Tamburlaine as A Villain Hero

Tamburlaine the Great focuses on portraying the central character of Tamburlaine who is brave， wise， talented， cruel and impious. Tamburlaine is the first controversial figure in the history of British drama. The most important reason for the emergence of a villain-hero， a character of moral controversy， is the conflicts and differences in values. Religious drama has black-and-white and absolutely opposed characters because these characters are judged according to the Christian values， however， such a unified viewpoint has suffered great impact during the Renaissance. With the development of society， new ethos and social values emerged during the Renaissance， which brought some impacts to the previously dominant Christian values. In the Marlowe’s play， the emergency of such a role which is contrary to traditional morality is the actual reflection of value conflict. Such a value conflict arises from the religious reform and the emergency of humanism during the Renaissance， as well as the development of capitalist. In essence， religious reform， Renaissance and the development of capitalist are different aspects of the Western world in the whole process of modernization.

Tamburlaine’s heroic temperament and brutal acts lead to the constant debate among the critics. The comments on Tamburlaine vary greatly among different critics and even develop toward two extremes. Fieler states in his book Tamburlaine Part I and the Audience that the audience that it would not give Tamburlaine a way out in terms of moral judgments just because he is a war hero. （Fieler， 1961： 15） He argues that the essence of all wars is unjust wars， even if there are reasons for legitimation. Fieler believes that there is a rigid social hierarchy in Britain in the sixteenth century and such kind of social hierarchy is closely related to religious concepts. God is the supreme ruler of the world and he normalizes the order without disturbance. The existence of human being is to get to know and love God， because the power is given by God.

One of the most important concepts in the Middle Ages is the cosmic order， and based on this principle， all things of the world are integrated into an orderly whole， which makes the society in the Middle Ages become a structure that has a clear hierarchy and runs orderly. At the same time， its characteristic is that everything is in order. Tamburlaine’s ambition is seen as the most terrible sin because he comes from a humble family but he wanted to transcend his position and destroy the order. “Tamburlaine： The God of war resignes his roume to me，/ Meaning to make me Grenerall of the world：/ Jove viewing me in armes， looks pale and wan，/ Fearing my power should pull him from his throne.” （Marlowe， 1979：75） This kind of love is not the carnal love and earthly love which are condemned by the Christian. This love is a kind of noble spiritual love. Tamburlaine himself also admits that this love is a kind of restraint and balance to his military spirits. His deep and lasting love for Zenocrate shows that he is elegant， noble and romantic in character. We can only see the evil of passion from the Battenhaus’ criticism， and we can’t feel the beauty of the passion given by Tamburlaine in Marlowe’s dramas. This passion brings power， sublime and great confidence to Tamburlaine rather than the madness of violating everything said by Bartenhaus. Marlowe emphasizes the subjectivity of Tamburlaine and endows this figure with ability of grasping the fate. On the one hand， this reflects the humanism’s optimistic attitude towards man， and on the other hand， it also brings a great change to the tragedy.

Marlowe demonstrates the idealized image of the monarch through the image of Tamburlaine. Marlowe begins to beautify Tamburlaine from his appearance. The external image of dramatic characters is often used as an important means of characterization， and is even used to distinguish positive and negative characters. In the traditional British drama， “evil” role is usually vilified， such as in mystery drama， Judah and Herod often are with red or black beard. The usual technique in drama is to vilify the negative characters and beautify the positive characters. Therefore， the external image of the dramatic characters is closely related to the nature of the characters.

Tamburlaine has perfect figure， which is different from the evil role and ugly appearance in mystery plays. He is “tall and sturdy men”， “solemn” in temperament； he has “the curly hair in amber like Achilles” and “the Giants as big as hugy Polypheme and his eyes” are shining with “the flame of Zeus”； Tamburlaine is “so perfect” and makes “all people go down without fighting” （Marlowe， 1979： 21）. Besides the exceptional figure， Tamburlaine is unusual in eloquence. He shows no sign of fear in the face of Persia army， presents righteous indignation while he delivers a wonderful speech about inducing to capitulate. After he finishes speaking， the General of Persia Theridamas admitted that even “Tamburlaine！ A Scythian shepherd so embellished/ With nature’s pride and richest furniture！ /His looks do menace heaven and dare the gods；/His fiery eyes are fix’d upon the earth， /As if he now devis’d some stratagem， /Or meant to pierce Avernus’ darksome vaults /To pull the triple-headed dog from hell.” （Marlowe， 1979： 18）. Finally， he is conquered by Tamburlaine’s personality charm， he surrendered without fighting and became one of his most loyal and competent generals. In addition， he is excelled in courage and extremely capable in terms of military. He is molded as a hero image with handsome appearance， noble manner and superior capacity by Marlowe， which has overturned the intrinsic images like stupidity， ugliness and hypocrisy described for tyrants in mystery plays.

A key inspiration is the cause of Tamburlaine’s death and the source of his ambition is the movement of elements. Tamburlaine dies because his blood vessels are full of excessive heat， leaving him void of wetness and dried so as to exhaust life and cause death. Tamburlaine’s disease is caused by an imbalance of material in the blood. Connecting with the above text， when Tamburlaine explained his ambition， he also said， in our heart， the elements contend for power and profit， and they really taught us to have an ambition. We will find that Tamburlaine’ s extraordinary will is a result of the struggle of elements on him， and at the same time， his deadly disease is also caused by the imbalance of the struggle of elements. For the cause of Tamburlaine’ s death， Cole evaluated， it’s especially noteworthy that it is very original for Marlowe to interpret Tamburlaine’s death. As far as I can see， Marlowe is the first person who interprets death， pain or hunger in this way in the theatre history of the United Kingdom. （Cole， 1972： 16）

Marlowe shapes Tamburlaine as a man with God’s power and will， and at the same time， he stressed that the source of the power of Tamburlaine can be found in any person’s body. Therefore， the idea of Tamburlaine also represented the common dream of mankind and the efforts made by the “people” in the Renaissance Period who made efforts to develop and improve themselves. The audience’s expectation rose more and more highly， and at last， in the face of death， Tamburlaine produced an enormous emotional gap. The hero who “locked the fate with iron chain”， who once boasted that “That with thy looks canst cleare the darkened Sky： And calme the rage of thundering Jupiter： Sit downe by her： adornedwith my Crowne，/ As if thou wert the Empresse of th world.” （Marlowe， 1979： 43） when conquering Egypt has to accept that “he is an ordinary man， although I once let the whole world daunting”. （Cole， 1972： 16） At this moment， the hero’s brilliance is exhausted， and the image and ability of Tamburlaine plummeted， so a strong contrast is formed and a strong sense of tragedy is constituted. On the other hand， the subjective language that Marlowe adopted to describe Tamburlaine’ s will and the objective and calm tones used to describe his death also formed a stark contrast. When talking about himself， Tamburlaine said， “I hold the Fates bound fast in yron chaines，/ And with my hand turne Fortunes wheel about，/ And sooner shall the Sun fall from his Spheare，/ Than Tamburlaine be slaine or overcome.”（Marlowe， 1979： 17） He declared， “Those walled garrisons wil subdue，/ And write my selfe great Lord of Affrica：/ So from the East unto the furthest West，/ Shall Tamburlaine extend his puissant arme.”（Marlowe， 1979： 47）

These words are perfect representation of Tamburlaine’s determination to win. He “render all into your hands” and held the wheel of destiny in strict control. As long as the sun is orbiting on its track， Tamburlaine would not be defeated. In addition， Phoebus would protect him in person！ After Tamburlaine said his words， Theridamas admitted： “Not Hermes Prolocutor to the Gods，/ Could use perswasions more patheticall.” （Marlowe， 1979： 18） Theridamas is eventually conquered by the words and bearings of Tamburlaine and handed over all his soldiers. In addition， he showed his will of “sharing weal and woe and fight till death” with Tamburlaine. It is just with Tamburlaine’s extraordinary confidence and belief that he could defeat the enemy without fighting. Techelles， one of Tamburlaine’s generals， said to him， “We are his friends， and if the Persean king/ Should offer present Dukedomes to our state，/ We thinke it losse to make exchange for that/ We are assured of by our friends successe.” （Marlowe， 1979： 18） When Techelles said these words， Tamburlaine is only an unknown hero with only 500 infantrymen. It is through Tamburlaine’s strong belief that Techelles saw Tamburlaine’s limitless prospects. Usumcasane， another general of Tamburlaine， thought differently and valued the limitless glories of victories when following Tamburlaine in wars， which made him think he is the most admirable man in the world.

The classical elements originate from ancient Greek， but it’s novel for Marlowe to explain the source of Tamerlaine’s super will with the classical elements. Several points need to be concerned for Tamburlaine’s explanation： firstly， aspiring minds comes from the “fight” of “elements” in our hearts. Element is the basic substance that constitutes human life， and aspiring minds is the result of the movement of basic elements， then such an aspiring mind is the basic characteristics of human beings. Secondly， Tamburlaine attaches great praise to human’s soul， he believes “Our souls， whose faculties can comprehend/ The wondrous Architecture of the world：/ And measure every wandring plannets course：/ Still climing after knowledge infinite，/ And always moving as the restles Spheares.” （Marlowe， 1979： 32） The human soul has infinite power， has the wisdom and ability for continuous development， it can pursue infinite knowledge. Thirdly， “the will of man” never stops， just as a restless planet.

Machiavelli believes that the king should have the cunning of foxes and the braveness of lions. He also believes that cruelty is not only understandable but also necessary.

Bibliography

（1） Booth， Wayne. The Rhetoric of Fiction. Chicago： U of Chicago P， 1983.

（2） Boyer， Clarence Valentine. The Villain as Hero in Elizabethan Tragedy. New York： Russell， 1964.

（3） Brereton， J. Le Gay. Marlowe’s Dramatic Art Studied in His Tamburlaine. Sydney： H. T. Dunn， 1925.

（4） Burnett， Mark Thornton. “Tamburlaine the Great， Parts One and Two”. Cheney， The Cambridge Companion to Christopher Marlowe 127-143.

（5） Calvin， John. “From the Institution of the Christian Religion”. Kastan， 237-240.

（6） Campbell， Lily B. Shakespeare’s Tragic Heroes： Slaves of Passion. New York： Barnes， 1968.