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The Life and Works of Christopher Marlowe Essay

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“There is a lust of power in his writings, a hunger and thirst after righteousness, a glow of the imagination, unhallowed by anything but its own energies. His thoughts burn within him like a furnace with bickering flames, or throwing out black smoke and mists, that hide the dawn of genius, or like a poisonous mineral, corrode the heart” (O’Neill 17). William Hazlitt writes this critique on Christopher Marlowe as a playwright in his Lectures on the Dramatic Literature of the Age of Elizabeth and honestly he could not have said it any better. Christopher Marlowe was a brilliant man who excelled in school. He was a gifted individual and with the help of schooling became a famous playwright in the 16th century. He was roughly two months older …show more content…

This school held children from the ages of nine to fourteen so a child could not enter earlier than the age of nine or graduate after the age of fourteen. “The curriculum of the school was fashioned to the Renaissance pedagogic ideals, and its chief aim was to train the scholars to speak and write Latin fluently” (Boas 8). This school excelled in what they did and it mainly had to do with how old it was. It was said to have been nine centuries old when Christopher entered it. Being so old and renowned, there are many famous names that have records of attending the King’s School: Shelley, Lewes, Lyly, Sydney, Playfair, and Bentham. Christopher had exceptional gifts and interests and thus received a scholarship to go the King’s School. He entered on January 14, 1578 at the age of twelve and spent just under two years there, which shows his excellence. Christopher left Canterbury towards the end of 1580 and went to Cambridge on a six year scholarship to study at the Corpus Christi College. His scholarship was founded by a man named Mathew Parker. He was the master of the college from 1544 to 1553 and later became the archbishop of Canterbury. The scholarship was given to him because it was thought that he was studying to go into the church. Although he received this scholarship, he did not plan on going into the church. After his second year on at the Corpus Christi College, it was recorded that he was randomly absent for long

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