I loved Marlowe's plays. The construction of his characters is completly brilliant. The depth of them. How he manages to creates such a dense atmospheres. The tension betweent the powers of good and evil that runs throught all his plays gets to an aphex in his last ones. The ones that are more into the political aspect and its relation with the religious sphere. King Edward the Second is probably his best work, while Doktor Faustus is his most knowing probably because the ancient mythos he manages in that play King Edward depics how cold and cruel can humans get, the humiliation and pain King Edward is object to is totally atrocious and there's this pathos that make the play really prevailing and important to understand the develpment of the human spirit throught the ages.

I read this because Marlowe was referenced in "The Eyre Affair." And of course, throughout the years there has been speculation that he could have written Shakespeare plays. I found them to be mostly entertaining, though I would not equate these works with those of Shakespeare. By far, the best was Edward II.

Many readers have suggested that had Christopher Marlowe not been killed at age 29, he would have rivaled or surpassed Shakespeare as the preeminent Elizabethan playwright. I dont see it, at least not based on the evidence of Doctor Faustus. Its a simple morality play and quasi-tragedy, but I dont see anything approaching the dramatic impact or artistic quality of Shakespeares works. So lets skip the unnecessary comparisons and talk about what Doctor Faustus actually is.The story is well-known so Im not going to be careful about spoilers. If you want to read it without knowing the details, stop reading this here. Still with me? Ok, then.Doctor John Faustus is a theology scholar at Wittenburg University in Germany (the university where Hamlet studies in Shakespeares play). Hes a brilliant scholar, but hes bored with academic studies and thinks philosophy, medicine, law, and theology have little to offer him intellectually. So he invites two magicians to teach him black magic and he decides he wants to become like a god and conquer the world. In toying with conjuring, he attracts the attention of one of Lucifers devils, Mephistopheles, who appears to Faustus to see if he can steal another soul. Mephistopheles entices Faustus, and the professor offers to make a bargain with Lucifer. In exchange for twenty-four years of powers and knowledge (and Mephistopheles help), Faustus offers Lucifer his soul.Of course, its a fools bargain, but Faustus is so full of pride he thinks hes more clever than Lucifer and is immune from real punishment, especially when Mephistopheles tells him that Hell isnt an actual place. Everyplace is Hell when one is cut off from God. Faustus can live with that.Over the following twenty-four years, Faustus doesnt conquer anything. Instead hes essentially reduced to traveling throughout Europe, doing party tricks. And in the end, of course, Lucifer claims his half of the bargain.The play is very clearly about the danger of pride. In the Prologue, Marlowe makes a reference to the fall of Icarus. In the discussion before Faustus signs the bargain, Mephistopheles goes over the history of Lucifer, who was cast out of Heaven because of pride. And at several times throughout the play, Faustus is given an out by good angels and others who try to get him to repent and turn back to God before its too late. Faustus either rejects that path because he still believes hes better than mere mortals, or later because he thinks hes beyond redemption.There are several other ideas at play as wellmercy, free will, Faustus flawed judgmentbut ultimately pride is the Deadly Sin that does him in.The plays brief, just fourteen scenes in the standard edition, and reasonably easy to read. And, of course, there are other important versions of the story, too (e.g., Goethes Faust). But even though I dont think this puts Marlowe in Shakespeares league, its worth a read.