Chapter 17 - ‘The best of Poets in that age’: Christopher Marlowe’s Posthumous Reputation

Summary

Printed tributes to Marlowe as ‘the Muse’s darling’ lauded him for his poems rather than his plays, and it was only after his death that works, including plays, began to be published with his name or his initials on their title pages, presumably as a marketing ploy. Contemporaries were unable to separate Marlowe’s life and opinions from his artistic achievements, and his posthumous reputation became inextricably linked with rumours that began to be circulated about his violent death. The lasting influence of Marlowe’s dramatic innovations should not be overlooked, however, as his plays remained popular right through to 1642. Marlowe was quickly forgotten after the theatres reopened in 1660 for two main reasons: a marked change in literary taste; and the absence of a folio edition of his plays which, in the case of Shakespeare, Jonson, and Fletcher, apparently contributed in large part to the maintenance of their posthumous reputations.