The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare | Marlowe, Christopher
Marlowe, Christopher(1564–93), poet and playwright, one of the most brilliant of early modern English dramatists. The son of a shoemaker, he went to Cambridge on a scholarship, and may have been recruited there as a spy. He is thought to have worked on and off as a government spy for the rest of his life. After graduating he joined the army and went to the Netherlands, where he got involved in counterfeiting money and was sent home in disgrace. In 1589 he was imprisoned after a fight in which a man was killed. Later he joined the group of freethinkers surrounding Sir Walter Ralegh. In 1593 he was summoned to appear before the Privy Council, accused of heresy, and released on bail while evidence was gathered against him. Some of this evidence survives in the form of the ‘Baines Note’, which vividly lists Marlowe's ‘damnable opinions’ on religious and sexual matters. While on bail he was stabbed to death in a guesthouse in Deptford,...
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