Echinoderm Facts and Information

Echinoderm Facts and Information Echinoderms, or members of the phylum Echinodermata, are some of the most easily-recognized marine invertebrates. This phylum includes sea stars (starfish), sand dollars, and urchins, and they are identified by their radial body structure, often featuring five arms.  You can often see echinoderm species in a tidal pool or in the touch tank at your local aquarium. Most echinoderms are small, with an adult size of about 4 inches, but some can grow to as much as 6.5 feet in length. Different species may be found in a variety of bright colors, including purples, reds, and yellows.   Classes of Echinoderms The phylum Echinodermata contains five classes of marine life:  Asteroidea  (sea stars),  Ophiuroidea  (brittle stars and basket stars), Echinoidea (sea urchins and sand dollars), Holothuroidea (sea cucumbers), and Crinoidea (sea lilies and feather stars). They are a diverse group of organisms, containing about 7,000 species. The phylum is regarded as one of the oldest of all animal groups, thought to have appeared at the start of the Cambrian era, about 500 million years ago.   Etymology The word echinoderm means  comes from the Greek word ekhinos, meaning hedgehog or sea urchin, and the word  derma, meaning skin. Thus, they are spiny-skinned animals. The spines on some echinoderms are more obvious than others. They are very pronounced in  sea urchins, for example. If you run your finger over a sea star, youll likely feel small spines. The spines on sand dollars, on the other hand, are less pronounced.   Basic Body Plan Echinoderms have a unique body design. Many echinoderms exhibit  radial symmetry, which means that their components are arranged around a central axis in a symmetrical manner. This means that an echinoderm has no obvious left and right half, only a top side, and a bottom side. Many echinoderms exhibit pentaradial symmetry- a type of radial symmetry in which the body can be divided into five equally-sized slices organized around a central disk. Although echinoderms can be very diverse, they all have some similarities. These similarities can be found in their circulatory and reproductive systems. Water Vascular System Instead of blood, echinoderms have a water vascular system, which is used for movement and predation. The echinoderm pumps sea water into its body through a sieve plate or madreporite, and this water fills the echinoderms tube feet. The echinoderm moves about the sea floor or across rocks or reefs by filling its tube feet with water to extend them  and then using muscles within the tube feet to retract them. The tube feet also allows echinoderms to hold on to rocks and other substrates and to grip prey by suction. Sea stars have very strong suction in their tube feet that even allows them to pry open the two shells of a bivalve. Echinoderm Reproduction Most echinoderms reproduce sexually, although males and females are virtually indistinguishable from one another when viewed externally. During sexual reproduction, echinoderms release eggs or sperm into the water, which are fertilized in the water column by the male. The fertilized eggs hatch into free-swimming larvae that eventually settle to the ocean bottom. Echinoderms can also reproduce asexually by regenerating body parts, such as arms and spines. Sea stars are well-known for their ability to regenerate arms that are lost. In fact, even if the sea star has only a small part of its central disk left, it can grow an entirely new sea star.   Feeding Behavior Many echinoderms are omnivorous, feeding on a variety of living and dead plant and marine life. They serve an important function in digesting dead plant material on the ocean floor and thereby keeping waters clean. Plentiful echinoderm populations are essential to healthy coral reefs. The digestive system of echinoderms is relatively simple and primitive compared to other marine life; some species ingest and expel waste through the same orifice. Some species simply ingest sediments and filter out the organic material, while other species are capable of catching prey, usually plankton and small fish, with their arms.   Impact on Humans While not an important source of food for humans, some forms of sea urchin are regarded as a delicacy in some parts of the world, where they are used in soups. Some echinoderms produce a toxin which is fatal to fish, but which can be used to make a medicine used to treat human cancers.   Echinoderms are generally beneficial to ocean ecology, with a few exceptions. Starfish, which prey on oysters and other mollusks, have devastated some commercial enterprises. Off the coast of California, sea urchins have caused problems for commercial seaweed farms by eating young plants before they can become established.

ACT Science Practice Tests What to Use and What to Avoid

ACT Science Practice Tests What to Use and What to Avoid SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Whichever way you choose to prepare for ACT Science - whether with a private tutor, class, online program or on your own - you need to make sure you are using high-quality practice ACT Science tests.Because ACT Science is unique, any old science study material won't cut it.To learnabout how different ACT Science is from any other science test, readthe big secret of ACT Science. In this guide, I'll tell you where to find all of the official ACT Science practice tests available: severalare free!Also, I'll provide tips on how to use these ACT Science practice tests improve your score. Additionally, I'll talk about some of the ACT Science practice materials you should avoid and why you shouldn't use them. I draw my conclusions from my years of experience tutoring students for ACT Science and from my own practice for the ACT Science test. Free Full-Length ACT Science Practice Tests These ACT Science practice tests are all free. They're all official resources and made by the ACT makers themselves. Official practice tests are the absolute best resource to use when studying, and I've listedall of them here in one place for your convenience. ACT Science Free Online Sample Test This test format can be a little difficult to use, but it's freeand online.Click on each passage on the left, and click the answer choice to see the answer response.To keep the timing realistic (35 minutes total or five minutes per passage), I recommend that you work on the answers on paper, and then check your answersone by one in your web browser AFTER you have finished the entire test. Official ACT PDFs These are PDFs of complete ACT practice exams. The pages of the Science section are indicated below. ACT Practice Test 2018-2019 (Form 74F)- Page 40-41; Answers p59-60. ACT Practice Test 2015-2016 (Form 72C)- Page 40-51; Answers p58-60. ACT Practice Test 2014-15 (Form 67C)- Page 40-51; Answers p57-60. ACT Practice Test 20-12 (Form 64E)- Page 43-55; Answers p62-65. ACT Practice Test 2008-09 (Form 61C)- Page 42-55; Answers p62-65. ACT Practice Test 2005-06 (Form 59F)- Page 42-55; Answers p62-65. Notice a few years missing?That's because the ACT duplicates the same test in different years.For example, the 2013-14 test is identical to the 2014-15 test. I've included the Form ID with each test so that you can confirm it for yourself (you can see this in the bottom left of each page on the test). Paid ACT Science Practice Tests If you're looking for even more practice ACT Science tests beyond those listed above, below are two more resources to look into. Neither of these of free, but they're still official resources worth spending money on if you want more practice. The Official ACT Prep Guide The book was produced by the makers of the ACT and has five unique full-length ACT practice tests, plus additional practice questions.Costing about $20, this book is the best book for realistic practice tests. Don't even look at Kaplan or Princeton Review for practice tests- their quality is far inferior to the tests put out by the ACT. ACT Online Program Costing $25, this online program includes two extra full-length ACT practice tests.The online prep material is not good - just buy this for the tests, if you need it.Next, I will tell you how to put all of this ACT Science study material to the best use. How to Use ACT Science Practice Tests In this portion, I'll be summarizing our guide tothe best way to study and practice for ACT Science.I highly recommend you read that article for more in-depth information.When using your real ACT Science practice tests, make sure to keep the following instructions in mind. #1:Take the Science Section in One Sitting Come on! The ACT Science sectionis only 35 minutes.You need to set aside that time to sit for the ACT Science, and you should aim to take at least five ACT Science practice tests. Because the ACT Science section is so rushed (52.5 seconds per question), the first few practice tests you take will just be helping you adjust to the pace. Myscores on my first two to three ACT Science practice tests were five points lower than my final score because I needed to adjust to the speed and strategy. You need the extra two to three to solidify your pace and understanding of the strategy. While sitting for the 35-minute section is good practice, it is even better, if you can find the time, to take the entire ACT all at once.The ACT is a four-hour-long marathon, and you will need to practice to build up endurance.Science is the last section of the test!Practicing taking the whole test will better prepare you for the Science section because it will show you what it takes to power through.Sitting for one 35-minute section, without experiencing the 3.5 hours before it, is not as helpful to your practice and improvement.I recommend sitting for at least two full-length practice tests (four hours each) before you take your official ACT. #2: Pay Attention to the Time If you find yourself struggling to finish the ACT Science in 35 minutes, try to watch your pace on each passage and keep yourself to a strict five minute per passage pace.Learn more about this and other ACT Science strategies in our guidetotime management and section strategy for ACT Science. #3: Double-Check Your Answers After finishing an ACT Science practice test, REVIEW your answers.This is the most important part of your process.Review every mistake you made and every question that you guessed on but got right.If you do not review your mistakes, you will not improve;spend at least 15-20 minutes each ACT Science practice test you take. Read our guide tothe best way to study for ACT Science and the reasons you miss ACT Science questions for help with your review process. I’d rather you take fewer ACT Science Practice tests and spend more time reviewing.Again, without review, you will not improve. #4: Consider Using a Prep Program Supplement your ACT Science practice test with a prep program if you don’t see improvement.While some people will see vast improvement simply from reviewing their mistakes and practicing the test format, others need more guidance on strategy to improve on their weak points.Check out PrepScholar’s program; we do just that.We figure out your strengths and weaknesses and select personalizedmaterials to help you work on your weaknesses and improve your score. ACT Science Practice Materials You Should AVOID and Why Unfortunately, not all ACT Science practice tests are high quality. Below are four practice tests you should avoid like the plague. They won't help you with the test, and they may actually hurt your score by causing you to study the wrong topics and question types. Varsity Tutors - Free ACT Science Practice Tests The material provided to answer questions is much shorter than actual ACT Science Passages.They provide few visuals, and those they do provide are hard to read.Rather than setting up proper tables, they just try to align the material into vague columns and rows.This seems ridiculous when the MAJORITY of the ACT Science questions ask you to read visuals for information.The timing does not match the ACT Science test timing (35 minutes total/five minutes per passage) at all.This material is a waste of your time; do not bother with it. ACT Example Practice Tests Website - Free This material provided is not even set up as passages.The questions are just asked at random with random tables thrown in on occasion.This material is nothing like real ACT Science tests, soAVOID it like the plague. McGraw-Hill Free Online Practice and McGraw-Hill 's 10 ACT Practice Tests, Second Edition I am reviewing both together because they are from the same company and have the same issues.The tests mimic the format of the ACT Science test really well.The tests set up seven passages just like the real test, and each passage has the appropriate number of questions. HOWEVER, the questions are very different.On the actual ACT Science test, you should be able to answer most questions using the visuals alone.Read more about this strategy in our other article on the three types of ACT Science passages.On McGraw-Hill’s tests, you need to use the entire passage to answer most questions.Also, the visuals are not as difficult as the visuals on the actual ACT Science test.Avoid this material because,while it may seem like the ACT Science test, looks can be deceiving and waste your time. What’s Next? In order to get the most out ofyour ACT Science practice tests,learnthe best way to study and practice for ACT Scienceand the nine reasons you miss ACT Science questions. Also, for more background on the ACT Science test and strategies, read aboutthe three types of ACT Science passagesandthe big secret of ACT Science. Ready for some tougher practice questions?Check out our guide to the hardest questions on ACT Science and exactly how you should solve them. Like this article? Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this Sciencelesson, you'll love our program.Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands ofpractice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Check out our 5-day free trial:

Reflection Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 4

Reflection Paper - Essay Example This paper, therefore, discusses the learning experiences one receives during a clinical placement on a long-term basis in a health care facility. Long term care facilities have become an essential component in the health care sector since they look after people with chronic illnesses or disabilities, meeting both their health and personal needs. Though mostly associated with the old age, one may need this care at some point in their lives. According to Medicare (2009) ‘about nine million people over the age of 65 needed long term care in 2009, and it estimated that by 2012 twelve million people will need it’. This shows that there will be a rise in demand for nurses and related services in the near future. It is thus crucial for nursing students to receive quality education to be able to cater for such patients. Part of the learning involves a clinical placement which enables the student to practice the theory learnt in class. This is achieved through observation and practice of safe nursing care to people in all phases of human life. This experience offers a valuable opportunity to prevent illnesses, maintain excellent health services as well as nursing of clients with different illnesses while not forgetting providing support in death. The purpose of a clinical placement is to provide an opportunity to a student to acquire expertise in nursing skills, apply already taught theory and facilitate further learning. It presents a chance to a student to practice the theory they learnt in class. Therefore, before one has a clinical placement it is a requirement that they have theoretical knowledge. In addition, it is crucial for one to be vaccinated against various pathogens to protect them from receiving infections from their patients. The clinical placement consists of a program that ensures learning and gaining of skills essential in nursing care practice as will be discussed later in this paper. The program followed during the

The Differences in Economic Coverage conducted by The New York Times Essay

The Differences in Economic Coverage conducted by The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal - Essay Example ommunist Movement’s elites; the week before gave out a pattern for refurbishing over the coming year that demands authorizing customers and simplifying Beijing’s clutch on important firms long managed by the government. Its clearing objectives constitute simplifying hindrances for foreign capital in a few firms; raising the engagement of private investors in government ruled enterprises and offering the nation’s huge rural demography larger availability of cash. For a long time, a single important step, that is a demand to simplify China’s single-child rule, indicates an intention to struggle with the accumulating forces for an aging community. Several people claim that even extra theatrical steps are required. However, Beijing’s declaration proposes that elites need to make sure that China has a steady pool of workforce; and remains a healthy development market for decades to come. The motive in the nation is optimistic and the citizens of China ar e ready to cooperate (Baker 1). As well, the New York Times reporting on the Federal Reserve officials claimed that several of them are unwilling to move on with the Fed’s incentive movement in its present state. Thus, they struggled at their most current conference with different means of promoting an economy that yet requires aid. The debates, defined in the normal report of the conference in October that the Fed issued on Wednesday, did not provide any sudden reform in rule (Appelbaum 1). Officials agreed at the conference to push ahead with the present operation, despite the report claiming that a reform could emerge â€Å"at one of its coming conferences†. The framework of that change has been obvious for some time. The Fed wishes to lower and then postpone its monthly buys of assets and mortgage-backed... This paper is the best example of comparison of economic coverage of similar events, performed by two renowned American newspapers. On the economic front, visions and approaches of these two outlets vary. For instance, the NYT on the Chinese economy claimed that an agreement was reached at the Third Plenum that the nation must change from a development plan concentrated on manufacturing exports in the U.S. and different affluent nations, to one that attracts high promotion from its 1.3 billion customers. On the other side, the WSJ, argues that: business may triumph huge if China pursues through on its promises to provide the market a higher responsibility in the globe’s second biggest economy As well, the NYT reports, that on the Federal Reserve officials agreed at the conference to push ahead with the present operation, despite the report claiming that a reform could emerge â€Å"at one of its coming conferences†. The WSJ on its part claimed that data obtained from the Federal Open market Committee conference largely proposes that economic activity has moved on growing at a reasonable speed. On the euro zone economy, the NYT claimed that the euro zone economy marked moment in the third quarter of the calendar, increased by simply 0.1% from the second quarter. This illustrated frustrating hopes that a completely fledged revival was lastly taking hold following five decades of depression and declination. The WSJ on its part accounted that another indicator for the euro zone economy assumed an expected twist for the worse this month as an economic trust sign declined.

Learning Agreement Essay Example for Free

Learning Agreement Essay Instructions: * There are 4 parts to a Learning Agreement. You must remember to complete every section since marks will be awarded for each section. Sections in a Learning Agreement Remarks Marks Allocated Objective(s) This is where you determine What you want to learn from a particular department 15% Strategies The Strategies is where you determine How you are going to achieve your objective(s) or where you are going to get the information required to fulfill your learning. 15% Assessor Comments You will have to submit this to your Manager(s) for their comments and signature company stamp. (When submitting this to your manager(s), you need not show them the Students Reflections, just your objectives and strategies) 5% Student Reflections This is where you develop a report on your objective(s) this is where you can also develop the learning outcomes. 65% * No part of this report may be reproduced, in any form or by any means. Work submitted based on any of the examples may be awarded no marks. AN EXAMPLE OF A LEARNING AGREEMENT Student Name : X Placement : Human Resource Department Assessor : Ms A Subject Area : Health and Safety Objective To learn and observe the health and safety regulation used in R Company for its employees Strategies for achieving the objective * Discuss with the Human Resource Manager regarding the safety procedures provided by R Company * Tour around the office to observe any hazardous condition and safety procedures implemented in R Company * Discuss with the staff on their opinion about safety in R Company Target date of completion : Y Verification by Assessor and Comments [This is where you get your Manager/Assessor to comment about your performance in the area identified above and get him/her to sign ( stamped).] Signature Stamp _________________________________________________________ Students Reflections [This is where you write in detail about your objectives.] It is important that any company to provide a safe workplace for its employees. For many companies, safety is considered to be a very minor issue, but if one were to look at it closely, it plays a very important role to ensure a safe working environment. This is because a minor negligence in safety could lead to a major disaster. R Company being a company dealing with both local and foreign customers has to always take the effort to ensure that they provide safe and secure services to its customers. It is also necessary to provide enough safety for the employees working there. In my observation on the working condition in R Company, the safety here is awfully neglected. From my personally experience, I had injured my toe more than twice during my 5 months there. This is because all the files are allocated on the floor and due to the small walking space, it is easy for anyone to kick the files and causing injury. The first reason why the files are placed on the floor is because lack of space in the file cabinets. The second reason is because of the staff themselves, they place the files that they need on the floor around the desk. A condition such as this is hazardous to the employees because it will reduce that maneuverability in the company. The staff will have difficulty walking around and might injure themselves because of the files being placed on the floor. If in any case where there is fire, the employees will tend to rush out of the office. With the files placed on the floor, someone might trip and fall. Due to the rushing of all the employees, the victim might suffer major injuries and probably death. It is always important to keep all walk space clear of any obstacle and is wide enough for people to walk safely. This is to ensure that nobody would get trip and injure themselves while working or in an emergency case. The other thing that I observed in both branches of R Company in M City and N City is that they do not have a fire exit. The fire exit of N City branch is locked and blocked with boxes of old documents and brochures. I also noticed that they do not even have any fire extinguisher placed in the office. This shows that there are no proper safety procedures for the staff when there is an emergency situation. Fire escape routes are also not set and displayed in the office. Without these safety items in the office, it can be hazardous when there is a fire situation. The employees there do not know how to react during a fire, how to vacate the building during a fire and the knowledge of any fire fighting equipment placed in the premises. When I interviewed the Human Resource Manager regarding the practice of safety for the employees, I was shocked when he told me that this issue was never discussed. This is very disappointing because I believe many companies fail to see the importance to practice a safe workplace and concern about the welfare of its employees. Even though an emergency situation is unlikely to happen in a commercial office, it is very important that the staff know what to do when an emergency situation occurs. Firstly, it is important that the staff know how to react during a fire situation. This is because a fire accident could happen anytime without warning, therefore it is better to be prepared when it does happen. To be prepared for this, the fire escape route must be cleared. The management of the company should set up and display the emergency escape route all over the office. With this information displayed, the staff would know where to go during an emergency situation. The fire escape routes should also be cleared of any obstacles. This is to ensure an easy escape path and there are no difficulties using it. The office should also be equipped with fire extinguishers to combat any fire situations. This is because in most cases, a fire disaster can be avoided if it is dealt with immediately. With fire extinguishers placed around the office, a minor fire can be attended to before it gets out of hand. I noticed that in R Company there is no fire alarm system. It is important to install a fire alarm system to alert the staff in case of a fire situation because it could take just a few minutes for any fire to consume the whole building. Therefore it is best that all the employees are notified immediately by the fire alarm and able to vacate the premises as soon as possible. When all the facilities and procedures installed to combat a fire situation, it is also necessary to educate the employees on how to use them. A safety committee should be set up to continuously educate the employees on safety and how to react during an emergency situation. The committee is responsible to provide education to the employees on how to use the fire extinguisher, identify the different types of fire extinguishers available and which one is best to use in each type of fire cause. The committee can also conduct frequent audit of the workplace to ensure that all fire escape routes are not blocked and all fire extinguishers are easily accessible. By conducting audits, it is also possible to identify any fire hazard in the company and action could be taken before it turns into a disaster. R Company should also hold a fire drill twice a year to make sure that all employees know what to do if the fire alarm goes off. This is to avoid a panic situation which could cost lives. When the staff are educated with fire drills, they would know the correct procedure on how to vacate the building in an organized manner. The company should also provide training for a certain number of staff in First Aid. This is because if there is any accident that occurs in the workplace, the victim could be attended to immediately while waiting for the arrival of the ambulance. This is vital because in many cases, lives were lost because no immediate attention was given to them. This committee should also work closely with the fire department to learn any latest information regarding safety. They should also encourage frequent checking of the electrical wiring in the company because wires tend to wear off over the years. Even though the Tourism industry usually deals with tourists and giving them the best services available, it is also important to ensure that safety of the tourist. To do so it is best to start with the company. This is because without the concern of safety in the office, how it is expected that the safety of the customers can be guaranteed. Often many people overlooked the issue of safety in their working environment because it rarely happens, but bear in mind that accidents happen without a warning and it is always better to be prepared for it.

Dostoevskys Crime and Punishment :: essays research papers

In Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky gives the reader an inside look to the value system that he holds for himself, as well as the type of characteristics that he abhors in people as well as the characteristics that he admires in people. He uses characters in the novel to express his beliefs of what a person should be like in life to be a “good'; person. Specifically he uses Raskolnokv to show both good and bad characteristics that he likes in people. Also he uses Svidriglaiov and Luzin to demonstrate the characteristics that people should shun and his personal dislikes in people.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  First, Dostoevsky gives the reader the character, Raskolnokov. He is the main character, whom Fyodor uses to show two sides of people their admirable side and their disgusting side. He loves Raskolnokov, which is why Fyodor uses Raskolnokov’s point of view throughout the whole novel. Personally, Fyodor dislikes some of his qualities but understands that all people are plagued with some bad traits, and that Raskolnokv is trying to make emends for some of his wrong doings, i.e. the murder of the pawnbroker and her sister. He knows that what he did was wrong and is willing to suffer for his crime, and he does throughout the whole book with his constant depression. Dostoesky believes in punishment for your crimes, this is why he shows Raskolnokov suffering through most of the novel, to show his great love for penance. Dostoevsky likes the kind giving nature of people; this is why he portrays the main character as a kind, gentle, and giving, person. Often, Raskol nokov thinks only of others benefits such as when he helped Katerina by giving her all his money for Marmelodov, as well as his caring about what happens to his sister with her marriage to Luzhin. Raskolnokov hates Luzhin’s arrogant and pompous attitude, which reflects Dostoevsky’s animosity of the same qualities in people in the real world.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Dostoevsky does not like all of Raskolnokv though. He hates his aloofness. Dostoevsky cannot stand anti-socialism and believes that people should be together and not dislike “meeting at any time'; with anyone. Constantly Raskolnokov alienates himself from all his friends and family to go alone about his way, which ends up getting him into trouble because of his radical thinking, like his theory that some people can transcend the law because of some extraordinary powers. The trouble that Raskolnokov gets into is Fyodor’s way of showing that continually parting yourself from society is unhealthy for a person and that they need other human contact to be complete.

Effects of Optimism on Psychological and Physical Health

Effects of Optimism on Psychological and Physical Health Heather LaBombard PSY/220 The definition of the word â€Å"optimism† is a favorable attitude about conditions or events in life. Some believe that optimistic views in life will have beneficial effects on psychological and physical health. However, excessive optimism can have harmful effects on psychological and physical health. Many tests and research have been done on people to see if optimism does in fact have an effect on psychological and physical health. According to one of the articles that I researched about the effects of optimism on physical health suggested that people who have an optimistic view tend to engage in health-promoting actions such as: not smoking, not drinking alcohol, watching their diet, using sunscreen, taking vitamins, and other health-related actions. According to the Encyclopedia of Health and Behavior Management (2004) there have been studies on people who optimistic about their lives and the studies have shown that the optimistic people are less likely to become sick or to develop a disease as a person who is pessimistic. In a study that monitored the blood pressure of people doing normal activities the results showed that a person who was optimistic had less of a chance of elevated blood pressure than a pessimist. Another study has shown that optimism can lead to faster recoveries from surgeries or an accident. . However, a person who has an optimistic view may think that everything will go his or her way and that nothing can go wrong for either one of them. This could lead them to taking behavioral risks, such as: engaging in unprotected sex, drinking alcohol, doing drugs, smoking cigarettes and not taking care of their general health. I know that when I have been pessimistic about events going on in my life I have started to think unhealthy. I tend to become sick more often when I do not have a good attitude. When I do think optimistically I am full of energy and I act like I am happy. In my personal opinion I agree that optimism has an impact on physical health and it could be negative or positive. Optimism plays a part in psychological health. According to the article that I researched about the effects of optimism on psychological health optimists face challenges more effectively than pessimists and therefore benefit psychologically (Wimberley, Carver, & Antoni, 2008). The article is about women who have breast cancer and how optimism plays a role in their well-being. Optimism is associated with a lower level of distress on breast cancer patients. Studies show that optimistic women who have breast cancer feel physically attractive (Wimberley, Carver, & Antoni, 2008). The breast cancer patients were also optimistic about interpersonal relationships, which is also psychologically rewarding. Studies have shown that optimistic people have better interpersonal relationships and social support; therefore are more optimistic about their illness because they believe that they have a support system. An optimistic attitude about learning about the education of breast cancer also showed that the women had a better sense of well-being. Although being optimistic in life is good for psychological well-being, it can also bring some ill effects for a woman who has breast cancer. According to Pinquart, Frohlich, & Silbereisen (2007) a woman with breast cancer may develop an optimistic attitude about the diagnosis of breast cancer and expect a good outcome about side effects and the treatment. This does not happen very often, which could lead to psychological distress. I agree with both aspects of effects on psychological and physical health. A person who has a good attitude toward life in general tends to lead a healthier life physically and psychologically. However, having too much optimism in life may be damaging to a person’s physical health and psychological health. As long as optimism is used in a positive way, a person can lead a happy and healthy life. References OPTIMISM, PESSIMISM, AND HEALTH. (2004). In Encyclopedia of Health and Behavior Management, Sage. Retrieved from http://www. credoreference. om/entry/sageeohabm/optimism_pessimism_and_health Pinquart, M. , Frohlich, C. , & Silbereisen, R. (2007). Optimism, pessimism, and change of psychological well-being in cancer patients. Psychology, Health & Medicine, 12(4), 421-432. doi:10. 1080/13548500601084271. Wimberly, S. , Carver, C. , & Antoni, M. (2008). Effects of optimism, interpersonal relationships, and distress on psychosexual well-being among women with early stage breast cancer. Psychology & Health, 23(1), 57-72. Retrieved from CINAHL Plus with Full Text database.

Christopher Marlowe Essay

Christopher Marlowe Introduction: Drama presents fiction or fact in a form that could be acted before an audience. It is imitation by action and speech. A play has a plot, characters, atmosphere and conflict. Unlike a novel, which in read in private, a play is intended to be performed in public. Christopher Marlowe was a greatest of pre Shakespearian dramatists, poet and translator. Marlowe’s plays are known for the use of blank verse, He was known as the Father of English Tragedy Origin and development of British Drama: The Romans introduced drama to England, during the medieval period. A number of auditoriums were constructed for the performance of the art form, when it came to the country. Mummers’ plays, associated with the Morris dance, became a popular form of street theatre during the period. The performances were based on the old stories of Saint George, Robin Hood and Dragon. The artists moved from town to town, to perform these folk tales. They were given money and hospitality, in return for their performance. The mystery and morality plays, performed during medieval period – at religious festivals, carried the Christian theme. The English Renaissance, a cultural and artistic movement in England country that lasted from 16th to early-17th century, paved the way for the dominance of drama in the country. Queen Elizabeth I ruled during the period, when great poetry and drama were produced. The renowned playwrights of this time included William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, B en Jonson and John Webster. The dramatists wrote plays based on themes like history, comedy and tragedy. While most of the playwrights specialized in only one of the themes, Shakespeare emerged as an artist who produced plays based on all the three themes. Pre Shakespearian Drama: The University Wits, nearly all of whom were associated with Oxford and Cambridge, did much to found the Elizabethan school of drama. They were all more or less aquainted with each other, and most of them led irregular and stormy lives. Their plays had several features in common. There was a fondness of heroic themes, such as the lives of great figures like Mohammed and Tamburlaine.Heroic themes needed heroic treatment: great fullness and variety; splendid descriptions, long swelling speeches, the handling of violent incidents and emotions. These qualities, excellent when held in restraint, only too often led to loudness and disorder. The style also was ‘heroic’. The chief aim was to achieve strong and sounding lines, magnificient epithets, and powerful declamation. This again led to abuse and to mere bombast, mouthing, and in the worst cases to nonsense. In the best examples, such as in Marlowe, the result is quite impressive. In this connection it is to be noted that the best medium for such expression was blank verse, which was sufficiently elastic to bear the strong pressure of these expansive methods. The themes were usually tragic in nature, for the dramatists were as a rule too much in earnest to give heed to what was considered to be the lower species of comedy. The general lack of real humour in the early drama is one of its most prominent features. Humour, when it is brought in at all, is coarse and immature. Christopher Marlowe (1564 – 1593): Marlowe’s Early Life: Christopher Marlowe, English dramatist, the father of English tragedy, and instaurator of dramatic blank verse, the eldest son of a shoemaker at Canterbury, was born in that city on the 6th of February 1564. He was christened at St George’s Church, Canterbury, on the 26th of February, 1563/4, some two months before Shakespeare’s baptism at Stratford-on-Avon. His father, John Marlowe, is said to have been the grandson of John Morley or Marlowe, a substantial tanner of Canterbury. The father, who survived by a dozen years or so his illustrious son, married on the 22nd of May 1561 Catherine, daughter of Christopher Arthur, at one time rector of St Peter’s, Canterbury, who had been ejected by Queen Mary as a married minister. The dramatist received the rudiments of his education at the King’s School, Canterbury, which he entered at Michaelmas 1578, and where he had as his fellow-pupils Richard Boyle, afterwards known as the great Earl of Cork, and Will Lyly, t he brother of [John Lyly] the dramatist. Stephen Gosson entered the same school a little before, and William Harvey, the famous physician, a little after Marlowe. He went to Cambridge as one of Archbishop Parker’s scholars from the King’s School, and matriculated at Benet (Corpus Christi) College, on the 17th of March 1571, taking his B.A. degree in 1584, and that of M.A. three or four years later. Marlowe’s Contribution to British Drama: In a playwriting career that spanned little more than six years, Marlowe’s achievements were diverse and splendid. Perhaps before leaving Cambridge he had already written Tamburlaine the Great (in two parts, both performed by the end of 1587; published 1590). Almost certainly during his later Cambridge years, Marlowe had translated Ovid’s Amores (The Loves) and the first book of Lucan’s Pharsalia from the Latin. About this time he also wrote the play Dido, Queen of Carthage (published in 1594 as the joint work of Marlowe and Thomas Nashe). With the production of Tamburlaine he received recognition and acclaim, and playwriting became his major concern in the few years that lay ahead. Both parts of Tamburlaine were published anonymously in 1590, and the publisher omitted certain passages that he found incongruous with the play’s serious concern with history; even so, the extant Tamburlaine text can be regarded as substantially Marlowe’s. No other of his plays or poems or translations was published during his life. His unfinished but splendid poem Hero and Leander—which is almost certainly the finest nondramatic Elizabethan poem apart from those produced by Edmund Spenser—appeared in 1598. There is argument among scholars concerning the order in which the plays subsequent to Tamburlaine were written. It is not uncommonly held that Faustus quickly followed Tamburlaine and that then Marlowe turned to a more neutral, more â€Å"social† kind of writing in Edward II and The Massacre at Paris. His last play may have been The Jew of Malta, in which he signally broke new ground. It is known that Tamburlaine, Faustus, and The Jew of Malta were performed by the Admiral’s Men, a company whose outstanding actor was Edward Alleyn, who most certainly played Tamburlaine, Faustus, and Barabas the Jew. Plays of Christopher Marlowe: Marlowe’s plays, all tragedies, were written within five years (1587-92). He had no bent for comedy, and the comic parts found in some of his plays are always inferior and may be by other writers. As a dramatist Marlowe had serious limitations, though it is possible to trace a growing sense of the theatre through his plays. Dido, Queen of Carthage (1586): Dido, Queen of Carthage is a short play written by the English playwright Christopher Marlowe, with possible contributions by Thomas Nashe. The story of the play focuses on the classical figure of Dido, the Queen of Carthage. It tells an intense dramatic tale of Dido and her fanatical love for Aeneas (induced by Cupid), Aeneas’ betrayal of her and her eventual suicide on his departure for Italy. Jupiter is fondling Ganymede, who says that Jupiter’s wife Juno has been mistreating him because of her jealousy. Venus enters, and complains that Jupiter is neglecting her son Aeneas, who has left Troy with survivors of the defeated city. He was on his way to Italy, but is now lost in a storm. Jupiter tells her not to worry; he will quiet the storm. Venus travels to Libya, where she disguises herself as a mortal and meets Aeneas, who has arrived, lost, on the coast. He and a few followers have become separated from their comrades. He recognises her, but she denies her identity. She helps him meet up with Illioneus, Sergestus and Cloanthes, other surv iving Trojans who have already received generous hospitality from the local ruler Dido, Queen of Carthage. Dido meets Aeneas and promises to supply his ships. She asks him to give her the true story of the fall of Troy, which he does in detail, describing the death of Priam, the loss of his own wife and his escape with his son Ascanius and other survivors. Dido’s suitor, Iarbas, presses her to agree to marry him. She seems to favour him, but Venus has other plans. She disguises Cupid as Aeneas’s son Ascanius, so that he can get close to Dido and touch her with his arrow. He does so; Dido immediately falls in love with Aeneas and rejects Iarbas out of hand, to his horror and confusion. Dido’s sister Anna, who is in love with Iarbas, encourages Dido to pursue Aeneas. She and Aeneas meet at a cave, where Dido declares her love. They enter the cave to make love. Iarbas swears he will get revenge. Venus and Juno appear, arguing over Aeneas. Venus believes that Juno wants to harm her son, but Juno denies it, saying she has important plans for him. Aeneas’s followers say they must leave Libya, to fulfil their destiny in Italy. Aeneas seems to agree, and prepares to depart. Dido sends Anna to find out what is happening. She brings Aeneas back, who denies he intended to leave. Dido forgives him, but as a precaution r emoves all the sails and tackle from his ships. She also places Ascanius in the custody of the Nurse, believing that Aeneas will not leave without him. However, â€Å"Ascanius† is really the disguised Cupid. Dido says that Aeneas will be king of Carthage and anyone who objects will be executed. Aeneas agrees and plans to build a new city to rival Troy and strike back at the Greeks. Mercury appears with the real Ascanius and informs Aeneas that his destiny is in Italy and that he must leave on the orders of Jupiter. Aeneas reluctantly accepts the divine command. Iarbas sees the opportunity to be rid of his rival and agrees to supply Aeneas with the missing tackle. Aeneas tells Dido he must leave. She pleads with him to ignore Jupiter’s command, but he refuses to do so. He departs, leaving Dido in despair. The Nurse says that â€Å"Ascanius† has disappeared. Dido orders her to be imprisoned. She tells Iarbas and Anna that she intends to make a funeral pyre on which she will burn everything that reminds her of Aeneas. After cursing Aeneas’ progeny, she throws herself into the fire. Iarbas, horrified, kills himself too. Anna, seeing Iarbas dead, kills herself. Tamburlaine the Great (1587–1588): Tamburlaine the Great is a play in two parts by Christopher Marlowe. It is loosely based on the life of the Central Asian emperor, Timur â€Å"the lame†. Written in 1587 or 1588, the play is a milestone in Elizabethan public drama; it marks a turning away from the clumsy language and loose plotting of the earlier Tudor dramatists, and a new interest in fresh and vivid language, memorable action, and intellectual complexity. Along with Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy, it may be considered the first popular success of London’s public stage. Marlowe, generally considered the greatest of the University Wits, influenced playwrights well into the Jacobean period, and echoes of Tamburlaine’s bombast and ambition can be found in English plays all the way to the Puritan closing of the theatres in 1642. While Tamburlaineis considered inferior to the great tragedies of the late-Elizabethan and early-Jacobean period, its significance in creating a stock of themes and , especially, in demonstrating the potential of blank verse in drama, are still acknowledged. Part 1 The play opens in Persepolis. The Persian emperor, Mycetes, dispatches troops to dispose of Tamburlaine, a Scythian shepherd and at that point a nomadic bandit. In the same scene, Mycetes’ brother Cosroe plots to overthrow Mycetes and assume the throne. The scene shifts to Scythia, where Tamburlaine is shown wooing, capturing, and winning Zenocrate, the daughter of the Egyptian king. Confronted by Mycetes’ soldiers, he persuades first the soldiers and then Cosroe to join him in a fight against Mycetes. Although he promises Cosroe the Persian throne, Tamburlaine reneges on this promise and, after defeating Mycetes, takes personal control of the Persian Empire. Suddenly a powerful figure, Tamburlaine decides to pursue further conquests. A campaign against Turkey yields him the Turkish king Bajazeth and his wife Zabina as captives; he keeps them in a cage and at one point uses Bajazeth as a footstool. After conquering Africa and naming himself emperor of that continent, Tamburlaine sets his eyes on Damascus; this target places the Egyptian Sultan, his father-in-law, directly in his path. Zenocrate pleads with her husband to spare her father. He complies, instead making the Sultan a tributary king. The play ends with the wedding of Zenocrate and Tamburlaine, and the crowning of the former as Empress of Persia. Part 2 Tamburlaine grooms his sons to be conquerors in his wake as he continues to conquer his neighbouring kingdoms. His oldest son, Calyphas, preferring to stay by his mother’s side and not risk death, incurs Tamburlaine’s wrath. Meanwhile, the son of Bajazeth, Callapine, escapes from Tamburlaine’s jail and gathers a group of tributary kings to his side, planning to avenge his father. Callapine and Tamburlaine meet in battle, where Tamburlaine is victorious. But finding Calyphas remained in his tent during the battle, Tamburlaine kills him in anger. Tamburlaine then forces the defeated kings to pull his chariot to his next battlefield, declaring, Upon reaching Babylon, which holds out against him, Tamburlaine displays further acts of extravagant savagery. When the Governor of the city attempts to save his life in return for revealing the city treasury, Tamburlaine has him hung from the city walls and orders his men to shoot him to death. He orders the inhabitants â₠¬â€ men, women, and children — bound and thrown into a nearby lake. Lastly, Tamburlaine scornfully burns a copy of the Qur’an and claims to be greater than God. In the final act, he is struck ill but manages to defeat one more foe before he dies. He bids his remaining sons to conquer the remainder of the earth as he departs life. The play is often linked to Renaissance humanism which idealises the potential of human beings. Tamburlaine’s aspiration to immense power raises profound religious questions as he arrogates for himself a role as the â€Å"scourge of God† (an epithet originally applied to Attila the Hun). Some readers have linked this stance with the fact that Marlowe was accused of atheism. Others have been more concerned with a supposed anti-Muslim thread of the play, highlighted in a scene in which the main character burns the Qur’an. Jeff Dailey notes in his article â€Å"Christian Underscoring in Tamburlaine the Great, Part II† that Marlowe’s work is a direct successor to the traditional medieval morality plays,[3]and that, whether or not he is an atheist, he has inherited religious elements of content and allegorical methods of presentation. The Jew of Malta (1589): The Jew of Malta is a play by Christopher Marlowe, probably written in 1589 or 1590. Its plot is an original story of religious conflict, intrigue, and revenge, set against a backdrop of the struggle for supremacy between Spain and the Ottoman Empire in the Mediterranean that takes place on the island of Malta. The Jew of Malta is considered to have been a major influence on William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. The play opens with a Prologue narrated by Machevill, a caricature of the author Machiavelli. This character explains that he is presenting the â€Å"tragedy of a Jew† who has become rich by following Machiavelli’s teachings. Act I opens with a Jewish merchant, called Barabas, waiting for news about the return of his ships from the east. He discovers that they have safely docked in Malta, before three Jews arrive to inform him that they must go to the senate-house to meet the governor. Once there, Barabas discovers that along with every other Jew on the island he must forfeit half of his estate to help the government pay tribute to the Turks. When the Barabas protests at this unfair treatment, the governor Ferneze confiscates all of Barabas’s wealth and decides to turn Barabas’s house into a convent. Barabas vows revenge but first attempts to recover some of the treasures he has hidden in his mansion. His daughter, Abigail, pretends to convert to Christianity in order to enter the convent. She smuggles out her father’s gold at night. Ferneze meets with Del Bosco, the Spanish Vice-Admiral, who wishes to sell Turkish slaves in the market place. Del Bosco convinces Ferneze to break his alliance with the Turks in return for Spanish protection. While viewing the slaves, Barabas meets up with Ferneze’s, Lodowick. This man has heard of Abigail’s great beauty from his friend (and Abigail’s lover) Mathias. Barabas realizes that he can use Lodowick to exact revenge on Ferneze, and so he dupes the young man into thinking Abigail will marry him. While doing this, the merchant buys a slave called Ithamore who hates Christians as much as his new master does. Mathias sees Barabas talking to Lodowick and demands to know whether they are discussing Abigail. Barabas lies to Mathias, and so Barabas deludes both young men into thinking that Abigail has been promised to them. At home, Barabas orders his reluctant daughter to get betrothed to Lodowick. At the end of the second Act, the two young men vow revenge on each other for attempting to woo Abigail behind one another’s backs. Barabas seizes on this opportunity and gets Ithamore to deliver a forged letter to Mathias, supposedly from Lodowick, challenging him to a duel. Act II I introduces the prostitute Bellamira and her pimp Pilia-Borza, who decide that they will steal some of Barabas’s gold since business has been slack. Ithamore enters and instantly falls in love with Bellamira. Mathias and Lodowick kill each other in the duel orchestrated by Barabas and are found by Ferneze and Katherine, Mathias’s mother. The bereaved parents vow revenge on the perpetrator of their sons’ murders. Abigail finds Ithamore laughing, and Ithamore tells her of Barabas’s role in the young men’s deaths. Grief-stricken, Abigail persuades a Dominican friar Jacomo to let her enter the convent, even though she lied once before about converting. When Barabas finds out what Abigail has done, he is enraged, and he decides to poison some rice and send it to the nuns. He instructs Ithamore to deliver the food. In the next scene, Ferneze meets a Turkish emissary, and Ferneze explains that he will not pay the required tribute. The Turk leaves, stating that his leader Calymath will attack the island. Jacomo and another friar Bernardine despair at the deaths of all the nuns, who have been poisoned by Barabas. Abigail enters, close to death, and confesses her fatherà ¢â‚¬â„¢s role in Mathias’s and Lodowick’s deaths to Jacomo. She knows that the priest cannot make this knowledge public because it was revealed to him in confession. Act IV shows Barabas and Ithamore delighting in the nuns’ deaths. Bernardine and Jacomo enter with the intention of confronting Barabas. Barabas realizes that Abigail has confessed his crimes to Jacomo. In order to distract the two priests from their task, Barabas pretends that he wants to convert to Christianity and give all his money to whichever monastery he joins. Jacomo and Bernardine start fighting in order to get the Jew to join their own religious houses. Barabas hatches a plan and tricks Bernardine into coming home with him. Ithamore then strangles Bernardine, and Barabas frames Jacomo for the crime. The action switches to Bellamira and her pimp, who find Ithamore and persuade him to bribe Barabas. The slave confesses his master’s crimes to Bellamira, who decides to report them to the governor after Barabas has given her his money. Barabas is maddened by the slave’s treachery and turns up at Bellamira’s home disguised as a French lute player. Barabas then poisons all three conspirators with the use of a poisoned flower. The action moves quickly in the final act. Bellamira and Pilia-Borza confess Barabas’s crimes to Ferneze, and the murderer is sent for along with Ithamore. Shortly after, Bellamira, Pilia-Borza and Ithamore die. Barabas fakes h is own death and escapes to find Calymath. Barabas tells the Turkish leader how best to storm the town. Following this event and the capture of Malta by the Turkish forces, Barabas is made governor, and Calymath prepares to leave. However, fearing for his own life and the security of his office, Barabas sends for Ferneze. Barabas tells him that he will free Malta from Turkish rule and kill Calymath in exchange for a large amount of money. Ferneze agrees and Barabas invites Calymath to a feast at his home. However, when Calymath arrives, Ferneze prevents Barabas from killing him. Ferneze and Calymath watch as Barabas dies in a cauldron that Barabas had prepared for Calymath. Ferneze tells the Turkish leader that he will be a prisoner in Malta until the Ottoman Emperor agrees to free the island. Doctor Faustus (1589-1593): Marlowe’s â€Å"The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus† stands as one of the most influential and frequently-referenced pieces of literature in history. The play is the story of Dr. Faustus, a man who considers study in the fields of logic, medicine, law, and divinity and instead chooses to forsake them all to practice black magic. He enters into a deal with Mephastophilis, a servant of the devil, in which Faustus gains the services of the demon but has to give up his soul after 24 years. The play deals with several important themes. The corrupting influence of power, sin and redemption, and the divided nature of man are interwoven throughout the piece. Absolute power corrupts Faustus thoroughly. In the beginning we are introduced to a man at the top of his game. He’s mastered several important disciplines and is seeking a further, more rewarding, challenge so he turns to black magic. Faustus dreams of the many amazing things he’ll accomplish with his new powers. He muses on sending spirits to India to fetch him gold, ponders having them â€Å"Ransack the ocean for orient pearl,† and contemplates how he will use his spirits to gain knowledge of â€Å"the secrets of all foreign kings.† His ambitions even extend to the throne of Germany. When finally granted the power he so desires, Faustus proceeds to do very little with it. He starts out auspiciously enough with an adventure in a chariot pulled by dragons so that he may unlock the mysteries of astronomy. Faustus seeks to test the accuracy of maps of the coasts and kingdoms of the world as well and eventually ends up in Rome. Soon after, however , he basically lets his amazing power go to waste. He spends his time impressing various noblemen, playing petty tricks on people, and conjuring up specters of Alexander the Great and Helen of Troy. The underlying statement Marlowe is making is one of the basic tenets of modern psychology. People simply don’t appreciate things they didn’t have to work to gain. In the beginning, Faustus is a great man, full of ambition and at the top of his field. While he ‘earns’ his new-found power in a sense by forfeiting his soul, he has done no actual work to acquire it. Throughout the course of the play we see the formerly-ambitious Faustus reduced to a petty conjurer and celebrity because of the corrupting influence of his power. Instead of choosing to act on his lofty ambitions or, heaven forbid, use his power for unselfish reasons; he simply wastes his days amusing himself with practical jokes and beautiful women. Marlowe also comments on the nature of sin and redemption. Faustus essentially commits the ultimate sin by signing a pact with the devil. He chooses of his own free will to give up his eternal soul in exchange for an earthly reward. According to Christian mythology, one can be forgiven of any sin, one has only to repent and ask God’s forgiveness. Despite the severity of his sin, Faustus is given several opportunities to repent his sin and be saved, and is encouraged to do so both by the good angel who appears several times and by the old man in scene 12. Each time he chooses to remain loyal to Hell. He seems to consider repenting at the very end, but Mephastophilis threatens to tear his body apart, so he chooses instead to send Mephastophilis to torture the old man whose words he finds himself unable to heed. Even though an easy answer to the problem of losing his soul exists, and he is several times reminded of it, in the end his own weakness prevents him from making the choice to repent and damns him for all eternity. The divided nature of man is literally personified in the play by the good and evil angels that appear to Faustus periodically. These characters represent opposing sides of Faustus’ own psyche, as well as representing emissaries of heaven and hell. Faustus is continually undecided whether he should continue his bargain or repent and seek salvation. He is clearly afraid for his eternal soul but is unable to relinquish the amazing power his bargain has afforded him. Marlowe may have intended the two angels as literal beings, but it’s obvious he also intended them as an allegorical representation of Faustus’ own internal struggle. Themes are an integral part of the play, but Marlowe’s work has truly stood the test of time. What is it about Doctor Faustus’ story that has made it resonant to countless generations of readers since it was written? The good doctor is a character with whom readers can sympathize. This is not to necessarily say that he is a ‘sympathetic’ character, but simply that he’s a man who faces temptation and a tough choice. Human beings face tough choices every day, and like Faustus we are forced to weigh the consequences of yielding to those temptations. Every human being faces temptation almost every day of their lives. These temptations range from the miniscule, such as being tempted to eat a slice of bread in spite of your pledge to adhere strictly to the Atkins diet, to the extreme, such as your best friend’s drunken girlfriend coming on to you. The story of Faustus rings true with readers even today because of this. It speaks to every reader because there are no people who have lived without temptation. We all have our â€Å"good angel† and â€Å"bad angel,† the voices inside our heads that spell out consequences of choices we’re faced with. In most cases, people who give into temptation are aware of the consequence s of that choice. The fact that Faustus’ temptation is a far greater one than any of us is likely to face and has far greater consequences than any of us will ever be up against just makes it even more resonant. Everyone has given in to a strong temptation at some point in their lives and it makes us feel good to see someone doing the same despite the enormous consequences that follow for Faustus. Despite the fact that Faustus has committed the ultimate sin by choosing of his own free will to give up his immortal soul for an earthly reward, the possibility of salvation exists for him until the very end. We as people want to believe that the possibility of salvation and forgiveness exists for us no matter how heinous the deeds we have committed are. Marlowe’s play speaks to this desire within us, telling us that, like Faustus, the possibility of repentance and forgiveness exists for us no matter how badly we screw up. It’s a very comforting thought, especially to those living with guilt over some past transgression. Another reason that the story in â€Å"Doctor Faustus† is as relevant today as it was when Marlowe wrote it is Faustus himself. Some may see him as a tragic hero, and it’s very possible to consider him in this light, but it’s also not much of a stretch to call him a villain. Men like Faustus exist even today, people who are willing to do whatever it tak es to get what they want regardless of the consequences to themselves or to others. Ken Lay in the recent Enron scandal comes to mind as an example of this. Mr. Lay was perfectly willing to practically destroy the lives of thousands of people by taking their hard-earned money and squandering it on yachts and other expensive trifles. He, in effect, sold his soul. Faustus’ selfish deeds remind us that people like him exist in real life. When Faustus is corrupted by his power and basically squanders it we are both angry at his inability to find a way to do good with his powers and pleased that he is getting what he deserves. Society likes it when people who commit evil deeds have it blow up in their face. We want to see justice served, whether it be Faustus’ eternity in hell or Mr. Lay’s recently-handed-down prison sentence, it feels good to know that evil people are punished. â€Å"Doctor Faustus† has truly stood the test of time as a great piece of classical literature. Countless indications of its influence exist even today, ranging from the film â€Å"The Devil’s Advocate† to the good and evil angels that appear on the shoulders in Warner Brothers cartoons. Marlowe’s use of complex themes and subtle commentary on the nature of man coupled with the underlying messages that speak to the human p syche have established â€Å"Doctor Faustus† as a pinnacle of the writer’s craft and a treatise on the human condition. Edward the Second (1592): Edward II is a Renaissance or Early Modern period play written by Christopher Marlowe. It is one of the earliest English history plays. The full title of the first publication is The Troublesome Reign and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England, with the Tragical Fall of Proud Mortimer. Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II is typically applauded as an aesthetic achievement, a history play that brings form and meaning to the incoherent material of its chronicle source by retelling the king’s slightly dull, twenty-year reign as the fierce and deadly struggle of a few willful personalities. Within the development of Elizabethan drama,Edward II is granted a crucial role in bringing to the English â€Å"chronicle play†Ã¢â‚¬â€œincluding Shakespeare’s Henry VI plays and Richard III–the unity and purpose of the mature â€Å"history† play, epitomized by Shakespeare’s later, more aesthetically sophisticated tetralogy. In this narrative of literary development, the episodic chronicle play fails to show the dispar ate events of the past contributing to a single action — fails, like the chronicle, to comprehend the past — while the history play successfully makes sense of those events. Considered in context of the Marlovian oeuvre, Edward II again demonstrates the triumph of art and order over inchoate historical material: it is Marlowe’s â€Å"most perfect achievement in dramatic structure† and the â€Å"most finished and satisfactory of Marlowe’s plays, evidently carefully written, with the refractory chronicle material skillfully handled.† These readings of Edward II, however, have relied upon too superficial an understanding of the chronicle tradition, and they have kept the play’s formal success separate from the Elizabethan debates about historiography within which both play and source participated. The social and political stakes of Marlowe’s historiographical practice emerge when we reread Edward II against a conception of the chronicle not as mere â€Å"material† but as a coherent and influential projection of national identity and historical process. Such a comparative reading shows us not merely that Marlo we’s play is more aesthetically satisfying, but also that it significantly redefines the nation and the forces of historical change. In particular, Marlowe delineates and focuses on a private realm, which he sets up in opposition to the public as a volatile source of decisions affecting the state. In addition, reading Marlowe’s play with a new understanding of the chronicle foregrounds the metadiscursive elements in Edward II that, referring back to the source accounts, help to illuminate Marlowe’s sense of his own artistic refashioning. The chronicle form, as Marlowe’s principal source and one with considerable cultural authority, challenged him to set up his drama as a more â€Å"true† history and to defend his very different understanding of both political process and history writing. The assessments of Edward II that began this article define the play against the chronicle, which is in turn characterized as â€Å"material,† an apparently amorphous grouping of value-free facts for the artist to choose or reject. For the modern reader, accustomed to finding meaning in tales of causality, the disparate events recorded by the chroniclers — events only related to each other by their shared chronological structure — seem to lack meaning and purpose. But we can no longer read these important histories so carelessly. In her recent analysis of Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicle, Annabel Patterson has shown that the chronicle’s form and content actually worked to address the concerns and convey the values of the citizen and artisan Londoners who were its principal readers and producers. Maintaining that the Chronicle reveals not its authors’ â€Å"incompetence† but their â€Å"different set of historiographical principles,† Patterson argues that the Chronicle’s perplexing inclusivity — the quality that brought John Donne’s scathing dismissal of chronicle content as â€Å"triviall houshold trash†Ã¢â‚¬â€œin effect creates a national history that will encompass not just king and court but also citizens and even the artisanal and laboring classes. Patterson also traces, in passages throughout the Chronicle, the authors’ recurrent, approving attention to rights theory, to the â€Å"ancient constitution,† and to the value of Parliame nt in limiting the monarch’s power. She persuasively demonstrates that they make a strong case for certain liberties of the individual and the laws that protect them. The Massacre at Paris (1593): The Massacre at Paris is an Elizabethan play by the English dramatist Christopher Marlowe. It concerns the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, which took place in Paris in 1572, and the part played by the Duc de Guise in those events. The Lord Strange’s Men acted a play titled The Tragedy of the Guise, thought to be Marlowe’s play, on 26 January 1593. The Admiral’s Menperformed The Guise or The Massacre ten times between 21 June and 27 September 1594. The Diary of Philip Henslowe marks the play as â€Å"ne,† though scholars disagree as to whether this indicates a â€Å"new† play or a performance at the Newington Butts theatre. The Diary also indicates that Henslowe planned a revival of the play in 1602, possibly in a revised version.[1] A possible revision may have something to do with the surprising number of Shakespearean borrowings and paraphrases in the text.[2] The only surviving text is an undated quarto that is too short to represent the complete original play and in all probability it is a memorial reconstruction by the actors who performed the work.[3] It preserves a lot of the violence and stabbing jokes but deletes most of whatever social value the play may have had, except for one long soliloquy near the beginning. One clue to the original substance of the play is a page which survives in manuscript. It is known as the â€Å"Collier leaf,† after the Shakespearean scholar John Payne Collier, who is known to have been a notorious forger, although modern scholars think that this particular leaf is probably authentic. Despite including a speech where one of the characters mutters obscene jokes to himself before shooting someone, it supplies a much longer and more interesting version of a blank verse speech than appears in the quarto. This suggests that the more thoughtful parts of the play were precisely the ones that tended to be cut. This was his unfinished work. Christopher Marlowe – Father of English Tragedy: The first great thing done by Marlowe was to break away from the medieval conception of tragedy, as in medieval drama, tragedy was a thing of the princes only. It dealt with the rise and fall of kings or royal personalities. But it was left to Marlowe to evolve and create the real tragic hero. Almost all the heroes of Marlowe—Tamburlaine, Faustus or Jew of Malta—are of humble parentage, but they are endowed with great heroic qualities and they are really great men. His tragedy is, in fact, the tragedy of one man-the rise, fall and death of the hero. All other characters of a Marlovian drama pale into insignificance beside the towering personality and the glory and grandeur of the tragic hero. Even various incidents of the drama revolve round the hero. The spiritual or moral conflict takes place in the heart of man and this is of much greater-significance and much more poignant than the former. And a great tragedy most powerfully reveals the emotional conflict or moral a gony of the mighty hero. Like the heroes of ancient tragedy, Marlowe’s heroes are not helpless puppets in the hands of blind fate. The tragic flaw was in their character and the tragic action also issued out of their characters. This was really Marlowe’s greatest contribution to English tragedy. Marlowe’s Themes and Style: Though Marlowe did not care for the unity of plot, his characterization was powerful and he developed the element of soul struggle in plays like Dr. Faustus. His hero Faustus, dissatisfied with the poor results of human science sells his soul to the devil so that for 24 years he may satisfy every desire. Marlowe was fascinated by king Tamburlaine who rose from a shepherd to became a master of Asia. In the Jew of Malta Marlowe shows the Jew Barabas enjoying his riches. He takes revenge on his Christian enemies. At last Barabas fell into the pit he had dug for others. In Edward II the murder of king is one of the most poignant scenes in the drama of Renaissance. Each of the plays has behind it the driving force of this vision, which gives it an artistic and poetic unity. It is, indeed, as a poet that Marlowe excels. Though not the first to use blank verse in English drama, he was the first to exploit its possibilities and make it supreme. His verse is notable for its possibilities and makes it supreme. His verse is notable for its burning energy, its splendour of diction, its sensuous richness, its variety of pace, and its responsiveness to the demands of varying emotions. Full of bold primary colours, his poetry is crammed with imagery from the classics, from astronomy and from geography, an imagery barbaric in its wealth and splendour. Its resonance and power led Ben Jonson to coin the phrase â€Å"Marlowe’s mighty line. â€Å"but its might has often obscured its technical precision and its admirable lucidity and finish. Creator of English Blank verse in Drama: Black verse is unrhymed iambic pentameter. It was first introduced by the Earl of Surrey in the 16th century. Later it was used by Marlowe and Shakespeare in their famous plays. Christopher Marlowe was the first English author to make full use of the potential of blank verse, and also established it as the dominant verse form for English drama in the age of Elizabeth I and James I. Marlowe and then Shakespeare developed its potential greatly in the late 16th century. Marlowe was the first to exploit the potential of blank verse for powerful and involved speech. Marlowe was the real creator of the most versatile of English measures. Sackville, Norton and Surrey experimented with this metre more than twenty years before Marlowe. They failed because they worked on wrong principles and the results which they produced were of an intolerable tedious monotony. Marlowe’s achievement in developing blank verse can be illustrated by the study of â€Å"Doctor Faustus†. In the chorus passage for example, the verse seems more consistently regular in its beat. The less questionable judgment is, that Marlowe exercised a strong influence over later drama, though not himself as great a dramatist as Kyd; that he introduced several new tones into blank verse, and commenced the dissociative process which drew it farther and farther away from the rhythms of rhymed verse. Marlowe’s Poems: †¢Translation of Book One of Lucan’s Pharsalia †¢Translation of Ovid’s Elegies (1580) †¢The Passionate Shepherd to His Love (pre-1593) †¢Hero and Leander (1593, unfinished; completed by George Chapman, 1598) Christopher Marlowe, a poet known mostly for his plays rather than his verse, translated two major works of classical Latin poetry — Amores by Ovid (Publius Ovidius Naso) and the first book of Lucan’s (Marcus Annaeus Lucanus) Pharsalia. These are long Latin poems written in the first centuries before and after the Common Era. Though the poems were at least 1400 years old when Marlowe translated them, he put them into the Elizabethan English of his day with considerable verve and poetic vividness (and with the occasional error in translation.) Ovid’s poem is a three-book collection of â€Å"elegies† (Latin elegia,) which in Ovid’s day were the equivalent of personal lyric poetry. It concerns a stylized and sometimes humorous and cynical romance between a rich Roman man and his married, foolish lover Corinna. Much of Ovid’s poetry is formulaic, based on earlier poetic forms. These forms (such as stylized addresses to the mistress, a funeral elegy, apostrophes and the like) make up a large portion of Amores, and the narrative is secondary. Ovid, however, was able to imbue his characters with convincing realism, which Marlowe translated admirably. Hero and Leander, the only long original work of poetry of Marlowe’s to have survived (and possibly the only one he ever wrote, apart from his plays,) was written during a plague year when theatres in London were closed. Marlowe was thus unable to write for the stage, and set his pen again to classical subjects. Hero and Leander concerns the Greek mythical lovers of those names, separated by the Hellespont. It is thought that Marlowe took the story from the mythical Byzantine poet Musaeus, though the myth was known long before that time. â€Å"The Passionate Shepherd To His Love†, is a pastoral love poem, written in tetrameter. It is a justly famous piece, often quoted, and Ralegh (a contemporary poet) made a famous â€Å"Answer† to it. It is about a shepherd who longs to make a woman (or a nymph) his wife, and tries to lure her into the countryside with promises of rich gifts. This 24-line sweet-toned plea paints an idealized picture of rural life, with images of the finery the lover will make for his beloved from the fruits of the land. It is an homage to an old Greek form of poetry, and one of Marlowe’s mast erworks. The translation of Lucan’s First Book is a virtuoso piece by Marlowe, recounting the beginning of a long epic by the Roman poet Lucan. In it, Julius Caesar has returned from conquering Gaul, and debates on crossing the Rubicon and conquering his own city of Rome. It is a piece full of classical allusions, but is also a meditation on the folly of civil war. Marlowe may well have intended to translate all of Lucan’s ten extant books, but it is assumed that this effort was stopped by his early death. Marlowe wrote a Latin epitaph, which he translated into English, for Roger Manwood, an official and judge. It is a poem in the finest old Latin style, but with Elizabethan sensibilities. It, along with Hero and Leander and Lucan’s First Book are among Marlowe’s last works. Major Themes of his Poems: Illicit love The whole of Amores is concerned with an adulterous love affair. The lovers attempt to conceal their trysts and deceive Corinna’s husband at every turn; nor are the lovers faithful or truthful to one another. The embarkation of this affair seems to have caused the two lovers no moral misgivings. Never do Corinna and her lover wrestle with their consciences, or voice concern about Corinna’s deceived husband. The complete absence of sexual and social conventional morality is a bit surprising in a poem more than two thousand years old. These elegia were part of a Roman poetic convention; the love poetry of illicit relationships was a poetic trope that was much explored by Ovid and other writers of his day. That Marlowe chose to translate it, however, speaks somewhat of his taste in iconoclastic themes. Hero and Leander, too, a poem devised by Marlowe from the framework of an early myth, is concerned with a doomed love affair. The separation and desperation of the lovers (on a different scale of personal integrity, but still with the same sort of angst) in Hero and Leander is dwelt on the same way as Ovid expresses his striving and frustration for Corinna in Amores. Love denied is a powerful dramatic subject, and Marlowe liked to address it in his longer poems. Classical poetry translations Marlowe chose a short but nevertheless difficult poem to translate in Ovid’s Amores. Classical translations were in vogue at the time (the appearance of Henry Howard, Lord Surrey’s partial translation of Virgil’s Aeneid some years before this had made a mark in literary circles) and a task that a young poet would likely set himself to. The translation is not an easy one; classical Latin was a very mature language and many times more compact than Elizabethan English. The meanings of words in Latin were sometimes multi-layered and used in ways that Elizabethan scholars of Latin, such as Marlowe, were not always able to grasp. In addition, the putting of one style of verse (Ovid’s alternating hexameter/pentameter unrhymed lines) into another (blank verse English rhyming couplets) is a difficult task at best, and one that would have honed Marlowe’s skills in English verse as well as Latin translation. Apprenticeship of Marlowe The translations of Ovid and Lucan were made when Marlowe was very young. He was still an undergraduate student at Cambridge when he began them. The Latin translations, though at times extremely witty and apt, do contain significant errors. Marlowe, though doubtless a classical scholar, was not a complete master of Ovid’s extremely refined Latin, and Marlowe’s treatment of Lucan’s sometimes more awkward language is compounded by errors. The Amores were particularly admired in the medieval and Renaissance Europe, and the people who read them sometimes missed the cynical and playful side of Ovid’s poetry. Marlowe seems to have fewer of these illusions (for example, he often translates Ovid’s puella, â€Å"girl†, as â€Å"wench†, which had similar connotations in Marlowe’s day as it does now,) but Marlowe nevertheless was unaware of some of the Roman poetic conventions and the more polished double- and triple-meanings that the poet of the Augustan age employed in his verses. The translations of Ovid and Lucan, though ambitious and certainly telling of potential talent, were still, to some extent, schoolboy exercises. There is no doubt, however, that the studying of these ancient writers and the conversion of their Latin into English verse helped greatly to develop the ability of the future writer of Tamburlaine and The Jew of Malta. Cynical view of romantic love The entire relationship between the lover and Corinna in Amores is a sophisticated, realistic, somewhat jaded, and definitely cynical one. Corinna is married, and there is no talk of her divorcing her husband (though divorce was legal and practiced in the Rome of Ovid’s day.) It is plain that at least part of Corinna’s attraction to the lover is his wealth, and Corinna, though praised for her physical charms, is continuously scolded and made to look foolish. Neither lover is shown to be in the least bit heroic or even admirable — though the feeling of passion is there, with attendant sentiments. It is clear that Ovid is chronicling a sordid adulterous affair. The lovers deceive each other and those around them. There is nothing redeeming about the relationship, and love certainly does not â€Å"conquer all.† Physical gratification, and perhaps the thrill obtained from conquest and deception, seem to be the only ends and purpose of the relationship. Hero an d Leander pursue, though not nearly as cynical, a similarly doomed and pointless love affair. They are so innocent as to not be able to consummate their love immediately, and, though the poem is unfinished, their deaths are predicted in the opening lines of the poem. Much of Renaissance romance tended toward the tragic, so it is not surprising that Marlowe chose subjects with unhappy rather than conventionally happy endings. Fate Especially in Hero and Leander, but in much of Marlowe’s oeuvre, the notion of fate is a common theme. References to the mythical Fates (or Destinies — the three Greco-Roman goddesses who decided the character and length of each human being’s life) occur often, and it is used as rhetorical device to convince that something is â€Å"meant to be†. This may or may not have been Marlowe’s own particular view of life. Since his religious views tended toward the heretical, if not outright atheism, it may be that he believed more fully in free will than the old classical idea of a fated existence. The Catholic church, too, while acknowledging free will, insisted that God’s will be the dominant one. Since much of Marlowe’s poetry is wry and tongue-in-cheek, the mentions of Fate may well be largely ironic. Folly of humanity Especially in Lucan’s First Book, but also in Amores and Hero and Leander Marlowe takes pains to point out the folly of humanity. He chooses translations and tells stories in which the faults in the main characters are obvious and usually avoidable. The poet usually tells us at the outset what the problems of the main actors are, and the tragic ending is often foretold. This kind of lack of narrative suspense was common in Classical literature, and also in the drama of the Elizabethan stage. High classical culture Marlowe translated and composed in Latin, and his reverence for the ancient world was obvious both in his choice of literature to translate, and his original work. Marlowe didn’t choose mediocre or obscure Latin poetry, but the works of Ovid and Lucan. These writers were the pinnacle of their culture, and their Latin was dense, erudite, and difficult to translate. In addition, some of the situations and stories of these authors were very far removed from types of stories told in Renaissance England. Marlowe kept the essential truths in these classical works, but he adapted them just enough to make them more accessible to his readers. Marlowe and Shakespeare: Two great names: William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe Educationally they were a great contrast. Shakespeare had had little schooling, quitting school when he was fifteen years old. Marlowe, by comparison, had two degrees including a master’s from Corpus Christi College at Cambridge University. Shakespeare had had no opportunity to learn foreign languages though Marlowe was fluent in many. Marlowe had translated Ovid’s â€Å"Amores† while in college and later had done the first translation of Cervantes’s massive classic Don Quixote from Spanish to English. Many of the plays attributed to Shakespeare have reference to foreign cities and foreign languages. In a similar manner, Shakespeare had had no opportunity to learn protocol of military life, legal matters or court manners, things in which Marlowe was proficient — things that were frequently a part of many of the Shakespearean plays. Marlowe had traveled to many countries. According to records, Shakespeare had never left England. Marlowe’s influence on Shakespeare: According to the Greek composition of tragedy, the hero should be a Man of Moment – one whose destiny is closely tied with that of our own. Marlowe makes a glaring deviation from the path trodden by the Greeks. His heroes are men with whom we have a close kinship. Tamburlaine is a Scythian Shepherd, Barabas a Mediterranean money-lender, and Faustus an ordinary German Doctor. While Shakespeare follows the Greek convention in most of his major tragedies, we notice the conspicuous exception in Othello who though he speaks of himself as â€Å"hailing etc.† is after all a moor of Venice. The Greeks insisted on the observance of the unities as an essential concomitance of tragedy. Marlowe boldly violates the rule with impunity. Tamburlaine’s conquest takes well-nigh 24 years. The action of Faustus dating from his signing of the bond to Lucifer. The duration of the exploits of the Jew, too, exceeds the limit set by the ancient. The scene, too, shifts from one country to another in Tamburlaine. Faustus travels around the globe. Shakespeare, taking the clue from Marlowe, proved conclusively that dramatic verisimilitude can never be disturbed by the violations of the unities of time and place. Quite contrary to the established Greek convention Marlowe mingled the comic and tragic elements in Faustus, even though in Tamburlaine and The Jew of Malta we do not see it freely employed. Though many of the Wagner scenes are supposed to be interpolations by other hands, particularly Chapman, Marlowe cannot disown the authorship of these scenes completely. He had before him the primary aim of providing comic relief to the overtaxed minds of the auditors. But as we know, from our reaction to the Porter scene, the grave diggers scene, the appearance of the clown – and the rustic – these scenes by emphasizing the scene of contrast, only accentuate our tension. Further, with true dramatists’ insight into human life, Marlowe wants to point out that life consists in laughter and tears. To think of man’s life being burdened by unrelieved tragedy is starkly unimaginable and unreal. It was Marlowe who first presented on the English State The Titanic Struggle which rages in a man’s soul. The tempest in a soul is the very essence of Shakespearean tragedy. The struggle between the forces of good and evil in Tamburlaine, Faustus, and The Jew of Maltastands boldly in comparison with similar effects in Hamlet, King Lear, Othello and Macbeth. Marlowe, however, did not regard heroism as synonymous with virtue. His heroes are by no means patterns of human excellence overtaken by tragic frailty as in the case of Hamlet, Othello and King Lear. They can be relegated to the category of â€Å"hero-villains† – a type popularized in Elizabethan England. But these figures move before us as grand specimens of humanity overtaken by passion for reason. Tamburlaine takes to a caree r of conquests; Faustus turns to necromancy and so defies Mammon. In Shakespeare we have the classic instance of Macbeth who is the direct descendent of Dr. Faustus and Tamburlaine, while Shylock is the dramatic foster-child of Barabas. Marlowe is an astute craftsman in the effective use of suspense – a consciousness that the fate of the hero is sealed right at the outset. When Faustus signs the bond with the devil, he is actually flirting with fate even as Macbeth does when he interviews the witches. Until the play moves to its ultimate catastrophe suspense grips us – a feature common to Shakespeare and Marlowe. Again, Marlowe’s ability to compose death scenes is almost unparalleled in modern drama. In the deaths of Faustus and Edward II Marlowe’s dramatic power reaches its highest point. Death synonymous with tragic catastrophe was revealed to the future dramatists as something more than physical horror at the end of existence. Death became the loss of active and glorious living, the negation of individual power, the expiring struggle of the drama of life, its last defiance and its most irresistible appeal to pity and horror. The death scenes in hamlet and Othello derive directly from Marlowe’s inspiration. Marlowe, however, refrained from exhibiting physical horror upon the stage. The deaths of Faustus, Barabas and Tambur laine are either implied or narrated, but not enacted. The gruesome murder of Desdemona and of Antony are related to us; but the greater genius of Shakespeare for tragic poignancy did introduce scenes of physical horror at times, as in the slapping of Desdemona by Othello, the blinding of Gloucester in Lear and the stabbing of Macduff’s children in Macbeth. Edward II is an exception: In the words of Havelock Ellis â€Å"In nothing has Marlowe shown himself so much a child of the true Renaissance as in this to touch the images of physical horror. Marlowe’s treatment of the supernatural is unique and considerably influenced Shakespeare. He gives human touches to his supernatural beings which catch our eyes. Mephistopheles is capable of human feelings. His appeal to Faustus literally to adjure the devil has a tinge of pathos about them. Marlowe, at this moment, reminds us of Ariel attempting to stir the steely heart of Prospero. Even in his portrayal of the witches in Macbeth and the fairies in A Midsummer Night’s Dream Shakespeare is highly indebted to Marlowe. The device employed by Marlowe to represent the tempest of the emotions in the hero’s heart is unique and dramatically very effective . The good and the evil angels appearing as two characters to reflect the inner conflict was a bold invention on the part of the dramatist. Shakespeare frequently resorts to soliloquy in his tragedies. We hear also the incorporeal voice bidding Macbeth â€Å"sleep no more.† The dagger with its handle drawn towards Macbeth, the ghost of Banquo, and the ghost of Ceasar appearing to Brutus with the words: â€Å"I’m thy evil spirit† – all these are actually an objective mirror of the heart, but are incapable of giving a kaleidoscopic picture. By far the greatest contribution by Marlowe to the development of tragedy is the way he employs the medium of Blank verse. Blank verse is the only instrument capable of representing subtle shades of thought and feeling. Much of Shakespeare’s greatness is dependent on the poetry in his plays. Marlowe was the pioneer of blank verse in drama, Shakespeare was its complete master especially in the use of its various ramifications. We notice certain deficiencies in Marlowe’s tragic design, fortunately absent in Shakespeare. Marlowe concentrated his en tire attention on the development of a single character and so was almost indifferent to the rest. In Shakespeare every character has a positive individuality. We remember the passive Horatio as well as the turncoat Enobarbus. Marlowe was also ignorant of the feminine heart. Zenocrate is merely a shadow. Helen appears as a vision. On the contrary, Shakespeare’s acquaintance with the working’s of a woman’s mind is so profound that Ruskin, Arnold and Mrs. Jameson even contend that Shakespeare was primarily concerned with his heroines. Out of the physical activity and intellectual inquisitiveness of the Renaissance, there grew up a body of literature which was remarkable for its power and force. Marlowe was, perhaps, the truest representative of this literary and dramatic efflorescence. He embodied in his four plays, man’s inordinate love of physical power, his greed for intellectual wealth and his passion for material wealth and also his love of human passion. He devised a suitable medium to project his fiery soul and that was his well-known Blank verse. If Shakespeare had not Marlowe’s shoulders to stand upon he would not have been recognized as one of the greatest dramatist in the world. Shakespeare honoured his master both by imitation and direct quotation. Reputation among Contemporary Writers: Swinburne, a critic of the Elizabethan theatre had said that â€Å"Marlowe is a Father of English Tragedy and the creator of English blank verse and therefore also the teacher and guide of Shakespeare† Whatever the particular focus of modern critics, biographers and novelists, for his contemporaries in the literary world, Marlowe was above all an admired and influential artist. Within weeks of his death, George Peele remembered him as â€Å"Marley, the Muses’ darling†; Michael Drayton noted that he â€Å"Had in him those brave translunary things / That the first poets had†, and Ben Jonson wrote of â€Å"Marlowe’s mighty line†. Thomas Nashe wrote warmly of his friend, â€Å"poor deceased Kit Marlowe†. So too did the publisher Edward Blount, in the dedication of Hero and Leander to Sir Thomas Walsingham. Among the few contemporary dramatists to say anything negative about Marlowe was the anonymous author of the Cambridge University play The Return From Parnassus (1598) who wrote, â€Å"Pity it is that wit so ill should dwell, / Wit lent from heaven, but vices sent from hell.† The most famous tribute to Marlowe was paid by Shakespeare in As You Like It, where he not only quotes a line from Hero and Leander (â€Å"Dead Shepherd, now I find thy saw of might, ‘Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?'†) but also gives to the clown Touchstone the words â€Å"When a man’s verses cannot be understood, nor a man’s good wit seconded with the forward child, understanding, it strikes a man more dead than a great reckoning in a little room.† This appears to be a reference to Marlowe’s murder which involved a fight over the â€Å"reckoning†, the bill, as well as to a line in Marlowe’s Jew of Malta – â€Å"Infinite riches in a little room†. Shakespeare was heavily influenced by Marlowe in his work, as can be seen in the re-using of Marlovian themes in Antony and Cleopatra, The Merchant of Venice, Richard II, and Macbeth (Dido, Jew of Malta, Edward II and Dr Faustus respectively). In Hamlet, after meeting with the travelling actors, Hamlet requests the Player perform a speech about the Trojan War, which at 2.2.429–32 has an echo of Marlowe’s Dido, Queen of Carthage. In Love’s Labour’s Lost Shakespeare brings on a character â€Å"Marcade† (three syllables) in conscious acknowledgement of Marlowe’s character â€Å"Mercury†, also attending the King of Navarre, in Massacre at Paris. The significance, to those of Shakespeare’s audience who had read Hero and Leander, was Marlowe’s identification of himself with the god Mercury. Conclusion: The interest of Marlowe’s tragedies lies not in the death of Heroes but in their soul struggle against forces which in the end proves too great for them. He raised the subject matter of Drama to a higher level and changed the concept of tragedies by introducing heroes from the common people. His heroes are meant of exceptional qualities and passion. They transcend ordinary human aspiration until they meet their tragic end. Usually in his plays there will be no antagonist, the protagonists themselves, their inner evil thoughts will be the antagonist. There is also number of morals to teach in his plays. Marlowe may died in the age of 29, but his plays are living forever.