This thesis examines the nature of the heroes in four of Christopher Marlowe’s plays and concludes that Marlovian heroes are transitional men who embody both medieval and Renaissance concepts and who are tempted to pursue the Renaissance dream, but are continually haunted by the Christian dogma concerning the destiny of man. They resemble Adam and Lucifer in multiple ways as they strive, suffer, and fall in their attempts to gain power, wealth, knowledge, and godlike omnipotence. The attainment of power corrupts Marlovian heroes, and they reveal characteristics of the Machiavel as the term was understood in Elizabethan times. Their moment of death is significantly magnified as they rage, curse, stoically accept, or philosophize in poetic terror as their doom approaches. The plays included in this study are Tamburlaine: Part One and Part Two, The Jew of Malta, Edward II, and Doctor Faustus.

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Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Melbourne, 1987. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 105-107).

Thesis (M.C.S.)--Regent College, 1987. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 112-115).

Thesis (M.F.A.)--West Virginia University, 2009. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains v, 66 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 65-66).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 49).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 1999. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 169-77). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users. Address: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/uoregon/fullcit?p9947986.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 49). Also available in print.

Akademisk avhandling-Uppsala. / "Boströms skrifter" p. [10]

The purpose of the study is to establish the critical need for stage action in order to understand fully the theme of Marlowe's Doctor Faustus. Marlowe's primary intent is to invert the morality play, illustrating the distortions and ambiguities of a systematized religion and to establish the human dilemma when man is faced with moral choices. To illustrate this inversion, Marlowe uses emblematic action for an effect opposite to that of the traditional moralities: Often this action goes beyond the emblem, becoming a metaphor for Marlowe's theme, man as a victim, conflicting within himself and within the system which governs his morality.Chapter one introduces this theme and the crucial need for staging Marlowe's ideas. The first chapter also establishes a compromise of the textual problems inherent within any study of Doctor Faustus. Since the study argues that audience reaction is important to Marlowe's intent, attention is paid to how audience response governs the play's interpretation.Chapter two is a critical review of the historical staging practices which must be considered when studying the dramatic text. Included are stage size, costuming, and special effects.Chapter three is the advancement of the thesis in a scene by scene analysis of the text with special attention to the action as metaphor. Considered is how audience reaction represents part of Marlowe's purpose; the increasing tension of the audience furthers Marlowe's concept of the ambiguities present when humans are faced with moral choices. This purpose is traced scene by scene with specific attention to how it is metaphorically portrayed on stage.Chapter four is separate as a director's book, with the text reproduced, together with the researcher's marginal notes on specific blocking and with footnotes emplacing and expanding on the metaphorical action as it appears in the text. / Department of English