Tamburlaine the Great is the name of a play in two parts by
Christopher Marlowe. It is loosely based on the life of the Central Asian
emperor, Timur 'the lame'. Written in 1587 or 1588, the play is a milestone in
Elizabethan public drama; it marks a turning away from the clumsy language and
loose plotting of the earlier Tudor dramatists, and a new interest in fresh and
vivid language, memorable action, and intellectual complexity. Along with Thomas
Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy, it may be considered the first popular success of
London's public stage. Marlowe, generally considered the greatest of the
University Wits, influenced playwrights well into the Jacobean period, and
echoes of Tamburlaine's bombast and ambition can be found in English plays all
the way to the Puritan closing of the theaters in 1642.
— Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
