Shakespeare or Marlowe ?

[Ryan]

Absolutely Shakespeare, though Marlowe is also an incredible writer. In many ways they complement each other as Marlowe deals with gender in much the same way that Shakespeare does, which certainly serves as evidence for those who do think that Shakespeare was a pseudonym of Marlowe's or vice versa. We see, for example, that they share an obsession with the rather (seemingly) strict notions of gender of the Elizabethan period and attempt to unsettle them with their characters. The protagonist of Edward II engages in an implied (yet still apparent) homosexual relationship with another character which alters the way the king is received at court. The risk of "feminization" is also apparent in Othello in which the protagonist fears that he has been made a "cuckold" and thus emasculated by his wife Desdemona. Therefore the methods are different but the theme similar: what does it really men to be a man in the Elizabethan period? Is the notion too oppressively strict (as in Othello) or fluid and rather enlightening (as in Edward II)? The question is an important one that they both engage fantastically with and it endears me to both of them as the many parts of that exploration are as relevant today as then.