Question- Analyse Marlowe's conception of tragedy.

Answer -

Marlowe made a distinct departure from the medieval conception of tragedy by changing its moral tone. The medieval tragedy morally made the hero full form prosperity to adversity by some moral lapse of the hero in order to indicate some moral lessons to the audience but Marlowe made all his heroes demi-gods whether they were criminals or scoundrels or creatures suffering from some great moral depravity but possessing the fire and energy the passion and desire of an unquenchable soul, a great adventurous spirit. Then again, the medieval tragedy depicted the lives of the princes. Monarchs and emperors but the heroes of Marlowe's tragedies are ordinary human individuals. The heroes of Marlowe's tragedies have no fall from prosperity to adversity, but they have a very acute psychological struggle against certain forces which prove too strong for them and which bring about their final doom. Marlowe combines in his drama the vigour, activity and enthusiasm of the new Renaissance spirit with the medievalism of the old classical drama particularly in style and construction. In other words the formation of the classicists is combined with the formlessness of the Renaissance art in Marlowe's tragedies. Marlowe brought about a change in the content of the old English tragedy which was based upon the Senecan tragedy.

Marlowe's heroes are heroic indeed not because of any outstanding moral quality but because of their heroic struggle mental as well as physical. They too die in the long run most miserably but the interest of the audience is concentrated in the struggle of the hero. The medieval tragedy dealt with the life and career of royal personalities but Marlowe's tragedy deals with the infinite irit of man. We find in Marlowe a distinct influence of Machiavelli who has praised ambition as the only desirable virtue in a prince and he has denied all morality except that morality which operates for the good of the individual. Marlowe completely supplanted the medieval conception of tragedy which consisted of a fall from prosperity to adversity, from greatness to misery but he conceived of tragedy as the heroic struggle of a great personality leading to some inevitable doom.

Marlowe's conception of tragic hero, however, transcended any outlines furnished by his sources or any stage types such as villain and tyrant. He conceived his heroes first of all as men capable of great passions. Consumed by their desires, abandoned to the pursuits of their lusts, whether they led to glory, butchery, loss of kingdom or eternal damnation. This interest that outlasts contemptibility or pathos, nor are they without representational value. They linger in the mind as men, absurd, exaggerated, monstrous at times, but appealingly human in moments when their passion ring true and impressively typical of the eternal struggle of passion and desire against the fixed emotions that the plays secure their great impressiveness. Tragedy has become not the presentation of history, myth or events of any sort, but the presentation of the passionate struggle and pitiful defeat of an extraordinary human-being.

Another remarkable features of Marlowe's tragedy is its high seriousness. There is a complete lack of humour in his plays. There is not even grim humour in Marlowe's tragedies. Seriousness is rather inevitable in Marlowe's plays because his heroes are all brave human souls battling against forces that ultimately prove too powerful for them and consequently bringing about their tragic doom.

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