Unsigned Portrait of a Gentlemen (1585) 61 x 46 cm oil on oak panels. 1953, a painting of was discovered in a skip, dated “1585, age 21” and inscribed with a motto in Latin “ quod me nutrit me destruit ” [that which feeds me destroys me]. The confirmed sitter is unknown, but it was quickly declared as a painting of the most innovative dramatist of the English language, Christopher Marlowe. Not only the enigmatic smile, wild hair, arms folded confidently across his body, and t

Tamburlaine (1587) Paradise Lost (1667-1674) Notes from Underground ( 1864) This arose out of wanting to write about how great I think Christopher Marlowe was. In particular his plays Tamburlaine Parts 1 and 2 , which I only first read in December 2025. It's now my favourite play I’ve ever read. Since December, I read parts from it almost daily, and continue to be affected by lines as if newly read. Since it's religiously ambiguous, I contrasted Tamburlaine with Milton’s Pa

I Some topics are understood differently depending on the register they're perceived by. Some stories can be interpreted differently depending on which character the audience anchors the story's gravity on. A narrative carries a slightly different meaning if each of the character’s lives has a different backstory and meaning. I’ve been reading Virgil's Aeneid for about fifteen to twenty years, and yet I still can read it differently. I read it again recently, through a g