1st Edition

Christopher Marlowe and the Failure to Unify

By Andrew Duxfield Copyright 2015
172 Pages
by Routledge

172 Pages
by Routledge

172 Pages
by Routledge

In this sustained full length study of Marlowe's plays, Andrew Duxfield argues that Marlovian drama exhibits a marked interest in unity and unification, and that in doing so it engages with a discourse of anxiety over social discord that was prominent in the 1580s and 1590s. In combination with the ambiguity of the plays, he suggests, this focus produces a tension that both heightens dramatic... Read more

Introduction



1 Building a Statelier Troy: Dido, Queen of Carthage



2 Reduced to a Map: Tamburlaine the Great, Parts One and Two



3 "Resolve me of all ambiguities": Doctor Faustus



4 Individual and Multitude: The Jew of Malta and The Massacre at Paris



5 True Contraties: Edward II



Afterword

Biography

Andrew Duxfield is Lecturer in English Literature at Coventry University, UK.

"Christopher Marlowe and the Failure to Unify represents an original, well researched thesis investigating overlooked historical and critical sources. Undergraduates, academics, and interested readers will find in Duxfield’s book invaluable and entertaining insights into Marlowe’s plays."

- Frank Swannack, University of Salford, UK

"Duxfield’s argument that the plays of Christopher Marlowe show a tendency towards and an ultimate subversion of unity remains strong throughout the monograph and in his extensive coverage of the entirety of Marlowe’s dramatic works. While drawing on past scholarship in order to situate the thesis, Duxfield’s argument remains strong and clear throughout, and adds a fresh texture to the scholarly conversation on Marlowe’s plays."

- Hayley Coble, University of Minnesota, USA

"This is a significant and welcome addition to the canon of key critical interventions on the work of Christopher Marlowe."

- Adam Hansen review: English, 66:252 (2017), pp. 88–91