The Villain-hero:the New Tragic Hero In Marlowe’s Tragedies

Marlowe is the most important English dramatist before Shakespeare, making great contribution to the development of English tragedy. He is the first one to employ the "villain-hero" as the tragic hero on the English stage. The villain-hero has been developed into an important type of character, exerting great influence on English literature. However, few researches have been done on this type of character either abroad or in China. On the basis of previous criticism, this dissertation attempts to analyze Marlow’s three villain-heroes, Tamburlaine, Barabas, and Faustus, in the light of tragic theory as well as the theories of the New Criticism, Cultural Studies, and Psychoanalysis.Employment of the villain-hero as tragic hero initially breaks the rule set by Aristotle that the tragic hero must be "good." However, that they are not "good" does not mean they are not qualified as tragic heroes. The villain-hero is created when old and new values are in conflict. Since they usually represent the new trend of values and social consciousness, they are unavoidably ill judged by those who are governed by old values, thus creating moral ambiguity. Their greatness lies in the fact that they would take everything, even their lives to justify the values they represent. Marlowe’s villain-hero is created when Renaissance humanism is in conflict with traditional Christian ideas. It reflects the conflict and its influence on the human consciousness.Besides introduction and conclusion, this dissertation has four chapters. The introduction includes a literature review and a new definition of the villain-hero after discussion of the connotations of this character type. It also presents the general structure and basic views of this study.The first chapter compares Marlowe’s villain-hero with "villain" characters in English religious dramas and Seneca’s tragedies. The comparison reveals that the one-sided traditional villain is greatly transformed by Marlowe into the much more complicated and heroic villain-hero. This chapter also points out that Renaissance humanism and Religious Reformation play a great role in creating villain-heroes.Chapter Two studies how Marlowe portrays Tamburlaine as a villain-hero. He is a conqueror with an aspiring mind, which is severely criticized by Christianity. However, Marlowe stresses Tamburlaine’s aspiration to the extent that it is the main factor leading to his success in battles and winning him respect and love from his generals. In this way, Marlowe advocates Renaissance humanism. The cause of Tamburlaine’s tragedy is the conflict between his aspiring mind and the unavoidable limitation of human being. Tamburlaine is portrayed by Marlowe as a great villain-hero and an ideal Renaissance emperor.Chapter Three analyses how Marlowe resists the stereotyped portrayal of Jew, presenting Barabas as a villain-hero. Being a Jew and a Machiavelli, Barabas is often taken as the "incarnation of evil." However, his complicated image against the historical background transcends and subverts this easy interpretation. Meanwhile, Barabas’desire for money represents the spirit of capitalism, not "greed" denounced by Christianity; he is the villain-hero of the capitalist era. Barabas’s property is confiscated by his opponent, the Christian governor, unjustly. In this way, Marlowe justifies Barabas’action of taking his money back, which can be interpreted as against religious repression.Chapter Four investigates how Faustus is depicted as a villain-hero. He is often interpreted as a sinner betraying God’s law for pursuing pleasure. His image as a hero who chooses to pursue knowledge at the price of going to hell defies the interpretation above. He goes directly against the Christian prohibition of knowledge. He makes the choice while he is aware of its tragic consequences, thus showing his great courage. Faustus’s conflict is represented on the spiritual level. He is tortured by desperation and haunted by fear for hell, which symbolizes internalized Christian belief. On the other hand, by revealing the difference between Faustus’expectation and his reality, Marlowe portrays a changing image of Faustus and exposes the fact that both human’s consciousness and his ability are defined by reality.The dissertation concludes that it is Marlowe’s employment of the villain-hero and his innovative technique to portray him that makes Marlowe one of the most important figures transforming English medieval drama into modern Tragedy. His direct influence upon Shakespeare can be seen in Macbeth and Richard Ⅲ.