This dissertation enhances Marlovian studies by advancing ongoing scholarly efforts to demystify Marlowe’s stereotypical image as an outsider of his era. Specifically, it aims to challenge the prevailing perception of Christopher Marlowe as a subversive maverick, often delineated in contradistinction to William Shakespeare, England’s so-called national poet. Situating Marlowe in the context of nation-building in early modern England, this dissertation explores how Marlowe participated through his writing in the construction of English national identity. Through reading Marlowe’s five plays, Dido Queen of Carthage, Tamburlaine the Great Part One, Tamburlaine the Great Part Two, Edward II, and The Jew of Malta, my dissertation reveals that Marlowe’s ideal England is a political entity of complete sovereignty, a new empire of unprecedented achievement, and an imagined community ruled by its monarch and governors with good governance. With its emphasis on the inseparable fusion of nation and empire and the inevitable incorporation of outsiders, such English nationhood, I suggest, is an eighth form of nationhood in addition to the seven others proposed by Richard Helgerson. It is neither Patrick Cheney’s counter-nationhood nor completely Helgerson’s nationhood under royal absolutism. Since the monarch and patriotism are at its centre, Marlowe’s ideal English nationhood does not differ greatly from depictions offered by other contemporary writers. I argue that Marlowe shares more commonality with other authors of his era than has previously been understood, at least in terms of writing English nationhood. I propose that we should explore such commonality, rather than fetishizing Marlowe’s peculiarity, to gain a more nuanced, fuller image of Marlowe, who has long been obscured by his arguably more renowned contemporaries. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This dissertation reexamines Christopher Marlowe’s stereotypical image in current scholarship as an outsider of his era by looking at how Marlowe writes about England in the context of early modern nation-building. Focusing on Marlowe’s five plays, Dido Queen of Carthage, Tamburlaine the Great Part One, Tamburlaine the Great Part Two, Edward II, and The Jew of Malta, my readings reveal that what Marlowe envisions through his writing is an English nation marked by complete autonomy, remarkable achievement, and good governance. At the heart of this nationhood lies the patriotism similarly expressed by other Elizabethan writers in their literary fashioning of English nationhood. I argue that Marlowe, in this regard, shares more commonality with his contemporaries than has previously been understood. Exploring this commonality allows us to revalue the historical position of Marlowe, who has long been obscured by arguably more renowned writers of his day.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/29670 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Zhu, Yi |
| Contributors | Gough, Melinda, English and Cultural Studies |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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