Suchergebnisse

This thesis is the first sustained study of Christopher Marlowe's strategic handling of medieval literature. This study identifies and explores Marlowe's subversive use of a range of medieval material, both textual and cultural, in his dramas. In addition to identifying Marlowe's medieval sources, this thesis also delineates how this material was used: to offer a subtle and subversive critique of the core principles of Elizabethan ideology. After first establishing Marlowe's medieval sources, his "medieval library," this study then explores the ultra-specific application of this material across Marlowe's oeuvre. Close textual analysis of Marlowe's seven plays is the main methodology utilised in this study, facilitating the discovery of Marlowe's politic evocation of medieval literature. This thesis seeks to advance our understanding of Marlowe's subversive theatre by identifying his unique and subversive medievalism.