Marlowe and A Dead Man in Deptford--a few thoughts

Great book.

My assessment of it a few months ago was rather...hmm...unfair, one-sided, partial? Well, not very insightful or intelligent and so not too useful. Here's a new one--short too, I've got things to do now--

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A main theme of the book is that of free-will and whether or not the individual is free (or purely controlled by God). One reason for this could be because the book was based on Burgess's thesis on Marlowe, written when he was in university, and that would in turn have touched on Kit's play, Doctor Faustus.

The play itself is also strongly focussed on the subject of free-will. The first act begins with Faustus in his study,

Settle thy studies Faustus, and begin

to sound the depth of that thou wilt professe,

Hauing commenc'd, be a Diuine in shew,

Yet leuell at the end of euery Art,

And liue and die in Aristotles workes.

Sweet Analitikes, tis thou hast rauisht me,

he brags about his accomplishments in every field--Logic, Physicke (medicine), Law...etc. And Divinity:

When all is done, Diuinitie is best:

Ieromes Bible Faustus, view it well:

Stipendium peccati, mors est:" ha, stipendium, &c.

The reward of sin is death? that's hard:

Si peccasse, negamus, fallimur, & nulla est in nobis veritas:

If we say that we haue no sinne

We deceiue our selues, and there is no truth in vs.

Why then belike we must sinne,And so consequently die,

I, we must die, an euerlasting death.

What doctrine call you this? Che sera, sera:

What will be, shall be; Diuinitie adeiw.

But he's done that too. So it will be...

These Metaphisicks of Magitians,

And Negromantick bookes are heauenly,

Lines, Circles, Letters, Characters.

I these are those that Faustus most desires.

O what a world of profite and delight,

Of power, of honour, and omnipotence,

Is promised to the Studious Artizan?

All things that moue betweene the quiet Poles

Shall be at my command: Emperors and Kings,

Are but obey'd in their seuerall Prouinces:

But his dominion that exceeds in this,

Stretcheth as farre as doth the mind of man:

A sound Magitian is a Demi-god,

Here tire my braines to get a Deity.

Magic.

So, he knows that the "reward of sin is death", but yhe refuses to listen. Why? I was rather bewildered by this on my first reading as Faustus's behaviour was really very uncharacteristic of a man of that time's. But after reading a book on Marlowe (David Rigg's The World of Christopher Marlowe), it all became clear to me. At that time, England's religious identity was still very muddled up and Marlowe, as a scholar of Divinity (at that time, England experienced a shortage of trained Protestant preachers as the previous ruler, the Catholic Mary I had burnt the lot of them, so scholarships for bright young people like Marlowe were introduced) was required to study religion and the books said that only certain people were able to recieved God's teachings and others were simply damned to hell, through no fault of their own. (Just a shot in the dark here, but I expect it must have been due to some religious debate on why some people did not follow God's ways despite having been created by him.) This undoubtedly had quite an effect on the young Marlowe, and with the conflict of beliefs between Catholics and Protestants still going on in England at the time, this must have shaped in him a certain cynicism toward religion. Also, as a scholar, he studied the works of pagans such as Aristotle who obviously did not believe in God and this must have shaken his faith as well.

And, as a scholar himself, Marlowe most likely sympathised with Faustus's frustrations at not having any power.

And thus, the theme of free-will in Burgess's book. Also, Burgess was a great admirer of James Joyce who (so my sister tells me) was an atheist as he would rather go to Hell on his own free-will than go to Heaven as a vessel of God's--he felt that strongly about the importance of the individual in his own life (as an action is meaningful only when the individual has a choice in it).

One of Marlowe's struggles is between himself and the belief in God, it's got a hint of existential angst--a metaphysical struggle, perhaps that's a better way to put it--in it. There's the conflict over free-will (and I guess one on personal identity as well).

Marlowe himself is basically an artist inhabited by a tragically self-destructive creative force (a parallel with Faustus), maimed by his lack of faith in God (the disbelief and metaphysical dissatisfaction that made him question and, well, be an artist), and a man who is alienated by his genius.

Note: Faustus was not an original invention of Marlowe's, the story originated from Germany (at that time a group of small duchys, all Protestant). The book took England by storm and Marlowe was just inspired by it (and it's saleability--don't look so shocked, Kit was a playwright, his job was to sell tickets!).

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Okay, found a link to some other Marlowe-related books: http://www.osmond-riba.org/lis/MarloweBks.htm.

The non-fiction is fine. The fiction is awful. Don't read it.