Literature · Drama & Theatre Literature
A topic within Drama & Theatre Literature, itself one of 10 topics in that field and part of Literature.
3 works
Christopher Marlowe
A scholar who trades his soul for twenty-four years of magical power spends them on tricks and spectacle rather than the knowledge he claimed to want, arguing that the ambition to transcend human limits collapses into pettiness once it actually succeeds.
about 80 minutes to readlink checked 17 Sept 2026Ben Jonson
A wealthy Venetian fakes a fatal illness to draw a parade of legacy-hunters into ever more degrading acts of flattery and bribery, a satire arguing that greed corrupts faster and more completely than any of the vices it pretends to despise.
about 3.5 hours to readlink checked 17 Sept 2026John Webster
A widowed duchess who secretly marries beneath her rank is hunted to madness and death by her own brothers, staged to argue that the aristocracy's obsession with blood and status is a more dangerous derangement than any single villain's malice.
about 2 hours to readlink checked 17 Sept 2026