Christopher Marlowe Approach to Feminism

This article analyzes Christopher Marlowe's poem and its relation to feminism. It discusses the characters of Hero and Leander, their interactions, and Marlowe's personal beliefs and limitations as a feminist advocate.

Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe approach to feminism
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Christopher Marlowe
Introduction.
Generally, feminism is described as the range of ideologies, social movements and
political groups that work under the same goal (Jayawardena, 2016). Most of these groups
seek to ensure there is both equal education and professional opportunities for both women
and men in the society. The aspect of feminism tends to fight for rights of women such as
the right to vote, the right to access equal opportunities and other social related services.
In this discussion have used the poem of Christopher Marlow to illustrate the issue of
feminism. The conclusion determines whether I agree or disagree with the aspect of feminism
by Christopher Marlowe. The author uses the two characters that is Hero and Leander to
describe the whole poem .Clement (2018) describes that the whole article received immense
attention from different audiences. He further shows that Christopher Marlowe uses the
homoerotic language when describing the bodily form of the Leander. Despite using the
appropriate concept of poem presentation such as the mythical illusions, the evocative
descriptions, and the ironic wit, Christopher Marlowe's work has received a lot of critics
which indicates the aspect of homosexuality. Different authors have argued differently on the
poem of the Christopher Marlowe. For instance, in the Queer theorist, the author utilizes the
word homosexuality to when describing the relationships of males. Christopher Marlowe
used the Love triangle in the entire context to describe what was happening. The encounter of
the Neptune by the Leander basically does involve a homosexuality scenario (Hirsch &
Keller, 2015). The perspectives captured on the Leander's encounter with the Neptune
boosted the confidence for Leander in asking for sexual relations with the Hero in the story.
Here the aspect of Neptune serves as the key entry for sexual arousal since Leander was
experiencing unsuccessful relationships with the Hero. When Leander was inspired with the
fulfilment of sexual relationship with the Hero then we see Lender seducing Hero for the

Christopher Marlowe
sexual mannerism and finally Hero surrenders to the Leander's unrelenting aspects of sexual
wishes.
There is a considerable discussion which has been revealed through the manners of the two
characters in the context. On viewing at a certain perspective relating to the centre of verse in
this work, then one realizes that there is an apparent focus on the bodily form of the male
gender which is illustrated by the Leander (Vogel, 2018).The introduction of Hero to Leander
is accelerated by the beauty and her immaculate attire as well as the affiliation of nature. 'Her
kirtle was blues…her veil was flowers and leaves……on the neck, there were hanging chains
of pebble-stones.' The overall juxtaposition of the Hero in relevant to nature is clearly
mentioned here. This means that the idea of Hero being dominant in the world of men has
keenly alluded. This overall appearance revealed by the Hero formed the principal goal of
seduction by the Leander. In addition, the image of Leander is primarily a form of evoking
the tone androgyny which is evident in different parts of the poem. Therefore, in the book of
William Walsh's he once mentioned the aspect of sexual renaissance which is bestowed by
the Leander .Walsh's shows that the Leander's affection is relevant to one of his writing
‘'moved to the world of men.’’ This suggests that Leander is amongst the men who react
negatively on female gender in the society (Feder, Rawlinson, Zakin, 2015). Due to this
behaviour, Leander is revealed as the figure which has forced Christopher Marlowe to use the
homoerotic tone in the entire context. The description of the Leander in this form is a
departure from various literary works. Feder et al (2015) distinguishes the fact that the poem
should be perceived as homosexual lens of entire idea of introspection, but he reiterates the
problem of Christopher Marlowe private life when disrupting the objective reading of the
whole epyllion. Much of Literature work tend to concentrate more on the women but
unfortunately, Christopher Marlowe reacts differently by not following this pattern. There is
the use of hyperbolic language when relating to the Hero. This is evident in the ironic

Christopher Marlowe
association with issues of Venus nun in the poem yet the speaker is more enamoured with the
physical appearance of Leander.
Christopher Marlowe in the content utilizes the satirical language and issue of the comic in
expressing the Leander's unwilling pursuit to Hero. For example, Leander's endeavour to
convince Hero is ironically described through the concept of Venus nun in the poem. This is
ironical humour which is relevant to lack of feminism. This indicates a sense that a woman is
like an instrument in the sense that she should be handled and possessed in an apt manner
(Clark, Garner, Higonnet, Katrak, 2014).By building upon this strategy of sexual delight in
favour of maintaining pureness, then Leander tries to construct a case which shows that
Hero's action was not entirely frivolous but also depraved.
In addition, the issue of man companionship flows when Leander become assertive. In this
perspective, Leader tries to equate women as a dependant to men in society. This dominance
indicates a sense of lack of feminism. There is juxtaposition when Leander compares the
virginity of Hero as water and when he compares marriage to wine. The Leander's appeals for
Hero virginity was unsuccessful until when he approached the Neptune (Khoja-Moolji,
2015). Christopher Marlowe conveys the feelings of distress especially when Leander
experienced with the affection of hero and thus unable to reciprocate from this affection.
From both descriptions of Leander and Hero, there is the aspect of homoerotic. It shows a
realm of the heterosexual love poem. Jonathan Cullers Literary Theory involves an excerpt
from the Judith Butler which describes language of poem as manner ‘for thinking about
crucial social processes ’.This proves how literature is interpreted by readers in accordance
with the social values of zeitgeist. The manner in which Christopher Marlowe explained Hero
sets a perception of homoerotic. This violation of humans rights in relation to sexual
preferences. This is clear that whoever is influenced by the appearance of Hero is a member
of the opposite sex. This is contrary to the affection bestowed on the appearance of Leander

Christopher Marlowe
in the poem. It's feminism to follow this form of sex in society (Benjamin, 2013).Christopher
Marlowe tries to illustrate the illustration which indicates the deprivation of rights for both
men and women. The character portrayed by the Leander is the description of increased
gender rights violence. Christopher Marlowe's description on Leander intentionally blurs the
overall gender of Leander thus leaving a lot of questions to the audience. The fact is pegged
on male bonding which illustrates an acceptable activity thus showing the acknowledged
continuum that entirely exists to surround violation of gender rights.
Marlow could not be a full feminist .When Leander at the beginning comes into contact with
Neptune, the first feelings indicated by Neptune consist of sexual desire because of mistaking
Leander who was initially her lover (McNay, 2013).
The insistence of Leander's feminine beauty in various perspectives is deemed to be
unnecessary by several critics. It is deemed as historical based evidence indicating Marlowe's
homosexuality beliefs. It is evident that Marlowe cannot fully advocate for feminism
approaches and movements. This is because according to the poem, there exists a convention
of the visibility and transparent allure that young male individuals have for other men. The
classical world is highly accustomed to homosexuality deeds than the current world of
Marlowe. He, however, delights greatly in it, lingering love inscriptions towards Leander.
The description revolves much more around her dress and dress codes than her personality as
a woman and her beauty or attractiveness .The concept of beauty is relevant to what McNay
(2013) argued in chapter X of the Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our ideas and the
Beautiful. The attraction towards Leander by Neptune is physical and aesthetic. This shows
that Marlowe does not appreciate the feminist perspective. It shows that Marlowe might have
insisted on his own personal feelings in this particular poem than showing feminism support.

Christopher Marlowe
On the negative impact, the existing love relationship between both Leander and Neptune is
highly explicit and greatly disturbing (Pratt & Rosner, 2012). This is evident since Leander
does not need high feminism attention and is ignorant or unaware of all the current
happenings. Leander typically indicates his sexual ignorance by emphasizing strongly that he
is not a woman. This show feminism and sexual innocence as clearly understanding other
works.
According to other works and theoretical research, Marlowe feminism could become
impossible because he was highly considered to be a government spy (Dill & Zinn, 2016).
This shows that Marlowe's feminism movements could be highly restricted. Even if he joined
hands with other scholars to have campaigns and feminism awareness programs, their work
could bore no fruit as a result of his bad reputation. The people could not fully support his
work since they did not fully support his work. Him being deemed as a government spy
indicates that he could leak some of the important plans and decisions regarding fighting
feminism struggles like creating unions and group movements. Some of these efforts are
highly criticized by the job. This how's that Marlowe was quite literally unfit for the
feminism awareness job.
Another constraint that hindered Marlowe as a feminist is his bad reputation since people
believed that he was an active atheist (Modleski, 2014).This indicates that he held a position
of dangerous effects or implications to be an enemy of God either by contribution or by
active association with the heinous practice. Modleski (2014) states that with the increasing
diverse constant and worries regarding the rise of the school of Atheism, there existed prior
claims on the disloyalty levels of the protestant Monarchy. Some of the current historians
usually focus on Marlowe Professed atheism as a mode to elaborate further on his continued
preteens as a government spy. Contemporary evidence shows that he had the ability to
instigate or counterfeit evidence. Therefore people could not trust him with feminist

Christopher Marlowe
campaigns. Most women in love believe in religion thus they could not follow his disloyalty
to feminism movements.
As emphasized in this particular case, Neptune desire still remains strong even after
acknowledging and getting to know about Leander's full identity because of unending
attraction to Leander's undeniable aesthetic appeal .It is clear that the strong attraction to
Leander however by Neptune revolves around only in physical dimensions and results from
aesthetic appeal. He experiences various sentiments of pure tenderness and affection in the
sexual suggesting way only comprised of the common laws of nature and rather not in
accordance with the strict morals of the existing society. It is evident that, with regard to
societal norms and standards, a male individual is not supposed to desire another fellow male
person. This disagrees with the norms or fighting feminism and high profile campaigns on the
same. According to Sedgwick, homosexuality identity and activities should not be considered
as results of male bonding (Fraser, 2012).Marlow’s works are in contrary with the exciting
gender theorists according to the distinguishing science from historical context. The way in
which modern era society extensively differentiates between the relationships and such
actions according to the upcoming ideologies contributes to the emergence of limitations on
the interpretations of the feminist activity. Marlowe could not be an advocate of feminism
movements since most of his work as seen in the poem puts the high emphasis on the
physicality of the males. The relationship between Neptune and Leander is part of
homosocial bonding (Rowbotham & Wainwright, 2013).There also exist many bonds of
rivalry and love that are very powerful. According to the poem the feminism aspects is
controlled by wrath as a result of rejection. Marlow shows that in the male is a specific
negative intention whole seducing women, He also indicates that women can any be
supported or assisted in any situation that requires immediate help because of the beautiful
bodily form. In this case, Hero loves Leander but spends most of the time rejecting the

Christopher Marlowe
consistent sexual advances. It is evident that female encounter all kinds of negative
mannerism and incapacitating situations. It also shows that love for women is only about the
possession of the body thus indicating that female is deemed to be sexual objects and does
not deserve to be loved (Rowbotham & Wainwright,2013).
Cristopher Marlowe sexualized language has attracted high interest in the available poem.
However, in as much as readers view the poem to be of high homoerotic manner, the freedom
of female sexuality should be much appreciated (Ramazanoglu, 2012). According to Harvey,
these aspects should be highly embraced even in a world that is filled with various social
conventions. Marlowe is a poet whose adverse sexual exploits are analysed and evaluated in
this particular literacy masterpiece. This is based mainly on his personal sexual preferences.
He mostly centres his detailed description and appreciation of feminine only on the body and
sexual prowess. This emphasizes Eve Sedgwick's theory relating to homosocial bonding and
existing homosocial relations. In the end, even Neptune is much disappointed and have a lot
of rivalry feelings towards Leander's desired female (Squire, 2016). However, the strong love
for Leander strengthens his companionship ability and thus making the lovers to be together
and united. Therefore Christopher Marlowe feminism perspectives are impossible in this case
due to the constraints highlighted above.

Christopher Marlowe
Reference
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Christopher Marlowe
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