A Chrisitan Humanist-Christoper Marlowe’s Understanding Of Christianity And God

Christopher Marlowe was the most significant playwright in Great Britain beforeShakespeare and has been titled as “the Farther of English Tragedy”. His life wasclosely linked with Christianity from the start to the end and most of his plays are alsoabout Christianity and religious conflicts. His contemporaries defined him as anunruly and unusual atheist; however, along with the passage of time, our opinion ofhim has gradually changed. As opinions vary, a unanimous conclusion could not bedrawn. Then what is his true identity, a conventional Christian or a rebellious atheist?Adopting the method of textual analysis, this thesis explores the delineation ofChristianity, Christians and religious conflicts in four significant plays of ChristopherMarlowe’s (The Jew of Malta, The Tragic History of Doctor Faustus, Tamburlaine theGreat and Massacre at Paris) as well as indispensable dramatic techniques deliveringhis opinions and understanding. In The Jew of Malta, Christopher Marlowe attacksChristians violently for their degeneration and corruption, indignant over theirmeanness. Notwithstanding that, Christainity itself is never a target of his criticism.He is still a staunch supporter of Christianity and holds that it is the single orthodoxreligion in the world with which both Judaism and Islamism can’t match. Thisargument has been well proved in The Jew of Malta and the Tamburlaine the Greatseries. Moreover, Marlowe advocates that God is the dominator of the universe and noone should covet after his power and aspire to replace him. That’s the very reasonwhy Faustus, Tamburlaine and Duke of Guise pays so dearly for their ambition.Nevertheless, as a founder of English Renaissance drama, humanism had started totake root in his heart. In his works, human beings are not God’s puppets any more andfree will is no longer the root of evils as Christianity has been advocating. He valuesman’s dignity and speaks very highly of secular happiness and pursuit of knowledge.Therefore, to some extent he actually praises these protagonists’ aspiration. SoMarlowe is not a traditional Christian nor a complete humanist. He is a Christianhumanist which is a distinctive fruit of Renaissance.