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Christopher Marlowe (Kit Marlowe): 100+ MCQs on a Renaissance Rebel
Enter the dangerous and brilliant world of Christopher Marlowe, the enfant terrible of the Elizabethan stage. A poet, playwright, and alleged spy, “Kit” Marlowe’s fiery life and mysterious, untimely death are as compelling as his plays. With his perfection of blank verse, known as the “mighty line,” he paved the way for Shakespeare himself. This post offers over 100 Christopher Marlowe MCQs to test your knowledge of his tragic heroes, ambitious plots, and enduring literary impact. From the damned soul of Doctor Faustus to the conquering spirit of Tamburlaine, let’s explore a true Renaissance rebel.
Part 1: Biography & Controversies
1.In which city was Christopher Marlowe born in 1564, the same year as Shakespeare?
- A) London
- B) Stratford-upon-Avon
- C) Canterbury
- D) York
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) Canterbury
Explanation: Marlowe was born in Canterbury, the son of a shoemaker, and was baptized on February 26, 1564.
2.Marlowe was a prominent member of which group of late 16th-century English playwrights and intellectuals?
- A) The Fabian Society
- B) The Metaphysical Poets
- C) The University Wits
- D) The Scriblerus Club
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) The University Wits
Explanation: This was a group of playwrights educated at Oxford or Cambridge, including Marlowe, Robert Greene, and Thomas Nashe, who professionalized English drama.
3.At which Cambridge college did Kit Marlowe study on a scholarship?
- A) King’s College
- B) Trinity College
- C) Corpus Christi College
- D) St John’s College
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) Corpus Christi College
Explanation: He attended Corpus Christi on a scholarship intended for students who would later take holy orders, a path Marlowe famously did not follow.
4.Christopher Marlowe’s life was cut short at what age?
- A) 23
- B) 29
- C) 37
- D) 42
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: B) 29
Explanation: He was killed in a brawl or assassination in Deptford in 1593, at the height of his literary career.
5.According to the official coroner’s report, Marlowe was killed by whom in a dispute over a bill or “reckoning”?
- A) Thomas Kyd
- B) Robert Poley
- C) Ingram Frizer
- D) Nicholas Skeres
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) Ingram Frizer
Explanation: Frizer was the man who delivered the fatal stab wound above Marlowe’s eye. All three men mentioned in the incorrect answers were also present at the scene.
6.Marlowe was frequently accused of what serious crime in Elizabethan England?
- A) Theft
- B) Treason
- C) Atheism
- D) Forgery
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) Atheism
Explanation: Just before his death, a warrant was out for his arrest on charges of atheism, a capital offense. This has fueled speculation that his death was a political assassination.
7.There is strong evidence that Kit Marlowe was employed as a spy by which powerful Elizabethan figure?
- A) Sir Walter Raleigh
- B) Sir Francis Walsingham
- C) Lord Burghley
- D) The Earl of Essex
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: B) Sir Francis Walsingham
Explanation: Walsingham was Queen Elizabeth I’s spymaster. The Privy Council once intervened on Marlowe’s behalf at Cambridge, stating he had been employed on “matters touching the benefit of his country.”
Part 2: The Tragedy of Doctor Faustus
8.In *Doctor Faustus*, for what does the titular character sell his soul to the devil?
- A) Unlimited wealth
- B) Political power
- C) 24 years of absolute knowledge and power, with Mephistophilis as his servant
- D) The love of Helen of Troy
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) 24 years of absolute knowledge and power, with Mephistophilis as his servant
Explanation: Faustus’s ambition is for knowledge and power that transcends human limits, a quest he pursues for a period of 24 years.
9.What is the name of the devil who becomes Faustus’s servant?
- A) Lucifer
- B) Beelzebub
- C) Valdes
- D) Mephistophilis
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: D) Mephistophilis
Explanation: Mephistophilis is the powerful and melancholic demon assigned to serve Faustus for the duration of their contract.
10.What two symbolic figures appear on Faustus’s shoulders, representing his inner conflict?
- A) A priest and a king
- B) A Good Angel and a Bad Angel
- C) A scholar and a soldier
- D) A man and a woman
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: B) A Good Angel and a Bad Angel
Explanation: The Good Angel urges Faustus to repent and seek God’s mercy, while the Bad Angel encourages him to continue in his pursuit of demonic power.
11.How does Faustus sign his contract with Lucifer?
- A) With ink on parchment
- B) With his own blood
- C) With a verbal oath
- D) By carving it onto his chest
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: B) With his own blood
Explanation: This symbolic act demonstrates the mortal and irreversible nature of the pact. Famously, his blood congeals, as if refusing to participate in the act.
12.What is Mephistophilis’s famous reply when Faustus asks him where Hell is?
- A) “Below the earth, a fiery pit.”
- B) “Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it.”
- C) “In the mind of God, which you have rejected.”
- D) “Hell is a fable made to frighten fools.”
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: B) “Why, this is hell, nor am I out of it.”
Explanation: Mephistophilis explains that Hell is not a physical location but the eternal spiritual torment of being separated from God’s presence.
13.Which famous historical beauty does Faustus ask to see in the final act of the play?
- A) Cleopatra
- B) Queen Elizabeth I
- C) Helen of Troy
- D) Dido, Queen of Carthage
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) Helen of Troy
Explanation: He summons a spirit in her likeness, leading to the famous line: “Was this the face that launched a thousand ships, / And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?”
14.The full title of the play is *The Tragical History of the Life and Death of…*
- A) *The Magician of Wittenberg*
- B) *Mephistophilis*
- C) *The German Scholar*
- D) *Doctor Faustus*
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: D) *Doctor Faustus*
Explanation: This full title frames the play as a cautionary tale from the beginning.
15.During the play, what does Faustus largely use his immense magical powers for?
- A) Conquering Europe and Asia
- B) Solving world hunger and disease
- C) Petty tricks, practical jokes, and personal entertainment
- D) Gaining forgiveness from the Pope
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) Petty tricks, practical jokes, and personal entertainment
Explanation: This is a key tragedy of the play. Having sold his soul for infinite power, Faustus squanders it on trivialities like fetching grapes in winter and making horns grow on a knight’s head.
16.What happens to Faustus in the play’s final scene?
- A) He repents and is saved by angels.
- B) He uses magic to escape his contract.
- C) He is dragged off to Hell by devils.
- D) He kills himself to avoid damnation.
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) He is dragged off to Hell by devils.
Explanation: Despite a final, desperate soliloquy in which he wishes he could repent but feels he cannot, the clock strikes twelve and his time runs out.
Part 3: The Marlovian Hero – Tamburlaine & Barabas
17.Christopher Marlowe’s powerful blank verse is famously described as his…
- A) golden tongue
- B) sharp wit
- C) mighty line
- D) divine inspiration
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) mighty line
Explanation: The term was coined by fellow playwright Ben Jonson to describe the power, energy, and rhythm of Marlowe’s blank verse, particularly in *Tamburlaine*.
18.In *Tamburlaine the Great*, the title character begins his life as a what?
- A) A prince
- B) A Roman general
- C) A Scythian shepherd
- D) A Persian merchant
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) A Scythian shepherd
Explanation: Tamburlaine is the quintessential self-made man, rising from humble origins to become a world conqueror through sheer willpower and ambition.
19.What cruel act does Tamburlaine famously commit with the defeated emperor Bajazeth?
- A) He has him executed immediately.
- B) He imprisons him in a cage and uses him as a footstool.
- C) He forces him to serve in his army.
- D) He pardons him and makes him an advisor.
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: B) He imprisons him in a cage and uses him as a footstool.
Explanation: This act is one of the play’s most memorable displays of Tamburlaine’s arrogance and cruelty towards his defeated enemies.
20.Who is Barabas, the protagonist of *The Jew of Malta*?
- A) A virtuous hero
- B) A humble merchant
- C) A ruthless, Machiavellian villain seeking revenge
- D) A Christian knight
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) A ruthless, Machiavellian villain seeking revenge
Explanation: After his wealth is seized, Barabas embarks on a complex and bloody path of revenge against the Christian authorities of Malta.
21.The prologue of *The Jew of Malta* is spoken by what symbolic figure?
- A) Revenge
- B) Machevil (Machiavelli)
- C) Fortune
- D) The Pope
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: B) Machevil (Machiavelli)
Explanation: This prologue sets the stage for a play that will explore political cunning, ruthlessness, and the idea that “might is right.”
22.How does Barabas die at the end of *The Jew of Malta*?
- A) He escapes with his gold.
- B) He is pardoned by the governor.
- C) He is stabbed in a duel.
- D) He falls into a boiling cauldron he had prepared for his enemies.
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: D) He falls into a boiling cauldron he had prepared for his enemies.
Explanation: In a moment of supreme poetic justice, Barabas is betrayed and dies in his own trap.
23.The “Marlovian Hero” (e.g., Faustus, Tamburlaine, Barabas) is best characterized by:
- A) Piety and humility
- B) A calm and reasonable nature
- C) A quiet life of study
- D) Overreaching ambition, eloquence, and a rejection of traditional morality
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: D) Overreaching ambition, eloquence, and a rejection of traditional morality
Explanation: Marlowe’s protagonists are typically titanic figures who strive to overcome all human limitations, whether in knowledge, power, or wealth, and are ultimately destroyed by their ambition.
Part 4: Historical & Mythological Plays
24.Kit Marlowe’s play *Edward II* is considered a masterpiece of what dramatic genre?
- A) Comedy
- B) Romance
- C) Historical Tragedy
- D) Satire
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) Historical Tragedy
Explanation: The full title is *The Troublesome Reign and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second*. It’s a powerful chronicle of the downfall of a king, heavily influencing Shakespeare’s *Richard II*.
25.The central conflict in *Edward II* is the king’s obsessive love for which nobleman?
- A) Mortimer
- B) Lancaster
- C) Warwick
- D) Piers Gaveston
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: D) Piers Gaveston
Explanation: Edward’s devotion to his “favourite,” Gaveston, over his queen and his kingdom, leads to civil war and his ultimate demise.
26.Which of Marlowe’s plays was co-authored with Thomas Nashe and based on Virgil’s *Aeneid*?
- A) *The Massacre at Paris*
- B) *Tamburlaine, Part 2*
- C) *Dido, Queen of Carthage*
- D) *Lust’s Dominion*
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) *Dido, Queen of Carthage*
Explanation: This was likely one of Marlowe’s earliest plays, dramatizing the tragic love affair between Aeneas and Dido as told by Virgil.
27.Marlowe’s play *The Massacre at Paris* dramatizes what historical event?
- A) The Battle of Agincourt
- B) The Spanish Armada
- C) The St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre
- D) The Gunpowder Plot
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) The St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre
Explanation: The play depicts the 1572 massacre of French Protestants (Huguenots) by Catholic mobs, a subject of intense interest and horror in Protestant England.
28.The character of Lightborn in *Edward II* is an assassin who kills the king using what method?
- A) Poison
- B) Drowning
- C) A red-hot poker
- D) Starvation
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) A red-hot poker
Explanation: The play depicts the notoriously gruesome (though historically disputed) murder of King Edward II in Berkeley Castle.
Part 5: Poetry and Legacy
29.What is the famous opening line of Marlowe’s poem, “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”?
- A) “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”
- B) “Come live with me and be my love,”
- C) “My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;”
- D) “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,”
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: B) “Come live with me and be my love,”
Explanation: This is the opening line of one of the most famous pastoral lyric poems in the English language.
30.Which famous poet and explorer wrote a satirical reply to “The Passionate Shepherd” called “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd”?
- A) Sir Philip Sidney
- B) Edmund Spenser
- C) William Shakespeare
- D) Sir Walter Raleigh
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: D) Sir Walter Raleigh
Explanation: Raleigh’s cynical and pragmatic reply argues that the shepherd’s idealized promises will fade with time.
31.Kit Marlowe’s narrative poem *Hero and Leander* was left unfinished at his death. Who completed it?
- A) William Shakespeare
- B) Ben Jonson
- C) George Chapman
- D) Thomas Kyd
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) George Chapman
Explanation: The respected poet and translator George Chapman completed Marlowe’s erotic and mythological poem, which was published in 1598.
32.A line from “The Passionate Shepherd” is quoted by a character in which of Shakespeare’s comedies?
- A) *A Midsummer Night’s Dream*
- B) *Twelfth Night*
- C) *The Merry Wives of Windsor*
- D) *As You Like It*
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) *The Merry Wives of Windsor*
Explanation: Sir Hugh Evans mangles the lines “Come live with me and be my love,” showing how popular and well-known Marlowe’s poem was.
33.Christopher Marlowe’s most significant contribution to English drama was his development and mastery of what form?
- A) Rhyming couplets
- B) The soliloquy
- C) Blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter)
- D) The chorus
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) Blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter)
Explanation: While others had used blank verse before him, Marlowe was the one who turned it into the powerful, flexible, and majestic poetic medium that would dominate the Elizabethan stage, as exemplified in his “mighty line.”
34.Who is Barabas’s daughter, whom he uses as a pawn in his revenge plots in *The Jew of Malta*?
- A) Zenocrate
- B) Isabella
- C) Abigail
- D) Dido
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) Abigail
Explanation: Abigail is her father’s initially loyal daughter, but she is horrified by his cruelty and converts to Christianity, leading him to poison her and her entire nunnery.
35.In *Tamburlaine the Great*, who is Zenocrate?
- A) Tamburlaine’s Scythian sister
- B) The Queen of Persia whom he defeats
- C) The Egyptian princess whom Tamburlaine captures and marries
- D) A goddess of war
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) The Egyptian princess whom Tamburlaine captures and marries
Explanation: Zenocrate is Tamburlaine’s one great love, and her presence is often seen as the only humanizing influence on the otherwise ruthless conqueror.
36.What appears on Faustus’s arm after he signs the pact, a warning from his own body?
- A) A cross
- B) The Latin inscription *Homo, fuge!* (“Man, fly!”)
- C) A skull and crossbones
- D) His mother’s name
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: B) The Latin inscription *Homo, fuge!* (“Man, fly!”)
Explanation: This supernatural warning literally means “Man, fly!” or “Flee, O man!”, urging him to flee from the diabolical contract he has just made.
37.The comic relief characters Wagner and Robin in *Doctor Faustus* mainly serve to do what?
- A) Provide deep philosophical insights
- B) Advance the main plot
- C) Parody Faustus’s ambition with their own crude and clumsy attempts at magic
- D) Rescue Faustus at the end of the play
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) Parody Faustus’s ambition with their own crude and clumsy attempts at magic
Explanation: Their scenes serve as a low-comedy parallel to Faustus’s high tragedy, showing that the desire for power on a small scale is just as foolish and corrupting.
38.The “Marlowe question” or “Marlovian theory” is a fringe theory that posits Marlowe…
- A) was secretly a Catholic.
- B) was the rightful heir to the throne.
- C) faked his death in 1593 and went on to write the plays of William Shakespeare.
- D) was illiterate and had his plays ghostwritten.
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) faked his death in 1593 and went on to write the plays of William Shakespeare.
Explanation: This is a major conspiracy theory in the Shakespeare authorship question, arguing that Marlowe’s “death” was a ruse to escape his trial for atheism.
39.Who is Gaveston’s main rival for the king’s affection and power in *Edward II*?
- A) Young Mortimer
- B) The Earl of Warwick
- C) The Bishop of Coventry
- D) Prince Edward, the king’s son
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: A) Young Mortimer
Explanation: Mortimer is the ambitious and ruthless nobleman who leads the rebellion against Edward and becomes the lover of Queen Isabella.
40.At the end of *Tamburlaine the Great, Part One*, Tamburlaine has a crown delivered to Zenocrate. From whom did he just take it?
- A) His father-in-law, the Soldan of Egypt
- B) The Persian Emperor
- C) The Turkish Emperor, Bajazeth
- D) He made the crown himself.
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: A) His father-in-law, the Soldan of Egypt
Explanation: In a show of ultimate power, he conquers his new father-in-law’s kingdom and presents the crown to Zenocrate, making her Queen of Egypt.
41.The Chorus’s final lines in *Doctor Faustus* describe him as a “branch that might have grown full straight.” What does this suggest?
- A) That he was always evil from birth.
- B) That he had great potential but was tragically wasted.
- C) That his punishment was unjust.
- D) That he will be reborn.
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: B) That he had great potential but was tragically wasted.
Explanation: This final judgment emphasizes the tragedy of Faustus’s fall, framing it as a waste of a brilliant mind rather than just the damnation of a wicked man.
42.Marlowe’s plays were performed by which prominent Elizabethan acting company?
- A) The Queen’s Men
- B) The King’s Men
- C) The Admiral’s Men
- D) Pembroke’s Men
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) The Admiral’s Men
Explanation: The Admiral’s Men, led by the famous actor Edward Alleyn, were the main rivals of Shakespeare’s company. Alleyn was renowned for originating the roles of Faustus and Tamburlaine.
43.What famous quote about beauty and divinity is found in *Tamburlaine*?
- A) “Beauty is truth, truth beauty”
- B) “If all the world and love were young”
- C) “What is beauty, saith my sufferings, then?”
- D) “Ah, fair Zenocrate, divine Zenocrate!”
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: D) “Ah, fair Zenocrate, divine Zenocrate!”
Explanation: This line is repeated by Tamburlaine, emphasizing his view that Zenocrate’s beauty makes her a divine being, famously continuing with “What is beauty, saith my sufferings, then?”.
44.Which of the seven deadly sins that appear before Faustus introduces itself with the line “I was begotten in hell, and has neither father nor mother”?
- A) Pride
- B) Greed
- C) Wrath
- D) Envy
Click tosee Answer
Correct Answer: A) Pride
Explanation: Pride, being the original sin that caused Lucifer’s fall, presents itself as having no creator and despising its own parents, perfectly embodying the nature of the sin.
45.Christopher Marlowe was arrested in the Netherlands in 1592 for what crime?
- A) Espionage
- B) Counterfeiting coins
- C) Brawling
- D) Blasphemy
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: B) Counterfeiting coins
Explanation: He was arrested for counterfeiting gold coins (coining), a crime that was often linked to espionage and state-sponsored destabilization efforts.
46.The B-text of *Doctor Faustus*, published in 1616, contains additional comic scenes believed to have been written by whom?
- A) Marlowe himself
- B) William Shakespeare and Ben Jonson
- C) Samuel Rowley and William Bird
- D) Thomas Middleton
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) Samuel Rowley and William Bird
Explanation: The B-text is longer and more comedic. It’s widely believed that these additions were made by other playwrights after Marlowe’s death to suit changing popular tastes.
47.In *The Jew of Malta*, what is the name of Barabas’s treacherous slave, whom he acquires in the market?
- A) Calymath
- B) Ithamore
- C) Bellamira
- D) Pilia-Borza
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: B) Ithamore
Explanation: Ithamore, a Turkish slave, becomes Barabas’s gleeful accomplice in his schemes before ultimately betraying him.
48.The “School of Night” was a supposed secret society of intellectuals accused of atheism, with Marlowe sometimes linked to which prominent member?
- A) Francis Bacon
- B) John Donne
- C) Sir Walter Raleigh
- D) Ben Jonson
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) Sir Walter Raleigh
Explanation: While the existence of the “School of Night” is debated by historians, it was rumored to be a group of aristocratic thinkers, including Raleigh, who discussed controversial scientific and religious ideas.
49.In Tamburlaine, Part Two, what does Tamburlaine burn in defiance of the gods after his wife Zenocrate dies?
- A) The city where she died
- B) His own throne
- C) The Quran
- D) His books of war strategy
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: A) The city where she died
Explanation: Overcome with grief and rage, Tamburlaine burns the entire city of Larissa to the ground to serve as Zenocrate’s funeral pyre.
50.A famous anecdote claims Marlowe once declared, “That all they that love not tobacco and boys were fools.” Who reported this?
- A) Thomas Kyd
- B) Robert Greene
- C) Richard Baines
- D) Queen Elizabeth I
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) Richard Baines
Explanation: The “Baines Note” was a list of Marlowe’s alleged blasphemous and scandalous statements, compiled by the informant Richard Baines and delivered to the authorities shortly before Marlowe’s death.
51.What two scholarly disciplines does Faustus reject in his opening soliloquy before turning to magic?
- A) History and Geography
- B) Philosophy, Medicine, Law, and Divinity
- C) Poetry and Art
- D) Astrology and Alchemy
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: B) Philosophy, Medicine, Law, and Divinity
Explanation: He systematically considers and dismisses all the major fields of human knowledge, finding them inadequate for his boundless ambition.
52.Who is considered the most Machiavellian character in Marlowe’s *Edward II*?
- A) King Edward
- B) Gaveston
- C) Young Mortimer
- D) Queen Isabella
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) Young Mortimer
Explanation: Mortimer is ruthless, manipulative, and driven by a pure lust for power, embodying the Machiavellian principles Marlowe explored in his villains.
53.At the end of his life, Tamburlaine is struck down by a mysterious illness immediately after doing what?
- A) Conquering Babylon
- B) Making a treaty with the Christian kings
- C) Burning a copy of the Quran and challenging the prophet Mahomet
- D) Crowning his son as his successor
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) Burning a copy of the Quran and challenging the prophet Mahomet
Explanation: In his ultimate act of hubris, Tamburlaine declares himself greater than any god. He is immediately struck ill, implying divine retribution for his blasphemy.
54.The “reckoning” or bill over which Marlowe was supposedly killed was for what?
- A) Gambling debts
- B) Food and drink
- C) Lodging
- D) Secret government business
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: B) Food and drink
Explanation: The official story, highly doubted by many, was that the argument that led to the fatal brawl was a simple dispute over who would pay the bill at the tavern or lodging house.
55.What famous playwright referred to Marlowe as one of the “muses” in his poem “Phoebe and Endymion”?
- A) Michael Drayton
- B) William Shakespeare
- C) Thomas Watson
- D) George Peele
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: A) Michael Drayton
Explanation: Drayton eulogized Marlowe after his death, writing of him having “a grace, / In writing, cleanly, his inventions high, / So on the rules of art he still did lie.”
56.Which of these is a famous quote from *Doctor Faustus*?
- A) “Now is the winter of our discontent.”
- B) “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”
- C) “Cut is the branch that might have grown full straight.”
- D) “All the world’s a stage.”
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) “Cut is the branch that might have grown full straight.”
Explanation: This is from the Chorus’s final speech, lamenting the wasted potential of Faustus. The other quotes are from Shakespeare and William Congreve.
57.Which work of Christopher Marlowe is an English translation of a Roman poem by Ovid?
- A) *The First Book of Lucan*
- B) *Hero and Leander*
- C) *Amores*
- D) *Dido, Queen of Carthage*
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) *Amores*
Explanation: Marlowe translated Ovid’s elegies, *Amores* (The Loves). These translations were considered so scandalous they were publicly burned in 1599.
58.In *Tamburlaine*, the conquered kings of Trebizond and Soria are forced to pull the conqueror’s chariot while being treated as what?
- A) Soldiers
- B) Advisors
- C) Horses
- D) Servants
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) Horses
Explanation: In another iconic display of his contempt for defeated royalty, Tamburlaine harnesses them to his chariot, calling them his “pampered jades of Asia.”
59.In his final soliloquy, Faustus wishes his soul could experience what philosophical concept to escape damnation?
- A) Reincarnation
- B) The transmigration of souls into an animal (Pythagoreanism)
- C) Nirvana
- D) Annihilation (ceasing to exist)
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: B) The transmigration of souls into an animal (Pythagoreanism)
Explanation: He cries out, “Ah, Pythagoras’ metempsychosis, were that true, / This soul should fly from me, and I be changed / Unto some brutish beast!” He would rather become a soulless animal than face eternal hell.
60.The main source text for Marlowe’s *Doctor Faustus* was a popular German book known as what?
- A) The Nibelungenlied
- B) The Malleus Maleficarum
- C) The Faustbuch
- D) Grimm’s Fairy Tales
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) The Faustbuch
Explanation: The German *Faustbuch* (“Faust Book”) of 1587 was a collection of tales about a real-life alchemist named Johann Georg Faust. Marlowe’s play is primarily based on an English translation of this work.
61.Who succeeds the throne after the deposition and murder of King Edward II in Marlowe’s play?
- A) Mortimer
- B) Lancaster
- C) Edward III, his son
- D) Gaveston’s brother
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) Edward III, his son
Explanation: The play ends with the young Edward III ascending to the throne and immediately ordering the execution of the usurper Mortimer, restoring a sense of justice and order.
62.How does Queen Isabella, wife of Edward II, evolve throughout the play?
- A) She remains a loyal, suffering wife.
- B) She begins as a scorned queen and becomes a ruthless adulterer and conspirator.
- C) She begins as a villain and repents at the end.
- D) She is a minor character with little development.
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: B) She begins as a scorned queen and becomes a ruthless adulterer and conspirator.
Explanation: Her character darkens considerably as she is neglected by Edward, eventually taking Mortimer as her lover and plotting her husband’s downfall.
63.The “anti-theatrical prejudice” of Elizabethan England often linked Marlowe and the theatre to what?
- A) Catholic conspiracies
- B) Moral corruption, atheism, and idleness
- C) Foreign influence
- D) Royal extravagance
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: B) Moral corruption, atheism, and idleness
Explanation: Puritan writers and city officials often condemned the public theatres as dens of iniquity that promoted sin, laziness, and godlessness, with Marlowe’s plays being prime examples for them.
64.What famous playwright was Marlowe’s roommate for a time and was later tortured on suspicion of heresy, implicating Marlowe?
- A) Thomas Dekker
- B) Ben Jonson
- C) Robert Greene
- D) Thomas Kyd
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: D) Thomas Kyd
Explanation: Kyd, the author of *The Spanish Tragedy*, shared lodgings with Marlowe. When heretical papers were found in Kyd’s possession, he claimed under torture that they belonged to Marlowe.
65.In which year did Christopher Marlowe die?
- A) 1587
- B) 1616
- C) 1593
- D) 1603
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) 1593
Explanation: His death on May 30, 1593, is one of the most famous and debated events in English literary history.
66.Which of Marlowe’s works most clearly shows the influence of Machiavelli’s “The Prince”?
- A) *Doctor Faustus*
- B) *The Jew of Malta*
- C) *Dido, Queen of Carthage*
- D) *Hero and Leander*
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: B) *The Jew of Malta*
Explanation: With its prologue spoken by “Machevil” and a protagonist who uses poison, deception, and murder to achieve his goals, the play is a direct engagement with Machiavellian political philosophy.
67.“To entertain divine Zenocrate” is the ambition of which Marlovian hero?
- A) Doctor Faustus
- B) Tamburlaine
- C) Barabas
- D) King Edward II
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: B) Tamburlaine
Explanation: Despite his ruthless conquest, Tamburlaine’s love for Zenocrate is a key motivation, as expressed in many of his famous poetic speeches.
68.What was the name of the theatre most associated with Marlowe’s plays and the Admiral’s Men?
- A) The Globe
- B) The Swan
- C) The Rose
- D) The Curtain
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) The Rose
Explanation: Built by Philip Henslowe, The Rose theatre on Bankside was the primary venue where audiences would have first seen Marlowe’s greatest works performed.
69.The final line of *Hero and Leander*, written by Marlowe before Chapman took over, is:
- A) “And this is love, as I have oft been told.”
- B) “For what are pilgrimages but clear signs of love?”
- C) “Desunt nonnulla.” (Several things are missing.)
- D) “Whoever loved that loved not at first sight?”
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: D) “Whoever loved that loved not at first sight?”
Explanation: This famous aphorism, also quoted by Shakespeare in *As You Like It*, is one of the most enduring lines from Marlowe’s poetry.
70.In his dying speech, what does Tamburlaine ask to see one last time?
- A) His sons
- B) His crown
- C) A map of the world
- D) The spirit of Zenocrate
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) A map of the world
Explanation: True to his character to the very end, Tamburlaine looks at a map and laments all the lands he has yet to conquer, showing his insatiable ambition never wavered.
71.What was Marlowe’s father’s profession?
- A) A clergyman
- B) A teacher
- C) A shoemaker
- D) A lawyer
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) A shoemaker
Explanation: Christopher Marlowe’s rise from a humble, artisan-class background in Canterbury to a Cambridge scholar and London’s top playwright was remarkable for its time.
72.Who is the long-suffering character that represents orthodox Christian belief and repeatedly urges Faustus to repent?
- A) Wagner
- B) Valdes
- C) The Old Man
- D) Cornelius
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) The Old Man
Explanation: The Old Man appears near the end of the play as a final, powerful symbol of grace and forgiveness, offering Faustus one last chance to save his soul.
73.Which of these themes is LEAST central to the works of Christopher Marlowe?
- A) The pursuit of forbidden knowledge
- B) The psychology of absolute power
- C) The happy resolution of domestic marriage
- D) Blasphemy and religious hypocrisy
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) The happy resolution of domestic marriage
Explanation: Marlowe’s works are almost entirely focused on titanic, tragic figures. He showed little interest in the comedies of marriage and domestic life that became a staple for Shakespeare and other playwrights.
74.What famous modern novel by Anthony Burgess features Marlowe as its main character?
- A) *Earthly Powers*
- B) *A Clockwork Orange*
- C) *A Dead Man in Deptford*
- D) *Nothing Like the Sun*
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) *A Dead Man in Deptford*
Explanation: Published in 1993, Burgess’s final novel is a fictionalized biography of Marlowe, written in an imitation of Elizabethan English.
75.“To be a king, is half to be a god.” This expression of divine right and ambition is from which Marlowe play?
- A) *Edward II*
- B) *The Jew of Malta*
- C) *Doctor Faustus*
- D) *Tamburlaine the Great, Part One*
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: D) *Tamburlaine the Great, Part One*
Explanation: This line encapsulates Tamburlaine’s worldview, seeing earthly power as a direct reflection and rival of divine power.
76.Which of the four men present at Marlowe’s death was a known government agent and double-crosser?
- A) Ingram Frizer
- B) Robert Poley
- C) Nicholas Skeres
- D) Christopher Marlowe himself
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: B) Robert Poley
Explanation: Poley was a notorious and dangerous government spy involved in uncovering the Babington Plot. His presence at Marlowe’s death is a key reason many believe it was an assassination, not a simple brawl.
77.Who is Edward Alleyn?
- A) The poet who completed *Hero and Leander*
- B) Marlowe’s main publisher
- C) The lead actor of the Admiral’s Men and the first to play Marlowe’s major tragic roles
- D) A fellow University Wit who criticized Marlowe
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) The lead actor of the Admiral’s Men and the first to play Marlowe’s major tragic roles
Explanation: Edward Alleyn was the first great tragic actor of the Elizabethan stage, and his powerful performances as Tamburlaine, Faustus, and Barabas were crucial to Marlowe’s success.
78.When Faustus conjures Helen of Troy, what does he say to make her immortal with a kiss?
- A) “Thus are you saved, and I am saved with thee.”
- B) “Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.”
- C) “For thee, I would reject a thousand heavens.”
- D) “Here will I dwell, for heaven is in these lips.”
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: B) “Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss.”
Explanation: This is the famous line he speaks to her spirit, immediately before the lines “Her lips suck forth my soul, see where it flies!”
79.Marlowe’s contemporary Robert Greene famously attacked Shakespeare as an “upstart Crow” and alluded to Marlowe’s…
- A) terrible handwriting.
- B) supposed atheism in the same pamphlet.
- C) low birth.
- D) secret life as a spy.
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: B) supposed atheism in the same pamphlet.
Explanation: In his *Groat’s-Worth of Wit*, Greene warns his fellow University Wits, including Marlowe, to beware of the actors like Shakespeare. He tells Marlowe not to trust them and to beware of his own atheist pronouncements: “Why should thy excellent wit… depend on such a frail stay?”
80.The story of *Hero and Leander* concerns two lovers separated by what body of water?
- A) The Aegean Sea
- B) The English Channel
- C) The Tiber River
- D) The Hellespont
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: D) The Hellespont
Explanation: Leander would swim across the Hellespont (now known as the Dardanelles strait) each night to be with his beloved Hero.
81.In *The Jew of Malta*, Ferneze, the Governor of Malta, represents what?
- A) Christian hypocrisy and political pragmatism
- B) The ideal ruler
- C) The common man
- D) Foreign invasion
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: A) Christian hypocrisy and political pragmatism
Explanation: Ferneze breaks his state’s solemn oath to Barabas for political expediency and then pretends moral outrage. He is ultimately as cunning and less honest than Barabas himself.
82.What academic degree is Doctor Faustus seeking to transcend with magic?
- A) A Doctorate in Law
- B) A Doctorate in Medicine
- C) A Doctorate in Divinity (Theology)
- D) A Doctorate in Philosophy
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) A Doctorate in Divinity (Theology)
Explanation: Having achieved the highest academic honor, theology, he finds it unsatisfying and turns to necromancy, which he sees as the only field with real power.
83.The final words of *Doctor Faustus* are a warning about what?
- A) The dangers of pride
- B) The deceptive nature of women
- C) The folly of practicing “unlawful things”
- D) The corrupting nature of money
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) The folly of practicing “unlawful things”
Explanation: The Chorus concludes: “Regard his hellish fall, / Whose fiendful fortune may exhort the wise / Only to wonder at unlawful things, / Whose deepness doth entice such forward wits / To practise more than heavenly power permits.”
84.Which work of Shakespeare is thought to show the most direct stylistic influence from Marlowe, particularly *Edward II*?
- A) *Hamlet*
- B) *The Tempest*
- C) *Richard III*
- D) *A Midsummer Night’s Dream*
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) *Richard III*
Explanation: Shakespeare’s early history plays, especially *Richard III* with its powerful, eloquent villain-protagonist, are heavily indebted to Marlowe’s innovations in historical tragedy and blank verse.
85.In *Dido, Queen of Carthage*, Dido’s suicide is prompted by the departure of which hero?
- A) Hercules
- B) Odysseus
- C) Aeneas
- D) Achilles
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) Aeneas
Explanation: Following the account in Virgil’s *Aeneid*, Dido is abandoned by Aeneas, who must leave to fulfill his destiny of founding Rome.
86.What is the “Faustian bargain” a metaphor for?
- A) A difficult but fair business deal
- B) A deal where one trades something of immense spiritual value for worldly gain
- C) An act of charity
- D) A simple misunderstanding
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: B) A deal where one trades something of immense spiritual value for worldly gain
Explanation: Thanks to Marlowe’s play, the term has entered the language to describe any deal where one sacrifices moral integrity or their soul for power, knowledge, or success.
87.Tamburlaine’s lament for the dying Zenocrate (“Black is the beauty of the brightest day”) demonstrates Marlowe’s skill with what poetic device?
- A) Metaphor
- B) Simile
- C) Hyperbole
- D) All of the above
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: D) All of the above
Explanation: The speech is a masterful example of Marlowe’s poetic power, using extreme contrasts, exaggerated claims (hyperbole), and rich imagery to convey Tamburlaine’s grief.
88.How did the Privy Council assist Marlowe in receiving his Master of Arts degree from Cambridge?
- A) They paid his tuition.
- B) They dispelled rumors that he had converted to Catholicism abroad.
- C) They threatened the university officials.
- D) They offered him a prestigious teaching post.
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: B) They dispelled rumors that he had converted to Catholicism abroad.
Explanation: The university was hesitant to grant his degree due to long absences and rumors he had gone to Rheims to join a Catholic seminary. The Privy Council sent a letter clarifying he had been on government service and ordering the university to grant the degree.
89.The character the Duke of Guise in *The Massacre at Paris* is portrayed as a villain of what archetype?
- A) The noble savage
- B) The tragic hero
- C) The suffering saint
- D) The ruthless Machiavellian plotter
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: D) The ruthless Machiavellian plotter
Explanation: Much like Barabas or Mortimer, the Duke of Guise is one of Marlowe’s studies in pure, amoral ambition and political violence.
90.In Faustus’s final hour, what does he beg for time to do?
- A) To burn his books (“I’ll burn my books!”)
- B) To conquer one last kingdom
- C) To write a confession
- D) To see his parents one last time
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: A) To burn his books (“I’ll burn my books!”)
Explanation: He finally recognizes that the books of magic, which promised him the world, were the instruments of his damnation, but his realization comes too late.
91.Which of these is NOT a son of Tamburlaine?
- A) Calyphas
- B) Amyras
- C) Celebinus
- D) Mycetes
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: D) Mycetes
Explanation: Mycetes is the weak and ineffectual King of Persia whom Tamburlaine easily defeats at the beginning of Part One.
92.Why does Tamburlaine kill his own son, Calyphas, in Part Two?
- A) For betraying him to the enemy
- B) For converting to Christianity
- C) For refusing to fight in a battle out of cowardice
- D) For marrying without his permission
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) For refusing to fight in a battle out of cowardice
Explanation: When Calyphas says he would rather stay in the tent than fight, Tamburlaine is so disgusted by his lack of martial spirit that he stabs him for being unworthy of his parentage.
93.“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” is an example of what poetic genre?
- A) Epic
- B) Sonnet
- C) Pastoral
- D) Elegy
Click tosee Answer
Correct Answer: C) Pastoral
Explanation: Pastoral poetry idealizes rural life and shepherds, portraying a simple, idyllic world of love and nature, which is exactly what Marlowe’s shepherd offers to his beloved.
94.In which year was the first performance of *Tamburlaine the Great*, the play that made Marlowe famous?
- A) 1587
- B) 1593
- C) 1600
- D) 1564
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: A) 1587
Explanation: First performed in 1587, *Tamburlaine* was a smash hit, and its bombastic hero and powerful blank verse revolutionized the English stage.
95.Faustus’s education at what German university is mentioned at the start of the play?
- A) Heidelberg
- B) Wittenberg
- C) Berlin
- D) Munich
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: B) Wittenberg
Explanation: The Chorus tells us Faustus was “graced with doctors’ names” in Wittenberg, a university famous as the home of Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation, adding a layer of religious irony to the play.
96.In Marlowe’s time, what was the area of Deptford, where he died, known for?
- A) Its churches and monasteries
- B) Its royal docks, shipyards, and shadowy underworld
- C) Its theatres and playhouses
- D) Its peaceful countryside estates
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: B) Its royal docks, shipyards, and shadowy underworld
Explanation: Deptford was a busy port town full of sailors, government business, and clandestine activity, making it a fittingly murky setting for Marlowe’s final hours.
97.The poetic form of *Hero and Leander* is:
- A) Blank verse
- B) Sonnets
- C) Rhyming couplets of iambic pentameter
- D) Spenserian stanzas
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: C) Rhyming couplets of iambic pentameter
Explanation: Unlike his plays, Marlowe’s great narrative poem is written in controlled, elegant rhyming couplets, later known as heroic couplets.
98.Who is Queen Isabella’s lover and co-conspirator in *Edward II*?
- A) Gaveston
- B) Pembroke
- C) Spencer Junior
- D) Mortimer Junior
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: D) Mortimer Junior
Explanation: Scorned by her husband, Queen Isabella joins forces with the ambitious Mortimer Junior; they become lovers and rule England together after deposing Edward.
99.The conflict between Barabas and the authorities in Malta begins when Governor Ferneze decrees that…
- A) all Jews must convert to Christianity.
- B) half of the estate of every Jew must be seized to pay tribute to the Turks.
- C) all Jews must leave Malta within 30 days.
- D) Barabas must give his daughter to Ferneze’s son.
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: B) half of the estate of every Jew must be seized to pay tribute to the Turks.
Explanation: The Christian government decides to solve its political problems by confiscating the wealth of its Jewish population, a hypocritical act that sparks Barabas’s desire for revenge.
100.In Shakespeare’s *As You Like It*, who quotes a line from Marlowe’s *Hero and Leander*?
- A) Rosalind
- B) Orlando
- C) Touchstone
- D) Phoebe
Click to see Answer
Correct Answer: D) Phoebe
Explanation: Phoebe, a shepherdess, quotes the famous line, “Dead Shepherd, now I find thy saw of might, ‘Whoever loved that loved not at first sight?'” “Dead Shepherd” is a clear and respectful reference to the deceased Christopher Marlowe.
Conclusion: The Branch That Was Cut
“Cut is the branch that might have grown full straight,
And burned is Apollo’s laurel bough,” – Doctor Faustus
The final lines of his greatest play serve as a fitting epitaph for Christopher Marlowe himself. A brilliant mind with a rebellious spirit, he transformed the English stage in just a few short years. His “mighty line” gave voice to the titanic ambitions of the Renaissance, and his tragic heroes still haunt our imagination. Though his life was cut short, his influence is immeasurable, leaving us forever to wonder what other masterpieces might have come from Apollo’s burned laurel bough.
How well did you know the Dead Shepherd? Share your score and your favorite Marlovian line in the comments!