Focusing upon Marlowe the playwright as opposed to Marlowe the man, the essays in this collection position the dramatist's plays within the dramaturgical, ethical, and sociopolitical matrices of his own era.

The volume also examines some of the most heated controversies of the early modern period, such as the anti-theatrical debate, the relations between parents and children, Machiavelli's ideology, the legitimacy of sectarian violence, and the discourse of addiction.

Some of the chapters also explore Marlowe's polysemous influence on the theater of his time and of later periods, but, most centrally, upon his more famous contemporary poet/playwright, William Shakespeare.