Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Marlowe, Christopher Marlowe. Okay, that might not have a very good ring to it, but nevertheless, many people believe that Christopher Marlowe was a government spy, recruited while he was a student at Cambridge for secret missions on the continent. Yeah, we bet you didn't see that one coming. (Source, p. 111.)
One Elizabethan author, William Prynne, claimed that at one performance of Doctor Faustus, actual devils appeared onstage, driving some members of the audience mad. Those must have been some awesome actors. (Source, pp. 423-4.)
Prepare yourselves for something shocking, Shmoopers: at the time of his death (in a barroom brawl), Christopher Marlowe was under official investigation for treason and atheism. (Source.)