FinermanWorks

At least there is no debate as to when Christopher Marlowe was born.  It was on this day in 1564.  The date, nature, and cause of his death, however, are questions inciting civil wars in college English departments. 

Did he really die in a duel in 1593?  Was he murdered by the Crown?  Did he fake his death and live on to become the ghostwriter for William Shakespeare, Jane Austen and Winston Churchill?

According to the Oliver Stone school of literature, Christopher Marlowe was murdered because he was a double-agent. Apparently, Marlowe wasn’t busy enough being the Robert Mapplethorpe of Elizabethan theater. No, according to the conspiracy addicts, he also was a Catholic spy. Even if it were true, why would the Crown need to arrange his assassination. If Elizabeth, Burleigh and Walsingham could publicly execute a Queen, Dukes, and Jesuits, what is the difficulty in hanging and drawing a flamboyant playwright?

And, if you don’t mind a tangent, Uncle Eugene is very indignant over the accusations that Shakespeare couldn’t have written his works. The criticism is based solely on snobbery. Since Shakespeare wasn’t an aristocrat or a graduate of Cambridge, he evidently couldn’t have brains or talent. Of course, The New York Times subscribes to this cultural bigotry. I am awaiting for some Ivy Leech to question the authorship of “Huckleberry Finn.” We will learn that Henry James actually wrote it as a skit for the Hasty Pudding Club.