Marlowe

Marlowe most commonly refers to Christopher Marlowe (c. 1564–1593), an English playwright and poet of the Elizabethan era. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, Marlowe is regarded as a major figure in early modern English drama and is credited with helping to establish the use of blank verse in tragedy and with shaping the development of secular, ambitious protagonists.

Born in Canterbury, Marlowe studied at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and later moved to London to pursue theatre. His major plays include Tamburlaine the Great (c. 1587), The Jew of Malta (c. 1590), and Doctor Faustus (c. 1592). In 1593 he was killed in a tavern brawl in Deptford, at about age 29; the circumstances have been debated, fueling legends about espionage or secret affiliations, though most scholars treat his death as a fatal altercation.

His work influenced later English drama, notably Shakespeare, through his command of rhetoric, verse, and dramatic structure. Although some plays previously attributed to him are now considered collaborations or misattributions, Marlowe’s distinctive style and themes—ambition, power, and transcendence—are widely recognized as shaping the trajectory of Elizabethan tragedy.

Other uses of the name Marlowe include a modern domain-specific language for writing financial contracts on the Cardano blockchain. Marlowe is designed to be safe and verifiable, with tooling such as the Marlowe Playground to experiment with contracts and formal verification.