Summary
Prologue. Spoken by an unnamed character, the Prologue asserts that Marlowe wrote Part Two of Tamburlaine in response to the popularity of the first part. It also predicts the death of both Tamburlaine and Zenocrate. She will die first, and the audience will witness the grief of Tamburlaine at her death. This second part will also, it claims, depict the fall of Tamburlaine as the “murderous Fates thro[w] all his triumphs down” (l.5).
1.1. Orcanes, King of Natolia, Gazellus, Viceroy of Byron, and Uribassa, discuss whether to seek a truce with the Christian king of Hungary, Sigismund, in order to better attack Tamburlaine, who’s effectively killed Bajazeth and holds Bajazeth's son Callapine hostage. Gazellus and Uribassa argue in favor of a truce, but Orcanes is at first reluctant because of his pride. Ultimately they convince Orcanes to make peace with Sigismund by reminding him that Tamburlaine is already advancing with his army towards Natolia.
1.2. Sigismund arrives with his followers Frederick and Baldwin. At first the exchange is tense: both kings are very proud and neither wants to seem afraid of a fight. Their followers again intervene and effectively shift the conversation in a more peaceful direction. Sigismund agrees to a truce, and Orcanes presses him to swear a solemn oath by the name of Christ to honor it. Orcanes, in turn, swears by the prophet Mahomet to honor his word. They conclude by each promising to come to the other’s aid should anyone else move to invade their territory, and prepare to celebrate together with a banquet before they part ways.
1.3. Tamburlaine has been holding the son of Bajazeth, Callapine, as a prisoner. Alameda is his keeper, and while they two of them are alone Callapine attempts to persuade Alameda to help him escape and claim his rightful destiny as heir to his father’s empire. Alameda is sympathetic, but refuses. But Callapine persuades him to hear him out: he has a ship prepared, not far away, which could take them both quickly out of the reach of Tamburlaine. After Callapine has finished painting a long, poetic picture of their escape, Alameda starts to indicate some interest. Callapine’s subsequent promise to make him a king seals the deal. As they prepare to escape, Callapine vows revenge on Tamburlaine for his father’s death.
1.4. Tamburlaine and Zenocrate now have three sons: Calyphas, Amyras, and Celebinus. As he exhorts her to pride that her sons will someday all be leaders of the world, Zenocrate pointedly asks when Tamburlaine will finally lay aside his own arms; she’s concerned for his safety. Tamburlaine makes it clear that he’ll never give up his lust for conquest. He’s worried, though, that perhaps his sons aren’t shaping up to be fitting successors. Their looks echo too much the beauty and delicacy of their mother, and they seem to demonstrate little interest in bloodshed. Zenocrate assures him that she’s seen Celebinus, the youngest, proving himself quite competent in the art of mounted combat during practice.
Overjoyed, Tamburlaine promises Celebinus his kingdom if he continues to outdo his older brothers in combativeness. This prompts Amyras to jump in and state his desire to be “termed the scourge and terror of the world” as well (1.4.62). But Calyphas still has no inclination to fight. He prefers to accompany his mother. Tamburlaine flies into a rage and all but disowns Calyphas, for which Zenocrate rebukes him. Calyphas makes an effort to sound as bloodthirsty as his brothers, but still comes up short. Tamburlaine promises that soon they’ll all have a chance to prove themselves on the battlefield against the Turks.
1.5. Theridamas arrives, now king of Argier, and offers his crown to Tamburlaine, pending approval of the forces he’s mustered from his kingdom for the upcoming campaign against Natolia. Tamburlaine is satisfied, and returns the crown.
1.6. Techelles and Usumcasane arrive, and each repeats the protocol followed by Theridamas. Tamburlaine glories in their return and in the size of the army now at his command, quite confident that they’ll make short work of Orcanes. All three of Tamburlaine’s followers have also completed lengthy campaigns of conquest since they last met, and they inform Tamburlaine of their victories and the new boundaries of his rule. Tamburlaine declares a banquet to celebrate.
Analysis
Some time has passed since the first part of the play, enough for Tamburlaine and Zenocrate to have three sons old enough for war. In the meantime, Tamburlaine’s might and the range of his empire have only continued to expand. He’s now a mighty emperor, and the prologue implies that there’s nowhere to go but down.
Marlowe quickly makes it clear that Tamburlaine’s “truce with all the world” is over. We don’t know how long he kept it, but the catalog of conquests given by his followers suggests that it wasn’t long at all. It’s possible to see this reversal as evidence that Marlowe never planned to make a second part—thus taking his prologue at face value—and that Tamburlaine changes his mind simply because clearly a peaceful, domestic Tamburlaine wouldn’t make for an interesting play.
But there’s also plenty of evidence for seeing Tamburlaine’s inability to give up conquest as a failure, a failure that both frames and makes possible this second part of the play. Even as his empire and his army expand, the sheer magnetism that made Tamburlaine the Great great appears to be fading. First, there’s the ease with which Callapine persuades Alameda to help him escape. Only fear, not the ardent loyalty we saw in Part One, binds Alameda to Tamburlaine, “he whose wrath is death, / My sovereign lord, renownèd Tamburlaine” (1.3.6-7). And fear isn't enough.
Likewise, Tamburlaine’s sons stubbornly resist—though except in the case of Calyphas not actively—his attempts to mold them as he wills. But the clearest contrast with the first part lies in the fact that Tamburlaine sees the signs of Zenocrate’s beauty manifest in his sons only as weakness: “But yet methinks their looks are amorous, / Not martial as the sons of Tamburlaine” (1.4.21-22). Zenocrate herself seems likewise unable to influence him: his response to her pleas to give up his life of war and to go easier on their sons hardly affect him.
In contrast, where Part One opened on the pomposity, bickering, and duplicitousness of the Persian court, Part Two finds Tamburlaine’s enemies setting aside differences of religion and memories of past wrongs to confront him as a united front. They appear, at least, to act honorably, their commitment to their respective faiths highlighting the disappearance of Tamburlaine’s own twisted theology of boundless ambition and desire. Act One of Part Two leaves us wondering whether Zenocrate’s warning has come true, whether Tamburlaine has in fact effectively become merely a more powerful Bajazeth. This time, the tragic prophesizing of the prologue appears to be coming true.
