How did Shakespeare
come by privileged information on Marlowe's murky end?
The
inquest notes on Christopher Marlowe's death were discovered by
Leslie Hotson in 1925. They describe an accidental killing of the
poet during an argument witnessed only by the killer and two
acquaintances connected with the State's spy network. The
implausibility of some of the circumstances, the absence of any
record of suspicion and the rapid pardoning of the killer suggest
official connivance at a cover-up.
Some analysts suggest that
Marlowe was murdered by the State for his religious heresy and,
perhaps, to prevent leakage of information gained by him in his
alternate profession of spy. Such theories, however, explain neither
the regime's decision to forego its normal, well-tested process for
heretics nor the curious lack of interest by the Queen's Privy
Council (which had naturally argumentative, dissenting factions and
which had been scheduled to interview Marlowe on other potentially
incriminating matters).
Marlovians theorize that Marlowe's
death was faked, enabling him to continue as a spy for the government
under other identities. They suggest that, as a side-line, he resumed
his professional writing under the nom-de-plume of Shakespeare. Many
of the assumptions and inconsistencies associated with this theory
are addressed in Appendix D of Shakespeare: a Hidden Life Sung in a Hidden Song.
Some Authorship
Sceptics also point to Shakespeare's strange inside knowledge of the
inquest. Its verdict of death arising from an argument over the
"Reckoning" (or bill) was not common knowledge. There were
several contemporaneous and inaccurate rumours as to the cause of the
homicide (none of which mentioned a reckoning, or, for that matter,
doubted that Marlowe had died). Yet, in As You
Like It, Shakepeare demonstrates familiarity
with both the term and its association with Marlowe's
death.
However, all the strange circumstances are reconciled
by the biography which emerges from Shakespeare's Sonnets. This
points strongly to Marlowe as Shakespeare's successful rival for the
favours of Henry Wriothesley - then Earl of Southampton and ward of
the Queen's chief advisor, William Cecil. The sequence of events
leading to Marlowe's end was triggered probably by accident and quite
probably by Shakespeare. He was also in a natural position to gain
inside knowledge of the Inquest's findings through his involved
patron. Read the evidence for the remarkable chain of events at Biography in Shakespeare's Sonnets.
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