As a transition period from the Middle Age to modern times, Renaissance is renowned for its cultural magnitude and richness. Different from the Middle Age, Renaissance, as its name indicates, proceeds into cultural, social and economical rebirth and prosperity. Literary works in the time also achieve a high tide not only in quality but also in quantity. Among the sparkling Renaissance works, one of the distinguished achievements is English Drama. Christopher Marlowe, probably one of the most popular playwrights in his contemporary time, no doubt, stands a peculiar and distinguishing position in the early Renaissance English theater. In his short lifetime, he produced seven plays on various dramatic themes. Whether in the adaptation of mythological stories, like Dido, Queen of Carthage, or historical events such as, Edward II, Marlovian theatrical world always contains blooming vitality and grandeur language that may easily catch the viewer¡¦s eyes. Marlowe¡¦s plays usually center on the process of the fulfillment of a person¡¦s desire and an individual¡¦s pursue for personal achievement. It is not a task to observe certain patterns manipulated in Marlowe¡¦s plays. For instance, in Dr. Faustus, Faustus exchanges his soul with Mephistopheles for omnipotent knowledge which for Faustus represents mighty power and strength. In Jew of Malta, Barabas, the Jew, by all means chases infinite riches and defends his wealth owing to that his self-esteem relies on the amount of gold. Tamburlaine, who is called the Scourge and Wrath of God, endlessly conquers country after country to establish his own empire as well as to prove his masculinity. These characters are driven by the innermost desire to prove their values that are mostly built on earthly success. Their accomplishment in turn nourishes their ambitions to pursue more success that brings them power. In the project, I attempt to detect the forming of selfhood in Christopher Marlowe¡¦s two plays, Tamburlaine and The Jew of Malta. I would also like to dissect the interweaving relations between the heroes¡¦ inner impetus and their repeated speeches as well as actions of claiming their existence and how their subjectivities are displayed in the space between the inner constructive power and their outer repeated actions for pursue of success.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NSYSU/oai:NSYSU:etd-0816108-085137 |
| Date | 16 August 2008 |
| Creators | Chen, Hsiao-Hui |
| Contributors | Rudolphus Teeuwen, I-Chun Wang, Tsu-Chung Su |
| Publisher | NSYSU |
| Source Sets | NSYSU Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.nsysu.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search/view_etd?URN=etd-0816108-085137 |
| Rights | not_available, Copyright information available at source archive |
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