Christopher Marlowe was the most famous Elizabethan tragedian next to William Shakespeare. He is best known for his work in blank verse, as well as his colorful life and mysterious death. Although little of it can be proved, Marlowe was reputedly an atheist, a homosexual, and a government spy. He was eventually murdered after the discovery of threatening and libelous documents attributed to him.

For GRE purposes, I recommend you check out my previous post on Marlowe, which contains an audiobook of his poem, The Passionate Shepherd to his Love. Also take note of the post prior to that, which contains a recording of “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd,” by Sir Walter Raleigh.

Marlowe’s most famous work is The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus, a play composed in blank verse about a protagonist who sells his soul to the devil in return for worldly power. (Not to be confused with Faust, which is Goethe’s dramatization of the same German legend.) I haven’t included an audiobook of Doctor Faustus, because I personally find audiobooks of plays to be extremely confusing, especially if you happen read them before.  That said, Doctor Faustus is very likely to appear on the GRE, so I’d recommend you read it.   Read the wikipedia summary here.

Other works of note

Tamburlaine the Great
Hero and Leander

Further reading

Christopher Marlowe site at luminarium.org