PROSPECTUS:

ADAPTING CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE

Heidy Seader

Rick Fehrenbacher 

PROSPECTUS: ADAPTING CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE

Heidy Seader

BACKGROUND

I had been mildly interested in the works of Christopher Marlowe when I took a class that studied him more in depth.  I found his work not only provocative and beautifully written, but also risky for works of this era.  I began to wonder what it was about this man that allowed him to write pieces that were so outrageous in that they defied, or at least toyed with, a lot of the ideas, both social and moral, that were being preached and taught in England.  What resulted was a sort of obsession with Christopher Marlowe and the life he led. 

I took advantage of the WSU library and checked out many books on his life and the controversy that surrounded it.  It seems I am not the only one who is fascinated by Marlowe.  There are hundreds of books written on the mystery of his death, the supposition that William Shakespeare and he were one and the same, and finally the actual plays and poems he wrote in his short life.  The traditional story goes that he died in a bar fight.  There are many who believe Marlowe was a spy or a double agent, perhaps he spent time in France, perhaps he spied on the Catholics and for them as well and this is why he was killed.  Others believe he got himself too far into the spy game and faked his death in order to escape from the mess he had created.  There are many other theories still and though I suppose we will never truly know, it has become a hobby for me to piece together my own theories.

Being fascinated by his life myself, I can hardly blame people for writing more about him than about the works he wrote.  However, I do think that his plays and poems are some of the best written, not only for his time, but also to date.  He has an incredible ear for words and stringing them together.  He wrote mostly in iambic pentameter and blank verse.  He loved to play with stereotypes and the worlds he created are not only beautiful but a little, sometimes a lot, wicked. 

CURRENTLY

I have been trying to get every book I can find in the WSU library and the U of I library on Marlowe and his works.  Lately I have been reading more about his life and his death, but I intend to read the plays and poems I have not yet read and those that I have I intend to reread.  I want to have a comprehensive grasp of all his work.  I am working with Rick Fehrenbacher who is helping me with any problems I have in processing Marlowe’s writing. 

PLAN FOR THE NEXT SEMESTER

To my knowledge no one has adapted any of Marlowe’s pieces into a modern day work.  Because his writing is so powerful and provocative, I think this can be done fairly easily.  I want to take into consideration Marlowe’s environment, both politically and socially, and equate it with our present conditions to make this adaptation resonate with an audience who might not be familiar with Marlowe or the sixteenth century.   The poem Hero and Leander is a great candidate for this project because I think it can work in a modern setting. 

IDEAS BOUT HOW TO PRESENT THIS WORK

I would very much like to try my hand at a graphic novel.  I think this can be done even though I have minimal skills in drawing.  I plan on first adapting the poem into modern English and then reworking it so that it relates to the twenty-first century.  I think I can still maintain the whimsy and otherworldliness that the poem has but with a twist.  I don’t want the story to take on a completely realistic base, as that is not what Marlowe’s original contained, but I do think it needs to be set in an environment that is familiar to the readers and the graphic part of it will reflect that.  The end result will be a tangible book.  

TENTATIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY

Case, R.H.   The Works and Life of Christopher Marlowe.  New York: Gordian Press,

            1966.

Cheney, Patrick.  Marlowe’s Counterfeit Profession: Ovid, Spenser, Counter-

Nationhood.  Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997.

Deats, Sara Munson.  Sex, Gender, and Desire in the Plays of Christopher Marlowe.

            New Jersey: Associated University Press, 1997.

Greenblatt, Stephen.  Renaissance Self-Fashioning; From More to Shakespeare. 

            Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1980.

Hilton, Della.  Who Was Kit Marlowe; The Story of the Poet and Playwright.  London:

            Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1977.

Knoll, Robert E.  Christopher Marlowe.  New York: Twayne Publishers, 1969.

Nicholl, Charles.  The Reckoning; The Murder of Christopher Marlowe.  Chicago:

            The University of Chicago Press, 1992.

Simkin, Stevie.  Marlowe.  Harlow: Pearson Education Limited, 2000

Steane, J.B.  Marlowe; A Critical Study.  London: Cambridge University Press, 1964.