The history of the Massacre at Paris is well-known. Typically, the conclusions drawn by the quick and often reactionary readings of the play have been unfairly scornful. The disparaging attitude towards Marlowe’s piece is bizarre when we consider that The Massacre was the highest grossing play of the season for Lord Strange’s Men, and today it seems to be disparaged more by critics than audiences or theatre professionals, as the few performances have shown. My purpose is not to rehash these important arguments but rather to show that Marlowe has in fact thoughtfully but radically presented an important historical document that deals with what then was the most shattering event to have shaken Europe. Marlowe saw that a radical event requires a radical presentation—his play should be understood as a simulacrum of the French massacre. This is an approach to the event that I will argue is based on several elements, including his reading of an important source for the play that has only recently been acknowledged, Anne Dowriche’s The French Historie.
