E 379N • Shakespeare and Marlowe 3:30 PM-5:00 PM Shakespeare and
Marlowe has two main purposes. The first is to familiarize the
class with the early works of William Shakespeare and the drama
of Christopher Marlowe. We will study three plays and a long
poem from each writer. In each case we will consider the
authors' distinguishing characteristics: their use of poetic
language and mythology, their creation and confusion of genres,
their submission or challenge to the dominant religious and
political ideologies of Elizabethan England. Which leads us to
the second purpose. The course might also be called "Shakespeare
and Marlowe in the early 1590s," because we will attempt to
understand the history of this period as the two writers engage
it. Thus, we will also read some biographical, religious, and
political material that can help us decide how Marlowe and
Shakespeare conversed with the age, and how they helped shape
the consciousness of late Elizabethan England. The course will
have a slightly unusual structu