Marlowe’s Tamburlaine the Great is described as a tragedy, and initially I drew many parallels to Othello in the way that Tamburlaine opens with great wealth and power, immense hubris which I assumed would result in his downfall and occasional racial objectification as he is from Uzbekistan, or Timur the Lame, the Persian tyrant and warlord that inspired Marlowe’s play was. Though Tamburlaine is initially presented as a war-waging protagonist, it quickly becomes clear his true identity of only a remorseless tyrant. After not long, every scene some form of death, murder, execution or suicide occurred, to the point that they meant nothing to the plot other than to further push the idea that Tamburlaine wasn’t a great leader. No war scenes are staged but only the king taking slaves in the aftermath and abusing them. The play is almost solely made up of abuse and murder, especially in the second part. Lastly, the tragic ending of the play wasn’t entirely ‘tragic’ but more underwhelming and extremely sudden. Staged, it may be a lot more exciting, but as I read on I just became bored of and repulsed by the constant death.