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(This
is an expanded version of a paper I presented to the Fifth International
Marlowe Conference, held at St. Catherine's College, Cambridge, 30th June
2003).
Part A - Numerology and Cabala for Marlowe?
Introduction – Literature and Esoterism
One of the most striking differences between the Renaissance worldview and
that of the present day lies in a shift from a richly subjective to a purely
objective conceptualisation of numbers and mathematics. In the Renaissance
numbers were held in a regard so high they were believed to provide the
secret key to the deepest mysteries of God and man. Pico della Mirandola
spoke for his age when he wrote (in John Dee's inimitable translation):
"By Numbers, a way is had, to the searchyng out, and
understandyng of every thyng, hable to be knowen."
(1)
Examples of similar numerical enthusiasm could be cited from a great
many of the leading figures of the Renaissance. It is scarcely surprising
therefore that the writers of that age took numerical symbolism extremely
seriously too.
The profound role of numerology in the literature of the period has been
appreciated for many years now. Prominent among those who have initiated
this revelation is Professor Alastair Fowler, and he has described the
scope of the movement thus:
"Numerology . . . was widely used by Latin authors, common
to the
best medieval and renaissance poets and almost universal in the
period 1580 to 1680, when it reached its greatest height of
sophistication." (2)
The work of Fowler and others has revealed that subtle but complex numerical
patterns are to be found in the major works of Marlowe's immediate peers,
including Sidney, Spenser, Chapman and Shakespeare. It is a fact, however,
that this body of numerical criticism has focussed almost exclusively
on poetry and has all but ignored the prime technique of literary numerology,
which is the interplay of words, names and numbers found in the Cabala.
There are several possible reasons for this, but key among them must be
the fact that Literary Cabala has always been a matter steeped in secrecy.
This reflects the fact that Cabala is a technique originally devised as
a means of transmitting, yet at the same time concealing, the most sacred
and portentous mysteries of the ancient world
(3).
This pervasive aura of secrecy has ensured the Cabala's status as something
of a perennial lost art; however it is one that was temporarily rediscovered
and very highly regarded by those, like Pico and Dee, at the cutting edge
of the Renaissance.
For Henry Reynolds, Literary Cabala represented the most sublime and desirable
application of numerology that an author could aspire too. He referred
to the way - 'enigmaticall and figurative' - that Pythagoras, the Hebrews,
the Egyptians and the ancient Poets communicated their occult doctrines
so that only 'sacred and sublime wits' could understand them. He then
specified what this technique was:
That Art of mysticall writing by Numbers, wherin they couched under
a
fabulous attire those their verball Instructions, was after called
Scientia
Cabalae, or the Science of reception,- . . . A learning by the auncients
held in high estimation and reverence, and not without great reason;
(4)
This 'art of mystical writing by numbers' that Reynolds sought to encourage
is a cryptographic technique with a provenance extending back to ancient
Greece and beyond. The basic technique is gematria: the assigning of a
numerical value is the letters of the alphabet. At its simplest level
of operation, a concordance in numerical value between two verbal units
portends an equivalence of meaning. In practice, there is a deeper level
of sophistication in the way the numerical results are interpreted and
the manner of this is indicated by the name, 'gematria'. The word is not
Hebrew but derived from the Greek 'Γεωμετρια'
– and is explained by the fact that the rules of geometry play a
central role in cabalistic cryptography.
The most basic manifestation of Scientia Cabalae pertains to the naming
of names. In the Hebrew of the Pentateuch the various names of God and
those of Adam and Eve were no accident; nor, indeed, was that of Jesus
Christ in the Greek of the New Testament. The naming of these figures
was entirely underlain by numerical considerations. In Hebrew 'IHVH'
(Jahweh) has a gematria value of 26 (see Hebrew
Gematria): this relates him to the first man, created in his likeness,
by the proportion of the width to the height of the sacred vesica piscis
(a ratio of the square root of three), because 'ADM'
(Adam) has a value of 45. The difference between these two is 19 - which
is the value of 'ChVH' (Eve). Dividing 45
by 19 makes 2.368 - and 2368 is the value by Greek gematria of Ιησοθς Χριστος
(Jesus Christ) (see Greek
Gematria). Adding 45 to 19 makes 64: and 64 times 37 is 2368 (37 being
the numerical key to both New and Old Testaments)
(5).
The numerical inter-relationships of such names were of absorbing interest
to the cabalists of the Renaissance. They were especially preoccupied
with finding indications in the Old Testament apparently referring forward
to the advent of the Son of God in the New (6).
When they found what they were looking for - that God, the creator of
the universe and 'author' of the Scriptures, had certainly used cabalistic
numeration in this way - they saw no reason why they should not emulate
the technique in their own literature. This would give it both greater
philosophical depth and higher artistic value. It would also provide a
chance to incorporate covert symbolism and 'sub rosa' messages for the
reception of a select audience of fellow initiates.
Marlowe and the Cabala
In a way it would be stranger to find that Marlowe eschewed the Cabala rather
than used it, for he is an ideal candidate. On a philosophical level the
Cabala offered questing minds a direct route to the most profound mysteries
of existence. These we may take to be of personal interest to the author
who penned Tamburlaine's famous soliloquy:
Nature, that fram'd us of four elements
Warring within our breasts for regiment,
Doth teach us all to have aspiring minds;
Our souls, whose faculties can comprehend
The wondrous architecture of the world,
And measure every wandering planet's course,
Still climbing after knowledge infinite,
And always moving as the restless spheres, (1
Tam., II, vii, 18-25) (7)
For a writer like Marlowe, who we know to have held dangerously unorthodox
views on religion and politics, the covert and cryptographic aspect of
literary Cabala would have had an immediate appeal, too. This is especially
important when we consider that Marlowe's professional writing career
began at the same time that John Whitgift, the reactionary Archbishop
of Canterbury, gained unprecedented powers of censorship over all published
works in the land. Radical thinkers and writers could not openly express
controversial ideas in print and therefore were impelled to find subtle
ways of doing so covertly. The cryptographic techniques of Literary Cabala
would have been especially congenial for Marlowe because he worked in
intelligence whilst at university and therefore would have had professional
training as a cryptographer.
The cultural background was also favourable, for he was writing at a time
when the likes of John Dee and Giordano Bruno were exerting a profound
influence on the literary scene, especially through the writers in Sir
Philip Sidney's circle. Both Dee and Bruno espoused Cabala
(8)
and drew heavily for their knowledge of this subject on Agrippa and in
particular on his Three Books of Occult Philosophy – a work then
considered as a definitive source of cabalistic knowledge
(9).
Bruno's sensational assault on Oxford University and subsequent stay in
England occurred while Marlowe was a student at Cambridge and at an impressionable
age. It's possible, even, that Marlowe witnessed the lectures and met
Bruno at this time, for he was curiously absent from Cambridge during
the exact period of the Oxford lectures, from April to June of 1583
(10).
Whether or not this was the case, it is likely that he hero worshipped
Bruno - a fellow iconoclast and purveyor of forbidden philosophical fruits
- for we find long sections of Doctor Faustus devoted to magical fantasies
of liberating Bruno from the dungeons beneath the Vatican.
Many scholars have been perplexed by the fact that the Bruno of the play
is called Saxon Bruno. There may be a cabalistic solution to this conundrum.
In the Saxon (or German) tongue, Bruno translates to 'Braun' and this
version of his name equates with that of 'Lucifer' by gematria, for they
both share a value of 323 (see Latin/English
Gematria). Bruno styled himself as a light-bringer and rebel angel;
he also named his brilliant and highly influential comedy, Il Candelaio
- The Torch Bearer. Thus there is a reasonable chance that the nickname
of Lucifer was one appropriated by Bruno.
The Nolan also creeps in, by stealth, to the famous speech that links
Faustus to the supposed conjurer Agrippa:
And I, that have with subtle syllogisms
Gravelled the pastors of the German Church
And made the flowering pride of Wittenberg
Swarm to my problems as the infernal spirits
On sweet Musaeus when he came to hell,
Will be as cunning as Agrippa was,
Whose shadow made all Europe honour him. (Fau.
I, i, 111-117)
The connection here to Bruno stems not merely from the fact that he had
done famous battle with the pastors of Wittenburg during his time as a
teacher there (11), but recalls the
actual words Bruno used when reporting his lecturing debacle at Oxford
in La Cena de le Ceneri:
". . . things that befell the Nolan, when he publicly disputed
with those Doctors of
Theology in the presence of Prince Albert Laski, the Polish nobleman,
and other
gentlemen of the English nobility. Have them tell you how we were
able to answer
their arguments, how that poor doctor on fifteen occasions, during
the argumentation
of fifteen syllogisms, remained confused like a chick caught in hemp
. . ." (12)
Thus a boast of flooring reverent doctors with subtle syllogisms would
bring Bruno readily to the minds of Marlowe's better read auditors and
reinforce the clue that the recalcitrant John Faustus had a living role
model (13).
Amongst his contemporaries, the author's enthusiasm for Bruno seems to
have been well known; there is even a chance that the influence of Bruno
was perceived in Tamburlaine. In 1588 Robert Greene seems to have been
very miffed that his own play writing talents were being eclipsed by those
of Marlowe, especially in regard to Tamburlaine. In the preface to his
pamphlet Perimedes the Blacksmith (31st March 1588) he wrote:
. . . for that I could not make my verses jet upon the stage in tragical
buskins, every word
filling the mouth like the faburden of Bow Bell, daring God out of
heaven with that
atheist Tamburlan, or blaspheming with the mad priest of the sun.
The latter phrase, as Charles Nicholl has pointed out
(14),
is undoubtedly a reference to Bruno. Bruno had been ordained as a Dominician
monk, was a proselytiser of 'divine madness' (frenzy) and had stoutly
defended Copernican views of heliocentricity at Oxford as well as in La
Cena de le Ceneri. Greene's word and the evidence in Faustus make it more
than likely that Marlowe was one who 'lived and died in Bruno's works'.
If so, he would have been strongly drawn to the Cabala and especially
to the, 'Lines, circles, scenes, letters and characters,' found in Agrippa's
three 'heavenly' books of Occult Philosophy.
Another source of cabalistic information in the Elizabethan age, and one
which Frances Yates identified as being particularly influential on the
whole generation of Dee, Sidney, Spenser, Marlowe and Shakespeare, was
Giorgio's De Harmonia Mundi (15). This
long, philosophical poem aimed to demonstrate the unity
of all true philosophies, but particularly focused on Pythagoreanism and
the Cabala. It was widely read and extremely influential among the literary
elite of the time. For Philip Beitchman it constituted, ' . . . a work
of incalculable importance for the dissemination of Christian Cabala in
the Renaissance.' (16)
Marlowe's other cabalistic sources are not yet known. However there is
no reason why his knowledge need have been limited to Agrippa and Giorgi
as all the major cabalistic texts had been translated into Latin by the
time he was writing. It is also certain that with friends like the Earl
of Northumberland, Sir Walter Raleigh and the Walsingham family Marlowe
would have had access to a very wide range of books.
Evidence of Cabalistic Writing Among His Peers
In regard to evidence of cabalistic writing by Marlowe's friends and rivals,
some studies have been made, however the approach has been piecemeal and
the findings rather generalised. There has been no attempt to trace the
sort of cabalistic numerology described by Agrippa and urged upon fellow
writers by Henry Reynolds.
Denis Saurat found significant cabalistic elements in Spenser's work,
particularly relating to the Shekinah like figure of Sapience appearing
in Hymn To Heavenlie Beauty (17). James
Nohrnberg detected a Zoharic reference in the dream of the Redcrosse Knight
in the The Faerie Queene (18). Frances
Yates viewed The Faerie Queene as a major work of Christian cabalism,
although she stressed Giorgi's Harmonia Mundi as the main influence on
it (19). Sir Philip Sidney, whose tutor
in the occult sciences was none other than John Dee and whose esoteric
friend was Giordano Bruno himself, thought it worthwhile to devote
his attentions to translating Philip de Mornay's Trewness of the Christian
Religion (1587), which included a whole chapter on Pico's influential
theories of Cabala. There is also evidence for identifying his use of
gematria in Astrophel and Stella (20).
Muriel Bradbrook examined William Warner's poem Albion's England and found
the God image to be closely modelled on the Ain Soph of the Cabala
(21).
Daniel Banes argued that in The Merchant of Venice Shylock represents
the sephira Geburah - Judgment/ Severity, and Antonio stands for Chesed
- Love. He also believed he could trace the entire Tree of the Sephiroth
in this play (22). Frances Yates found
a number of other quite generalised cabalistic allusions in Shakespeare's
work (23).
There are, therefore, good grounds for believing that cabalistic philosophy
circulated among the writers of Marlowe's generation and that it was practically
employed by many of them in their work.
Conclusion
We can now trace Marlowe's probable route to the Cabala: it would have been
an interest inspired by Bruno, informed by Agrippa, bolstered by Giorgi,
stimulated by the example of his rivals and encouraged by his circle of
brilliant and learned friends.
All that remains is for us to turn to the evidence of Marlowe's pen and
to see if we can convert a likelihood of cabalistic involvement into proof
of it. The play we will examine is his two part masterpiece Tamburlaine
the Great.
Top
Part B - Cabala in Tamburlaine The Great
Tamburlaine - Cabalistic Themes
Tamburlaine the Great is a disconcerting play for both audiences and critics
alike. The main reason for this is that the protagonist of the play is a
barbaric and bloodthirsty tyrant - and yet the author uses various means
to elicit audience sympathy with him. Like Milton's Lucifer, his heroic
stature is built up by giving him more lines and better poetry than his
adversaries; he is also shown to be wiser than them, more constant to his
friends, truer to himself and very much the master of his own destiny. Even
in death he remains resolute and un-humbled.
This moral ambivalence in the central character, combined with his super-human
invincibility, has led to interpretive controversy amongst critics and
there is little consensus as to the author's precise purpose. However,
a cabalistic explanation is at hand when we recognise that Tamburlaine
stands as the perfect living embodiment of the sephira Geburah. This role
he fulfils in a far more graphic and unambiguous manner than Shakespeare's
Shylock.
The Hebrew word 'GBVRH' means strength, power
or might - and as the fifth sephira it stands at the centre of the Pillar
of Severity. Two alternative names of this sephira are 'DIN',
which means punitive justice, and 'PChD',
which means fear (24). The divine name
attributed the sephira is 'ALHIM GIBR', meaning
the 'God of Battles', or, in Agrippa's words, 'He who punishes by slaughter
and wars' (25). In chapter 22 of The
Lesser Holy Assembly we find that, ' . . . the left arm of God is Geburah
and Death' (26). The celestial correspondence
is with the planet Mars. It follows that the metal associated with Geburah
is iron, and its symbols are the sword, the spear, chains and the scourge
(27).
It is hardly necessary to quote from Marlowe's text to show how extraordinarily
close is the identification between Tamburlaine and Geburah: there are
so many lines one could cite that it is hard to chose between them. A
neat and succinct example occurs in Tamburlaine's famous claim:
I that am term'd the Scourge and Wrath of God,
The only fear and terror of the world, (1 Tam.,
III, iii, 44-45)
A chilling example of his inhuman severity comes two acts later when
the virgins of Damascus come out from their besieged city, all dressed
in white, to plead with the warrior for mercy:
Tamb: Virgins, in vain you labour to prevent
That which mine honour swears shall be perform'd.
Drawing his sword
Behold my sword; what see you at the point?
1st Virgin: Nothing but fear and fatal steel, my lord.
Tamb: Your fearful minds are thick and misty then,
For there sits death; there sits imperious Death,
Keeping his circuit by the slicing edge. (1 Tam.,
V, ii, 43-49)
The character courted by Tamburlaine in Part 1 and wedded to him, until
her death, in Part 2, is Zenocrate. We would expect her to represent 'Chesed',
the Sephira opposite Geburah on the Tree of Life. The word 'ChSD'
literally means love, kindness or beauty. In the Cabala it is representative
of Mercy: it therefore serves to counterbalance the Severity of Geburah.
The alternative title of this sephira is 'GDVLH',
which means majesty or greatness (28).
In Agrippa's words it, 'signifieth grace, mercy, piety and magnificence'.
This is the right arm of God, 'that bestows clemency and passifying justice
on all.' (29). The magical image associated
with Chesed is actually a king, but this is a king on his throne, rather
than the king of Geburah who is mounted on a chariot, and thus he portends
a peaceful ruler and a lawgiver rather than a warrior (30).
Zenocrate is undoubtedly emblematic of love in the play and she conquers
Tamburlaine's heart in a way that no opposing foe could conquer his military
might. Tamburlaine is truly swept away by her charms:
Zenocrate, the loveliest maid alive,
Fairer than rocks of pearl and precious stone,
The only paragon of Tamburlaine;
Whose eyes are brighter than the lamps of heaven,
And speech more pleasant than sweet harmony;
That with thy looks can clear the darkn'd sky,
And calm the rage of thundering Jupiter; (1 Tam.,
III, iii, 117-123)
Not only does Zenocrate have a deep love for Tamburlaine, she also loves
her father the Soldan, her three sons and her old suitor the King of Arabia.
Her loving heart is also full of compassion and pity for the victims of
her lover's excesses. Initially she pleads with Tamburlaine for mercy before
the assault on Damascus; and when this doesn't work, she is deeply moved
by the slaughter of the virgins and also the grisly suicides that Bajazeth
and Zabina have been driven to:
But see, another bloody spectacle!
Ah, wretched eyes, the enemies of my heart,
How are ye glutted with these grievous objects,
And tell my soul more tales of bleeding ruth! (1
Tam., V, ii, 278-281)
Zenocrate's ruthful soul contrasts strongly with that of her pitiless
paramour. However, this doesn't prevent love from blossoming and it doesn't
stop her exerting a powerfully benign influence over him. Tamburlaine
speaks of Zenocrate as, 'She that hath calm'd the fury of my sword' (1
Tam., V, ii, 376). He even comes to the troubling realisation that
his martial nature and terrifying reputation are becoming subsumed by,
'thoughts effeminate and faint' (1 Tam., V, ii, 114) on account
of his love for her and his concern for her sorrows.
The play originally ended with Tamburlaine's prenuptial speech at the
end of Part 1: here he makes an unambiguous statement revealing the effect
that Zenocrate's Chesed - the lawgiver - has made on his Gevurah - the
warrior:
And now, my lords and loving followers,
That purchas'd kingdoms by your martial deeds,
Cast off your armour, put on scarlet robes,
Mount up your royal places of estate,
Environed with troops of noblemen,
And there make laws to rule your provinces.
Hang up your weapons on Alcides' post;
For Tamburlaine takes truce with all the world. (1
Tam., V, ii, 461-468)
This is the end of the play - as originally conceived. The marital union
of Tamburlaine and Zenocrate leads to harmony and an end of war. The chilling
severity that has characterised the action until this point is now gone
and we can expect that a period of peace and prosperity will ensue.
The only disturbing factor was that the popularity of the play forced
the poet to write a second part. A contented Tamburlaine justly ruling
a peaceful empire would not have provided much of a sequel, so it was
necessary for him to return to the warpath. However, it is significant
that he doesn't draw blood again until after Zenocrate's sudden death.
It seems that only when the union is broken, and the restraining presence
of Chesed is no longer bound to him, that he can descend once more into
cruel and barbarous tyranny.
Top
Cabalistic Numerology
Having recognised a strong cabalistic subtext to the play, it is natural
to wonder if there might be further evidence of this theme hidden within
the script by the numerological techniques of gematria and notarikon.
In order to investigate this we need first to consider two very important
questions.
The first of these concerns the method of coding employed. How do we know
the numerical valuation of the letters? Or, put another way, 'What is
the gematria code of English?' The greatest authority on Renaissance cabala
and magical numerology was Agrippa, so it is to him, and his Occult Philosophy,
that we must go for the answer. In chapter twenty of book two Agrippa
supplies the gematria code
for Latin and all the modern European languages employing the Roman
script.
The second question is of even greater importance, and concerns the issue
of accuracy. If gematria and notarikon are employed, then correct numerical
computation will depend on the precise orthography devised by the author.
If the text is faulty, or even if words have been misspelt, then the numerical
results that emerge will be worthless and potentially misleading. There
is no question but that this is a serious handicap. However, it is noteworthy that
the text is unlikely to derive from a stage script, for it evinces authorial revision (31) and according to Cunningham, it may very possibly
have derived from a manuscript in Marlowe's own hand (32). There are thus
some grounds for cautious optimism concerning potential gematria allusions. This said,
it seems wise to focus attention to the textual features which have the
greatest likelihood of having been accurately recorded by the printers:
these are the names of the main characters.
Numerical Evidence:
488 - Tamburlaine
The orthography chosen for the protagonist's name ensures that Tamburlaine
himself attains a value of 488 by gematria. This number has two significations
which seem particularly apposite to the play. Firstly, it equates the
hero with the evocative title, 'The Great Dragon'. Aside from the purely
poetic identification of Tamburlaine with a fiery dragon
(31),
this creature has a host of cabalistic connotations. We find, in particular,
that there is mention of a great dragon in the Zohar. It is described
here that, 'in him is the extremity of judgments and severities, whence
wrath is the attribute of his forms' (32).
This dragon is described as a king of the demons which rule in the material
world. One important aspect of this cabalistic dragon is described as
follows:
But his head is broken by the waters of the great sea.
(The great sea is
wisdom, the fountain of mercy and loving-kindness . . .)
(33)
Therefore the dragon is open to pacification by the feminine influence
of Binah (the waters) and is thus a figure ultimately ruled by wisdom.
This latter factor ties in with a very important aspect of the play. All
Tamburlaine's enemies, with the possible exception of Callapine, lack
wisdom and are inferior to him in that respect. This theme of wisdom is
introduced right at the beginning of the play with the buffoonery of Mycetes,
the witless King of Persia, and continues to the asinine intransigence
of the Governor of Babylon. Tamburlaine's own son Callyphas, too, imagines
that his wisdom will excuse his cowardice (2 Tam., 4, 1, 50),
but turns out to be no match for the wisdom of his father's sinister hand.
The play's preoccupation with wisdom may take as its cue the famous
line in Psalms 111, 10, 'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom'.
Therefore we have to understand that wisdom starts with respect for the
left hand of God, the wrath of God.
The second important signification of the gematria value 488 comes via
a geometric permutation. We have to remember that geometric interrelationships
form an integral component of cabalistic operations. A pentacle, the form
of a man, with sides of 488 has a total perimeter of 2440. This is the
value of 'Φωσφορος' (Phosphoros), the Light-bringer,
or Lucifer. The pentacle is also the occult symbol of the morning star.
There is considerable support in the text for an identification of Tamburlaine
with the Light-bringer. Lucifer's traditional description of Prince of
the Orient is mirrored in Tamburlaine's efforts to become the Monarch
of the East, or 'commander of this eastern world' (1 Tam., II, vii,
62). Like Lucifer, Tamburlaine is seen to control and be assisted
by legions of spirits. He says that they, 'Direct our bullets and our
weapons' points, And make your strokes to wound the senseless air' (1
Tam., III, iii, 157-8). Also, Zabina's description of him as a great
Tartarian thief can be taken to indicate that he is a thief of Tartarus
as much as a Mongol or Tartar.
More importantly, we find him described, in the final two scenes of Act
2 (Pt.1), as some inhuman being of 'fearful pride' and 'giantly presumption'
that dares to challenge God from his heavenly throne. This is an explicit
allusion to Lucifer and to his eternally unforgivable and damnable sin.
If we wish to gain a contemporary understanding of Lucifer's character
we can do worse than go to the Faust book
(34),
which we know Marlowe was drawn to. Here we find that, ' . . . so soone
as my Lorde Lucifer fell from heauen, he became a mortall enemie both
to God and man, and hath vsed (as now he doth) all manner of tyranny to
the destruction of man.' A little later Mephistophiles states, ' . . .
we rule the hearts of Kings and Princes, stirring them vp to warre and
blood-shed'. On this account we can see that Lucifer and Tamburlaine share
a very similar function. In the Faust book we are also reminded that while
Christ stands in the heavenly light at the right hand of God, Lucifer
stands in the material darkness at God's left hand.
The latter fact may also be alluded to in the play by the constant reference
to Tamburlaine's ambition to conquer and rule Asia – for in the
Cabala the material world (the world of action) is called in the Hebrew
'AaShIH', which is commonly transliterated
as 'Asia'.
794 - Tamburlaine the Great
Tamburlaine's epithet, apart from associating him with the heroic Alexander,
provides him with a notarikon value of 207
(35).
This is the value of the Hebrew word, 'AVR',
meaning light, fire, east or sunrise. Obviously this supports the Luciferian interpretation.
The epithet 'The Great' has a more personal significance for Tamburlaine
if we count its gematria value. This is 306
(36)
and as such it is interesting for a student of Agrippa. In his chapter
describing the Sephiroth, Agrippa gives the fifth Sephira the slightly
idiosyncratic spelling of 'Geburach' (37).
The effect of this is to give the word a gematria value of 306. Therefore
Marlowe's play may also be considered to carry the alternative, cabalistic,
title of 'Tamburlaine Geburach'.
The complete number 794 may also have an intentional Luciferan connection via
Marlowe's esoteric inspiration, 'Giordano Bruno Nolano', whose name shares this gematria value. Bruno was no bloodthirsty tyrant, but he was very much a self-styled 'light-bringer'.
665 - The Scourge of God
Tamburlaine's self-proclamation as 'The Scourge of God' has a gematria
value of 665 and it is thereby exactly equated with the Greek expression,
'Οργη Θεου' (Orge
theou) - the Wrath of God. Obviously this concurs very well with his fuller
boast, 'I that am term'd the Scourge and Wrath of God'. Also, through
the addition of colel (38), it brings
us to the important solar and draconian number 666 (39).
Tamburlaine is explicitly likened to the sun in many lines, not as the
sun itself, but an earthly sun, or a son of the sun. For example:
For I, the chiefest lamp of all the earth,
First rising in the east with mild aspect,
But fixed now in the meridian line,
Will send up fire to your burning spheres,
And cause the sun to borrow light of you. (1 Tam.,
IV, ii, 36-40)
It is also worth pointing out that Tamburlaine's gematria number
of 488 is the same as the old English spelling 'The Sunne'.
784 - Zenocrate
This number has female and lunar associations which complement the solar
characterisation of Tamburlaine. 784 is 28 squared - and 28 is both the
number of days in the lunar month and the number of days of a woman's
menstrual cycle. 28 is also a 'perfect number'. 784 additionally comprises
the sum of the first seven cubes - and hence can refer, cabalistically,
to the 'Seven Paths of the Queen' (the lower seven Sephiroth).
Tamburlaine and Zenocrate
The combination of 'Tamburlaine the Great' and 'Zenocrate' makes 1578. This number is one shy of the number of the author's own name, 'Christopher Marlowe', and could have (through the addition of the unit of 'colel') this significance. However, the number more exactly matches the expression attributed to Plato by Plutarch, 'Θεος αει γεωμετρει' - God eternally geometrizes. Plato said that, "The knowledge at which geometry aims is knowledge of the eternal, not of aught perishing and transient." (40) 1578 can therefore be seen as a number which points to a scheme of divine harmony underlying the author's conception of the play. Confirmation of this allusion to sacred geometry, comes when we note that the addition of 'Tamburlaine' and 'Zenocrate' make 488 + 784 = 1272 and this is the value of 'η γεωμετρία' - Geometry. These numerical hints support the contention that Marlowe intended the creation of a lasting literary artefact in the writing of his play, and thus indicate a conscious attempt to forge a literary career stetching beyond the realm of poetry alone.
Another significant point arises from the observation that 784 and 794
form a very well matched pair of numbers. Exactly bifurcating the two
is the number 789: by Greek gematria this is the value of 'Η Σοφια
' (Η Sophia) - The Wisdom (40).
It seems obvious that wisdom is what prevails when Tamburlaine and Zenocrate,
or Geburah and Chesed, are united and perfectly balanced.
On his own, Tamburlaine does have a form of wisdom, but this is cruel and
worldly; together with Zenocrate the pair have harmonious, heavenly wisdom.
If one applies notarikon to the names of Tamburlaine and Zenocrate, they
have a combined value of 100 + 500 = 600, which leads to the Greek 'Κοσμος'
(Kosmos). This is a word speaking of auspicious harmony, for its original
meaning signified order, arrangement, decency, good behaviour, constitution
and honour - as well as representing the harmonious body of the universe.
We can extend this technique of notarikon by counting the first and last
letters of the names 'Tamburlaine the Great' and 'Zenocrate' - 317 + 505
= 822. Adding 822 to their gematria total of 1578 makes 2400 - or a square
with sides of 600. The fourfold repetition of the cosmic number adds to
the harmonious symbolism because, according to Fowler, 'In Renaissance
arithmology the quadrate was regarded . . . as a principle of harmony
in nature;' (41).
The harmonious and regulated pattern breaks down if Tamburlaine is left
in isolation. Adding 317 to 794 makes 1111 - a profoundly symbolic number.
This is the value of the Greek letter 'Ιωτα'
(Iota), which is the equivalent of the Hebrew Yod and the modern 'I':
this letter is a masculine symbol, signifying for the cabalists the phallus
and the rod of power. 1111 is also cabalistically significant as the value
of the Greek word 'Τυραννις' (Tyrannis), meaning
absolute power, or tyranny.
216 - 'GBVRH'
It might seem a pity that Tamburlaine's name has a value of 488 rather
than 216, for then it would be equated with the Hebrew 'GBVRH'
(Geburah). However, there is a character in the play whose name does have
this value - and as such it is very revealing. For this is none other
than the 'King of Arabia', who throughout the whole of the first part
of the play, until his death in the final scene, is betrothed to Zenocrate.
If we add Zenocrate's gematria value of 784 to the 216 of Arabia, then
their union achieves the profoundly symbolic total number of 1000. This,
as ten cubed, symbolises the deity and completeness (42).
On Arabia's death we may assume that Tamburlaine takes his title as King
of Arabia and therefore the perfect 1000 symbolises his new union with
Zenocrate.
A further piece of numerical symbolism may also be intended by this union.
If we construct a new title for the pair at the end of the play, we find
that 'Tamburlaine the Great, King of Arabia' and 'Zenocrate, Queen of
Arabia' have a combined gematria value of 2264. This is the precise value
of 'GBVRH' and 'ChSD'
by the combinatory method of Hebrew gematria. Normally their values of 216
and 72 combine to make 288; however if we use the method of filling
(43),
by which we count not the letters but the names of the letters, then they
sum (as 1004 + 972) to 1976. Adding together 288 and 1976 gives the exact
figure of 2264.
The Three Sons
We find Tamburlaine's three sons, in Part Two of the play, named as, 'Calyphas',
'Amyras' and 'Celebinus'. There are some cabalistic grounds for thinking, though,
that Marlowe's original manuscript spelling of the first may have been,
'Callyphas'. This son's name is only written in full twice in the original script, first as Calyphas and latterly as Caliphas. The reason for favouring 'Callyphas' is that it gives the three sons a very powerful association with the author.
The gematria values
of the three names, Callyphas, Amyras and Celibinus are 603, 602 and 374. We can see straight away that the indolent Callyphas is paired with his polar opposite brother Amyras,
who wishes to emulate his father in being, '. . . the scourge and terror
of the world' (2 Tam., I, iv, 62). Marlowe seems to be presenting
them as a pair of matched opposites. Interestingly 603 is the gematria value of the word 'excuse' and so immediately brings to mind Callyphas' most memorable line, "My wisedome shall excuse my cowardise." What is especially noteworthy
is that the addition of the consecutive numbers 602 and 603 makes 1205, which is the value of the author's name, 'Kit Marlowe'. Adding the
value of the third brother Celebinus to 1205,
makes 1579 - which is the precise value of 'Christopher Marlowe'. This is unlikely to have been a coincidence. It is especially so when we put together the values of the two
aggressive sons - 602 + 374 = 976, because 976 and 603 mark the Golden Section (1.618) division of 1579 (44).
Thus the three sons reveal, either in whimsy or in philosophical earnest, a conscious statement of the author's self-reference.
Tamburlaine and Sons
A new factor comes into play when we recognise that the value of the two
aggressive sons, at 976, is exactly double Tamburlaine's value of 488. Aside from giving Tamburlaine himself a Golden Section relationship to the value of the author's name, it means that the three 'scourges' have a total value of 488 x 3.
This can be represented graphically as an equilateral triangle. If we
enclose this in a circle, the circumference will be 1770: this seems to
be an intentional construction, for 1770 is the value of 'Tamburlaine
the Great' + 'Amyras' + 'Celebinus' (794 + 602 + 374 = 1770). A further twist, perhaps intentional, is that the area of this circle is the same as that of a square with a perimeter of 1998. Since 1998 is the product of 3 x 666, the symbolism seems appropriately solar and beastly.
It also happens that 1770 is also the value of 'Bajazeth' and 'Zabina', the Turkish emperor
and his wife (1217 + 553). This repetition prompts further scrutiny of the 1770 circumference circle. Possible significance lies in its diameter, which is 563.4, for this speaks
of 'Σκληροκαρδια' (Sklerokardia - 564) - Hardness
of heart. All five characters are notable in this respect: the Turkish
couple betray the state of their hearts in the following lines:
Bajazeth: Ye Furies, that can mask invisible,
Dive to the bottom of Avernus' pool,
And in your hands bring hellish poison up,
And squeeze it in the cup of Tamburlaine!
Or, winged snakes of Lerna, cast your stings,
And leave your venoms in this tyrant's dish!
Zabina: And may this banquet prove as ominous
As Progne's to th'adulterous Thracian king
That fed upon the substance of his child! (1
Tam., IV, iv, 17-25)
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Gematria Properties of the Text
Until now we have examined only the numbers derived from
names - this on account of the fact that the printer's orthography is unreliable. It is more than probable, however, that some strategic
phrases, lines and speeches were also constructed by the author with numerical
considerations in mind. I will give three examples that, on account of their internal consistency, might shed light on this numerical subtext.
In all three of these the spelling is as 'standardized' as we can hope for and consistent within the four original octavo editions (1590, 1593, 1597, 1605/6).
Zenocrate's Death
Zenocrate's last words are, "Some musicke, and my fit wil cease my Lord." With a gematria value of 2729, they have correspondence to the four cardinal signs of the Zodiac in Greek, "Κριός, Καρκίνος, Χηλαι, Αιγόκερως" (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn).
Zenocrate's Epitaph
At the burial of Zenocrate her son Callyphas produces a four line speech
pregnant with interest for the cabalist:
This Piller plac'd in memorie of her,
Where in Arabian, Hebrew, Greek, is writ
This towne being burnt by Tamburlaine the great,
Forbids the world to build it up againe. (2
Tam., III, ii, 15-18)
The words on the pillar are signalled to have been chosen with care and
reference to the trinity of sacred languages hints at cabalistic significance.
As printed in the original octavos, the two line written epitaph (in blue)
has a gematria total of 5208. This is a particularly significant number,
as it gives the value of the four elements in Hebrew, Greek, Latin and
English:
| Heb. |
ASh, MIM, RVCh, AaPhR |
301 + 90 + 214 + 350 |
955 |
| Gk. |
Πυρ, Υδωρ, Αηρ, Γη |
580 + 1304 + 109 + 11 |
2004 |
| Latin |
Ignis, Aqua, Aer, Terra |
155 + 272 + 86 + 266 |
779 |
| Eng. |
Fire, Water, Air, Earth |
100 + 1086 + 90 + 194 |
1470 |
| |
|
|
5208 |
These are the four constituents from which the world is built. The notarikon scores
also support the identification. The first and last letters of the sixteen
(4 x 4) words have values of 1731 + 1030 = 2761. If we reduce this by
the digit of colel
(47), we have the
value of the four elements in Greek (with definite articles): 'Το
Πυρ, Το Υδωρ, Η Αηρ, Η Γη' (950 + 1674 + 117 + 19 = 2760). Then,
if we increase our total by colel, to 2762, we have the value of the following
words in 1 Corinthians 15, 42, 'Σπειρεται
εν φθορα εγειρεται εν αφθαρσια' - It is sown in corruption; it
is raised in incorruption. This, of course, refers to the resurrection
of the dead – sown in the corruption of the four mundane elements.
The actual words for this phenomenon in Corinthians 15, 42, 'Η αναστασις των νεκρων
' (the resurrection of the dead), have a gematria
value of 3146. This number is pointed to by the second line of the epitaph
(Forbids the world to build it up againe), whose gematria value is 2225.
The diagonal, symbolically rising, from a 2225 sided square is 3146 in
length.
The number 5208 also suggests the nature of the resurrection. The fact
that Callyphas refers to three languages rather than four encourages us
to divide 5208 by three: in geometric terms we can imagine the total as
the perimeter of an equilateral triangle. Such a figure will have sides
of 1736. We seem to be on the right track with this triangle because the
circle that may be drawn around it has a 2004 diameter – and we
saw in the table above that 2004 is the value of the Greek elements. The 1736 sides
suggest the three Hebrew letter names, 'KPh,
ThV, RISh' (820
+ 406 + 510 = 1736). These denote the expansion of the word KThR
(Kether): this is the first sephira, otherwise known as the heavenly crown.
Therefore we are led to believe that Zenocrate, having left her body behind,
is raised with a spiritual crown. It seems to be a fitting epitaph.
The wording of the epitaph, specifying Tamburlaine's forbiddance that
the town be raised again, is interesting as it is perhaps indicative of
Marlowe's 'atheistic' rejection of the church dogma of the resurrection
of the body.
The Death of Tamburlaine
If Zenocrate merits a heavenly crown in death, what about barbarous Tamburlaine?
What sort of fate does he deserve? Tamburlaine's dying line has great
strategic significance and ought to carry some sort of numerical clue:
'For Tamburlaine the scourge of God must die' (2
Tam., V, iii, 249)
The gematria value of this line is 1727. This is extremely interesting,
for it is effectively no different from the 1736 awarded to Zenocrate.
The reason is that the letter Resh has two alternative spellings in Hebrew
either 'RISh' or 'RASh'.
Therefore the alternative expansion of 'KThR'
(Kether) is 'KPh, ThV,
RASh' and has a value of 820 + 406 + 501
= 1727. Thus the author grants Tamburlaine, too, a heavenly crown in death.
In a way it seems fitting, because Tamburlaine's pursuit of crowns has
been a lifelong ambition; it formed the motivation driving him ever onwards
to conquer new lands and defeat more kings. At the end of the notably
cabalistic speech cited earlier ('Nature . . .Doth teach us all to have
aspiring minds,'), he waxed lyrical about the joys of an earthly crown:
. . . the ripest fruit of all,
That perfect bliss and sole felicity,
The sweet fruition of an earthly crown. (1 Tam.,
II, vii, 27-29)
Now, in death, the author indicates that Tamburlaine achieves a permanent
crown, and, like Zenocrate, his spirit is raised up to heaven.
Conclusion
The evidence for reading Tamburlaine the Great as a cabalistic play
is very good. The close correlation between Tamburlaine and Geburah, the
punitive, left hand of God, leads us on into deeper levels of cabalistic
philosophy and analogy. It also opens the door to a Gnostic interpretation
of the play where Lucifer plays an ambiguous role and finds virtue through
union with Sophia.
The numerical features of the text, uncovered by the techniques of gematria
and notarikon, significantly enhance the literal meaning and constitute
a whole new dimension to the play. The text is thus revealed to be deeper,
richer and more subtle than it appears on a surface reading. The same
is perhaps true for its creator, Christopher Marlowe.
Top
Notes
1) J. Dee,
Mathematicall Praeface to The Elements of Geometrie by Euclid of Megara,
London, 1570.
2) A. Fowler, Triumphal
Forms - Structural Patterns in Elizabethan Poetry, C.U.P., 1970,
p. ix.
3) H. C. Agrippa, Three
Books of Occult Philosophy, Antwerp, 1531, Book II, ch. 2. Transl.
J. Freake, ed. D. Tyson. Llewellyn's Publications, Saint Paul, MN, 1993.
See also ch. 47 'Cabalie' in his De Incertitudine et Vanitate Scientarum,
Antwerp, 1530 (included in Tyson's edition pp. 700-704).
4) H. Reynolds, Mythomystes,
reptd. in Critical Essays of the Seventeenth Century, ed. J.
E. Spingarn, Vol 1, Oxford, 1908, pp. 157-158.
5) 64 is the value of the
word Αληθεια –
truth. In John 14, 5 Jesus says that he is the Truth. The significance
of the number 37 in both Testaments can easily be demonstrated but to
do so would make an unnecessarily long digression from the main subject
of this essay. The brief examples here should be regarded as illustrations
only.
6) The well known example
cited by J. Reuchlin, P. de Mirandolla, F. Giorgi and H.C. Agrippa is
of the letter Shin being added to the tetragrammaton to create
the name of Jesus - 'the Word made flesh': 'IHVH'
= Jahweh - 'IHShVH' = Jesu.
7) All references to Marlowe's
plays follow the J.B. Steane edition, Marlowe - The Complete Plays,
Penguin, 1969.
8) It was while he was in
England, in 1585, that Bruno published his most openly cabalistic work,
Cabala del Cavallo Pegaseo.
9) A.E. Waite, The Holy
Kabbalah, New York, Citadel, 1992 (1929), p.452.
10) The Corpus Christi
'Buttery books' indicate that Marlowe was away from April to June
1583.
11) It was in his valedictory
address to the students at Wittenburg in 1588 that Bruno wrote so inspirationally
(for Shakespeare) of, " . . . the whips and scorns of vile and foolish
men who, although they are really beasts in the likeness of men, in the
pride of their good fortune, are full of evil arrogance".
12) G. Bruno, Opere italiane,
(ed. Giovanni Gentile and Vincenzo Spampanato), Bari, Gius. Laterza &
Figli, 1925-1927, Vol 1, p. 101.
13) C. Nicholl has noted
some other famous lines in the play are directly hewn from La Cena
de le Ceneri: for example, 'And live and die in Aristotle's works'.
See C. Nicholl, The Reckoning, revised edn., Vintage, 2002, p.
248.
14) Nicholl, The Reckoning,
ch. 22.
15) F. Yates, The Occult
Philosophy in the Elizabethan Age, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979,
ch. 4. Yates also links the French translation of De Harmonia Mundi, which
appeared in 1578, with the growing hermetic movement on the continent
that lay behind Bruno's proselytising visit to England five years later
(p. 83).
16) P. Beitchman, Alchemy
of the Word - Cabala of the Renaissance, State University of New
York, 1998, pp.169-170.
17) D. Saurat, Literature
and the Occult Tradition, Trans. D. Bolton. Kennicut Press, New York,
1966 (1930), pp. 222-237.
18) The dream occurs in Book
I, Canto I, st. 45-48, where the evil Archimago sends a replica of the
knight's ladylove to his bedchamber to 'weaken' him in his sleep. J. Nohrnberg,
The Analogie of the Fairie Queene, Princeton University Press,
N.J., 1976, p. 30.
19) Yates, The Occult
Philosophy, ch. 9.
20) For example: in the simple
gematria code for the 24 letter Elizabethan alphabet, running from 'a'
= 1 to 'z' = 24, the name 'Astrophel' has a value of 108 - this is the
crucial total number of
sonnets in the sequence. 'Stella' takes a value of 65 and is thereby equated
with 'Sophia' – the traditional female muse of the sonnet. For more
on the numerology inherent in Astrophel and Stella see A. Fowler, Triumphal
Forms, pp. 174-180.
21) M. Bradbrook, The
School of Night, Russel and Russel, New York, 1965 (1936).
22) D. Banes, The Provocatve
Merchant of Venice, Malcolm House, Silver Springs, Md., 1975).
23) Yates, The Occult
Philosophy, ch. 12, 14 & 15.
24) See S.L. MacGregor Mathers,
The Kabbalah Unveiled, Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., London,
1887 (modern ed. Samuel Weiser, Maine, 1968), p. 25.
25) Agrippa, p. 468. The
spelling of 'GIBR' is Agrippa's - the more
conventional orthography is 'GBVR', which
highlights the etymological connection to 'GBVRH'.
26) MacGregor Mathers, Kabbalah,
p. 336.
27) D. Fortune, The Mystical
Qabalah, Ernest Benn Ltd., London, 1935, p. 173.
The scourge is especially pointed to because by gematria 'GBVRH',
'DIN' and 'PChD'
have a value of 216 + 64 + 92 = 372: this is equal to 'AaQRB'
- a scourge.
28) MacGregor Mathers, Kaballah,
p. 25.
29) Agrippa, p.468 (Bk. II,
Ch.x). Also p.591 (Bk. III, Ch.xl).
30) Fortune, Mystical
Qabalah, p. 163.
31)
Blakeley, J. (2013). Marlowe's counterfeit cyrus. Marlowe Studies, (3), 23-48,195.
32)
J. S. Cunningham, ed., introduction to Tamburlaine the Great (Manchester: Manchester UP, 1981), 86.10. Cunningham, ed., Tamburlaine, 89.
33) Tamburlaine's followers
are likened by Meander to, "the cruel brothers of the earth, Sprung
from the teeth of dragons venemous," (Pt.1, 2, 2, 48).
34) Chapter 1 of The Book
of Concealed Mystery: see MacGregor Mathers, Kabbalah, p. 51.
33) MacGregor Mathers, Kabbalah,
p. 53.
34) The Faust Book,
translated and amended P. F. Gent., Thomas Orwin, London, 1592.
35) The initial letters of
'Tamburlaine The Great' are 'T', 'T' & 'G', so their value is 100
+ 100 + 7 = 207.
36) 100 + 8 + 5 + 7 + 80
+ 5 + 1 + 100 = 306.
37) Agrippa, Bk. III, Ch.
x. This spelling is different from that found in his table for the Scale
of the number ten, which includes the ten Sephiroth (in Bk.II, ch.xiii):
here he uses the conventional spelling 'Geburah'.
38) The cabalistic rule of
'Colel' states that one unit can be added to, or taken from, a computed
number without affecting its cabalistic value. The justification being
that 'one' is not a number, but the Monas, or deity. See Colel.
39) 666 is primarily a number
identified with the Spirit of the Sun. It constitutes the total value
of the numbers in the 6 x 6 'Magic Square of the Sun' (Agrippa Bk.II,
Ch. xxii) and also provides the gematria value of 'SVRTh',
personifying the spirit of the sun.
40) The Republic of Plato Book VII, trans. by John Llewelyn Favies and David James Vaughan (1908), 251.
40) 789 is also the value
of 'Ο Θυμος' (O thumos)
- The Soul.
41) Fowler, Spenser And
The Numbers Of Time, Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., London, 1964,
p. 279.
42) Such an interpretation
is further supported by the fact that 1000 is the gematria value of the
Hebrew word 'ThM', meaning whole, complete
or perfect. It is also noteworthy that 216 is six cubed and 784 is the sum of the first seven numbers cubed.
43) This technique is called
'millui' in Hebrew. See G. Scholem, Kabbalah, Keter Publishing
House, Jerusalem, 1974, ch. 10.
44) 1579/976 = 1.618. 976/603
= 1.618.
45) Fowler, Triumphal
Forms, p. 20.
46) If we simply added 7
to 1579, the total of 1586 would give a cabalistic pun on the author's
name 'Marlovve'.
47) See note 37 above.
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