Customer Reviews

Tamburlaine, Parts One and Two (New Mermaids)

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When I read this play as part of the complete works, I was left unimpressed. The rest of the plays really hit me and made me wish that Marlowe's career could have been longer. This one was the rags-to-riches story that Hollywood so loves. Tamburlaine starts out as a crazy shepherd and then ends up ruling the kingdom. Eventually he loses stuff and dies. The End.

Rereading this story with the introduction concerning Tyrone Guthrie's bloody staging made it a little better. I like the black humor and the way Tamburlaine keeps Bajazeth in a cage for half of the first play. I also found Calyphas a fascinating character, the pacifist in a play who might be Falstaff in another play but only serves to get killed in this one. Mostly this is Tamburlaine's deal and he is full of himself and utterly without shame which kind of works but feels deadly dull on the page. I can see a great actor turning him into a great villain/anti-hero like Tony Soprano or Kenny from Eastbound & Down but the play isn't much on the page.

I love Christopher Marlowe, and I am happy that this play did not discourage me from reading his "Dido Queen of Carthage," "Faustus," "Edward II," or "Massacre At Paris." In my opinion, "1 Tamburlaine" and "2 Tamburlaine" are interesting studies at best. I feel that too much of Marlowe's genious takes a back seat to bad humour. Furthermore, Tamburlaine himself lacks the malignant charm of Faustus. He also does not play on our sympathy like Edward II. Nor does he have chilling passages like Guise. The only possible reason I would give for reading this is that it was Marlowe's first effort. Also, the bad humour allows us to see the mentally disturbed side of Marlowe. My best advice to anyone who reads this is don't let this discourage you from reading his great works like "Dido Queen of Carthage," "Faustus," "Massacre At Paris," or "Edwatd II."