This course examines representative texts by the sixteenth-century writer Christopher Marlowe, three plays,The Jew of Malta, Doctor Faustus  and Edward II, and the erotic epyllion Hero and Leander. Students will read the texts closely and intensively, exploring Marlowe's relentless critique of the dominant discourse, involving state power, class conflict and sexual desire. The course will also introduce students to the cultural and political contexts of Marlowe's writing, as well as to contemporary critical approaches to Marlowe, which focus on history and sexuality, raising a wide range of issues centering on the author's work, such as espionage, rebellion, political power, religion, race, class and gender.