The next big advance in the art of the theater was the work of Christopher Marlowe (1564 - 1593). A flamboyant figure, Marlowe had been educated at Cambridge University and was one of England's best poets. He began writing for the stage in the mid-1580's, several years before Shakespeare came on the scene. He brought his poetic gift to the plays he wrote. He made the blank verse more subtle than the kind of ranting bombast of a play like The Spanish Tragedy, and his heroes were larger than life. Marlowe showed that the language of theater could be that of high art.

[See more about Christopher Marlowe in the section on Shakespeare's life.]

Marlowe's most memorable work was Dr. Faustus, a cautionary drama about a man who sells his soul to the Devil for ultimate power and knowledge. The use of demons on stage recalled some of the earlier morality plays, but now the protagonist was a powerful, almost heroic figure who dares to push the limits of conventional belief. Faustus' language befitted his stature as a larger-than-life character. When he sees the figure of Helen of Troy, the most beautiful woman in history, he asks, "Is this the face that launched a thousands ships,/ And burned the topless towers of Ilium [Troy]?"