Synopses & Reviews
One of the greatest English playwrights, Christopher Marlowe received the scholarly compliment of having long been considered the author of some plays now attributed to Shakespeare. Marlowe's remarkable inventiveness and powers of poetic expression enabled him to render his first play, Tamburlaine, in the relatively new form of blank verse. This two-part 1587 romantic tragedy derives from the historical figure of Tamerlane (1336-1405), a Mongol warrior whose conquests extended from the Black Sea to the Upper Ganges. In Part I, Tamburlaine represents the best and most admirable qualities of the Renaissance man -- a daring ability to defy the odds and pursue all life's possibilities. The first part concludes with the hero at the zenith of his powers; in Part II, however, Tamburlaine's ambition overrides his better nature, and his greed and vanity lead directly to his decline and fall.
Synopsis
From one of England's greatest playwrights, a remarkably inventive and poetically expressive work that set the form for later Elizabethan dramas. The 2-part romantic tragedy focuses on Tamburlaine a Mongol warrior whose relentless rise to greatness and power, together with his enormous greed and vanity, culminates in his eventual downfall.