Stephen Greenblatt on Christopher Marlowe

Folger Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare Unlimited

Folger Shakespeare Library

Arts

4.7 • 837 Ratings

🗓️ 23 September 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare were both born in 1564, rising from working-class origins finding success in the new world of the theater. But before Shakespeare transformed English drama, Marlowe had already done so—with Tamburlaine the Great and the introduction of blank verse to the stage. As Stephen Greenblatt argues in his new biography, Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare’s Greatest Rival, virtually everything in the Elizabethan theater can be seen as “pre- and post-Tamburlaine.” Shakespeare learned from Marlowe, borrowed from him, and even tried to outdo him. Beyond his theatrical innovation, Marlowe was a poet, provocateur, and likely spy whose turbulent life was cut tragically short. In this episode, Greenblatt explores Marlowe’s audacious works, his entanglements with power and secrecy, and his lasting influence on Shakespeare and the stage. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast. Published September 23, 2025. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This episode was produced by Matt Frassica. Garland Scott is the executive producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster. We had help with web production from Paola García Acuña. Leonor Fernandez edits our transcripts. Final mixing services are provided by Clean Cuts at Three Seas, Inc. Stephen Greenblatt is Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University. He has written extensively on English Renaissance literature and acts as general editor of The Norton Anthology of English Literature and The Norton Shakespeare. He is the author of fourteen books, including The Swerve, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award, and Will in the World, a Pulitzer Prize finalist.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	From the Folger Shakespeare Library, this is Shakespeare Unlimited. I'm Farah Kareem Cooper,
0:09.5	the Folger Director. Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare were both born in 1564 into
0:18.3	working-class families. They both made their way to London and found success
0:23.8	writing for a new and exciting form of entertainment, the theater. Marlowe's first big success
0:31.1	came with his play, Tamburlaine the Great, about an emperor whose desire for conquest
0:37.1	can never be satisfied.
0:39.6	But it was Tamburlain's poetry that staked Marlowe's claim to immortality.
0:45.9	Our souls, whose faculties can comprehend the wondrous architecture of the world
0:51.3	and measure every wandering planet's course, still climbing after
0:56.5	knowledge infinite and always moving as the restless fears, wills us to wear ourselves and never
1:04.1	rest until we reach the ripest fruit of all, that perfect bliss and soul felicity, the sweet fruition of an earthly crown.
1:14.7	This was the first time anyone spoke in blank verse on the English stage. As Stephen Greenblatt
1:21.1	writes in Dark Renaissance, his new biography of Marlowe, virtually everything in the Elizabethan
1:27.1	is pre-and-post
1:28.8	Tamerlane. Green Black compares the introduction of blank verse to the invention of recorded dialogue
1:35.0	in movies. There would be no going back. Shakespeare was certainly paying close attention to
1:41.2	Marlowe's innovations. The two playwrights may even have worked together
1:45.9	at one point. Some believe that they co-wrote the Henry Six plays, along with another unknown writer.
1:52.7	Did Shakespeare view Marlowe as a rival? You can read The Merchant of Venice, Titus Andronicus,
1:59.0	and Richard II, as attempts to beat Marlow at his
2:02.5	own game. But Greenblatt makes an argument for Marlowe's importance on his own terms, not just as a foil
2:10.0	for Shakespeare. Add to that, a life story full of intrigue, espionage, and murder, and you have the makings of a gripping biography.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Folger Shakespeare Library, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Folger Shakespeare Library and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.