Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare were contemporaries (they lived and worked at the same time). Which playwright enjoyed the greatest commercial success during his lifetime? That's difficult to determine. Marlowe was the more famous playwright and enjoyed commercial success during his lifetime, having written several plays considered popular masterpieces while Shakespeare was still an obscure newcomer to the London theater scene. However, Marlowe was killed in 1593 while Shakespeare would go on to write for many more years, eventually enjoying great (and perhaps greater) commercial success himself.Today, many more people recognize Shakespeare's name and works than recognize Marlowe's, and Shakespeare's plays are treated as canonical (great literature). Nevertheless, Marlowe, not Shakespeare, was the undisputed blockbuster entertainment maker of his day. Now that you have read plays by each playwright, how would you distinguish Shakespeare's style from Marlowe's or vice versa? What made Marlowe's work so compelling for early modern audiences? What do you find compelling about Marlowe's work?