Gaveston, his kingdom and having been betrayed by his own wife, Isabella. Isabella arrives to warn
Mortimer that Edward III, her son with Edward II, has discovered their plot. Before they can plan
accordingly, her son arrives with attendants and other lords,. Mortimer is arrested and taken
away.Edward III then orders Mortimer's death and his mother's imprisonment, and the play ends
with him taking the throne.
These plays are known as the Marlowesque or one-man type of tragedy,each revolving about one
central personality who is consumed by the lust of power.

Before Marlowe ‘blank verse’ had not been the accepted verse form for drama.Marlowe was
the first to free the drama from the stiff traditions and prove that ‘blank verse’ was an effective and
expressive vehicle for Elizabethan drama.One of Marlowe’s accomplishments was to capture in
‘blank verse’ the music inherent in the English language.Earlier ‘blank verse’ had been metrically
precise and regular which in long passage could become rythmetically boring.Marlowe alternated
the regular stresses and created a more varied sincere and beautiful verse.His speeches are rich in
allusions to classical myths.The style however has a musical quality about it which appeals to the
ear even when the listener does not know the exact nature of allusion.The combination of above
qualities influences the trend of ‘blank verse’ in Elizabethan drama and earned for Marlowe’s verse
the term,Marlowe’s mighty-line’.

Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus and Goethe’s Faust are based on a German’ Faustbuch’.The first part
of epic verse drama Faust was published in 1832.The work retelling of the German legend of a man
who promises his soul in exchange for knowledge and power previously told in Marlowe’s tragic
play Doctor Faustus in 1604.Goethe’s masterpiece and perhaps the greatest work in German
literature Faust has made the legendary German “alchemist’one of the central myths of the western
world.Here in faust the tremendous versatility of Goethe’s genious creats some of the most
beautiful pages in literature.In this story Faust is not a magician but is instead an academic who has
reached the limits of learning and knowledge.Faust may be called a tragedy.This tragic context is
seen more clearly through the love story between Faust and Gretchen.Goethe wrote the play in
order to explore the themes of religion,politics,cultuter and literature.Marlowe’s Faustus’s true
identity is not known but he claimed to be an astrologer,expert in magic and an alchemist.the same
legend attracted Christopher Marlowe who offered in his play a psychological study of the battle
between ‘evil’ and ‘good’.Marlowe’s drama ends with the protagonist’s damnation.but in Goethe’s
one the theme of damnation of the hero is not emphasized so boldly.

The commentary Goethe provides in his work will contrast with Marlowe’s one.While Goethe
focuses on morality and knowledge,Marlowe centres on superstition,religious belief and
entertainment value.The chief philosophical difference between Marlowe’s Faustus is dragged off to
the horrors of the hell but Goethe’s Faust is admitted to heaven by God’s grace in reward for his
endless striving after knowedge of goodness and truth and his courageous resolution to believe in
the existence of something higher than himself.Furthermor Goethe introduced the figure of
Gretchen.The Faust-Gretchen love story occupies most of part-1 of the drama whereas Marlowe
confined himself to showing Doctor Faustus’s activities regarding the study and performance of
magic.

A book with literary value has complex and fascinating plot that usually teach something.
Oftentime the message is so strong that it leaves an impact on the reader, makes one think and have
deep reflections on huminity,life and morals.The book must has a depth,a lot of symbolism and well
developed characters.So if we want to judge having in mind these matters both Marlowe’s Doctor
Faustus and Goethe’s Faust we have to admit that they both have their own specialities and both
hold a special position of higher rank in world literature though having some lackings in some
particular aspects in each.Goethe’s Faust has a great literary value because it’s language influenced
the then German literary language.It inspired also some other literary articles.Goethe enlarged
upon the old legend adding the elements of love and the saving power of woman and giving the
story a philosophical treatment.On the other hand Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus is a full-fledged
tragedy,there is no element of romance.We get the elements of ‘pity and fear’ that support
Aristotle’s definition of tragedy.We feel sorry for Marlowe’s tragic hero Faustus for his tragic end
that happened because of his error of judgement or ‘hubris’.We also find some elements of horror
in Marlowe’s marvelous use of supernatural elements.In that sense we can not call Goethe’s’ Faust’
as a tragic hero or the play as a ‘tragedy’ in it’s true sense.

Faust representing the modern human being always drives himself to damnation,held back
from the moment of true ‘enlightment’.Goethe’s Faust has along with Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor
Faustus became the standard of telling of the’ Faust legend’ in modern literature.