Herculean Ambivalence in Marlowe’s Tamburlaine the Great

Authors

  • Milena Kostić

Keywords:

Herculean hero, Herculean ambivalence, military omnipotence, colonialism, loss of the soul

Abstract

Marlowe, the author of the Tamburlaine Plays, is hardly an elegist, but these plays can certainly be regarded as his critical examination of the Herculean mind, and a warning against the nascent colonialism. Although many critics observe that Tamburlaine dies a natural death, i.e. suffers no retribution, Marlowe makes it prophetically clear that the price to be paid for military omnipotence and colonial success is loss of the soul – the fate of Dr. Faustus, and of all Marlowe’s tragic heroes. Marlowe’s Tamburlaine, a prototype of the Renaissance heroic ideal, has been frequently identified with Seneca’s Hercules. However, I do not believe that Marlowe was interested in merely adding another example to the tradition of the Renaissance Heroic Man. His main interest was not to endorse but to explore and problematize that tradition: male virtue that depends on cruelty towards the weak ones is critically examined here. Thus these plays can certainly be regarded as Marlowe’s critical examination of the Herculean mind, and a warning against the nascent colonialism. Although many critics observe that Tamburlaine dies a natural death, i.e. suffers no retribution, Marlowe makes it prophetically clear that the price to be paid for military omnipotence and colonial success is loss of the soul – the fate of Dr. Faustus, and of all Marlowe’s tragic heroes.

References

Eliot, T. S. 1977. Poems. London: Penguin Books.

Graves, R. 1977. Introduction to Greek Myths. London: Penguin Books.

Harper, J. W. 1971. Introduction to Tamburlaine. London: Ernest Benn Limited.

Heaney, S. 1990. New Selected Poems 1966-1987. London: Faber and Faber.

Marlowe, C. 1971. The Tamburlaine Plays. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.

Petrović, L. 2004a. Literature, Culture, Identity: Introducing XX Century Literary Theory. Niš: Prosveta.

Petrović, L. 2004b. Život i vremena Dž. Majkla Kucija. Niš: Sven.

Seneca. 1976. Hercules Furens. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.

Waith, E. 1964. The Herculean Hero in Marlowe, Chapman, Shakespeare and Dryden. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Inc.

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Published

25-06-2021

How to Cite

Kostić, M. (2021). Herculean Ambivalence in Marlowe’s Tamburlaine the Great . Philologia, 8(1), 71–76. Retrieved from http://philologia.org.rs/index.php/ph/article/view/194

Issue

Section

Nauka o književnosti/Literary Studies