[Angus]

Originally Posted by MTVN

Christopher Marlowe?

Certainly Marlowe was an inspiration for Shakespeare and there's more than a nod to him in some of Shakespeare's earlier plays. There are even conspiracy theories that Marlowe faked his own death and continued writing under the assumed name of Shakespeare! Marlowe himself was heavily influenced by Edmund Spenser and even guilty of a fair bit of plagiarism.

However Shakespeare, whilst inspired by Marlowe, took his art to a whole new level in my opinion. The only Marlowe's plays I really like are Doctor Faustus and Tamburlaine the Great, and of course there are bound to be similarities in style between contemporaries such as Shakespeare, Spenser and Marlowe, but I stand by my assertion that Shakespeare is globally known, whereas the likes of Marlowe and Spenser are not.